PD Commons PD Books PD Commons EARLY EXPLORATION/ AND MISSION ESTABLISHMENT/ IN TEXAJ" PD Books PD Commons fc 8 w Q fc O 8 fc 8 w G w tn H U5 t-i EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS IN TEXAS BY EDWARD W. HEUSINQER, F.R.Q.S. Illustrated With Original Photographs Maps and Plans THE NAYLOR COMPANY SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 1936 PD Books PD Commons EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS IN TEXAS BY EDWARD W. HEUSINGER, F.R.Q.S. Illustrated With Original Photographs Maps and Plans THE NAYLOR COMPANY SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 1936 PD Books PD Commons Copyright, 1936 THE NAYI.OR COMPANY Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher. V This book is dedicated to the memory of the Franciscan Missionaries: PR. DAMIAN MASSANET FR. ANTONIO DE SAN BUENAVENTURA Y OLIVARES FR. YSIDRO FELIX DE ESPINOSA FR. ANTONIO MARGIL DE JESUS FR. BARTHOLOME GARCIA and their many intrepid co-workers who unselfishly gave their labor and their lives that Texas might enjoy the heritage of Christianity. PD Books PD Commons INTRODUCTION For two centuries after the discovery of America, Texas remained an unexplored and almost unvisited frontier province of Spain's far-flung empire. The reasons for this are not far to seek. First of all, Texas was almost inaccessible from the Spanish point of view. There were three possible ways of getting to it, each one less attractive than the pre- ceding. The one by sea was over the totally un- charted Gulf of Mexico, which was rendered doubly difficult by the peculiar formation of Matagorda Peninsula and the bay it protects. The two land routes, one over from Florida and the other up from Mexico, were extremely long, and the former especially was very arduous as De Soto found out to his cost. It is true that obstacles equally great had been met and overcome by the Spaniards elsewhere. But then the attraction had been commensurate. It was easy wealth in the form of gold and silver that lured on the conquistadores over storm-infested seas and through virgin forests and across trackless deserts. Texas, however, had no precious metal to offer. Some stories were indeed told of great trea- sures but when they were hunted down they were found to be groundless, most probably inventions of Indians who had their own ends in view. It is also true that there were souls to save, but they were fierce and savage; besides, only the mis- sionaries were interested in them and they were helpless without the active support of the civil and military authorities. These latter could not be moved except by considerations of a far lower kind. They wanted the territory and therefore they had laid vn PD Books PD Commons INTRODUCTION claim to it; but in the meantime since there was nothing to be gained by settlement, they did not bother about it. Only when their claim was challenged did they burst into activity, and then only so long as the danger lasted. The French were the only rivals they had to fear in this region. One fine day in 1684 the Spanish authorities were startled by the infor- mation that La Salle had landed in Texas and founded a colony there. Counter-moves were im- mediately set on foot. A mission was established in East Texas, not far from the scene of French ac- tivity, and efforts were made to cultivate the friend- ship of the Indians. The missionaries, as was al- ways the case where they received whole-hearted co- operation, worked wonders. But soon the authori- ties in Mexico, learning the fate of the settlers at Fort Saint Louis, and convinced that no further undertakings were planned, concluded that the French were no longer a menace. Spanish official interest waned proportionately. The little colony on the frontier began to feel the effects of neglect. Seeing that no further aid was to be expected, and unable to cope single-handed with the difficulties of their situation, they found themselves forced to abandon the enterprise and return whence they had come. Texas again became a Spanish possession in name only and remained such for some years. But then another Frenchman appeared on the scene. This time it was Saint-Denis, intent on ex- ploring Texas commercially, disposing of his mer- chandise among the Indian tribes in which the Spaniards had been displaying no interest. Not lack- ing in hardihood, he made the Red River the start^ ing point of his enterprises. Again the viceroy and Yin INTRODUCTION his aides discovered in their bosoms a latent desire to help out the poor benighted natives. Explora- tions were undertaken and Missions were again es- tablished where they would do the most good, and them. presidios were placed nearby to protect The Indians, having their wants supplied gratis, were no longer interested in trading with the French. Saint- Denis himself was further discouraged by less equi- vocal means. These measures were effective. Again Spam's claims to Texas were undisputed by any European power. So another period of lethargy set in. Well enough was left alone and in fact suffered to degen- erate. But those meddlesome Frenchmen were not quite through. Again they appeared on the soil of Texas, bartering or giving away their guns and their liquor and their gaily-colored cloth. Agitation was again rife in Spanish officialdom. Missionaries long hardened to being put off or even insulted found themselves listened to with respect. Funds which previously simply could not be found were suddenly created by a stroke of the pen. Soldiers hitherto ab- solutely indispensable elsewhere or perhaps entirely non-existent suddenly materialized north of the Rio Grande. Again Texas was indebted, for a small measure of progress in cultivation, to the aggressive activity of the French rivals of its Spanish masters. We learn two very interesting and instructive things, therefore, from the Spanish efforts at coloni- zation and development of Texas. The first is that the motive of competition underlies all the history of early Spanish activity in Texas, whether it took the form of exploratory expeditions (entradas) or of permanent establishments such as presidios and mis- sions. Writers and historians have studied the var- IX PD Books PD Commons INTRODUCTION ious entradas in detail, and they have given full ac- counts of the individual mission establishments. The excellent results of their work have been amply de- scribed in monographs appearing as magazine articles or pamphlets. Such works, however veracious and informative they may be in detail, fail to give a uni- fied impression of the whole. In fact, read separate- ly, they tend to give the false impression that the various manifestations of Spanish activity in Texas were accidental and haphazard, instead of being, as they were, parts of a consistently followed policy. The second point is that the Spaniards' method of at once keeping the French out of Texas and of rendering Texas safe for Spain, was to bring civili- zation to the natives, through Christianity. The military forces that accompanied the missionaries were sent not to conquer or to tyrannize over the Indians, but principally and even only as a protec- tion for the missionaries and their missions. It is with the view of bringing out these points clearly that Edward W. Heusinger has written this book. Here he presents a sequential account of the expeditions and of the permanent establishments. He has consulted many original documents in addition to general sources, and while he does not claim to have made an exhaustive study of the whole field, he has brought together a readable account of the beginnings of civilization in Texas. As such it will be found an entertaining as well as an instructive narrative. JOSEPH W. SCHMITZ, S. M. St. Mary's University, San Antonio, Texas. PREFACE Of all the historical points of interest in the South, none surpass or are so attractive as the Mis- sions of Texas, and although most of the establish- ments are in ruins, those that have been preserved, impress one most forcibly with their unique architec- tural design and construction. Then, too, they pre- sent an interesting phase in the early development of our country, and yet their history, to most people, is shrouded in mystery. For many years the Author has been interested in and made a study of the cartography and early ex- ploration of the Southwest and of the old Spanish Missions and settlements scattered through Texas. Researches into the history of mission establishments and material collected were made at intervals, as time permitted, in the years 1906 to and including 1915, but the opportunity to work over this material and revise it for publication in book form, such as is now presented, could not be found until recently. A number of books on the Missions have ap- peared by various authors since these researches were made and much new material has been made acces- sible; however, no one has presented the matter in sequence, beginning with the first discovery of the land which now bears the name of Texas and the establishment of one mission after another, until their secularization, as has been done in this work. It is to be hoped, therefore, that this book will be of value to the reader in furnishing a clear un- derstanding of the mission establishments in Texas and at the same time be interesting and entertaining. Attention might also be called to several Span- ish words used to a great extent throughout this work, as Padre, meaning Father, and Fray, which PD Books PD Commons PREFACE is a contraction of Fraile, an appellation of respect addressed to members of religious orders.