USA > Texas > History of Texas : from 1685 to 1892, volume 1 > Part 2
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
The proposed innovation upon the established rule of ex- clusion of foreigners could not be considered in Mexico until the King of Spain gave his consent. St. Dennis, therefore, determined to return to the Presidio. In reply to the Vice- roy's renewed offer of high rank in the Spanish army, he replied : " I can serve but one God. I am a Frenchman and, as much as I esteem the Spaniards, I wish to remain a French- man." At parting the Viceroy expressed his admiration for him and assured him that in any emergency he might command his friendship and his sword.
The Duke of Linares provided St. Dennis liberally with funds, horses and a strong escort, for his journey. Passing through Monclova he paid a visit to the Governor, his rival, and had the satisfaction of assuring him that, as far as per- sonal revenge was concerned, he need fear nothing. Pass- ing to the Presidio, he had the happiness of renewing his troth with the young lady, and an opportunity to overcome the opposition of her father. He found the Presidio in con- fusion, and the commander, Villesecas, in the greatest con- sternation and absolutely held at bay. The Indians, living in five villages around the fort, had rebelled against the exac- tions of the Spaniards and left their reservations, and were abroad in arms. St. Dennis pursued them alone, and, as their women and children were with them and they were removing all their effects, soon overtook them. He raised his white handkerchief upon the point of his sword. It was recognized and the Indians immediately halted. They soon surrounded him, and so vividly did he picture to them the folly of abandoning their homes and going forth with not a spot of earth they could claim whereon to pitch a tent, the exposure of their women and children to the rapacity of wild beasts and still wilder and more ferocious Indians, that they soon began to hang their heads in doubt. St. Dennis, seizing this favorable moment, pledged the honor of the Spanish government that they would receive the indemnity claimed by
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them, and that the burdens they complained of would be promptly removed. This appeal and promises had the desired effect, and they peacefully returned to their former homes.
The young Castilian beauty was his reward. After two years' delay, awaiting an answer from the court of Spain, which, when it came, was in the negative, he returned to Mobile, leaving his wife at the Presidio.
The unsuccessful issue of this first expedition under St. Dennis caused Anthony Crozat, disappointed of the quick returns of wealth which he had anticipated, to, in 1717, sur- render his charter to a Mississippi French trading company.
St. Dennis, for the double purpose of visiting his wife and renewing his exertions in favor of opening a line of commer- cial communication between Coahuila and Natchitoches, where it would appear, his Canadians had been the nucleus for a fort and a town, left Mobile again to perform the hazardous journey, with three Canadians. There appears on the map a . trail marked " the contraband trail, laid out in 1714, from the Presidio across the Sabine." He again paid the Cenis Indians a visit and at their camp on the Neches separated from his companions, and hastened on to the Presidio. Finding that goods which he had left there had been seized, he made that loss an excuse for going on to the city of Mexico for the alleged purpose of procuring redress. At the capital he hoped, in fact, to obtain permission to perfect and carry into effect his former plans.
His friends, however, were no longer in power. On the contrary, the new Viceroy, the Marquis of Valero, was on terms of ill-will with most of them, and especially with Linares.
St. Dennis' old enemy, Gaspardo de Anaya, still smarting under the remembrance of past humiliation, represented him as a suspicious character, whom it would be safe to imprison, as nothing short of a plot against the government could have
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induced him to undertake such an unheard of and perilous journey.
He was accordingly imprisoned. Again his wife testified her devotion. In person she went to the city of Mexico, and by earnest appeals and protestations of his innocence, aroused the enemies of Valero, who were numerous, and who went in a body to the prison and forcibly released St. Dennis and afterwards compelled the Viceroy to reimburse him for his loss in double the value of his goods.
The friends of St. Dennis, proposed to furnish him with a strong escort to conduct him out of the country. This he refused, saying, " I have three means of defense against two scoundrels -my good steed, my trusty sword and the Indians." He returned to Mobile in safety. It was truly said of him: " He has the soul of a true knight, in a body of steel."
It has been said that he had great magnetic power. This was acknowledged to a wonderful degree by the Indians. He had been appointed to command the fort at Natchitoches, and was brought in contact with them far and near, and could at any time on short notice command the willing services of 6,000 or 7,000 warriors.
The Natchez particularly feared him and after the massacre of the French settlers in Louisiana by that tribe, on the 28th of November, 1729, the chiefs, believing that he would collect his friendly Indian forces and exterminate them, sent 200 warriors to entrap him. These, upon arriving near the fort (garrisoned by 30 soldiers) were discovered by the guards. The Natchez warriors sent a delegation to him, addressing him as " big chief," and begged him to make up the quarrel between them and the French. As proof of their desire for peace they proposed to surrender to him a French woman, whom they had long held a prisoner. To this St. Dennis agreed, stipulating only that but ten warriors must come within the fort to surrender the woman. The Indians retorted
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
that to refuse to receive them all showed a lack of confidence in them that they did not deserve. He persisted, and ordered them to instantly surrender the prisoner, for whom he promised to pay a ransom.
The Natchez, suspecting the real condition of the fort, thereupon began fortifying their camp and erected in front of their tents a funeral pyre upon which they bound the woman. St. Dennis hastily sent messengers to his friendly Indians, and with twenty men from the fort at once made a furious attack upon the Natchez. At the first onslaught all of his men but eight were killed. For two hours he fought against desperate odds, hoping that reinforcements would arrive. " He was seen," says an historian of the time, " springing like a lion among the crowd of warriors, forcing them back. He looked like an angel of vengeance accom- plishing his work of destruction, invincible himself in the terrible fray. He fell at last, hit by three bullets in the head and two arrows in his breast." There were but two survivors. The Natchez ceased firing and retired.
In 1719, war having been declared between France and Spain, Bernard de La Harpe invaded Texas from Louisiana with French troops, intending to drive out all Spanish mis- sionaries and settlers. He was met near San Antonio and driven back by a Spanish force. He had however the persis- tency and hardihood to stop on the Neches river among the Nasonite Indians, instead of recrossing the Sabine. This gave rise to a spirited correspondence between himself and the Spanish Governor, as to boundaries and claims.
The struggles of the French to sustain their claim to Texas, though persistent, were feeble, and ended where they began, at Matagorda Bay. The last effort was in 1721, when Bel- lisle was sent by Bienville to plant a colony at La Salle's old fort. This also was unsuccessful.
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CHAPTER II. SPANISH MISSIONS AND MISSIONARIES.
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Texas Indians, Their Haunts and Mode of Life -Objects had in View in the V Establishment of Missions -The Missionaries, Monks of the Order of
San Francisco de Assaesi - Rules of their Order - Methods adopted to Civilize the Indians - Father Margil, the Catholic Apostle of Mexico - Names, Location and a Brief Review of the History of a Number of Texas Missions -Texas Created a Separate Province with its own Governor.
The Texas Indians occupied separate localities, each tribe with its own chief, habits and language, and did not, like the Indians of Mexico, build cities and temples, cultivate the soil, manufacture cloths, establish schools of art, etc.
The Lipans and Carancahuas inhabited the coast country along the lower waters of the Colorado and Brazos rivers and were mostly fishermen. They were expert swimmers and, especially the Lipans, were swift of foot. Among the Lipans La Salle founded his first settlement and received from them _many evidences of a kindly disposition.
The adjoining nation to the east was the Cenis, inhabiting the San Jacinto valley, the country contiguous to Buffalo Bayou and the Trinity River, their principal villages being ; situated on the Trinity. When the French discovered them in 1686, they reported them as hospitable and kind, with large and populous villages. Their huts were thus described : " Trees are planted closely and their branches united above and covered with grass, some of them as high as 40 or 50 feet. Their beds are arranged around the cabins, three or four feet from the ground. The fire is in the middle. Each hut contains two families. They raise corn, and, through the Comanches, obtain from Mexico horses, money and silver- ware."
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Between the Neches and the Sabine, were the Ascenais, the Adaes and Aes, parts of the great Caddo nation, in, disposition and habits of life resembling the Cenis .;
The Toncahuas roamed between the Colorado and Guada-j lupe, below the mountains which separated them, from their enemies, the Comanches. The Wacos ( Spanish, Hueco ) had their main village in the interior, their central territory being the valley of the Brazos ; while, nearly allied with them, on, the north and east were the Tehuacanos. Other tribes had movable ? villages or led a strictly nomadic life. The Co -; manches and Kiowas, veritable Arabs of the desert, moving quickly on their horses from point to point, as inclination or interest dictated, were mostly on the north and northwest, remote , from the coast. Depredating on the Aztecs before conquest and before horses came from Spain, they transferred their depredations to the Spaniards on their advent. The Comanche and Kiowas were a murderous, thieving, blood- thirsty race. The Bedais were on the Trinity; and, in the region of Goliad, were the Anaquas, one of the earliest tribes' to become extinct. Remnants yet exist of the Anadarcos, Ionies, Keechis, Wichitas, and other tribes.
The establishment of Missions in Texas was, a means re- sorted to by the Spaniards, to obtain control of and convert the Indians from dangerous neighbors to profitable vassals, and to create formidable barriers to the intrusion of foreign- ers into the country. At the same time it was hoped that the spread of the Roman Catholic religion among the aborigines would have the same beneficent effect morally, as was claimed for it in Mexico. The missionaries, monks of the order of San Francisco, were eminently qualified for the gloomy undertak- ing. ' Originally, they were from Naples, Afterwards, be- coming divided into sects, they ,extended into Spain. San. Francisco de Assaesi, their founder, prohibited learning. His principal injunctions to them was to " preach and beg." The severe discipline prescribed by him and the command
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respecting intellectual culture were afterward relaxed and many men of learning have emanated from their colleges. Monks of this order accompanied Cortez to Mexico, and to their zeal the country was indebted for the founding of the Franciscan colleges at Zacatecas and Queretaro. In coming to their work in Texas these friars had little temptation to violate the rules of their order " to go barefoot, wear coarse woolen frocks, fastened about the body with a string, wear a scourge or knotted rope suspended from the waist; deny themselves all social family intercourse, and .claim for their own no earthly possession."
It was to be expected that their wants, which in Mexico had gone far beyond their necessities, would at first be supplied from the abundance which was so rapidly enriching the church in that country.1
It was not the duty of the priest or soldier to labor with his hands - enough that the former brought the cross and the latter the sword.
As a first step toward christianizing the Indians, it was necessary to induce them to adopt settled habitations, and abandon their customary hunting, fishing and predatory expe- ditions. To accomplish this they were gathered about the Missions and an effort made to convert them into tillers of the soil.
It is hard to understand by what subtle method the monks first enticed these Arabs of the hills and plains of Texas within reach of their teachings, and compelled them to the observance of regular and rigid rules of living; but images of saints, gorgeously attired, pictures illustrative of the passion of the Savior, the awe-inspiring elevation of the Host, illu- minations, feast days, presents of food and clothing, medical attention for the sick and care of the aged and infirm, all
1 In 1685, La Salle brought from Rochelle, France, as part of his colony ou Matagorda Bay, a missionary force of seven priests - four of them Recollect fathers, and three priests of St. Sulpitius.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
congenial to the natural superstition and cupidity of the Indians, were doubtless the chief inducements used. " First," wrote a venerable father, " we have to transform these savages into men and then labor for their conversion to Christianity."
In the beginning the Mission buildings were, many of them, temporary structures and, scattered over an immense stretch of sparsely settled territory, their existence was often precarious.
To nothing can the comparison - " Like the baseless fabric of a dream " - be more appropriately applied than to the labors of the missionaries in Texas. Here and there voiceless ruins, within whose walls once knelt throngs of worshipers; or a ditch for conveying water through their fields, silently reminded the living of their century and a half of toil. Here and there Time's effacing fingers have spared ( much affected by decay ) statuary and bits of carving that attest the artistic skill and patience employed in the construction of many of the Missions. And the Indians, too, are gone. It remains for us, as a tribute to the memory of the self-sacrificing Francis- can monks, to consult the few and almost obliterated records that they have left and to convey some general idea as to their work ; what they accomplished and what they attempted to accomplish with sword and crozier.1
It was the custom of the Spaniards, in taking formal pos- session of a place, to erect a cross, celebrate mass and the communion and baptize all the inhabitants who could be induced to receive that ordinance. Such places became the nuclei for churches, which, if properly located, were garri- soned for defense. Grounds were then added, as occasion required, and they in time became presidios, or cathedrals. Bodies of land, amounting sometimes to twenty-five miles square, were appropriated to each Mission for purposes of
1 In 1794, when the control of the presidios was taken from the Fran- ciscan friars and they were placed under pastors, their archives were taken to Mexico with the friars.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
agriculture and raising stock. Each Presidio or military garrison attached to a Mission of the highest order, had usually about two hundred and fifty soldiers governed by a commandant. The buildings at a Mission were arranged around a square, and consisted of a church, residences for officers, priests and soldiers and store houses and prisons. Houses designed for protection against wild Indians were usually inclosed within walls of strong masonry or stones. Huts for the converted Indians were situated outside such walls. Unmarried Indians of either sex occupied separate huts which were locked at night, the priests carrying the keys. A certain amount of labor was exacted from them, and they were required to conform strictly to the ceremonies of their religion. Any failure upon their part was punished by whip- ping inflicted by the soldiers - the women being chastised privately, the men in public. Favored Indians were exalted to the position of proselyters. The skilled artisans among the friars taught them to work on the buildings, and husbandry was taught them as well as it was then understood.
In 1690, having left a few men in San Antonio in 1689, De Leon again visited Texas and established a temporary Mission on the Trinity ; and in 1691 Teran, with the nine Franciscan friars, established Missions as far east and north- east as Red River.
The friars at the Mission at Nacogdoches and the Missions among the Asinaes, Adaes and Aes Indians, in the same region, were mostly dispersed during the contentions between the French and Spaniards, and, with their Indians, removed to San Antonio.
When Don Domingo Ramon came through the country with St. Dennis in 1714, leaving twenty-five men at San Antonio, he took back to these Missions the priests whom La Harpe and other French leaders had driven off.
In 1716, the great Catholic apostle of Mexico, Fray Don Antonio Margil de Jesus, established, with other priests, six
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HISTORY OF TEXAS.
missions in the northern part of Texas. In that year, Ramon, from the Mission of Nacogdoches, sent an express to Valero, Viceroy of Mexico, beseeching him to supply the settlers at that place with food, as they were on the point of starvation. Subsistence, soldiers and artisans were forwarded, with in- structions to teach trades to the Indians. Father Margil was a successful minister, teacher and father to his flocks, and to his labors, more than to those of any other friar, are due the conversion and civilization of large numbers of Indians.
In June, 1719, during the war between France and Spain, the missionaries and their flocks again retired from the east to San Antonio, but these Missions were afterward re-estab- lished and made more secure by Viceroy Valero, who ordered Miguel de Aguayo to take the priests and their flocks, back, and 500 cavalry soldiers to divide among them. Thus pro- tected, settlers congregated around the Missions, and they enjoyed a measure of prosperity.
In 1703 the Alamo was founded on the Rio Grande as the mission of San Jose. It was then moved into the interior and named San Ildefonso; then back to the Rio Grande and named San Francisco Solane. Seventeen or eighteen years later, it was removed by Father Margil to San Antonio de Bexar and located at San Pedro Springs, under the name of San Antonio de Valero. In 1732, it was moved to the Military Plaza and in 1744 it was moved to its present locality and afterwards christened The Alamo.
The Mission of Concepcion, on the left bank of the San Antonio River, about two miles below the city, dates back to March 5th, 1731, the day of laying the corner stone by Captain Perez, of the garrison, and Father Bargarro.
The San Jose Mission, standing on the right bank of the San Antonio River, four miles below the city, was founded in 1720, by Father Margil, and was fifty-three years in reaching completion, before which time the reverend Father died and was buried in the city of Mexico. The beautifully carved
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images which adorned it were made by an artist named Huicar ( We-kar) who was sent over from Spain for the purpose.
The Mission of San Juan Capistrano and San Francisco de Espada ( with its sword shaped tower ) respectively situated eight and twelve miles below San Antonio, were also founded by Father Margil.
San Saba Mission, on the San Saba River, in Menard County, was founded in 1734, by a company of Fathers from Santa Fé, for the special spiritual benefit of the Comanche Indians, and gave great encouragement to the Fathers until the open- ing of the San Saba silver mines in the neighborhood of the Fort. The opening of these mines resulted in the demoraliza- tion of the Indians. Seizing an opportunity, when the few soldiers stationed at the Mission were absent, they turned upon the missionaries, and put all of them to death. The present handsome Cathedral of San Antonio is a new front added in 1868 to the parish church of San Fernandez, built in 1732, and named for Ferdinand, King of Spain. The last Mission which the Franciscans established in Texas, was that of Refugio, in the present town of that name, in 1790.
In 1727 Texas, with the Medina for its western boundary, became a Province, with its own Governor, Don Juan Antonio Bustillos y Cevallos.
CHAPTER III.
San Antonio laid out into blocks and by Don Antonio de Villa and Senor y Sanchez - Town of San Fernando on opposite side of River - Colonization at the National Expense recommended by the Marquis de Aguayo - Colo- nists from the Canary Islands and elsewhere - Expense of introducing im- migrants so great as to prevent the further prosecution of the scheme - Settlers harassed by the Comanches - Comanches chastised by Governor Cevallos - Sandoval appointed Governor of the New Philipenas - The Honda Creek agreed upon as the Boundary between Texas and Louisiana- Boundary Disputes - Persecution of Sandoval by Franquiz and the new Viceroy, Vizaroni - Condition of the country after Sandoval's removal - Barter and sale of Colonies - Disastrous Flood - Harsh immigration rules retard Settlement - Spanish jealousy revived by Claims made by the United States founded on La Salle's Exploration.
San Antonio - or the Presidio de Bexar - was laid out and divided into blocks, by streets, for settlers by Don Jose Antonio de Villa and Senor y Sanchez, Comptroller-General of the Royal Accounts of Quick-silver and Cosmographer of the Kingdom of New Spain, or Mexico. De Castro says, " It is the capital of the Province of Texas, although the fort or Presidio of our Lady del Pilar de los Adaes should be the capital on account of being situated nearer the frontier."
The Fort or Presidio of San Antonio had then a garrison composed of a Captain, Don Antonio Perez de Almazan ; one Lieutenant, one Ensign, one Sergeant, and forty-seven soldiers. Contiguous to it on the opposite side of the river, was the town of San Fernando, laid out in 1731 by the order of the Marquis of Casa Fuerte, Viceroy of Mexico.
Previous to this, the Marquis de Aguayo, the Governor General of Coahuila, had the sagacity to report to the King of Spain his belief that Texas could never be settled permanently
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by priests and soldiers, and to recommend colonizing at the national expense.1
Accordingly he petitioned for four hundred immigrant families to be introduced, the government to support them for one year. The Canary Islands, then belonging to Spain, had been repeopled in the latter part of the fifteenth century with Spaniards, and from this source, in part, it was pro- posed to draw the new colonists, and in part from Tlascala in Mexico.
The Province of Coahuila was called New Estremadura, and Texas received the name of New Philipenas, after the colon- ists from those islands arrived to settle in it in 1731. Six- teen families from the Canary Islands arrived and in July of that year petitioned the captain, Almazan, for a partition of irrigable lands, which was granted. Several Mexican settlers also arrived.
The great expense of this immigration scheme prevented its repetition, the sum of $72,000 having been already expended. Added to this was the expense of keeping up the garrisons. There could be no immediate returns in money. The Spanish government accordingly sought to reduce expenditures. It suppressed the fort on the Neches, and reduced the military force over the whole province from 243 to 145 men. They were stationed at the garrisons at Adaes, Matagorda Bay and San Antonio.
The settlers at San Antonio soon began to experience the ill effects of this unwise policy in renewed forays of the Comanches and Apaches, who could bring into the field ten thousand mounted warriors familiar with the use of fire-arms as well as the use of bows and arrows. The chief villages of the Comanches and Apaches were situate in the passes of the mountains from 50 to 100 miles from San Antonio. These
1 The Franciscan Fathers were succeeded in their work by Pastors, who were, in about 1839, furnished partly from Kentucky and Missouri.
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Indians however traveled at will over all the country as far as Santa Fe.
In 1732 Governor Cevallos conducted a vigorous campaign against the Indians and surprised them and administered chas- tisement that they did not soon forget. Many of the prison- ers were added to the Church and a period of peace followed in which the colonists substantially improved their condition.
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