The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905 Page: 283
xiii, 358 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Municipal Government of San Fernando de Bexar. 283
The padres experienced great difficulties in dealing with the
savages-the Texas Indians even declaring that they were tired of
the Spaniards. The government furnished no aid; and in 1693,
the missionaries were forced to abandon the country. Nothing
further was done toward its occupation for over twenty years, al-
though the padres, who by this time, had come to realize that sol-
diers were needed to enable them to convert the Indians, were
urgent in their request for troops.'
In 171.5, the entrance of Saint Denis, who had been sent out from
Louisiana by Cadillac, at the instance of Antoine Crozat, to estab-
lish commercial relations with Texas, aroused the government to
action. It dispatched under Domingo Ram6n an expedition whose
object, again, was to found missions to serve the double purpose
of keeping back the French and of christianizing the Indians. The
College of Zactecas, which had been founded at the beginning of
the century, sent out with Ram6n eight representatives. Their
number was strengthened by the addition of five missionaries from
Queretaro. Mission San Francisco was re-established about four
leagues to the east of its original location, while three new mis-
sions, Purisima Concepci6n, Nuestra Sefiora de Guadalupe, and
S'an Joseph, were founded--the first among the Asinais Indians,
the second among the Nacogdoches, and the third among the Na-
zones. Ram6n founded also a presidio in the Texas country.
These establishments, as will be seen, were all placed on the east-
ern frontier where, it was thought, lay the great danger of French
invasion. Ram6n left only twenty-five soldiers in Texas, but was
of the opinion that at least twenty-five more were needed. Al-
though he saw the necessity for a larger force of soldiers, and re-
ported that the missionaries were practically helpless without this
guard, some aggressive move on the part of the French was needed
before any action could be expected from the government.2
1See Espinosa, Chronica; Dictamnen Fiscal, Mexico y Noviembre 30,
de 1716; Bancroft, North Mexican States and Texas, I.
'For Ram6n's expedition see Espinosa, Chronica; Representacion hecha
por el Capitan Domingo Ramon a su Exa., in Memorias de Nueva Espana,
XXVII, 159-162; Derrotero para las Missiones de los Presidios Internos,
ibid., 135 vta.-159; Diario del Viaje del Marqudz de San Miguel de
Aguayo, ibid, XXVIII, 1-61 vta.; and Dictamen Fiscal, Mexico y Noviem-
bre 30, de 1716.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905, periodical, 1905; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101033/m1/290/?rotate=90: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.