1. Chapter 5 Missions and Settlements in Texas
Spain expanded efforts to colonize “Texas”
Time period: Late 1600’s to early 1700’s
Reason:
To strengthen Spain's claim to
The land
1691: Spain creates Province
Of Texas, appoints a Governor

2. 1. to convert Natives to Christian faith
Why missions?
1. to convert Natives to Christian faith
2. to change Native culture to Spanish ways
3. to provide Native workers to grow crops, build shelters and provide labor
4. to subdue Natives and prevent hostile attacks
Missions in Texas

3. West Texas First Mission in Texas
1682: Corpus Christi de la Ysleta (Body of Christ of Ysleta)
Near El Paso
Spain had settlement in New Mexico: Santa Fe 1609
Close to other missions
No French Threat yet!

4. French claims to land
France claimed all the land drained by the Mississippi River
France focused on the fur trade
French trappers and traders lived in the land that is now the state of Louisiana, and worked with the Caddo in East Texas
La Salle’s settlement called Fort St. Louis: weak claim

5. French Territory Louisiana Map from Lewis and Clark Expedition
Later Map of Louisiana Purchase

6. Louisiana State and Sabine River Basin
This was not considered a border then.
Just part of French “Louisiana” then

7. Spain learned of La Salle & Fort St. Louis
Alonso de Leon expedition to destroy fort
Find no one alive at fort on April 22, 1689
Fort in ruins
De Leon travelled deeper into
East Texas from there with
Angelina, a Native guide
and interpreter

8. Spanish meet Hasinai They called them the “Tejas Indians”
Hasanai: tribe of the Caddo
Father Damian Massanet, Catholic Church official who was on the De Leon expedition promised to return to the Tejas.

9. First East Texas Mission
Father Massanet got permission from the Viceroy to return and found a mission among the Tejas.
1690: Father Massanet, 4 friars and 100 soldiers
Tejas were friendly
Crude log buildings made up the Mission San Francisco de los Texas
Located near Neches River near present day Weches

10. San Francisco de los Tejas
Location not far from Caddo Mounds--- near Alto and Weches
Area in brown is location of the East Texas Missions
Replica of original mission in historical park today.

11. Roads to East Texas

12. Roads
Most well known road:) El Camino Real, (The King’s Highway: highway markers today call it the Old San Antonio Road. Highway 19 to College Station: OSR
El Camino Real de los Tejas: road to San Francisco de los Tejas
These roads were dirt paths, often old Indian trails, used until paved highways were built in the 20th Century!

13. First Tejas Mission Failed
1. Drought ruined crops
2. Disease killed many Indians and one friar
3. Tejas rejected Catholic religion
4. Tejas resented Spanish attempts to change their way of life.

14. What Spain gained from the Tejas Mission
Learned missions needed presidios (Spanish Forts)
Also, Spanish families needed to settle the land
Realized France was not a threat
No reason to settle as far away from Mexico as East Texas
What were the reasons Spain had trouble settling East Texas? (far from other missions and settlements for supplies, communication, defense)

15. Spanish settlements along Rio Grande River
Mission San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist) built on west side of Rio Grande in 1699.
Known as the “Gateway to Texas” and the “Mother of Texas Missions”
Located at crossroads, grew into 3 missions, a presidio and a town.
Provided cattle, grain, horses for missionaries and soldiers travelling into Texas

16. Mission located near present-day Eagle Pass

17. Father Francisco Hidalgo
Spanish missionary had been at San Francisco de los Tejas. (Failed E. TX. Mission)
Wanted to return to the
Hasanai.
Viceroy ignored his requests.
Devised a plan.

18. France Threatens Again
French traders in the Gulf Coast area wanted to trade with Spanish merchants in Mexico.
Spanish law prohibited foreigners from trading with the colonies in New Spain. (Why?)
French had no interest in taking territory or converting the Indians
BUT, Father Hidalgo stirred up a “hornets’ nest”
Trying to get back to the Hasinai!

19. Hidalgo secretly contacts French and one thing led to another…
Hidalgo asked French to set up a mission in East Texas
French see this as an opportunity to open trade with Spain. (Wrong!)
French governor appointed Louis de St. Denis (Denee) to negotiate about this with Spanish officials on the Rio Grande.
On the way, he set up a trading post named Natchitoches on the Red River
in present-day Louisiana. Natchitoches (Nackitush)

20. St. Denis meets Spanish officials.
Date was 1714.
Captain Diego Ramon was alarmed when the French St. Denis arrived at Mission San Juan Bautista (on the Rio Grande). Why?
Ramon arrested St. Denis and sent him to Mexico City to be examined by viceroy to check his motives.

21. Spanish and French 18th Century Spanish Soldier: Reenactment
18th Century French Soldier: Painting

22. Viceroy thinks French are a Threat!
Although St. Denis insisted France did not want to occupy East Texas, Spanish officials did not believe him.
Viceroy ordered new Spanish missions to be built in East Texas along with soldiers to protect them.
Ironically, St. Denis was sent to guide the Spanish into East Texas, and was allowed to marry Ramon’s step-granddaughter!!!
St. Denis himself must have been very likeable!
Bust of St. Denis

23. Many attempts to colonize Texas: 1700 - 1750.
1716: Spanish came back to San Francisco de los Tejas with soldiers and Spanish families. (St. Francis of the Tejas) Due to French “Threat”!
Indians were friendly.
Spanish build 6 missions and a small fort (presidio) in East Texas
Presidio: Nuestra Senora de los D0lores de los Tejas: “New Lady of Dolores of the Tejas” (Presidio Dolores)
Located on Angelina River

24. San Antonio is Founded
Spanish needed a midway settlement along the 500 mile journey from the Rio Grande settlements to the East Texas missions.
Site on San Antonio River chosen:
“The best site in the world, with good and abundant irrigation water, rich lands for pasture, plentiful building stone and excellent timber.”
Known as San Antonio de Bexar---today, San Antonio is in Bexar County---the name is used today!

25. San Antonio de Bexar: Location
Location of San Antonio
Map of all Texas Missions

26. San Antonio Missions: most missions in one location

27. Design of Spanish missions
Coahuiltecan Indians adapted well to mission life. Why?

28. San Antonio was a series of missions along river.
Missions provided a church for the people.
The church was the focal point of community life. The structure was prominent within the compound. The convento, or living quarters of the missionaries and several lay assistants, was in close proximity to the church building. The cemetery, well used as the result of European diseases, lay adjacent. Daily life was centered around the church with its summons to worship and prayer, the fields, the workshops, and the classrooms. Conversion was encouraged when living in the missions, and required in order to become Spanish citizens.

29. Presidio San Antonio de Bexar
Fort: housed the soldiers
1718, built by Martin de Alarcon
Soldiers brought their families and settled permanently.
Why was this presidio a good idea?
What threats do you think the Spanish faced?

30. San Antonio de Bexar
Building plans of the Fort

31. San Antonio de Valero San Antonio de Valero was a mission.
Built in 1718.
The mission church became known as the Alamo, and was the site of the fateful battle of the Texas Revolution.

32. San Antonio Today
MISSION TRAIL
SAN ANTONIO RIVER:
RIVER WALK

33. 1719: War between France and Spain (?)
This was during the War of the Quadruple Alliance in Europe, with France and Spain on opposite sides.
A small band of French soldiers “attacked” a Spanish mission near Natchitoches and stole some chickens.
Known as the Chicken War!
The fleeing Spaniards exaggerated the size of the French “invasion”.
The result: Viceroy sends Aguayo and 500 soldiers to reestablish abandoned missions and moved Presidio Nuestra Senora de la Dolores further east, closer to the French.

34. War of Quadruple Alliance
The War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720) was a result of the ambitions of King Philip V of Spain to retake territories in Italy and to claim the French throne. It saw the defeat of Spain by an alliance of Britain, France, Austria (then a State of the Holy Roman Empire), and the Dutch Republic.
This cost Spain a lot of the
Gold they took from the
Native Americans!!!!

35. Aguayo Founds two settlements as result of the Chicken War: Los Adaes and La Bahia
Los Adaes: Aguayo built a large presidio near Natchitoches, the French trading post founded by St. Denis, in present-day Louisiana.
Nuestra Senora del Pilar de los Adaes, which we will call just “Los Adaes”
100 soldiers and their families started a village near the fort.
St. Denis protested.
Spanish fort was in French territory.
French did not protest or attack.

36. Natchitoches, La. Today Where it is: What it looks like:
French architectural influence

37. Los Adaes: (read: don’t write)
BUILT ON THE EDGE of the Spanish empire, the Los Adaes settlement had both a mission and a fort (presidio). It served as the capital of the Province of Texas for nearly 50 years. Los Adaes was a place of rare cooperation among the Spanish, the French, and the Caddo Indians.

38. Los Adaes
Location of Spanish fort
Louisiana Marker today

39. Los Adaes
Diagram of the fort
Diagram of Historic Park

40. French and Spanish Relations
France:
Spain:
Continued to trade with East Texas Indians
Considered the Arroyo Hondo the Border between French and Spanish Territory
No settlements in Spanish territory
Kept Presidio at Los Adaes, close to French border: Warning—Keep Out!
This was the unofficial capital of Texas for the next 50 years.
Inconvenient, right?

41. La Bahia: 2nd fort Aguayo built
Aguayo moves on to site of Fort St. Louis: design of original fort
Builds a presidio on the site named La Bahia-later moved and this is the 2nd one.

42. La Bahia moved from Fort St
La Bahia moved from Fort St. Louis site to present day Goliad due to Karankawa problems
La Bahia in the distance
Chapel at La Bahia near Goliad today.

43. Presidio La Bahia
Spanish Cannon Barrel
Location of Goliad, Texas

44. La Bahia is the future site of the Goliad Massacre during the Texas Revolution
Battle Flag and Memorial to those killed in the Massacre

45. Aquayo’s Impact on Texas
9 missions
2 villages
4 presidios
Aquayo goes back to his home in Coahuila
1727: Spanish officials need money because of war expenses in Europe.
Remove presidio (Dolores) on Angelina River,
Reduced the number of soldiers at Los Adaes
Moved 3 missions to San Antonio

46. Why did this help reduce expenses?
East Texas:
San Antonio:
Closer to major settlements in Mexico
and on Rio Grande by
250 miles
missions and settlements in a group shared defense, supplies and officials
Roughly 250 miles further away from Mexico than San Antonio.
More people and places to keep defended, supplied, and checked on.

47. Plains Indians Resent Missions
Intruders on their hunting grounds
Priest and Friars try to convert them anyway!
Apaches raided San Antonio de Bexar often.
Comanche fought fiercely, valued captured horses!
: 3 missions founded along San Gabriel River in Central Texas, near present day Rockdale to serve Tonkawa.
Failed: Apache raids, smallpox, drought, Tonkawas left

48. 1757: San Saba Mission—bold step
Far from nearest San Antonio
Wanted to convert Apache, who wanted protection from the Comanche.
Apache didn’t take to mission life.
Comanches attacked, moved mission to Nueces River.
Ruins of San Saba Mission

49. Missions unsuccessful with Plains Indian
Spanish problems:
1. Remote location made it hard to supply and administer the missions.
Plains people too fiercely independent to settle down to mission ways.
Remember: Plains Indians hunted the buffalo and were nomadic!

50. Significance of some missions
Mission or Presidio
Location
Importance
San Francisco de los Tejas
Neches River, East Texas
First East Texas Mission
San Juan Bautista
Rio Grande River
Mother of Texas Missions
Presidio San Antonio de Bexar
San Antonio River
Midway point, became San Antonio
Presidio: Los Adaes
Louisiana: near French Border
Farthest east, known as the capital of province of Texas