The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 15, July 1911 - April, 1912 Page: 10
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Texas Historical Association Quarterly
The French under Bienville and Serigny now concentrated their
forces, increased by a number of Indian allies and, aided by a
newly arrived fleet, again captured Pensacola, September 17, 1719.
It finally returned to Spain by treaty in 1721.1
.3. Blondel's Attackl on los Adaes, June, 1719.-From this
minor war movement in Louisiana, a still smaller one penetrated
to the forlorn province of Texas, and swept back for two years
from its eastern portion to San Antonio, all vestige of Spanislh
occupation. Though the act in itself was insignificant, the effects
were far from being so, and on the minds of the Spaniards, filled
as they were with fears of an impending danger from that source,
it made a deep impression. The contemporary writings of the
missionaries, which are our principal sources for this event, are
laden with details, and the accounts which they present, told with
all the charm and naivet6 of the simple-hearted padres, are not
without humor to the modern reader.
Just what caused the Spaniards to leave eastern Texas in 1719
has been variously misrepresented. One extreme view is that St.
Denis, with a large body of French and Indian allies, attacked
their settlement at los Adaes; another, which is just as untrue, is
that there was no attack at all, and that the missionaries fled
without cause. The most important available document for this
event is the letter of July 2, 1719, to the viceroy from the two
presidents of the missions in Texas.2 Written under the actual
stress of the flight, it gives exact and somewhat graphic details of
the plight, fears, and wants of the small band which was ex-
pected to hold Texas for His Spanish Majesty. The writers,
Fathers Margil and Espinosa, were at the time of the writing at
Mission Concepci6n on the Angelina, where they remained for
about twenty days after the rest of the Spaniards had retired
toward the Trinity.3
The facts in the case, as gathered from this letter and other
sources, seem to be that about the middle of June, 1719,4 a
'Heinrich, La Louisiane sous la Cozpagnie des indes, 1719-1731, 62.
"Razon de la fundacion de las Missiones de los Texas al Sor Virrey pr
aquellas Missioneros, B. MS. As explained in the bibliographical notes
the title of this document is misleading.
9Ibid.
'The letter of July 2 does not give the date of the attack, but says that
word was received of it on the 22d at Concepci6n. Pelia (Derrotero, 1)
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 15, July 1911 - April, 1912, periodical, 1912; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101056/m1/14/?rotate=270: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.