Excavations at the Alamo Shrine [page 4]

Indian camps some two leagues from the Rio Grande; it is at this site that the present town of Guerrero, Coahuila, now stands. The reestablishment of mission San Juan Bautista at the new location took place on New Year's Day in 1700 (Almaraz 1979:6; Eaton 1980; Weddle 1968:28).

Shortly after the mission was established, a military contingent, consisting of a small mobile cavalry unit under the command of Sergeant Major Diego Ramon, was assigned to protect the exposed mission. Soon a formal presidio was constructed near the mission, which would eventually become the core of Spanish settlement in the region.

The missionizing efforts at San Juan Bautista became a formidable task, and a second mission was established a short distance to the northwest in order to share the growing responsibilities. On March 1, 1700, the Mission San Francisco Solano was founded under the authority of commandant Diego Ramon, and Fray Antonio Olivares took charge. It was this mission that would eventually, through a series of moves and changes in name, become the Alamo.

In 1702, a third mission, San Bernardo, was established under the direction of Fray Alonso Gonzalez a short distance to the north of San Juan Bautista. The three missions and the presidio, located near important crossings of the Rio Grande, formed a Spanish settlement in colonial times which could be called the "gateway to Spanish Texas" (Weddle, 1968). This place was the starting point for explorations, military campaigns, and northern expansion into the province of Texas. The many different Indian groups which were present at the missions have been listed and described by Campbell (1975, 1979).

Mission San Francisco Solano, although successful as a mission in the long run, seemed to have been plagued with an endless series of problems almost from the beginning, and it functioned at its original location for only a brief time. Subject to repeated attacks by hostile Indians, crop failures, scarcity of water, and finally abandoned by the neophytes late in 1703, the mission suffered the first of a series of failures. In October of the same year, Fray Antonio, joined by Fray Hidalgo, moved the mission 16 leagues to the west, near the present town of Zaragoza, Mexico, and renamed it mission San Ildefonso. It should be noted that mission was an "activity" more than a place or building. Thus when a mission was relocated, the "activity" was moved, but the non-portable structures remained behind (Almaraz, 1979).

Mission San Ildefonso was moderately successful for several years, while the missionaries instructed the native inhabitants of the area. However, in 1708, the wild Toboso Indians of the region finally provoked the mission neophytes to flee, and the friars and their small mission were once again abandoned. Efforts were made to induce the frightened Indians to return to the mission, but without success. Then, around 1712, the Franciscan College granted permission to move the mission to a more suitable place on the Rio Grande about three leagues from its original location. The relocated mission then acquired a new name; this time it was called Mission San José (Weddle, 1968:55).

Mission San José remained at the Rio Grande del Norte until 1718, when Fray Antonio, with permission of the College, moved his mission north into Texas and reestablished it on the bank of the Rio San Antonio de Padua near San Pedro Springs. The official reason for the move, as directed by the governor, was to place a
 

Previous Page | Next Page