Fearing that Lipantitlán could be used as a base for the Mexican army to retake Goliad and angry that two of his men were imprisoned there, Texian commander Philip Dimmitt ordered his adjutant, Captain Ira Westover, to capture the fort.

On November 3, a local man persuaded the Mexican garrison to surrender, and the following day the Texians dismantled the fort.

The Texians now had full control of the Texas Gulf Coast, which meant that the troops stationed at San Antonio de Béxar could only receive reinforcements and supplies overland.

Fort Lipantitlán was built on the grounds of an old campsite along the west bank of the Nueces River on the Gulf coast of Texas.

[2] After the Apaches abandoned the area, the campground was often used by missionaries, military units, and traders making their way between Mexico and the Texas settlements.

[2][3] According to Texian John J. Linn, the fort "was a single embankment of earth, lined within by fence rails to hold the dirt in place, and would have answered tolerably well, perhaps, for a second-rate hog pen".

[4] They collected customs duties[6] and provided protection to San Patricio, a small settlement of Irish and Mexican colonists approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south.

[1][4] Smaller garrisons were located at Copano Bay and Refugio, with a larger force stationed at Presidio La Bahía in Goliad.

[9] The Texians staged a minor revolt against customs duties in June,[8] and wary colonists soon began forming militias, ostensibly to protect themselves.

[2] Twenty Mexican soldiers escaped and briefly took refuge at Copano and Refugio; those garrisons soon abandoned their posts and joined the larger force at Fort Lipantitlán.

[7] In a letter to General Stephen F. Austin dated October 15, Dimmitt proposed an attack on Fort Lipantitlán, whose capture would "secure the frontier, provide a vital station for defense, create instability among the centralists, and encourage Mexican federalists".

They were also reluctant to hold elections for delegates to the Consultation, which would decide whether Texians were fighting for reinstatement of the Constitution of 1824 or for independence from Mexico.

[14] On October 20, James Power, one of the Irish empresarios who had helped to found San Patricio, learned that the Lipantitlán soldiers had been ordered to retake Presidio La Bahia.

[12] According to Dimmitt's angry letter to Austin, Toole begged his captors to kill him outright rather than send him on the march, which he believed would still result in his death.

[18] Meanwhile, the commander of the garrison at Fort Lipantitlán, Captain Nicolás Rodríguez, received orders to harass the Texians at Presidio La Bahía.

On October 31, as Rodríguez and his men neared Goliad, they learned that a Texian force had left the fort earlier that day.

According to Groneman, this likely contributed to Cos's defeat in the siege of Béxar, which expelled the remaining Mexican soldiers from Texas.

[1] On their return to Goliad, Westover's group encountered Agustín Viesca, the recently deposed governor of Coahuila y Tejas.

Several months before, Viesca had been imprisoned by the Mexican army for defying attempts by Santa Anna to disband the state legislature.

He and members of his cabinet had been liberated by sympathetic soldiers and immediately travelled to Texas to recreate the state government.

[29] In Westover's opinion, "The men all fought bravely and those on the opposite bank of the river were enabled to operate on the flanks of the enemy above and below the crossing which they did with fine effect.

"[21] Houston lauded "the conduct and bravery of the officers and men who have so handsomely acquitted themselves in the affair and so deservedly won [a] reputation for themselves and Glory for their Country".

[30] This was the first armed skirmish fought since the Battle of Goliad, according to historian Hobart Huson, the victory "renewed the morale of the people".

[32] Now named the Lipantitlan State Historic Site, the park covers 5 acres (2.0 ha) in Nueces County.