Manuel Fernandez Castrillon was a general in the Mexican army born in either Spain or Cuba. He first met Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna in 1822 while fighting near Veracruz. General Castrillon was famous for his protests against Santa Anna’s decision to immediately assault the Alamo, but actually became the leader of a column of troops who are said to have reached the Alamo’s walls first. After the battle, Castrillon asked that the lives of the Texans captured alive during the siege be spared. Against his wishes, the Texans were executed anyway. Later, during the Goliad Massacre, Castrillon would also protest in vain the execution of four hundred Texan prisoners, including their leader, James Fannin.

The Battle of San Jacinto was a surprise attack by General Sam Houston, who had only seven hundred and fifty men, or half of the Mexican troop numbers. To win this, Houston had done a pre-emptive strike when the Mexican soldiers were supposed to be resting. This was extremely risky, because of the obvious manpower handicap, and Houston had chosen to spread his troops extremely thin. However, Santa Anna’s army had no capability to retreat because of a swamp to their rear. It was in this battle that, in all the confusion, Castrillon bravely took a stand and tried to rally his troops amidst a hail of fire, but he was unsuccessful. A Texan general had tried to usher his men to not shoot him, but Castrillon took on several bullets.