The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 56
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
neophytes may have produced ceramic vessels. There was ade-
quate clay in the area and inventories listed water jars and "pots."
Restoration workers at San Jos6 in the 193o's excavated a num-
ber of "stilts" which were instruments used in glazing pottery.
An aspect of civilized life akin to Indian life was fighting.
Some of the work at the mission revolved around defense of the
pueblo. Built in a square, the buildings served as fortresses. San
Jos6 was the best fortified of the San Antonio missions. There
was a low bulwark over each of the four entrances. Inside the
entrances were openings which corresponded to the Indian houses,
where the Indians could fire under cover if the enemy attacked
the entrances. A fifth door was open during the day but fronted
by a large cleared space to prevent enemy approach under cover."
Two armed Indians patrolled within the walls and two rode out-
side the walls on horseback. Morfi wrote that if the enemy "were
capable of laying siege, the besieged, having as they have their
granaries well filled with food and plenty of good water in their
wells, could afford to laugh at their opponents."51 Some of the
neophytes had rifle practice and military exercise. In 1768 about
one hundred and ten men from San Jos6 could handle arms,
forty-five had guns, sixty-five had lances, bows, and arrows. An
armory held guns, bows, arrows, and lances to arm the Indians.
The other missions spent effort and industry to attempt de-
fense. Santa Ana wrote in 1740 that Valero "was better able to
withstand seige than any of the three presidios of the province."52
Mission Indians also formed a part of almost every army which
left from San Antonio to fight the Comanche and Apache.53
Several priests and a few soldiers administered the work at
the missions. They were aided in some cases by the Indian of-
ficials. For training in citizenship, the Indians were given limited
self-government. L6pez, who saw the missions in 1785, wrote:
In temporal matters these missions are governed and administered
in the style and fashion of a family by a common father who, being the
spiritual head, also looks after their interests and wants with as much
SoChabot, San Antonio, 53.
S1Morfi (Castafieda, trans), History of Texas, I, 95-96.
52Bolton, "The Mission as a Frontier Institution," American Historical Review,
XXIII, 51-52.
asIbid., 51.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959, periodical, 1959; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101173/m1/74/?rotate=90: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.