The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 6, July 1902 - April, 1903 Page: 187

Ynspeccion of Laredo, 1757.

187

TIENDA DE CUERVO'S YNSPECCION OF LAREDO, 1757.
Translation and Notes.
HERBERT EUGENE BOLTON.
In 1746 Jose de Escandon, an officer of the Quer6taro militia, who
had already shown great ability by reducing a large portion of the
Sierra Gorda region, was commisioned by the viceroy of Mexico to
pacify and settle the Gulf coast country. The district put under
his control, extending from the Panuco River to Texas, and
"sixty or eighty" leagues west from the coast, was called la Colonia
del Nuevo Santander. During the conquest, accomplished in two
expeditions, and occupying the years 1748-55, more than twenty
towns were established by Spanish and converted Indian families,
who joined the expeditions. One of these settlements was Dolores,
on the north side of the Rio Grande. Of this place, Laredo, founded
ten leagues farther up the river, was an offshoot, as the accompany-
ing documents show. Dolores was subsequently abandoned, and
Laredo remained the only permanent Spanish settlement on the
north side of the lower Rio Grande.1
The documents here translated set forth the circumstances of the
beginnings of Laredo and show the progress the settlement made
during the first two years of its existence. They were copied from
the manuscript originals in the Archivo General de Mexico.
Volumes 53, 54, 55 and 56 of the History Section of this collection
comprise the results of an Inspeccion of the colony of Neuvo San-
tander, made in 1757, by Captain Tienda de Cuervo, Jues Inspector
of the Mexican Gulf, assisted by Agustin Lopez de la Camara
Alta, both acting under commission from the viceroy, the Marques
de las Amarillas.2
1For an account of Escandon's operations, see Bancroft, Memico, III
340-347; Prieto, Historia, Geografia y Estadistica del Estado de Tamauli-
pas, chs. XIV, XV, XVI; THE QUARTERLY, VI No. 2, 88-91. Escandon's
report to the viceroy is in volume 55 of the Archivo General de Mexico.
20f these volumes, numbers 55 and 56, entitled (on the backs, in manu-
script) Empedientes relatives d Ynspeccion y Estadistia de la Colonia de
Santander, contain the primary results of Tienda de Cuervo's operations,