The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905 Page: 55
xiii, 358 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Bonilla's Brief Compendium.
third a peso a day, and the last four reales [a day]. It was esti-
mated that these expenditures would approximate fifty-three thou-
sand pesos [in four months].
The Presidio of San Antonio de Bexar was chosen as the place
of meeting. As the troops had been unable, on account of the dis-
tances, to come together at the time appointed, it was not till the
first of August that the expedition set out, under orders of Colonel
Don Diego Ortiz Parilla, in search of the enemy. They, advised
of this occurrence, were awaiting our forces to harass them and
defend themselves vigorously.
The above-mentioned colonel traveled one hundred and fifty
leagues northward with the troops under his command. He found
several rancherias deserted; he took one by surprise, killing fifty-
five Indians, and taking a hundred and forty-nine prisoners.
When, however, he advanced to the village of the Taovayases he
found it fortified with intrenchments, stockades, and ditches; and
inside more than six thousand confederated Indians, who with
boldness and arrogance were flying a French flag.
In well concerted sallies they attacked our troops; and, increas-
ing their outposts and detachments, they tried to cut off the retreat,
so as to entrap their enemies and leave them no other alternative
than death or surrender.
This mode of warfare, never [before] experienced among the
Indians-in which they not only used a regular military discipline,
but also dextrously inflicted injuries with the musket, saber, and
lance, throwing aside the bows, arrows, and macanas, the arms
peculiar to their ancient usage-so astounded Parilla's troops that
this officer's ardor, good example, and persuasions were of no avail.
They retreated, leaving behind all the baggage-train, and the six
field-pieces; and the memory of this [event] remains to this day on
the Taovoyases frontier, as a disgrace [to the Spaniards].
Such was the end of the much-talked-of expedition against the
nations of the North, which cost the king's treasury, in less than
two months, more than sixty thousand pesos. I am impelled to say,
however, in the interest of the truth, that the leader of it would
have been successful in his operations with troops of another sort,
more obedient and better trained, than these, whose conduct would
have endangered his reputation had he not [already] been tried in
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905, periodical, 1905; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101033/m1/57/?rotate=90: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.