USA > Texas > A School History of Texas: From Its Discovery in 1685 to 1893. For the Use of Schools, Academies, Convents, Seminaries, and all Institutions of Learning > Part 2
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Duhaut and Liotot were killed. Hiens took possession of the treasure, dressed himself in La Salle's scarlet uniform, and offered himself a leader to the peaceable Indians. Seven of the men remained for a time with Hiens. Only five were known to have returned to France. De Marle was afterwards drowned in Red River.
The Carancahuas were accused of the death or dispersion of those who remained in the fort. The Spanish claimed to have found several among the Indians, whom they restored to their friends. A veil is over their fate.
This was the first attempt at colonization in Texas by white men.
QUESTIONS .- By whom was the right of Texas claimed ? First, by what rights did Spain lay her claims ? Second ? Third ? Fourth ? Had Spain made any attempt to
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occupy Texas ? What of the account of the four men from the West Indies ? What effect had this upon the Spanish ? What did Coronado do ? What did the French in Canada learn from the Indians? What did the French undertake ? Who was their leader ? What was the result of his visit to France after the second expedition ? By whom was it fitted out ? Of what did it consist ? From where and when did they sail ? What occurred during a storm ? What course did the remaining vessels pursue after the storm ? What occurred at the crossing of the bar ? When did some of the men land ? What did others do ? What name was given the river ? What was their first work ? What calamity now happened ? What occurred on March 12? What happened to the men sent to bring up the last remaining vessel ? How was the summer spent ? The win- ter ? What was the result ? What did La Salle do in April, 1686 ? What occurred while he was with these Indians ? What did he find on his recovery ? What did he do ? What was the condition of affairs on their arrival at the fort ? What did La Salle then resolve to do ? When did he leave his colony ? What did he do with the merchandise ? How did they travel ? How many were left behind, and who was in charge? Who accompanied him ? For what purpose did they halt ? What occurred while the party was out hunting ? What did La Salle do ? What was the result ? What was the date of this occurrence ? What became of Duhaut and Liotot ? What did Hiens then do ? What finally became of the remaining men ? Of what were the Carancahuas accused ? What did the Spanish claim ? What was this expedition ?
CHAPTER III.
JEALOUSY OF SPANIARDS AROUSED-VISIT OF DE LEON TO TEXAS-DISCOVERIES OF DE LEON, WHO PROJECTS MIS- SIONS-ARRIVAL OF TERAN WITH PRIESTS FOR MISSIONS -ABANDONMENT OF MISSIONS.
WHEN the Viceroy of Mexico, Count de Monclova, learned, from Don Alonzo de Leon, Governor of Coahuila, through information conveyed by wandering Indians to the Roman Catholic missionary, Fray Damien Martinez, that there were white men with beards living on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, not far from the Rio Grande, he ordered De Leon to collect all the available troops from the garrisons at Saltillo and Monclova, penetrate into Texas, and exterminate every foreigner in the country.
Leaving Monclova (capital of Coahuila) March 23, 1689, with Father Martinez, De Leon crossed into Texas, and, with friendly Indians as guides, on the 26th day of April reached the place where La Salle had attempted a settlement. They
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found the ruins of Fort St. Louis, a house with the inscrip- tion "1685," and farther down the bay the wreck of La Belle. Not a Frenchman was to be found, nor any tidings heard of the women who had been left in the fort. All was deserted. De Leon caused mass to be celebrated, and took possession in the name of the King of Spain. The Indians did not wish to be baptized unless the father would go with them to their country, which was "far away." Extending his travels, De Leon visited the Indian villages on the Trinity and Neches. At the latter place the Indians retained a friendly recollection of La Salle. Here he found two French- men, whom he accused of being accessory to La Salle's death, and, it was said, condemned them to perpetual labor in the mines of Mexico.
The Indians embraced the Spaniards cordially, exclaiming "Friends ! Friends !" (Tehias ! Tehias!) Receiving evi- dences from other Indians of similar good-will, he called them all " Tehias," hence the name " Texas." [See Spanish records in San Antonio. ] (All Mexico, after the conquest, bore the name of "New Spain.")
Returning to Monclova, De Leon reported to the viceroy that there was not a foreigner on the soil of Texas. It was then resolved by the council of the viceroy to establish a mission at Fort St. Louis, La Salle's fort.
In 1690 De Leon returned to Texas, and projected the missions of "San Francisco," at Fort St. Louis, and "San Juan Bautisto," near the Rio Grande, which became a presi- dio, or fortified mission.
The King of Spain favored the establishment of missions in Texas, as thereby the Indians would be brought under control, made useful in the development of the country, and serve as barriers to the entrance of foreigners.
In 1691 De Leon's successor, Don Domingo de Teran, with nine Franciscan friars, under the supervision of Fray Juan Capistran, Commissioner-General of Missions, came into the
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country, with extensive preparations for the establishment and protection of missions and the cultivation of farms, and ranches for horses and cattle, and soldiers, for protection against hostile Indians ; also for bringing reluctant subjects within reach of religious instruction. Teran established missions in the east, and on the principal streams where the Indians had villages, placed the friars in charge, and, as the Indians exhibited no hostility, the enterprise promised well. San Antonio was laid out in 1692, and shared largely in the benefits dispensed by Teran. In May, 1693, Don Gregorio Salinas led an expedition into Texas, for a similar purpose, but finding that the Indians had rebelled, and that drought had destroyed the crops and the pastures, he advised the abandonment of the country; to which Philip of Spain added, "Until such time as circumstances should offer more hope of success."
QUESTIONS .- How did the Viceroy of Mexico learn of La Salle's expedition ? What did he order De Leon to do ? When did De Leon leave Monclova ? What did he find on his arrival at Fort St. Louis ? What did he then do ? Where did he go next ? Whom did he find at Neches ? What was their fate ? How did the Indians receive the Spaniards ? What is the meaning of " Tehias " ? What was De Leon's report on his return ? What was then determined ? What did De Leon do in 1690 ? Why did the King of Spain favor missions in Texas ? For what purpose did De Leon's successor come into the country ? Where were missions established ? When was San Antonio laid out ? When did Don Gregorio enter Texas ? What did he advise ?
CHAPTER IV. FRENCH EXPEDITIONS RENEWED.
THE French renewed their claim to Texas in 1699. Iber- ville, the French Governor of Louisiana, in a plan to settle a colony on the Mississippi, assumed the Rio Grande as the southwestern boundary of Louisiana, based upon the attempts of La Salle to colonize at Fort St. Louis under the patronage of Louis XIV. of France. This claim was not established. Again, in 1712, King Louis XIV. of France granted the valley
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of the Mississippi and its branches to an enterprising French- man-Anthony Crozat. He claimed Texas for the French, and included in his plans the opening up of a national thoroughfare through the country for purposes of commerce between Louisiana and Mexico. He also hoped to obtain an interest in the mines of Mexico. After about five years of experiments and spending large amounts of money, with losses of merchandise and imprisonment of his agents under suspicion of carrying on a contraband trade, he surrendered his charter in 1717 to a French Mississippi trading com- pany .* This company sent a lieutenant and about twenty-
* Romantic experience of St. Denis, one of the agents of Anthony Crozat, condensed from the records of this expedition in the old archives of San Antonio, translated by Senor de Castro.
"Jeaucereau de St. Denis was a young officer from the French army in Canada-a man of extraordinary strength, gifted with an iron will, a fine personal appearance, a good education, and the heart of a lion."
He started from Mobile, then the capital of Louisiana, came up the Mis- sissippi and Red Rivers to the Natchitoches, where he founded the present city of that name. He had with him thirty hunters and trappers from Canada. Twelve of these he took with him, and leaving the remainder at his small fort at Natchitoches to watch the Spaniards, who had a small garrison at Nacog- doches to watch the French, he started in August, 1714, on the expedition, taking with him an amount of merchandise to trade with the Mexicans in exchange for cattle and horses.
They travelled west, and arrived at the Neches, where, twenty-six years before, La Salle met his tragic death. The friendly Indians at this place furnished him guides across the country to the Presidio of San Juan Bautista, near the Rio Grande, a mission and an extreme frontier post.
On arriving at the post he immediately exhibited to Villesecas, the military commander of that post, his passport from Cordillac, the French Governor of Louisiana, which represented that the bearer had only in view to establish a trade between Mexico and Louisiana.
Villesecas detained St. Denis under pretext of obtaining the consent of Don Gaspardo Anaya, Governor of Coahuila, to so new an enterprise, while he extended to the handsome young cavalier the elegant hospitalities of his house.
In the meantime he had captivated the heart of the Donna Maria Villesecas, the young daughter of the commandante. Unhappily for them, Governor Anaya was a jealous, because unsuccessful, suitor for the young lady's hand. After a long delay the governor sent an escort of twenty-five heavily armed
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five soldiers to occupy Fort St. Louis, which was, however, but a temporary expedition.
In 1718-19, during the war between France and Spain, Bernard de la Harpe, by direction of Bienville, the French
men, who took St. Denis in irons to Monclova, where he was imprisoned. The governor visited him in his cell, and offered him his freedom on condition that he would relinquish his claim to the young lady's hand. This he indig- nantly refused to do.
Anaya increased the rigors of his imprisonment, and, at the end of six months, sent a messenger to the Donna Maria, offering to release St. Denis if she would marry him, but if she refused, St. Denis should die. She replied that she would never marry him, and that if St. Denis was put to death by his order, or died in consequence of harsh treatment, his own life should surely pay the forfeit.
She sent a trusty messenger to the Viceroy of Mexico, informing him that "a young Frenchman, supposed to be a spy, had been for six months in the hands of the Governor of Coahuila, who was holding him for the ransom which he hoped to appropriate to his own use."
The viceroy sent an armed guard, and St. Denis, heavily ironed, was placed on horseback and taken to the City of Mexico, where he was again imprisoned.
His hair and beard had grown so that his physiognomy could hardly be seen. No one, in that miserable being, broken down by suffering, would ever have recognized the gallant French adventurer.
After several months' delay, Donna Maria sent a messenger to the viceroy, with the following note : " In the prisons of Mexico a gentleman is unjustly detained, and upon whose character the good faith of your excellency has been betrayed. Before God you will be accountable for his death, now that you are notified."
The viceroy sent a French officer who had taken service in the Spanish army, as many French officers did, with a squad of soldiers, to inspect all the prisons in the city. The officer and soldiers entered unannounced into St. Denis' cell, who supposed his last hour was at hand.
" The officer advanced towards that human form which lay prostrate on the floor of the cell, and addressed him in Spanish : 'Who are you, and why are you here ?' He answered feebly in French : 'My name is Jeaucereau St. Denis. I am a gentleman by birth, a prisoner by treason, and I am wait- ing for justice to be done me.'"
The officer, much excited, asked, " Were you not born in Canada ? "
"Yes."
"You have been raised in France ?"
"Yes."
"Did you not go to Louisiana to make a fortune ? "
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Colonial Governor of Louisiana, undertook an expedition for the purpose of establishing the French claim. .
With a small command he entered the country, broke up the missions in the east and at Nacogdoches, driving the
" Yes."
He then ordered the irons to be instantly stricken from him, and embraced the shrunken figure affectionately.
" And who are you ?" asked St. Denis.
"I am the Marquis of Lanarge."
The surprise and joy were mutual. They found in each other the play- mate of childhood and the schoolmate of later years, whose paths had diverged to meet again in this remarkable manner.
St. Denis remained in that gay capital until his health was restored, the recipient of devoted attention from admiring friends (as he always was). He afterwards rescued the viceroy, the Duke of Linarez, from three masked ruffians. He received urgent and tempting invitations to join the Spanish service. "I can serve but one God and one king. I am a Frenchman, and, much as I esteem the Spaniards, I must remain a Frenchman."
He had improved the opportunity to place before the viceroy the plans of Crozat, urging upon his notice the great advantage it would be to Mexico to share in a more extended commerce, by which also he was able to explain the reasons for his strange adventures. This proposal was treated with the usual delays, and finally refused, under pretext of a "decree " from the King of Spain.
He determined to return to the Presidio, claim his bride, look after the goods he had left, and report himself in readiness to renew the enterprise, notwithstanding the opposition of the King of Spain.
The viceroy parted with him reluctantly, furnished him funds for his journey, presented him the finest horse in his stable, an escort to accompany him to Coahuila, and written authority for the arrest of Anaya, or the privi- lege of inflicting upon him any chastisement he might think proper. (St. Denis politely pardoned the offending governor, and left him to the chas- tisement of his own conscience and his disappointed love.)
On arriving at the Presidio he found the commandante in the greatest consternation. The Indians of the mission had rebelled, folded their tents and left, with all their flocks and herds, women and children. St. Denis mounted his horse and started alone in pursuit of them. As he approached them in their slow march, now nearing the Nueces River, he elevated his pocket-handkerchief upon the point of his sword, when the chief ordered a halt. He went into the midst of them, and they pressed closely around him to hear his " talk."
Assisted by his intimate knowledge of the Indian character (acquired in Louisiana), his natural vivacity, and more by his power over men, he success-
·
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Mexican settlers, priests, and mission Indians before him to San Antonio.
He was met by the Marquis de Aguyas, successor of Anaya, Governor of Coahuila, with an army of five hundred men. Retreating to the Neches he remained among the friendly Indians, which was regarded by Alarconne (a new Spanish governor) as a menace. He was not able to dislodge La
fully pictured to them their folly in abandoning their lands and homes with- out knowing where to plant their tents, with the dangers to which they were exposing their women and children from wandering savages and probable starvation. He kindly urged their chief to tell him their grievances.
He listened attentively, and replied, pledging the honor of the whole Spanish nation for their immediate and entire redress.
The Indians embraced him warmly, and signified their willingness to return with him. They followed his lead, and reentered the Presidio more like an army flushed with victory than the surly Indians they were so short a time since.
St. Denis and the daughter of the commandante were married ; when, after further vain attempts to gain the consent of the government to his plans, he returned to Mobile, having been absent two years.
He did not, however, abandon the enterprise, but returned to the Presidio, and, finding that his goods had been confiscated, went to the City of Mexico to demand redress, and again to urge his plans upon the favorable notice of the government.
A new viceroy, Marquis de Valero, had succeeded the Duke de Linarez, his bitter enemy. Anaya, still Governor of Coahuila, wrote of St. Denis to the viceroy, representing him as a man dangerous to the tranquillity of the government. "For," he urged, "nothing less could induce a man to undertake such a journey a second time." St. Denis was arrested and again thrown into a Mexican dungeon. His wife went in person to the City of Mexico and made representations of the truth to many influential persons, who, taking advantage of the extreme unpopularity of the viceroy, procured his imme- diate release, and also remuneration for his losses. On his return he was accompanied by Ramon, with friars and soldiers, for establishing missions.
St. Denis returned a second time to Mobile, and, from a broad, plain trail made across the country, it was believed that a considerable contraband trade was carried on through the Presidio. St. Denis was placed in com- mand of the fort at Natchitoches, and in 1729 became instrumental in defeat- ing a deeply laid plot among the Natchez Indians in Mississippi and Louisi- ana, and several Indian tribes in Texas, for the extermination of all the white inhabitants. He was, however, afterwards killed by the Natchez in a general fight, when they regarded him as a superhuman enemy.
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Harpe, nor would the latter disavow the French claim to Texas. This was followed up by two unsuccessful attempts by Bellisle in 1719-21, when all further attempts by the French to hold possession of Texas were abandoned.
QUESTIONS .- Did the French abandon their claim to Texas ? Who renewed it ? Upon what grounds ? Was the claim established ? What scheme was undertaken in 1712 ? Was it successful ? What became of Crozat's charter ? What further effort did the French make to establish their claim to Texas ? What policy did De la Harpe pursue towards the occupants of the country ? What impeded his advance ? Were the French finally successful ?
CHAPTER V.
PRIESTS RESTORED TO THEIR CHURCHES-COLONISTS FROM CANARY ISLANDS - MEXICO ECONOMIZES - REDUCES NUMBER OF SOLDIERS FOR PROTECTION OF MISSIONS AND SETTLERS.
IN 1715 Don Domingo Ramon, with soldiers and sup- plies, returned from Mexico to Texas with St. Denis on his second expedition, and, leaving a small number of men at San Antonio, visited the old missionary localities in the east, and restored many of the fathers to their churches. The next year Ramon sent an express to the Viceroy of Mexico, to the effect that they were on the borders of starvation, and unless supplies were sent immediately he should be compelled to abandon the country. Valleo, the Viceroy of Mexico, immediately forwarded supplies of food, with addi- tional soldiers, laborers, and artisans to instruct the Indians.
In 1716 the mission service was vastly improved by the arrival of Father Antonio Margil de Jesus. It was said of him, " His sermons would so impress his audiences that he would reform the most perverted characters."
In 1719 many of the missions were removed to San Antonio.
In 1727 Texas became a separate province from Coahuila,
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under the name of " New Philippines." (Coahuila was called New Estramadura.) The first governor of the new province was Don Juan Antonio Bustillos y Cervallos.
San Antonio became the capital of the new province, " though," it was suggested, "the Presidio of our Lady del Pilar de los Adaes should have been the capital, on account of its being on the frontier, where they could better have watched against the encroachments of the French."
The Presidio of San Antonio was entitled to irrigable lands for agricultural purposes, pasturage for the necessary cattle and horses, and a garrison under a military command- ante. The churches, residences, storehouses, and prisons were arranged around a square and enclosed in walls. Huts outside the walls were for the Indians of the mission .*
In 1728 the Governor-general of Coahuila, in his report to the king, said that it was impossible to colonize Texas with priests and bayonets, and suggested that colonists should be brought from the Canary Islands (belonging to Spain), from Tlascala in Mexico, always the allies of the Spaniards, and from the vicinity of Matamoras, the expenses to be borne by the royal treasury. Accordingly, in July, 1731, the Marquis of Casa Fuerte brought sixteen families from the Canary Islands, and settled them in the new town of Juan Fernando, t
* The priests who planted the cross in Mexico were monks of the order of San Francisco, originally from Naples. Their founder, San Francisco de Assaesi, prohibited learning among them, instructing them to "preach and beg." Afterwards these exactions were relaxed, and many among them became men of learning. They extended from Italy into Spain, where they established colleges of their order, and when the Spaniards conquered Mexico, these priests came and founded the two colleges of Zacatecas and Queretero.
t In Mexico they found a worshipping people, with cities and temples, and were able, with the cross and the sword, gradually to incorporate many of the ceremonies and tenets of the Roman Catholic Church into their pagan wor- ship, and to bring them into the fold of the Church by baptism. A great point gained was the abolition of human sacrifices to their gods.
In Texas the Indians had little religious superstition, and less natural
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across the river from San Antonio. Their transportation and support was said to have cost the royal treasury $72,000. They were granted "partitions" of irrigable lands .* These were the first permanent colonists established in Texas. They became of great value to the country, and from them have descended some of the most substantial, heroic, and honorable settlers of Texas.
The costly experiment was not repeated, and the govern- ment decided to economize. The fort on the Neches was suppressed, and the three garrisons, Adaes, San Antonio, and that on Matagorda Bay, were much reduced. As the result of this economy occurred fresh outbreaks of hostilities by the Comanches and other Indian tribes, who combined to drive all settlers out of the country, roaming as far as Santa Fé, and driving the Spanish soldiery up to the walls of the missions. The Natchez Indians were in coalition in Louisiana. St. Denis met his death in an encounter with them.
veneration. They had no riches to localize their habits or their homes, and it was not an easy task for the fathers to obtain a permanent influence over them.
* The missions were most of them located in the heart of a picturesque country, with fertile lands, seldom failing to return abundant increase for the labor of the husbandman. Their flocks and herds fed upon the ever green commons. The presence of the Mexican soldiery, with the strong walls which surrounded the buildings, were guarantees of personal security to the priest, as well as of protection to his accumulations. (The surplus of production was at the disposal of the friars, who, though forbidden to claim any earthly possessions, had control of the funds, should there be any, after the expenses of the mission were paid.) If these fathers were isolated from the luxurious living into which the gloomy order had drifted in Mexico, they were also exempt from the severe exactions to which the inferior clergy were subject under the eye of the archbishop. While they taught the Indians, they were their masters, with the means of punishment for disobedience always at hand.
Many thousands of the Indians were baptized, from the first beginning of the missions until their decline, and many conformed their lives to the require- ments of the Church while they were inmates of the missions, receiving in return for their obedience the necessaries of life, the care of their sick and aged, Christian burial after death, and the hopes for the future which it was the office of the Church to inspire. -
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To punish them, in 1732 the governor, Cervalles, collected a force and pursued them. He entered their villages, and inflicted such a chastisement as insured a period of peace.
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