The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946 Page: 204
717 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
he formed a battalion of mounted infantry from among the
500 men which he named the Battalion of San Miguel de
Arag6n. Having incorporated it with his two flying companies
of 109 veteran soldiers, he set out for Texas in the middle of
October, 1720.21
Even then the rivers were out of their banks, and the greatest
difficulty was experienced in getting across them the 600 mule-
loads (cargas) which he carried and more than 4,000 horses,
600 cattle, 900 sheep, and 800 mules-not including those which
he previously had assembled at San Juan Bautista on the Rio
Grande and at San Antonio. The winter of 1720-1721 proved
to be a severe one, with much ice, snow, and rain, which
retarded the work of fifty swimmers whose task it was to pull
across the streams the rafts, constructed of timbers, barrels,
and rushes, that were laden with supplies. The high waters
of the Sabinas River, in northern Coahuila, and of the Rio
Grande delayed the Marquis more than a month, so that he
did not cross the Rio Grande until March 20, 1721. At the
crossing of the Rio Grande some loads of supplies were lost,
and the lives of two of the soldiers were imperiled.22
While at the Rio Grande, the Marquis, who professed great
fear that the French from Louisiana would seize the oppor-
tunity to reoccupy the site of La Salle's settlement, sent a
detachment of forty soldiers under Captain Domingo Ram6n
to occupy that region. This detachment proceeded by way of
San Antonio to La Bahia, which it reached and took possession
of on April 4, 1721.23
The main expedition continued from the Rio Grande by
regular daily marches through prevailing intense heat. The
route was by way of the camnino real to San Antonio, which
was reached on April 4, 1721. Leaving San Antonio on May
13, the expedition proceeded by way of present New Braunfels
and present San Marcos, where the old camino real was aban-
doned for a more northerly route that reached the Colorado
River a few miles below present Austin. Thence the expedition
proceeded, by way of the Griffin Crossing on Little River
east of the present Belton, to a point near Waco, on the
Brazos River, which was crossed on June 19, 1721. From
s2lbid.
221bid.; Report to the King by the Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo
concerning the reoccupation of the province of Texas, Coahuila, June 13,
1722, in archives of Santa Cruz de Querdtaro, K, Legajo 4, N. 10, folios 1-2.
2Buckley, "The Aguayo Expedition," Quarterly of the Texas State
Historical Association, XV, No. 1 (July, 1911), p. 32.204
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 49, July 1945 - April, 1946, periodical, 1946; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146056/m1/235/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.