diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 4a042c147ba..caedd6cf07b 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -92,7 +92,9 @@ Other Changes
     to be removed in a later release.  While this change does not affect API
     compatibility, it is recommended to update references to these
     deprecated classes.  (ryan)
-     
+
+ 2. SOLR-268: Tweaks to post.jar so it prints the error message from Solr.
+    (Brian Whitman via hossman)
 
 ================== Release 1.2, 20070602 ==================
 
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/SimplePostTool.java b/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/SimplePostTool.java
index 5e545a97c6b..ed71cd6ec92 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/SimplePostTool.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/SimplePostTool.java
@@ -264,8 +264,10 @@ public class SimplePostTool {
       }
       
     } catch (IOException e) {
+      try {
+        fatal("Solr returned an error: " + urlc.getResponseMessage());
+      } catch (IOException f) { }
       fatal("Connection error (is Solr running at " + solrUrl + " ?): " + e);
-      
     } finally {
       if(urlc!=null) urlc.disconnect();
     }