ew Light on Felipe de Rdbago yTerdn DoNero E, CurpueN eNp Lurs L0pnz Errzor.lno oNALD E. CHrpveN rs EueRrrus PRorrsson op HIsroRv AT THE UNwrRslrv op Nonru Tr,xas rN DrNroN. Hrs sooKs TNCLUDE Mocrnzuua's Csz.oRa'r Azrnc RoyaLry UwprR Spalr.lrs.r-r Rurc, 1520-1700, SpeNtsru TErAS, 1519-1821, tNo Nortarc Mrx axo Wouzt't or Spalrsa Tzxts. INpEpENoENT scHoLAR Lurs LOpEz ErrzoNoo LrvES rN Mrxlco. IN rurs sELECTToN, CHrpuaru eNo ErrzoNpo pRovrDE FRESH INFoRMATIoN oN INFAMoUS Spaurss pRESrDro oFFrcER Fsr-rps or RAeeco v TrnAN. "o ************************ Felipe de R6bago y Ter6n commanded two presidios in Texas in the middle decades of the eighteenth century. His first captaincy was at San Francisco Xavier de Gigedo near the present- day town of Rockdale, where he assumed authority in early December 1751; his second was at San Luis de las Amarillas just outside modern-day Menard, where he arrived on September 30, 1760. During the nine-year interval between these postings, Rdbago became the most notori- ous of all presidio commanders in Spanish colonial Texas. Indeed, for nearly eight of those years, following his possible involvement at San Xavier in the murder of a Franciscan priest "New Light on Felipe de Rribago y Ter6n" by Donald E. Chipman and Luis L6pez Elizondo from Sor/hwestern Historical Quarterly Vol. CXI, No. 2, October, 2007. Used with permission of the Texas State Historical Association. The full version of this article with notes available in Southwestern Historical Quarterly IlI (October 2007): t 61-181. 37 and a tailor from San Antonio, he was either under house arrest at Presidio Santa Rosa Maria del Sacramento in Coahuila or incarcerated in the public jail of the adjoining town. The cir- cumstances that prompted the release and reassignment of a person of such questionable rep- utation to the largest military garrison in Texas are little short of remarkable. The full story of Rdbago, however, has not been told because historians, including the primary author of this article, who have written about R6bago have not had the benefit of documen- tation that has recently surfaced. Luis L6pez Elizondo, an independent researcher and histo- rian in Mizquiz, Coahuila, and ferome Farrell, a British citizen and seven-times-removed nephew of R6bago, both have uncovered and generously shared new material relative to the captain's tainted career in Texas. The fresh evidence provided by these two researchers and Robert S. Weddle, the author of a recent book, makes this article possible. Seldom do historians get the opportunity to set the record straight by correcting their own words in print. That we are occasionally able to do so reminds us that history is an ever changing discipline that must be revised in the light of new evidence, from which flows new conclusions. During the late 1740s, Franciscan priests of the missionary college of Querdtaro spear- headed efforts to found religious outposts some 130 miles northeast of San Antonio on the San Gabriel River. By luly 1749, three missions collectively known as San Xavier sought to address the spiritual needs of Tonkawas, Akokisas, Bidais, Deadoses, and Cocos. Lacking, however, was a military garrison to provide protection against marauding Lipan Apaches. This lack of security encouraged desertions on the part of the neophytes and hampered religious proselytization by the friars. To remedy the situation, on March Il,l75I, the viceroy of New Spain formally appointed Felipe de R6bago y Ter6n as captain of a not yet established presidio on the San Gabriel River. It is worth noting that Rdbago's command had previously been approved at the court of FerdinandVl on March 6,1750. Don Felipe's specific orders included the recruitment of a maximum of fifty soldiers, as well as a number of civilian settlers to support the missionary enterprise. Why Rdbago? This is a question that has not been adequately addressed until now, but it will hardly surprise anyone to learn that family connections figured importantly in his appoint- ment. Don Felipe was born on May 12,1722, in the small mountain village of Tresabuela in Cantabrian province, northern Spain. He was the sixth and youngest offspring of Felipe de R6bago y Terdn and Lorenza Roiz Fern6ndez. Those familiar with modern Spanish surname conventions might surmise that this child would be named Felipe de Rribago (y) Roiz. Instead, he was given the exact surname of his father. While a bit unusual, it was far from rare in ear- lier times when surname usage varied considerably among brothers and sisters. Capt. Felipe de Riibago, to distinguish him from his father with the same surname, benefited from a long line of ancestors associated with the town of Tresabuela. The senior R6bago and his father were both aldermen in the area's city council. Both are also listed as "hidalgo" in local census returns-meaning they were members of the lowest rung of Spanish nobility. 38 Chapter 4 * New Light on Felipe de R6bago y Ter6n Don Felipe's grandfather and great grandfather were likewis e vecinos (citizens) of Tresabuela. More important, a branch of the family in Tresabuela included the famous lesuit priest Francisco de R6bago y Noriega who became the confessor of King Ferdinand VI (17 46-17 59) . In the mid-1700s fray Francisco, probably a distant cousin of don Felipe, wielded considerable political influence at the Spanish court. Captain Rdbago also had family connections in Mexico City. His eldest brother, Jos6 de R6bago, was a knight of Santiago and chief accountant of the Royal Mint. The captain, him- sell had acquired substantial wealth in trade between Mexico City and Zacatecas.A combina- tion of family connections and personal wealth made Rdbago a seemingly ideal appointment as commander of a presidio in a poor, distant province on the northern frontier of New Spain. However, family background and money did not guarantee character, which was singularly lacking in the young captain. As for judgment, during his first command in Texas, Governor Iacinto de Barrios y l6uregui (175I-I759) cryptically remarked of Riibago that he possessed Iess of it than money. Since R6bago was especially enjoined to cooperate with the Franciscan priests in Christianizing and Hispanicizing Indians at the mission sites on the San Gabriel River, his per- formance to that end would be extraordinarily lax. En route to his command, he made extended stopovers in Monclova and San Antonio. At those locales he made it clear that he had already developed an intense dislike for mission padres. In accord with his instruction to enlist as many as fifty soldiers and a few settlers for his com- mand, R6bago recruited Iuan Jos6 Ceballos, a tailor in San Antonio. Soon after, the young captain began intimate relations with Ceballos's wife, a liaison that continued on the march to the missions. At the Cibolo River, the cuckolded husband protested the captain's conduct and found himself in chains, charged with threatening the commander of the expedition. On reaching the San Xavier missions, R6bago stated that his instructions from the viceroy required one of the missionaries there to serve as chaplain of the new garrison. Appointed in that capacity by his religious superior in San Antonio was fray Miguel Pinilla of Mission Nuestra Sefrora de la Candelaria. Pinilla then sought to end the illicit affair between R6bago and Ceballos's wife by asking the former to send the woman back to San Antonio. Instead of complying with the chaplain's request, Rdbago apparently blamed the maltreated husband for forcing the issue. He had Ceballos shackled against the wall of his cell, placed a cot before him, and ravished the man's wife in his presence. By late December 1751, Rdbago had selected a site for Presidio San Xavier de Gigedo and had begun construction of the garrison. During Christmas Eve festivities, he learned that Ceballos had broken free of his fetters and fled to Mission Candelaria where he sought refuge in its chapel. On the following day, Rdbago rode his horse into the chapel, apprehended the unfor- tunate Ceballos, returned him to confinement, and cuffed him about for good measure. Fray Pinilla was outraged, pointing out that on Christmas-one of the most scared days of the Christian calendar-Rdbago had brazenly violated an ecclesiastical sanctuary. The chaplain demanded that Ceballos be returned to the mission and that Rdbago apologize for Chapter 4 * New Light on Felipe de R6bago y Teriin his actions. On December 27,Ribago returned the unfortunate settler but offered no apology. From that day forward, Pinilla and R6bago would be locked in a contest of wills. And it would not end well. Both men complained about each other in letters written to officials in B6xar. Captain R6bago asked that fray Pinilla be removed as chaplain. The request was denied by his superior. Fray Pinilla joined fellow priests at San Xavier in drafting a litany of complaints about unsympa- thetic governors and troublesome civilians in Texas who had repeatedly undermined their efforts and those of their former co-religionists to save the souls of Indian neophytes. They nevertheless charged that all "impostures," "craftiness," and "machinations" of past adminis- trators and settlers had been "outdone by the malice of this man [R6bago]." With their captain as role model, soldiers at the presidio, most of whom were separated from their families, began intimate relations with Indian women at the three missions. In the words of historian fray Juan Agustin Morfi, "the neophytes saw themselves deprived of their wives and daughters by the soldiers, oppressed by excessive labor, insulted every moment of the day, and denied the right to voice their misfortune." Some of the more Christianized Indian women sought expiation of their carnal sins in the confessional, and as a result evidence mounted of gross misconduct by soldiers at the presidio.