The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 107, July 2003 - April, 2004 Page: 208
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
were attacking the ranches on both Cibolo Creek and the San Antonio
River from the north, and a fort higher up the Cibolo might have inter-
cepted these raiders sweeping down from the Guadalupe before they
could reach the ranches below. This explanation proved to be wrong-at
least in the minds of Governor Cabello and the ranchers themselves.
The title of the National Archives Cabello map gives its focus and trans-
lates as: "Geographical map that shows the settlements situated in the
area between the two presidios of San Antonio de Bejar and La Bahfa del
Espiritu Santo, with the San Antonio and Guadalupe Rivers and Cibolo
Creek, whose fort it is planned to move to the [lower] location where it is
shown, because of the obstacle of the ditch that it has where it is [now]
found."5 Taken with Cabello's letter to Croix of September 14, 178o, the
wording in this map title is sufficient to link it with the map that Cabello
promised to draw for him. Maps do not have to be dated and signed to
identify the significance of their information. Spanish colonial-period
maps, whether originals or copies made later, often lack dates and the
maker's name. Such is the case with Cabello's roughly drawn map, but it
represents important knowledge gained on his trip to La Bahia.
In terms of the actual location of Fuerte del Cibolo in 178o, the letter
"I" marks it-upstream from the fort symbol "L," the legend for which
reads "Site chosen for new location of the fort of El Cfbolo." Thus Cabel-
lo wanted to move the fort below Rancho San Bartolo, closer to the Cibo-
lo Creek's junction with the San Antonio River. It does not seem that this
move ever took place, and the governor ordered the poorly located fort
abandoned and burned in March 1782.
On the subject of various ranches between San Antonio and La Bahia,
all are represented on Cabello's map as little "cabins," either with the
owner's name or that of the ranch. Four ranches appear on the Pichardo
map that are not seen on Cabello's map, those of Luis P6rez, Pefia, Pastle,
and Las Mulas-the former two on the San Antonio River and the latter
two on the Cibolo, where we know they were from documentation of the
period. However, several cabins on the Cibolo lack names, and Cabello's
map also gives two ranch cabins named SanJos6 close together but on op-
posite sides of the San Antonio River between "Cleto" (Ecleto) and
4 Jack Jackson, Shooting the Sun" Cartographic Results of Military Activities in Texas, 1689-1829
(svols.; Austin. Book Club of Texas, 1998), I, 182; II, 346-350, wherein the Pichardo map is re-
produced.
5 "Mapa Geogrfico ... ," Records of the Bureau of the Chief of Engineers, Record Group 77,
Q 47 (National Archives at College Park, Md ).
6Jackson, Los Mestejros, 235 See also Robert H. Thonhoff, ElFuerte del Cibolo: Sentinel of the Bexar-
La Bahia Ranches (Austin: Eakin Press, 1992) for a full treatment of this fort, which Thonhoff be-
lieves was just west of the bridge where FM Road 887 crosses the creek on property owned by the
Krawietz family. Historically this site on the Cibolo (where the Old Gohad Road ran above Hele-
na) is known as "Carvajal's Crossing."October
208
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 107, July 2003 - April, 2004, periodical, 2004; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101224/m1/252/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.