Surrender and infamy

"With his driving ego and a tenacious conviction to succeed, Colonel James Walker Fannin forged an army from undisciplined volunteers in the Mexican state of Coahuila and Texas and led it against the professional troops of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna in late 1835 and early 1836. He was forced to surrender his entire corps of four hundred men to overwhelming numbers of Mexican soldiers on the prairie between Victoria and Presidio La Bahia in the Battle of Coleto Creek, March 19 and 20, 1836. The prisoners were executed at La Bahia on orders from Santa Anna on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, in one of the most perfidious acts known in the history of warfare. Having heard of the valorous defense and fall of the Alamo just two weeks earlier, few forgave Fannin for surrendering. This novel extracts a rich background from historical documents of that time and tells of Fannin s melancholy life until his cruel death. It examines his contradictory roles in slave trading while living as a loving husband and father, and offers numerous insights into the turbulent relationship Texas had with Mexico even as the political systems of both struggled for identity. Finally, it retraces the background that led to the point-blank murder by the Mexicans of hundreds of defenseless Texians captured in battle."--Publisher.