The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905 Page: 24

24 Tewas Historical Association Quarterly.
Accompanied by twenty-five Texas with their aged chief, Ber-
nardino' and three Frenchmen,' leaving the rest at that place, San
Denis set out in search of the Presidio of San Juan Bautista del
Rio Grande.
On the banks of the San Marcos River, they met about two hun-
dred Indians on the warpath (of course they must have been
Apaches), enemies of the Texas; and, after waging a bloody com-
bat, the latter were victorious. At once, however, they concluded a
peace, or truce, twenty-one of those [Indians] who were accompany-
ing San Denis returning from the said river. With the four re-
maining, and his three Frenchmen, he came at last to the Presidio
of San Juan Bautista del Rio Grande, a year and nine months after
his departure from Movila.5
Report was given to His Excellency the Viceroy of the entry of
these foreigners. In consequence of his orders they were taken to
Mexico, where they arrived in the month of June, in the year seven-
teen hundred and fifteen. Their reports and declarations being
ratified, the fourth entrada into the Province of the Texas was de-
cided upon, in junta de guerra y hacienda.'
The alferez Domingo Ramon was appointed head of this enter-
prize, with an annual salary of five hundred pesos. Don Luis de
1See note 4, p. 21.
'Destino, i. e., among the Texas.
BThe Testimonio (Sec. 27) gives a mhch briefer report of Saint-Denis'
statement. "San Denis stated that they had come in a pirogue from
Mobila to Nachittos, where they had disembarked; that when they arrived
among the Texas and did not find the Spanish there, the French soldiers
returned, only four staying among the Texas; and that with the three he
had passed on to the said Presidio del Rio Grande. He stated, more-
over, that the Texas Indians desired that the Spanish missionaries should
return."
The Historia (Sec. 13) gives an even briefer account, merely stating
that in 1715 two Frenchmen set out from Mobila and came to the Presidio
of San Juan Bautista asking for stock and provisions.
'I. e., a meeting of governmental officers called by the viceroy to decide
upon the best course of action for the government to take under the cir-
cumstances. The date of this junta, according to the Testimonio (See.
28), was August 22, 1715.