Panchita--Angel of Goliad--Conclusion

Present day view from a cannon port at the La Bahia Presideo near Goliad.

     General Urrea was away in Victoria when Santa Anna’s orders to execute the prisoners at Goliad were carried out by Colonel Portillo on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836.  A young German boy, Herman Ehrenberg, managed to escape the massacre by running behind the thick smoke caused by the executioner’s muskets and diving into the San Antonio River.  He had been shot at, slashed with a saber, splattered with the blood of his comrades, and shot at again, but he escaped into the river and the wilderness beyond.  About thirty other prisoners managed to escape the slaughter.

     Three weeks later, sunburned, disoriented, thirsty, and half starved, Ehrenberg stumbled into a Mexican patrol and was recaptured near Matagorda.  General Urrea recognized the young German in a group of captives, and was delighted to see he had survived.  The general laughed, “…my little Prussian!”  Herman Ehrenberg lived a long and prosperous life and his writings give us much insight into the massacre at Goliad and the disastrous Runaway Scrape that followed.

     Panchita was travelling with Captain Alavez as General Urrea’s troops headed east, finding little resistance.  Most American settlers abandoned their homesteads and were dashing for the safety of Louisiana in what was called the “Runaway Scrape.” The settlers who remained were Mexican sympathizers and welcomed the troops, telling them of rebel movements, feeding and watering their horses, and wishing them well. 

     When word of the defeat and capture of Santa Anna reached General Urrea, he vowed to continue the fight.  The Mexicans had over 2500 seasoned troops in Texas and Urrea had not met a single defeat at the hands of the Texians.  He knew it would be a simple matter to conquer Houston’s rag-tag little army.  He was ambitious, had no respect or affection for Santa Anna, and saw the opportunity to further his career.  General Filasola, an Italian mercenary hand-picked by Santa Anna as second in command, overruled the young General.  He issued orders for complete withdrawal, thereby saving the life of Santa Anna and ceding Texas to the rebels.

     After the withdrawal, Captain Alavez was sent back to Mexico City, where he quickly abandoned the intelligent, beautiful, and strong-willed Panchita.   This should come as no surprise--Panchita had amply demonstrated that she was not good for his military career.  As fantastic as she may have been in bed, she was too idealistic, too moralistic, too headstrong, and too out-spoken to be accepted as an officer’s wife.  Telesforo, very ambitious, eventually worked his way to the rank of Colonel.

     Women, then and now, tend to seek out attractive, worldly men who have much experience in affairs of the heart.  The more charming, handsome, experienced, and desirable to other women, the better.  Once they discover such a man, they latch on to him and settle down expecting to live happily ever after.   When their man continues his normal behavior and starts screwing the neighbor ladies, they are surprised and devastated.  Telesforo found a new playmate and dumped Panchita exactly as he had dumped Augustina and his two children.  Someone else was scratching that little place behind his ear.  Same place—same results--different toe. 

     Panchita, destitute, made her way back to Matamoros and was taken in by families who knew of her kindnesses to the prisoners.  She disappeared from history at this point and, for a time, no one knew what became of her.

     In 1936, Elena Zamora O’Shea wrote of her experiences while teaching school on the Santa Gertrudis Division of the King Ranch, during 1902 and 1903.  After class, two older Kineros came to visit with her once a week.  She read to them from Mexican newspapers and told them of the Texas history classwork her students were doing.  When she mentioned the Goliad massacre, they became very excited and asked questions about ”the Angel of Goliad.”

     One of the Kineros was Matias Alverez, who said he was the son of Telesforo and Panchita.  He took the teacher to meet his mother, Dona Panchita, the Angel of Goliad, who was then bed-ridden in her nineties.  According to O’Shea, “she died on the King Ranch and is buried there in an unmarked grave….Old Captain King and Mrs. King knew and respected her identity.”

     Matias Alverez, the son of Panchita, had eight children, among them a daughter named Rita who married a man named Quintanilla.  Their daughter, Tomasa Alvarez Quintanilla, married Lauro Cavasos, who would become the foreman of the Santa Gertrudis Division of the ranch.

     Tomasa and Lauro Cavasos’ son, Bobby, was an All-American running back for Texas Tech, a Kleberg County Commissioner, and foreman of the Laureles Division of the King Ranch.  His brother, Richard E. Cavasos, was the first Hispanic to become a Four Star General in the U.S. Army, and another brother, Dr. Lauro Cavasos, was president of Texas Tech University and Secretary of Education under Presidents Reagan and Bush.  Dr. Cavasos was the first Hispanic to serve in the U.S. Cabinet.

     There is little doubt that these are descendents of Panchita, but she was not pregnant when she returned, alone and penniless, to Matamoros.  If Telesforo was the father of this clan, as Matias claimed, then he must have returned and re-united with Francisca.   While there is no record of a wedding,  he may have visited often enough to have impregnated her between assignments in the army.  On the other hand, Panchita may have married a man named Alvarez at some later date and he may have sired Matias and his brother Guadalupe.  That could explain the change of name from Alavez to Alvarez.

     The story is fascinating.  All three of the Cavasos’ brothers spent some of their formative years in Lubbock, attending Texas Tech and absorbing the atmosphere of the High Plains.  I cannot help but wonder—was it Panchita’s genes or the clear atmosphere and fresh air of the Panhandle?  Perhaps the combination of the two.