The original stockade palisades wall at Presidio La Bahia in Goliad was the first line of defense against attack at the Fort built in the mid-1700s.

Texas Historical Commission archaeologists used a magnetometer to survey the area.

"We discovered a line in the survey we wanted to examine in this dig,” said THC archeologist Jeff Durst.

“The location of the palisades stockade wall is historically important. This was the first line of defense for the fort.”

The trench was uncovered during a public archeological dig, one of the many October Texas Archeology Month activities around the state, the historical commission said.

The Presidio is where Col. James Fanin and nearly 400 Texians were held prisoner March 1836 after a defat at the Battle of Coleto.

They were later executed in what became known as the Goliad masscacre.

The THC and the Presidio la Bahia are investigating two possible massacre sites and doing archival research to locate a third.

Click Here For Texas Historical Commission Web Site