USA > Texas > Bexar County > San Antonio > San Antonio de Bexar; a guide and history > Part 10
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June 5, 1857, to June 30, 1857-Mayor pro tem, J. H. Beck. 1
July 1, 1857, to January 1, 1858-Mayor, A. A. Lockwood. January 1, 1858, to January 1, 1859-Mayor, A. A. Lockwood. January 1, 1859, to January 1, 1860-Mayor, James R. Sweet.
January 1, 1860, to January 1, 1861-Mayor, James R. Sweet.
January 1, 1861, to January 1, 1862-Mayor, James R. Sweet. January 1, 1862, to May 26, 1862-Mayor, James R. Sweet.
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LIST OF MAYORS.
May 26, 1862, to January 1, 1863-Mayor, S. A. Maverick. January 1, 1863, to January 1, 1864-Mayor, P. L. Buquor.
January 1. 1864, to January 1, 1865-Mayor, P. L. Buquor. January 1, 1865, to October 1, 1865-Mayor, J. H. Lyons, to August 15, 1865 ; Mayor pro tem, from August 15 to October 9, 1865, C. F. Fisher.
APPOINTEES OF GOVERNOR HAMILTON, PROVISIONAL GOVERNOR OF TEXAS. . From October, 9, 1865, to August 23, 1866 -- Mayor, D. Cleveland.
Old officers reinstated by act of Legislature, from August 24, 1866, to December 31, 1866-Mayor, J. H. Lyons.
CHARTER ELECTION.
January 1, 1867, to November 8, 1867-Mayor, J. H. Lyons.
Military appointees, by Colonel J. J. Reynolds, U. S. Army, November 8, 1867, to March 28, 1870-Mayor, W. C. A. Thielepape.
APPOINTMENTS OF E. J. DAVIS, GOVERNOR, UNDER ENABLING ACT, FROM MARCH 28, 1870, TO NOVEMBER 12, 1872.
Mayor W. C. A. Thielepape-From March 28, 1870, to March 12, 1872. Mayor S. G. Newton-From March 13, 1872, to November 12, 1872.
CHARTER ELECTION.
November 13, 1872, to January 13, 1873-Mayor, F. Giraud. January 14, 1873, to January 19, 1875-Mayor, F. Giraud. January 19, 1875, to January 19, 1877-Mayor, James H. French. January 19, 1877, to January 25, 1879-Mayor, James H. French. January 25, 1879, to January 25, 1881-Mayor, James H. French. January 25, 1881, to January 25, 1883-Mayor, James H. French. January 25, 1883, to February 1, 1885-Mayor, James H. French. February 1, 1885, to February 1, 1887-Mayor, Bryan Callaghan. February 1, 1887, to February 11, 1889-Mayor, Bryan Callaghan. February 11, 1889, to Mayor, Bryan Callaghan ..
San Antonio de Bexar.
BY SIDNEY LANIER.
F peculiarities were quills, San Antonio de Bexar would be a rare porcupine. Over all the round of aspects in which a thoughtful mind may view a city, it bristles with striking idiosyncracies and bizarre contrasts. Its history, popula- tion, climate, location, architecture, soil, water, customs, costumes, horses, cattle, all attract the stranger's attention, either by force of intrinsic singularity or of odd juxtapositions.
San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, had its birth in 1715. It was, indeed, born before its time, in consequence of a sudden fright into which its mother, Spain, was thrown by the menacing attitudes of certain Frenchmen, who, upon other occasions besides this one, were in those days very much what immortal Mrs. Gamp has declared to Mrs. Harris "these steam-ingines is in our business," a frequent cause of the premature development of projects. For Spain had not intended to allow any settlements, as yet, in that part of her province of the New Philippines which embraced what is now called Texas. In the then situation of her affairs, this policy was not without some reasons to support it. She had valuable possessions in New Mexico ; between these possessions and the French settlements to the eastward, intervened an enormous breadth of country, whose obstacles against intruders, appalling enough in themselves, were yet magnified by the shadowy terrors that haunt an unknown land. Why not fortify her New Mexican silver-inines with these sextuple barriers, droughts, deserts, mountains, rivers, savages, and nameless fears ? Surely, if inclosure could be made impreg- nable, this would seem to be so ; and accordingly the Spanish Government had finally determined, in 1694, not to revive the feeble posts and missions which had been established four years previously with a view to make head against the expedition of La Salle, but which had been abandoned already by soldier and friar, in consequence of the want of food and the ferocity of the savages.
But in 1712, Anthony Crozat, an enterprising French merchant, obtained from Louis XIV a conditional grant to the whole of the French province of Louisiana. Crozat believed that a lucrative trade might be established with the northeastern provinces of Mexico. and that mines might exist in his territory. To test these beliefs, young Huchereau St. Denis, acting under instructions from Cardillac, who had been appointed Governor of Louisiana by Crozat's influence, started westward, left a nucleus of a settlement at Natchitoches, and proceeded
This sketch was written by Sidney Lanier in 1872, so that some of the references to the modern city must to-day be taken cum grano salis, or at least, to a certain extent, as historical. The history throughout the article is, as a rule, excellent and reliable. Exclusive rights in this article have been purchased by the publishers of this work .- W. C., ED.
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SIDNEY LANIER'S HISTORICAL SKETCH.
across the country to the Rio Grande, where his explorations, after romantic adventures too numerous to be related here, came to an inglorious suspension with his seizure and imprisonment by the Spanish Vice-regal authorities in Mexico.
It was this expedition which produced the premature result hereinbefore alluded to. Spain saw that instead of surrounding New Mexico with inhospita- ble wastes and ferocious savages, she was in reality but leaving France free to occupy whatever coigns of vantage might be found in that prodigious Debatable Land, which was claimed by both and was held by neither.
Perhaps this consideration was heightened by Spain's consciousness that the flimsiness of her title to that part of the "New Philippines" which lay east of the Rio Grande, really required an actual occupation in order to bolster it up. Pretty much all that she could prove in support of her claim was, that in 1494 Pope Alexander VI., acting as arbitrator between Portugal and Spain, had assigned to the latter all of the American possessions that lay west of a meridian running three hundred and seventy miles west of the Azores ; that De Leon, De Ayllon, De Narvaez, and De Soto, in voyages made between the years 1512 and 1538, had sailed from Cape Florida to Cape Catorce; and that Philip II. had denounced the penalty of extermination against any foreigner who should enter the Gulf of Mexico or any of the lands bordering thereupon.
These were, to say the least, but indefinite muniments of title ; and to them France could oppose the unquestionable fact that La Salle had coasted the shore of Texas westward to Corpus Christi inlet, had returned along the same route, had explored bays and rivers and named them, and had finally built Fort St. Louis on the Lavacca river in 1685. Here now, in 1714, to crown all, was this daring young Lord Huchereau St. Denis traversing the whole land from Natchi- toches to the Rio Grande, and thrusting in his audacious face like an apparition of energy upon the sleepy routines of post-life and mission-life at San Juan Bautista.
This was alarming ; and in 1715 the Duke of Linares, Viceroy of Mexico, despatched Don Domingo Ramon to Texas with a party of troops and some Fran- ciscan friars, to take steps for the permanent occupation of the country. Ramon established several forts and missions : among others he located a fort or presidio (Spanish, " a garrison "), on the western bank of the San Pedro river, a small stream flowing through the western suburbs of the present city of San Antonio de Bexar, about three-fourths of a mile from the present Main Plaza. This presidio was called San Antonio de Valero. In May, 1718, certain Alcantarine Franciscans, of the College of Querétaro, established a mission under the protec- tion of the presidio, calling it by the same invocation, San Antonio de Valero. It was this mission whose Church of the Alamo afterwards shed so red a glory upon the Texan revolution. It had been founded fifteen years before, in the valley of the Rio Grande, under the invocation of San Francisco Solano ; had been removed to San Ildefonso in 1708, and again rentoved back to the Rio Grande in 1710 under the new invocation of San José. It had not indeed yet reached the end of its wanderings. In 1722 both the presidio and mission of San Antonio de Valero
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SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR.
were removed to what is now known as the Military Plaza, and a permanent system of improvements begun.
Here then, with sword and crozier, Spain set to work at once to reduce her wild claim into possession, and to fulfill the condition upon which Pope Alex- ander had granted her the country-of christianising its natives. One cannot but lean one's head on one's hand to dream out, for a moment, this old. Military Plaza -- most singular spot on the wide expanse of the lonesome Texan prairies- as it was a hundred and fifty years ago. The rude buildings, the church, the hospital, the soldiers' dwellings, the brethren's lodgings, the huts for the con- verted Indians (Yndios Reducidos) stand ranged about the large level quadrangle, so placed upon the same theory of protection which "parks" the wagon-train that will camp this night on the plains. Ah, here they come, the inhabitants of San Antonio, from the church-door ; vespers is over ; the big-thighed, bow- legged, horse-riding Apache steps forth, slowly, for he is yet in a maze-the burning candles, the shrine, the genuflexions, the chants, are all yet whirling in his memory ; the lazy soldier slouches by, leering at him, yet observing a certain care not to be seen therein, for Señor Soldado is not wholly free from fear of this great-thewed Señor Apache ; the soldiers' wives, the squaws, the cate- chumens, the children, all wend their ways across the plaza. Here advances Brother Juan, bare-footed, in a gown of serge, with his knotted scourge a-dangle from his girdle ; he accosts the Indian, he draws him on to talk of Manitou, his grave pale face grows intense and his forehead wrinkles as he spurs his brain on to the devising of arguments that will convince this wild soul before him of the fact of the God of Adam, of Peter, and of Francis. Yonder is a crowd : alas, it is stout Brother Antonio, laying shrewd stripes with unsparing arm upon the back of a young Indian-so hard to convince these dusky youths and maidens of the wide range and ramifications of that commandment which they seem most prone to break. Ha! there behind the church, if you look, goes on another flagel- lation : Brother Francis has crept back there, slipped his woollen gown from his shoulders, and fallen to with his knotted scourge upon his own bare back, for that a quick vision did, by instigation of the devil, cross his mind even in the very midst of vespers-a vision of a certain señorita as his wife, of a warm all- day sunned hacienda, of children playing, of fruits, of friends, of laughter-“ O blessed St. Francis of Assisi, fend off Sathanas !" he cries, and raises a heavier welt.
Presently, as evening draws on, the Indians hold meetings, males in one place, females in another ; reciting prayers, singing canticles : finally it is bed- time ; honest Brother Antonio goes around and locks the unmarried young male Indians into their sleeping apartments on one side, the maidens on the other side into theirs ; casts a glance mayhap towards Mexico, breathes a prayer, gets him to his pallet, and the Plaza of San Antonio de Valero is left in company of the still sentinel, the stream of the San Pedro purling on one side, that of the San Antonio whispering on the other, under the quiet stars, midst of the solemn prairie, in whose long grass youder (by all odds) crouches some keen-eyed Apache bravo,* who has taken a fancy that he will ride Don Ramon's charger.
* Spanish, Indios Bravos: Unconverted Indians.
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SIDNEY LANIER'S HISTORICAL SKETCH.
The infant settlement soon begins to serve in that capacity which gives it a " bad eminence " among the other Texas settlements for the next hundred years: to-wit, as the point to which, or from which, armies are retreating or advancing, or in which armies are fighting. Already,.in 1719, before the removal to the Military Plaza, the scenes of war have been transacting themselves in the young San Antonio de Valero. On a certain day in the spring of that year, the peaceful people are astonished to behold all their Spanish brethren who belong to the settlements eastward of theirs, come crowding into the town ; monks, soldiers, women and all. In the confusion they quickly learn that in the latter part of the year before, France has declared war against Spain ; that the Frenchmen at Natchitoches, as soon as they have heard the news, have rushed to arms with Gallic impetuosity, and led by La Harpe and St. Denis, have advanced west- ward, have put to flight all the Spanish at Adaes, at Orquizaco, at Aes, and at Nacogdoches ; and that these are they who are here now, disturbing the peaceful mission with unwonted sights and sounds, and stretching its slender hospitalities to repletion. The French do not attack, however, but return towards Natchi- toches. In a short time enter from the opposite side of the stage, that is to say from Mexico, the Marquis de Aguayo, Governor-General of New Estremadura and the New Philippines, with five hundred mounted men. These march through, take with them the men of Orquizaco, of Adaes and Aes, re-establish' those settlements, and pursue the French until they hear that the latter are in Natchitoches ; De Aguayo then returns to San Antonio and sets on foot plans for its permanent improvement.
About this time occurs a short and spicy correspondence, which for the first time probably announces the name of the State of Texas, and which explicitly broaches a dispute that is to last for many a year. The Spanish Viceroy in Mexico appoints Don Martin D'Alarconne Governor of Texas. Soon afterwards La Harpe leaves the French post of Natchitoches and busies himself in advanc- ing the French interests among the Nassonite* Indians. In beginning this enterprise La Harpé sends "a polite message" to the Spanish Governor, who thereupon writes :
" Monsieur :- I am very sensible of the politeness that M. de Bienville and yourself have had the goodness to show to me. The orders I have received from the King my master are to maintain a good understanding with the French of Louisiana ; my own inclinations lead me equally to afford them all the services that depend upon me. But I am compelled to say that your arrival at the Nassonite village surprises me much. Your Governor could not be ignorant that the post you occupy belongs to my government, and that all the lands west of the Nassonites depend upon New Mexico. I counsel you to inform M. Bienville of this, or you will force me to oblige you to abandon lands that the French have no right to occupy. I have the honor, etc.
D'ALARCONNE.
" Trinity River, May 20, 1719."
* A tribe, or set of tribes, whose seat of government seems to have been a village called Texas, on the east bank of the Neches River.
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SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR.
To this La Harpe makes reply :
" Monsieur :- The order from his Catholic Majesty to maintain a good understanding with the French of Louisiana, and the kind intentions you have yourself expressed towards them, accord but little with your proceedings. Permit me to apprise you that M. de Bienville is perfectly informed of the limits of his government, and is very certain that the post of Nassonite does not depend upon the dominions of his Catholic Majesty. He knows also that the Province of Lastekas,* of which you say you are Governor, is a part of Louisiana. M. de la Salle took possession in 1685, in the name of his most Christian Majesty, and since the above epoch possession has been renewed from time to time. Respect- ing the post of Nassonite, I cannot comprehend by what right you pretend that it forms a part of New Mexico. I beg leave to represent to you that Don Antonio de Minoir, who discovered New Mexico in 1683, never penetrated east of that province or the Rio Bravo. It was the French who first made alliances with the savage tribes in this region, and it is natural to conclude that a river that flows into the Mississippi and the lands it waters belong to the King my master. If you will do me the pleasure to come into this quarter I will convince you I hold a post I know how to defend. I have the honor, etc.,
DE LA HARPE.
" Nassonite, July 8th, 1719."
For several years after the permanent location round the Military Plaza no important events seem to be recorded as happening in San Antonio; but the quiet work of Post and Mission goes on, and the probable talk on the Plaza is of the three new Missions which De Aguayo establishes on the San Antonio River, below the town, under the protection of its garrison ; or of the tales which come slowly floating from the northward concerning the dreadful fate of a Spanish expedition which has been sent to attack the French settlements on the Upper Mississippi, and which, mistaking the hostile Missouris on the way for friendly Osages, distributes fifteen hundred muskets, together with sabres and pistols, to the said Missouris to be used against the French, whereupon the Missouris next morning at daybreak, fall upon the unsuspecting Spaniards, butcher them all (save the priest, whom they keep for a "magpie," as they call him, to laugh at), and march off into the French fort arrayed in great spoils, their chief wearing the chasuble and bearing the paten before him for a breastplate ; or of Governor De Aguayo's recommendation to the home government to send colonists instead of soldiers if it would help the friars to win the Indians ; or of the appointment of a separate Governor for Texas in 1727 ; or of the withdrawal of ten soldiers in 1729, leaving only forty-three in garrison at San Antonio. About 1731, however, an important addition is made to the town. Under the auspices of the home government-which seems to have accepted De Aguayo's ideas-thirteen families and two single men arrive, pure Spaniards from the Canary Islands, also some Tlascalans, and a party from Monterey. These set to work around a Plaza (the " Plaza of the Constitution," or " Main Plaza ") just eastward of and
*Lastekas, i. e. Las Tekas: Texas. The Frenchmen in those days appear to have great difficulty in in- venting orthographies for these odious Indian names. The Choctaws, for instance, appear in the documents of the time as " Tchactas," the Chickasaws as " Chicachats," the Cherokees as " Cheraquis," and they can get no nearer to "Camanches " than " Choumans," or " Cannensis" !
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SIDNEY LANIER'S HISTORICAL SKETCH.
adjoining the Military Plaza, and commence a town which they call San Fernando .* They are led, it seems, to this location by the same facility of irrigation which had recommended the Military Plaza to their neighbors. The new colonists impart vigor to affairs. The Missions prosper, Indians are captured and brought in to be civilized whether or 110, and on the 5th of March, 1731, the foundation is laid of the Mission of La Purisima Concepcion de Acuna, on the San Antonio River, a mile or so below the town.
Meantime a serious conspiracy against the welfare of San Antonio and San Fernando is hatched in the northeast. The Natchez Indians wish to revenge themselves upon the French, who have driven them from their home on the Mississippi. They resolve to attack St. Denis at Natchitoches, and to prevent the Spaniards from helping him (the French and Spanish are now friends, having united against England), they procure the Apaches to assail San Antonio. St. Denis, however, surprises and defeats the Natchez ; and the Apaches appear to have made an organized attack, but to have confined themselves to murdering and thieving in parties. These Apaches, indeed, were dreadful scourges in these days to San Antonio and its environs. The people of the presidio of San Fernando and of the Missions on the River complained repeatedly (says the Testimonio de un Parecer* in the archives of Bexar) that they cannot expand (sin poder estenderse) on account of " las frequienttes hosttilidades que experimenttan de los Yndios Apaches." This great tribe had headquarters about the Pass of Ban- dera, some fifty miles to the northwestward, from which they forayed not only up to San Antonio, but even as far as to Coahuila. Moreover, they manage (says the Testimonio) horses, firearms, and arrows con mucha desttreza y agilidad. Finally the men of San Antonio and San Fernando get tired of it, and after some minor counter-forays, they organize an expedition in 1732 which conquers com- parative peace from the Apaches for a few years.
Nothing of special interest is recorded as happening in San Antonio from this time until 1736. In September of that year arrives Do11 Carlos de Franquis, who immediately proceeds to throw the town into a very pretty ferment. Franquis had come out from Spain to Mexico to be Governor of Tlascala. On arriving he finds that someone else is already Governor of Tlascala. Vizarron, Arch- bishop of Mexico, and acting Viceroy since Casa Fuerte's death, disposes of him- it is likely he made trouble enough till that was done-by sending him off to Texas to supersede Governor Sandoval, a fine old veteran, who has been for two years governing the Province with such soldierly fidelity as has won him great favor among the inhabitants. Franquis begins by insulting the priests, and follows this up with breaking open people's letters. Presently he arrests Sandoval, has him chained, and causes criminal proceedings to be commenced against him, charging him with treacherous complicity in certain movements of St. Denis at Natchitoches. It seems that St. Denis, having found a higher and drier location, has removed his garrison and the French Mission of St. John the Baptist some miles further from Red River toward the Texas territory, and built a new fort and settlements; that
* The Villa Capital de San Fernando was not exclusively the Main Plaza settlements-the Plaza de Armas, or Military Plaza, was also of it .- W. C., ED.
* Testimony of a witness; this document is hereinafter described.
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SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR.
Sandoval, hearing of it, has promptly called him to account as an intruder cn Span- ish ground; and that a correspondence has ensued between St. Denis and Sandoval, urging the rights of their respective governments in the premises, which has just been brought to the point of a flat issue upon which to go to the jury of war when Sandoval is ousted by Franquis. The Viceroy sends the Governor of New Leon to investigate the trouble; and the famous law-suit of Franquis versus Sandoval is fairly commenced. The Governor of New Leon seems to find against Franquis, who is sent back to the presidio on the Rio Grande. He gets away, however, and off to the Viceroy. But Sandoval is not satisfied, naturally, for he has been mulcted in some three thousand four hundred dollars, cost of the investigating commission. He pays, and in 1738 files his petition against Franquis for redress of his injuries. Franquis, thus attacked in turn, strengthens his position with a new line of accusa- tions. He now, besides the French business, charges Sandoval with living at San Antonio instead of at Adaes, the official residence; with being irregular in his accounts with the San Antonio garrison; and with peculation in the matter of the salaries of certain paid missionaries, whom Sandoval is alleged to have discharged and then pocketed their stipends. The papers go the Viceroy, and from the Viceroy to Attorney-General Vedoya. In 1740 Vedoya decides Sandoval guilty of living at San Antonio, though it was his duty to be there to defend it against the Apaches; guilty of irregular book-keeping, though through memoranda it is found that there is a balance in his favor of thirteen hundred dollars; not guilty of stealing the mis- sionary money. Upon the French matter Vedoya will not decide without furtlier evidence. With poor Sandoval it is pay again; he is fined five hundred dollars for his "guilt." Meantime, some months afterward an order is made that testimony be taken in Texas with regard to the French affair, said testimony to embrace an account of pretty much everything in, about, and concerning Texas. The testi- mony being taken and returned, the Attorney-General, in November 1741, entirely acquits Sandoval. But alas for the stout old soldier! this is in Mexico, where from of old, if one is asked who rules now, one must reply with the circumspection of that Georgia judge who, being asked the politics of his son, made answer that he knew not, not having seen the creature since breakfast. Vizarron has gone out; the Duke de la Conquista has come into the Viceroyalty; and Sandoval has hardly had time to taste his hard-earned triumph before, through machinations of Fran- quis, he finds himself in prison by order of the new Viceroy. Finally, however, the rule works the other way: in December, 1743, a new Viceroy, Count Fuenclara, gets hold of the papers in the case, acquits Sandoval, and enjoins Franquis from proceeding further in the matter.
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