Yucatan Soldiers' Burial Site
Refugio, Refugio County, Texas
Marker Inscription
General Jose Urrea, Governor of his native state of Durango, Mexico, was dispatched northeastward early in 1836 by Dictator antonio Lopez De Sana Anna, to fight against the Texas Colonists in their uprising for independence. Because of his superior numbers, he won easy victories at and near the town of San Patricio (about 40 miles southwest of here). When he reached mission Nuestra Senora Del Refugio, his troops (comprised mainly of non-spanish-speaking Yucatanians who had been pressed into fighting by Santa Anna) met heavy resistance form the Refugio townsmen, and Urrea lost many men in action. Later, the Texas volunteers under Captain Amon B. King and Lieutenant Colonel William Ward left the Mission, and Urrea was Victorious. After his men looted the town of Refugio, Urrea had them drag their dead into a four-foot by four-foot ditch which a colonist named Poland had used as a fence around his town lot. Eyewitness Sabina Brown said that the dead made a stack as large as twenty cords of wood. When the ditch was filled, it became the common grave of these Yucatanians. (1973)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Texas Revolution in early 1836, General José Urrea drove northeast on Santa Anna's orders, winning quick victories before meeting fierce resistance at Mission Nuestra Señora del Refugio. His army—largely Yucatán men pressed into service who spoke little Spanish—suffered heavy losses in the fighting. After the town was taken and looted, the many Mexican dead were dragged into a small ditch that had served as a colonist's fence, and it became their mass grave.
Why it matters
It offers a rarely told side of the Texas Revolution, remembering the conscripted soldiers who died far from home in a war they had little stake in.
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Related people
- · José Urrea
- · Antonio López de Santa Anna
- · Amon B. King
- · William Ward
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
- · Battle of Refugio
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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