The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906 Page: 129
ix, 294 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Spanish Abandonment and Re-Occupation of East Texas. 129
maining stock. The women and children and some of the stock
were saved on improvised boats and rafts and removed to higher
land quite a distance from the river. Here the people remained a
few days, when they were again molested by Comanches, who, after
what was reported to be an all night siege, ran off thirty-eight head
of horses that had been saved from the deluge, and then killed,
near-by, half a dozen Indians friendly to the Spanish. After this
raid, haste was made to remove the people in boats to the east
bank of the river, but here they were again disturbed by the In-
dians.1 Being now thoroughly frightened by the Indians and
evicted by fire and flood, Ybarbo at once set out for the Texas
country with the remainder of the settlers.2
3. The beginnings of modern Nacogdoches.-On the way he ap-
parently picked up the people who had gone on before and who
were living scattered among the Indians. The journey was con-
tinued toward the northeast "until," to use the words of Ybarbo
in his report to Croix, "there were seen the site of the Texas In-
dians and, three leagues beyond, the old mission of Nacogdoches,
where there was a small chapel in which the reverend father may
perform the holy sacraments and a house where he may live,3 as
well as plenty of water, lands, and materials for houses." He does
not mention the Old Stone Fort,' which it has been supposed had
1Ybarbo to Croix, May 13, 1779, in Expediente sobre el abandono, 22;
Cabello to Croix August 31, 1779; Ibid., 37; Garza to Croix, April 30,
1779, Ibid., 23.
2When the settlers left Bucareli they left six cannons, four of which
were sooner or later taken to Naeogdoches. Those remaining at Bucareli
were ordered sent to B6xar, and in 1793 steps were taken to remove them
thither, but that they ever reached there I can not say (see a document
entitled "Provincia de Texas, ARio de 1792," and a letter from Revilla
Gigedo to Governor Muffoz, April 10, 1793, both in Bdxar Archives).
aMezibres, in his letter of August 23, 1779, testifies to the fact that the
mission buildings were still standing when the Spaniards returned. He
says "It [the mission] is situated at the foot of a knoll, where its build-
ings still remain" (Expediente sobre el abandono . . . y establecer
Comercio, 6).
'It is just possible that one of the buildings mentioned by Ybarbo, the
chapel or the house, was identical with what has been known as the Old
Stone Fort, which has recently been torn down, but this is improbable.
I can not assert with confidence that Ybarbo did not build the Old Stone
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906, periodical, 1906; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101036/m1/133/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.