The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906 Page: 87

Spanish Abandonment and Re-Occupation of East Texas. 87
sister-in-law were, it was represented, all unable to make the trip,
and Ybarbo had secured from the governor a written permission
to leave them, and with them his son and another family.1 These
facts, considered in connection with subsequent events, lead one to
suspect that Ybarbo was not at this time intending to abandon his
home for good and all. At mission Nacogdoches nine persons,
comprising two families, dropped out, at the request, so the story
goes, of the T6xas chief, Vigotes, who declared his intention of going
to B6xar with his people to beg the governor to allow the Spaniards
to return with a padre. At this place the aged Gonzalez and two
women died. In Gonzalez's stead, the sergeant took charge of the
march.
According to the reports, after leaving Nacogdoches the suffering
of the emigrants was severe.2 They were poorly supplied with
beasts of burden, and many of them, women as well as men, had
to go on foot till they reached the Brazos. In order to obtain
food some were forced to sell not only their clothing, but even
their rosaries and other sacred treasures. Owing to this scarcity
of food, the drought experienced during the first half of the way,
and the heavy floods encountered on the latter portion, there was
much sickness among both people and animals, as a result of
which ten children died, and some of the cattle were lost. At the
Brazos, however, the party was met by supplies and mules sent out
by the governor, and the suffering was relieved. At Arroyo del
Cibolo, where, in pursuance of the royal order, a garrison of twenty
men had just been stationed by the governor,8 a few more persons
'Ybarbo to Oconor, Jan. 8, 1774, in Quaderno que Corresponde, 7.
'Gonzales died on July 30th, hence more than a. month was consumed in
getting past Nacogdoches. This does not indicate any great haste
(Autos, 22).
'Arroyo del Cfbolo was doubtless identical with modern Cfbolo Creek,
which joins the San Antonio River about half way between San Antonio
and Goliad, or old Bahfa del Espiritu Santo. According to Governor
RipperdA, the settlement on this 'arroyo was located "at the crossing of
the Texas and the Tuaeanes" (Ripperda to the viceroy, Nov. 25, 1773.
Letter No. 52, Vol. 100, Provincias Internas, Archivo General). Accord-
ing to a representation made by the government of the villa of San Fer-
anado to Croix, Jan. 12, 1778 (Los Vecinos, etc., 10) it was about eight-
een leagues eastward from San Antonio de B6xar. In 1782 the ranchos here
were six in number, with a population of 85. Some twenty-five ranchos