By Bartee Haile

A small detachment of Lone Star rebels rode out of Goliad on Oct. 25, 1835 with orders to attack the government garrison at Fort Lipantitlan.

As conceived by Capt. Philip Dimitt during the early days of the Texas Revolution, the Lipantitlan Expedition had two objectives:  the rescue of a pair of rebel prisoners and the destruction of the strategic fortification on the Nueces River.  And by “destruction” Dimitt made it clear to Ira Westover that he meant the death or c...