The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 89, July 1985 - April, 1986 Page: 9
610 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Bexar: Profile of a Tejano Community
the Spanish Crown for military and political purposes and facing a hos-
tile and alien world, Bexar developed in isolation from the mainstream
of Mexican life. Indeed, Jean Louis Berlandier, the French naturalist
who was also a member of the Mexican Boundary Commission, wrote
of Bexar in 1828:
Trade with the Anglo-Americans, and the blending in to some degree of their
customs, make the inhabitants of Texas a little different from the Mexicans of
the interior, whom those in Texas call foreigners and whom they scarcely like
because of the superiority which they recognize in them. In their gatherings,
the women prefer to dress in the fashion of Louisiana, and by so doing they
participate both in the customs of the neighboring nation and of their own.'
San Antonio de Bexar comprised three different communities in
1820: the religious-Indian settlements of the five Franciscan missions,
the military presidio of San Antonio, and the civil settlement of San
Fernando de Bexar. The missions were, over time, secularized and in-
corporated into the civil administrative system. Along the entire fron-
tier, missions faced a scarcity of missionaries and a lack of support from
the new national government. In Bexar, conversions virtually ceased
after the secularization of the missions in 1793-1794. By 1820 the for-
mer missions had become satellite civilian communities, Indians had
become a minority, and townspeople held large amounts of mission
land. Final secularization occurred in 1824, spurred by the efforts of
Bexar's political leadership. Although the missions continued to elect
their own officials, they were under the authority of the town.4
The presidio, which was established in 1718 along with Mission San
Antonio de Valero, formed the core of the area's settlement. In 18ol a
company of light cavalry was also stationed in Bexar. By 1820 this unit
and the original presidial company made up a garrison of 170 men.
The 182os was a decade of poverty and decline for Bexar's military, as it
was for the presidial system throughout northern Mexico. The political
struggles of central Mexico and the economic disarray following in-
2Jean Louis Berlandier, Journey to Mexico during the Years 1826 to 1834, trans. Sheila M. Ohlen-
dorf, Josette M. Bigelow, and Mary M. Standifer (Austin, 1980), II, 291.
3Census report of La Espada and San Juan Capistrano missions, 1819, Bexar Archives (Eu-
gene C. Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas, Austin; cited hereafter as BTHC).
Unless otherwise noted, all documents cited in this article are from the Bexar Archives (BA).
Documents are arranged in the Bexar Archives by date, whether or not that date is correct.
Dates of documents in this article indicate, therefore, where the documents are filed in the
Archives. If only a year is given, the document is filed after the last day of that year; if only a
month and a year are given, the document is found after the last day of that month in that year.
4Jos6 Erasmo Seguin to Antonio Maria Martinez, Dec. 28, 1820; election returns for mis-
sions, Dec. 23, 1827. For the secularization of the missions see Carlos E. Castafieda, Our Catholic
Heritage in Texas, 15I9-1936 (7 vols.; Austin, 1936-1958), V, 35-66, VI, 317-322.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 89, July 1985 - April, 1986, periodical, 1985/1986; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117151/m1/35/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.