Spanish Texas

Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. The term "interior provinces" first appeared in 1712, as an expression meaning "far away" provinces. It was only in 1776 that a legal jurisdiction called "Interior Provinces" was created.

Spain claimed ownership of the territory in 1519, which comprised part of the present-day U.S. state of Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, but did not attempt to colonize the area until after locating evidence of the failed French colony of Fort Saint Louis in 1689. In 1690 Alonso de León escorted several Catholic missionaries to east Texas, where they established the first mission in Texas. When native tribes resisted the Spanish invasion of their homeland, the missionaries returned to Mexico, abandoning Texas for the next two decades.

The Spanish returned to southeastern Texas in 1716, establishing several missions and a presidio to maintain a buffer between Spanish territory and the French colonial Louisiana district of New France. Two years later in 1718, the first civilian settlement in Texas, San Antonio, originated as a way station between the missions and the next-nearest existing settlement. The new town soon became a target for raids by the Lipan Apache.

The raids continued periodically for almost three decades, until Spanish settlers and the Lipan Apache peoples made peace in 1749. But the treaty angered the enemies of the Apache, and resulted in raids on Spanish settlements by the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai tribes. Fear of Indian attacks and the remoteness of the area from the rest of the Viceroyalty discouraged European settlers from moving to Texas. It remained one of the provinces least-populated by immigrants. The threat of attacks did not decrease until 1785, when Spain and the Comanche peoples made a peace agreement. The Comanche tribe later assisted in defeating the Lipan Apache and Karankawa tribes, who had continued to cause difficulties for settlers. An increase in the number of missions in the province allowed for peaceful Christian conversions of other tribes.

France formally relinquished its claim to its region of Texas in 1762, when it ceded French Louisiana to the Spanish Empire. The inclusion of Spanish Louisiana into New Spain meant that Tejas lost its significance as essentially a buffer province. The easternmost Texas settlements were disbanded, with the population relocating to San Antonio. However, in 1799 Spain gave Louisiana back to France, and in 1803 Napoléon Bonaparte (First Consul of the French Republic) sold the territory to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson (in office: 1801 to 1809) insisted that the purchase included all land to the east of the Rocky Mountains and to the north of the Rio Grande, although its large southwestern expanse lay within New Spain. The territorial ambiguity remained unresolved until the Adams–Onís Treaty compromise in 1819, when Spain ceded Spanish Florida to the United States in return for recognition of the Sabine River as the eastern boundary of Spanish Texas and western boundary of the Missouri Territory. The United States relinquished their claims on the vast Spanish territories west of the Sabine River and extending into Santa Fe de Nuevo México province (New Mexico).

During the Mexican War of Independence of 1810 to 1821 Texas experienced much turmoil. Rebels overthrew the Spanish Governor Manuel María de Salcedo in 1810, but he persuaded his jailer to release him and to assist him in organizing a counter-coup. Three years later the Republican Army of the North, consisting primarily of Indians and of citizens of the United States, overthrew the Spanish government in Tejas and executed Salcedo. The Spanish responded brutally, and by 1820 fewer than 2000 Hispanic citizens remained in Texas. The Mexican independence movement forced Spain to relinquish its control of New Spain in 1821, with Texas becoming in 1824 part of the state of Coahuila y Tejas within the newly formed Mexico in the period in Texas history known as Mexican Texas (1821-1836).

The Spanish left a deep mark on Texas. Their European livestock caused mesquite to spread inland, while farmers tilled and irrigated the land, changing the landscape forever. The Spanish provided the names for many of the rivers, towns, and counties that currently exist, and Spanish architectural concepts still flourish. Although Texas eventually adopted much of the Anglo-American legal system, many Spanish legal practices survived, including the concepts of a homestead exemption and of community property.

Location

Spanish Texas (''Tejas'') was a colonial province within the northeastern mainland region of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. On its southern edge, ''Tejas'' was bordered by the provinces of Coahuila and Nuevo Santander. The boundary between the provinces was set at the line formed by the Medina River and the Nueces River, northeast of the Rio Grande.Edmondson (2000), p. 6. On the east, Texas bordered ''La Louisiane'' (French Louisiana). Although Spain claimed that the Red River formed the boundary between the two, France insisted that the border was the Sabine River, to the west.Edmondson (2000), p. 10.

Initial colonization attempts

Although Alonso Álvarez de Pineda claimed Texas for Spain in 1519, the area was largely ignored by Spain until the late seventeenth century.Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca and three companions wandered lost along the Texas Gulf Coast and the Rio Grande between 1528 and 1535 trying to find their way back to a Spanish settlement after they survived the ill-fated Narváez expedition in Florida. De Vaca made the first contact with Indians in Texas in November 1528. Chipman (1992), p. 11. In 1685, the Spanish learned that France had established a colony in the area between New Spain and Florida. Believing the French colony was a threat to Spanish mines and shipping routes, Spanish King Carlos II's Council of War recommended that "Spain needed swift action 'to remove this thorn which has been thrust into the heart of America. The greater the delay the greater the difficulty of attainment.'"Weber (1992), p. 149. Having no idea where to find the French colony, the Spanish launched ten expeditions—both land and sea—over the next three years. While unable to fulfill their original goal of locating the French settlement, the expeditions did provide Spain a deeper understanding of the geography of the Gulf Coast region. The last expedition, in 1689, discovered a French deserter living in southern Texas with the Coahuiltecans. In April 1689, the Frenchman helped guide the Spanish, under Alonso de León, to Fort Saint Louis, which had been destroyed by Karankawa Indians.Chipman (1992), p. 83. De León's expedition also met representatives of the Caddo people, who lived between the Trinity and the Red Rivers. The Caddo expressed interest in learning about Christianity.Weber (1992), p. 153.

De León sent a report of his findings to Mexico City, where it "created instant optimism and quickened religious fervor".Chipman (1992), p. 87. The Spanish government was convinced that the destruction of the French fort was "proof of God's 'divine aid and favor'". In his report de León recommended that presidios be established along the Rio Grande, the Frio River, and the Guadalupe River and that missions be established among the Hasinai Indians, whom the Spanish called the ''Tejas'', in East Texas. In Castilian Spanish, this was often written as the phonetic equivalent ''Texas'', which became the name of the future province.Chipman (1992), p. 18.

Missions

The viceroy approved the establishment of a mission but rejected the idea of presidios, primarily because New Spain was chronically short of funds.Chipman (1992), p. 88. On March 26, 1690, Alonso de León set out with 110 soldiers and several missionaries. The group stopped first to burn Fort Saint Louis to the ground, and then they proceeded to East Texas.Chipman (1992), p. 89. Mission San Francisco de los Tejas was completed near the Hasinai village of Nabedaches in late May, and its first mass was conducted on June 1.Weber (1992), p. 154. The missionaries refused to allow the unruly soldiers to remain near the missions, and when de León returned to Mexico later that year, only 3 of his initial 110 soldiers remained to assist the monks.Weber (1992), p. 154. Father Damián Massanet, the priest in charge of the mission, left on June 2 to meet the tribes north of the mission before returning to Mexico to request an additional 14 priests and 7 lay brothers.

On January 23, 1691, Spain appointed the first governor of Texas, General Domingo Terán de los Ríos. Terán was ordered to help establish seven new missions, including two more among the Tejas Indians, four amongst the Kadohadachos, and one for the tribes near the Guadalupe River. He was only able to recruit 10 friars and 3 lay brothers. His expedition reached the existing mission in August, 1691 and discovered that the priests there had established a second mission, Santísimo Nombre de María, east of San Francisco de los Tejas. One of the priests had died, leaving two to operate the missions. The Indians regularly stole their cattle and horses and were becoming insolent. With provisions running low, Terán chose not to establish any more missions.Chipman (1992), p. 97. When he left Texas later that year, most of the missionaries chose to return with him, leaving only 3 religious people and 9 soldiers at the missions.Chipman (1992), p. 98.

The group also left a smallpox epidemic. The Indians had no natural immunity to the disease and at first blamed the outbreak on the baptismal waters. After thousands of natives had succumbed, the survivors rose up against the missions.Edmondson (2000), p. 6. In 1693, the Caddo warned the Franciscan missionaries to leave the area or be killed. The missionaries buried the church bells and burned the mission, then returned to Mexico. Although this first Spanish attempt to settle Texas failed, it provided Spain an increased awareness of the terrain, rivers, and coastline of Texas and convinced the government that "even the most tractable of Indians" could only be converted "by a combination of coercion and persuasion". For the next 20 years, Spain again ignored Texas.Weber (1992), p. 155.

Conflict with France

During the early eighteenth century France again provided the impetus for Spain's interest in Texas. In 1699, French forts were established at Biloxi Bay and on the Mississippi River, ending Spain's exclusive control of the Gulf Coast. Although Spain "refused to concede France's right to be in Louisiana" and warned King Louis XIV of France that he could be excommunicated for ignoring the 200-year-old papal edict giving the Americas to Spain, they took no further actions to stop France's encroachment or expand the Spanish presence.Weber (1992), p. 158. The two countries became allies during the War of the Spanish Succession and cooperated in the Americas. Despite their friendship, Spain remained unwilling to allow the French to trade within their territory. On hearing rumors of French incursions into Texas in 1707, the viceroy of New Spain ordered all provincial governors to prevent the entry of foreigners and their goods.Chipman (1992), p. 107. To dissuade the Tejas Indians from accepting goods from the French, a contingent of soldiers under Pedro de Aguirre traveled into Texas. His expedition reached only as far as the Colorado River and turned around after learning that the Tejas chief was still unhappy with the Spanish. The group did visit the area around the San Antonio River, and was much impressed with the land and availability of water.Chipman (1992), p. 110. They believed the river to be unnamed and called it San Antonio de Padua, not realizing that Terán and Massanet had camped nearby years before on the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padua and had given the river the same name.Edmondson (2000), pp. 8–9.

In 1711, Franciscan missionary Francisco Hidalgo, who had served in the earlier Texas missions, wanted to reestablish missions with the Caddos. The Spanish government was unwilling to provide the funding and troops for the project, so Hidalgo approached the French governor of Louisiana, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac for help. Cadillac was under orders to turn Louisiana into a profitable colony and believed that Spanish settlers closer to Louisiana could provide new trading opportunities. He sent Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, along with brothers Pierre and Robert Talon, who, as children, had been spared at the massacre of Fort Saint Louis, to find Hidalgo and offer assistance.Weber (1992), p. 160. In July 1714, the French delegation reached the Spanish frontier, at that time around the Rio Grande, where Hidalgo was located. Although St. Denis was arrested and questioned, he was ultimately released.Chipman (1992), p. 111. The Spanish recognized that the French could become a threat to other Spanish areas, and ordered the reoccupation of Texas as a buffer between French settlements in Louisiana and New Spain.

On April 12, 1716, an expedition led by Domingo Ramón left San Juan Bautista for Texas, intending to establish four missions and a presidio which would be guarded by twenty-five soldiers.Chipman (1992), p. 111.Chipman (1992), p. 112. The party of 75 people included 3 children, 7 women, 18 soldiers, and 10 missionaries. These were the first recorded female settlers in Spanish Texas. After marrying a Spanish woman, St. Denis also joined the Spanish expedition.

The party reached the land of the Hasinai people in late June 1716 and was greeted warmly. On July 3, mission San Francisco was reestablished as Mission Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas for the Neche Indians. Several days later, Mission Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción was established at the main village of the Hainai, the head tribe of the Hasinai Confederacy, along the Angelina River. A third mission, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, was established east of Purísima Concepción, at the main village of the Nacogdoche tribe, at what is now Nacogdoches. A final mission, San José de los Nazonis, was built among the Nazoni Indians just north of present-day Cushing.Chipman (1992), p. 113. A presidio, Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, was built opposite San Francisco de los Tejas.Chipman (1992), p. 115.

During this period, the area was named the New Philippines by the missionaries in the twin hopes of gaining royal patronage, and that the Spanish efforts would be as successful as in the Philippines a century and a half earlier. The alternate name became official and remained in use for several decades, but had virtually disappeared from use (in favor of 'Texas') by the end of the century. The name however persisted in documents, especially in land grants

At the same time, the French were building a fort in Natchitoches to establish a more westward presence. The Spanish countered by founding two more missions just west of Natchitoches, San Miguel de los Adaes and Dolores de los Ais.Weber (1992), p. 162. The missions were located in a disputed area; France claimed the Sabine River to be the western boundary of Louisiana, while Spain claimed the Red River was the eastern boundary of Texas, leaving an overlap of .

The new missions were over from the nearest Spanish settlement, San Juan Bautista. It was difficult to reprovision the missions, and by 1718 the missionaries were in dire straits. Martín de Alarcón, who had been appointed governor of Texas in late 1716, wished to establish a way station between the settlements along the Rio Grande and the new missions in East Texas. The Coahuiltecans had built a thriving community near the headwaters of the San Antonio River, in the area the Spanish had admired in 1707. Alarcón led a group of 72 people, including 10 families, into Texas on April 9, 1718. They brought with them 548 horses, 6 droves of mules, and other livestock. On May 1, the group created a temporary mud, brush and straw structure to serve as a mission, San Antonio de Valero, whose chapel was later known as the Alamo. The mission was initially populated with three to five Indians that one of the missionaries had raised since childhood. Alarcon built a presidio, San Antonio de Béxar north of the mission,.Chipman (1992), p. 117. Alarcón also chartered the municipality of Béjar, now San Antonio. Given a status higher than a village (''pueblo'') but lower than a city (''ciudad''), San Antonio became the only ''villa'' in Texas, and the colonists who settled there relied on farming and ranching to survive.Weber (1992), p. 163. With the new settlement established, Alarcón continued on to the East Texas missions, where he found evidence of much illicit trade with France.Chipman (1992), p. 118.

The following year, the War of the Quadruple Alliance broke out, aligning Spain against France, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, and Austria. The war was fought primarily over Italy, but Great Britain and France launched several attempts to capture Spanish colonies in North America. In June 1719, 7 Frenchmen from Natchitoches took control of Mission San Miguel de los Adaes from its sole defender, who did not know that the countries were at war. The French soldiers explained that 100 additional soldiers were coming, and the Spanish colonists, missionaries, and remaining soldiers abandoned the area and fled to San Antonio.

The Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo volunteered to reconquer Texas and raised an army of 500 soldiers. Aguayo was named the governor of Coahuila and Texas and the responsibilities of his office delayed his trip to Texas by a year, until late 1720.Chipman (1992), p. 120. Just before he departed, the fighting in Europe halted, and King Felipe V of Spain ordered them not to invade Louisiana, but instead find a way to retake Eastern Texas without using force. The expedition brought with them over 2,800 horses, 6,400 sheep and many goats; this constituted the first large "cattle" drive in Texas. This greatly increased the number of domesticated animals in Texas and marked the beginning of Spanish ranching in Texas.Chipman (1992), p. 121.

In July 1721, while approaching the Neches River, Aguayo's expedition met St. Denis, who had returned to the French and was leading a raid on San Antonio. Realizing that he was badly outnumbered, St. Denis agreed to abandon East Texas and return to Louisiana. Aguayo then ordered the building of a new Spanish fort Nuestra Señora del Pilar de los Adaes, located near present-day Robeline, Louisiana, only from Natchitoches. The new fort became the first capital of Texas, and was guarded by 6 cannon and 100 soldiers.Weber (1992), p. 167. The six East Texas missions were reopened, and Presidio Dolores, now known as Presidio de los Tejas, was moved from the Neches River to a site near mission Purísima Concepción near the Angelina River. The Spaniards then built another fort, Presidio La Bahía del Espíritu Santo, known as La Bahía, on the site of the former French Fort St. Louis. Nearby they established a mission, Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga (also known as La Bahía), for the Coco, Karankawa, and Cujane Indians. Ninety men were left at the garrison.Chipman (1992), p. 126. Aguayo returned to Mexico City in 1722 and resigned his governorship. At the beginning of his expedition, Texas had consisted only of San Antonio and about 60 soldiers; at his resignation, the province had grown to consist of 4 presidios, over 250 soldiers, 10 missions, and the small civilian town of San Antonio.Weber (1992), p. 168.

Settlement difficulties

Shortly after Aguayo returned to Mexico, the new viceroy of New Spain, Juan de Acuña, marqués de Casafuerte, was ordered to cut costs accrued for the defense of the northern part of the territory.Chipman (1992), p. 128. Acuña appointed Colonel Pedro de Rivera y Villalón to inspect the entire northern frontier. Beginning in what is now California in November 1724, Rivera spent the next three years inspecting the northern frontier, reaching San Antonio in August 1727. His reports of Los Adaes, Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto, and the presidio at San Antonio were favorable, but he was unimpressed with Presidio de los Tejas, whose 25 soldiers were guarding empty missions.Chipman (1992), p. 129. The native population had refused to congregate into communities around the missions and refused baptism unless they were on the brink of death. Because the Indians were well-armed, the Franciscans were unable to compel them to join the missions. The frustrated missionaries finally petitioned the Spanish government for 50 soldiers to burn the Indians' houses of worship and force them to build homes near the missions. No troops were forthcoming.Weber (1992), p. 187.

Rivera recommended closing Presidio de los Tejas and reducing the number of soldiers at the other presidios. His suggestions were approved in 1729,Chipman (1992), p. 130. and 125 troops were removed from Texas, leaving only 144 soldiers divided between Los Adaes, La Bahía, and San Antonio. The three East Texas missions which had depended on Presidio de los Tejas were relocated along the San Antonio River in May 1731, increasing the number of missions in the San Antonio area to five.Chipman (1992), p. 131. The San Antonio missions usually contained fewer than 300 Indians. Many of those who lived at the mission had nowhere else to go, and belonged to small tribes that have since become extinct.Weber (1992), p. 192.

Spain discouraged manufacturing in its colonies and limited trade to Spanish goods handled by Spanish merchants and carried on Spanish vessels. Most of the ports, including all of those in Texas, were closed to commercial vessels in the hopes of dissuading smugglers. By law, all goods bound for Texas had to be shipped to Veracruz and then transported over the mountains to Mexico City before being sent to Texas. This caused the goods to be very expensive in the Texas settlements. Settlers were often forced to turn to the French for supplies, as the fort at Natchitoches was well-stocked and goods did not have to travel as far. Without many goods to trade, however, the remaining Spanish missionaries and colonists had little to offer the Indians, who remained loyal to the French traders.

Apache raids

The tribes traded freely, and soon many had acquired French guns, while others had traded for Spanish horses. Tribes without access to either resource were left at a disadvantage. The Lipan Apache, who had been seasonal farmers, were soon pressed by the Comanche, who had horses, and the Wichita, who had guns. The Apaches were bitter enemies of the Tejas of East Texas and had transferred their enmity to the Spanish as friends of the Tejas.Chipman (1992), p. 133. After discovering San Antonio in 1720, the Apache began repeatedly raiding the area to steal livestock, especially horses. An average of 3 Spaniards died each year in Texas as a result of Apache attacks, with approximately 100 animals taken each year. In retaliation, the Spanish launched multiple attacks on the Apaches, capturing horses and mules, hides and other plunder, and taking Apache captives, whom the Spanish used as household servants.Anderson (1999), p. 111. By 1731, however, the San Antonio garrison was begging the government for help in negotiating a peace with the tribes.Weber (1992), p. 188.

The Spanish government believed that settlers would defend their property, alleviating the need for some of the presidios.Chipman (1992), p. 135. Texas was an unappealing prospect for most settlers, however, due to the armed nomadic tribes, high costs, and lack of precious metals. In 1731, the Spanish government resettled
55 people, mostly women and children, from the Canary Islands to San Antonio. At that time, only 300 Hispanic settlers lived in San Antonio, with 200 others dispersed throughout the rest of the colony. The new immigrants began farming and renamed the town San Fernando de Béxar, establishing the first municipal, and only civilian, government in Texas.Weber (1993), p. 193. Juan Leal Goraz, the oldest of the settlers, was appointed the first councilman.Chipman (1992), p. 136.

As the first settlers of the municipality, the Islanders and their descendants were designated hidalgos.Chipman (1992), p. 137. The established settlers resented the Islanders for their new titles and exclusive privileges within the city government.Chipman (1992), p. 139. The newcomers did not know how to handle horses, rendering them useless in mounted warfare against the Apaches. Unlike the established settlers, who relied on ranching, the Islanders were primarily farmers, and their refusal to build fences led to many disagreements when livestock trampled the fields.Chipman (1992), p. 140. By the early 1740s, however, intermarriage and the need for closer economic ties had helped to alleviate some of the infighting, and the original settlers were given permission to serve as magistrates and council members.Chipman (1992), p. 145.

The threat of Apache raids led to a constant state of unease in San Antonio, and some families left the area, while others refused to leave the safety of the town to tend their livestock. The problems culminated with a late-night raid on San Antonio by 350 Apache on June 30, 1745, retaliation for a Spanish military campaign several months before. The attackers were repelled with the assistance of 100 Indians from Mission Valero.Chipman (1992), p. 145. The Apache also preyed on other tribes, including the Deadose and Tonkawa. In the 1740s, these weaker tribes requested missions along the San Gabriel River in the hopes that the Spanish could protect them from attack.Anderson (1999), p. 113. Mission San Francisco Xavier was established at the confluence of the San Gabriel River and Bushy Creek in January 1746 to serve the Deadose, Mayeye, and Coco Indians.Chipman (1992), p. 150. In 1748 alone, the Apaches raided the mission four times, killing three soldiers and four of the Indian residents. Many of the resident Indians fled the mission due to the threat of attacks. This did not deter the missionaries, who founded two more missions, San Ildefonso and Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, in the area the following year. Within six months, all of the potential converts at San Ildefonso had left. By 1755, the missions were transferred to a new location on the San Marcos River.

Missions for the Apache

A peace was finally declared in August 1749, when a group of Apache chiefs and Spanish officials "symbolically uriedthe trouble between the two parties" by burying weapons in the plaza at San Antonio. The Spanish also promised to provide military assistance to the Apache.Anderson (1999), p. 120. The Lipan Apache had asked for missions several times, and in 1757 all property of the former San Gabriel missions, as well as the military garrison which briefly protected them, was transferred to new Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá along the San Saba River northwest of San Antonio. A log stockade was constructed from the mission, on the other side of the river, so that the soldiers would not corrupt the Indians. The stockade could hold up to 400 including the 237 women and children who accompanied the soldiers.Weber (1992), p. 189.

Apaches shunned the mission, and on March 16, 1758, a band of Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai tribes, angry that the Spaniards were assisting their enemies, pillaged and burned the mission, killing eight people. The San Sabá mission was the only Spanish mission in Texas to be completely destroyed by Indians, and it was never rebuilt. Although the Indian force had 2000 members, they chose not to attack the fort.

The Spanish government refused to abandon the area completely out of fear that such an action would make them appear weak. While they planned a response, Indians raided the San Saba horse herd, stealing all of the horses and pack mules and killing 20 soldiers. In October 1759, Spain sent the San Sabá commander, Colonel Diego Ortiz Parrilla, on an expedition north to the Red River to avenge the attack. The tribes were forewarned and led Parrilla's army to a fortified Wichita village, surrounded by a stockade and a moat, where natives brandished French guns and waved a French flag. After a skirmish in which 52 Spaniards were killed, wounded, or deserted, the Spanish retreated. The San Sabá presidio was replaced with a limestone fortress and a moat, but the Comanches and their allies remained close and killed any soldiers who ventured out. By 1769, Spain abandoned the fort.

In 1762, missionaries established two unauthorized missions south of San Sabá, in the Nueces River valley. For several years the Apache lived in the missions most of the year, but left in winter to hunt buffalo. One of the missions closed in 1763, when the Apache never returned from their hunt.Anderson (1999), p. 124. The surviving mission closed in January 1766, after a force of 400 natives from the northern tribes attacked, killing 6 Apaches and taking 25 captives as well as all the livestock in the valley. Forty-one Spanish troops and their small cannon ambushed the northern tribes as they returned to East Texas. Before the Spanish were forced to retreat, over 200 Indians and 12 Spanish soldiers died.Anderson (1999), p. 125. After the battle, the Apache refused to return to the mission and returned to raiding near San Antonio. Raids by the northern tribes decreased, however.Anderson (1999), p. 126.

Peace with France

Indians confirmed in 1746 that French traders periodically arrived by sea to trade with tribes in the lower Trinity River region. Eight years later, the Spanish learned of rumors that the French had opened a trading post at the mouth of the Trinity River. In September 1754, the governor, Jacinto de Barrios y Jáuregui sent soldiers to investigate, and they captured five Frenchmen who had been living at an Indian village.Chipman (1992), p. 164. To dissuade the French from returning, Spain built the presidio of San Agustín de Ahumada and the mission of Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Orcoquisac near the mouth of the Trinity at Galveston Bay. Conditions were awful at the new location, and both the presidio and the mission were closed in 1770.

The Presidio La Bahía was moved from the Guadalupe River to Goliad on the San Antonio River in 1749. Within five years, a new mission for the Karankawa tribes, Nuestra Señora del Rosario de los Cuhanes, was built upstream of the presidio. This mission survived for many years.Chipman (1992), p. 168. Despite the new missions and presidios, Texas was one of the least populated provinces on the northern frontier of New Spain.Weber (1992), p. 195. By 1760, almost 1,200 Hispanic people lived in Texas, with half in San Antonio, 350 at Los Adaes, and 260 at La Bahía. Other Spaniards lived in what is now the El Paso area, but that was considered part of New Mexico and not part of Texas.Weber (1992), p. 194.

On November 3, 1762, as part of the Treaty of Fontainebleau, France ceded the portion of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain. Spain had assisted France against Britain in the Seven Years' War, and lost both Manila and Havana to the British. Although the Louisiana colony was a financial liability, King Carlos III of Spain reluctantly accepted it, as that meant France was finally ceding its claim to Texas. At the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763, Great Britain recognized Spain's right to the lands west of the Mississippi. Great Britain received the remainder of France's North American territories, and Spain exchanged some of their holdings in Florida for Havana.

With France no longer a threat to Spain's North American interests, the Spanish monarchy commissioned the Marquis of Rubí to inspect all of the presidios on the northern frontier of New Spain and make recommendations for the future. Rubí's two-year journey, beginning in early 1766, covered from the Gulf of California to East Texas. This was the first comprehensive look at the New Spain frontier since the 1720s, when Pedro de Rivera conducted his expedition. Rubí was unimpressed with the presidio at San Saba, which he declared to be the worst in the kingdom of New Spain.Chipman (1992), p. 173. He recommended that only the presidios at San Antonio and La Bahía be maintained, and that East Texas be totally abandoned, with all population moving to San Antonio.Chipman (1992), p. 181. With Louisiana in Spanish control, there was no need for Los Adaes to reside so closely to Natchitoches, especially after the missions had relocated to San Antonio. In August 1768, the acting governor, Juan María Vicencio, Baron of Ripperdà, moved his headquarters and the garrison to San Antonio, and in 1772 San Antonio became the new Texas capital. Los Adaes was abandoned completely. The new governor also augmented the garrison at San Antonio to protect the town from recurring Indian attacks. A new presidio, Fuerte de Santa Cruz de Cibolo, was also established southeast of San Antonio to protect farmers and ranchers from attacks.Chipman (1992), p. 184.

As a result of Rubí's recommendations, Presidio de San Agustín de Ahumada was closed in 1771, leaving the Texas coast unoccupied except for La Bahía. In July 1772, however, the governor of Texas heard rumors that English traders were building a settlement in the area of the Texas coast that had been abandoned.Weddle (1995), p. 79. The commander of La Bahía was sent to find the settlement, but saw no sign of other Europeans. His expedition did, however, discover that the San Jacinto River emptied into Galveston Bay and not into the Gulf of Mexico.Weddle (1995), p. 80.

Founding of Nacogdoches

The 500 Hispanic settlers who had lived near Los Adaes had to resettle in San Antonio in 1773. In the six years between the inspection and the removal of the settlers, the immigrant population of East Texas had increased from 200 Europeans to 500, a mixture of Spanish, French, Indians, and a few blacks. The settlers were given only five days to prepare to relocate to San Antonio. Many of them perished during the three-month trek and others died soon after arriving.Chipman (1992), p. 186.

After protesting, they were permitted in the following year to return to East Texas, but only as far as the Trinity River, from Natchitoches. Led by Antonio Gil Y'Barbo, the settlers founded the town of Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Bucareli "where the trail from San Antonio to Los Adaes crossed the Trinity."Weber (1992), p. 222. The settlers helped smuggle contraband goods from Louisiana to San Antonio, and also helped the soldiers with coastal reconnaissance.Weddle (1995), p. 86.

In May 1776, King Carlos III created a new position, the Comandancia General of the Commandancy General of the Internal Provinces of the North (''Provincias Internas ''), to control frontier areas across northern New Spain, including Spanish Texas. The first appointee, Teodoro de Croix, served as governor and commander in chief of the area from 1776 until 1783. As de Croix prepared to take office, his predecessor, Baron of Ripperdà, wrote a detailed report, dated April 27, 1777, of the settlements in Texas. One-third of the report detailed the village of Bucareli, which he labeled as "'of the greatest importance as a means of acquiring reports of a coast as extensive as it is uninhabited.'"Weddle (1995), p. 88. The Bucareli settlers regularly performed coastal explorations and developed a friendship with the Bidai

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