The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 9, July 1905 - April, 1906 Page: 71
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. 71
ish settlers were their droves and herds of horses, mules, cattle,
and small stock, and to steal these was the main object of the
Apache raids. Treacherous to the last degree, these Indians
would enter a village or presidio in the guise of friendship, and
upon leaving run off all the stock of the place. As the Apaches
were pushed south by their inveterate enemies, the Comanches,
such thieveries, not always unattended by murder, occurred with
increasing frequency, to the utter despair of many of the frontier
establishments.
The Texas settlements, particularly San Antonio de Bexar and
Bahia del Espiritu Santo, had long been infested by the thieving
Apaches and Karankawas, and now one section of the prov-
ince was beset by a more blood-thirsty enemy, the Comanches.
This tribe was first heard of in Texas in 1743. They did no seri-
ous damage until 1758, but in March of that year they, in con-
junction with a number of northeastern tribes, who had hitherto
given no trouble, attacked and burned the newly founded mission
at San Saba, on the San Saba River, murdered some of the mis-
sionaries and soldiers, set fire to the stockade of the presidio and
drove off part of the stock. The occasion assigned for this attack
was that the San Saba mission was designed to minister to the
Apaches, mortal enemies of the Comanches. The presidials were
terrified, they clamored for a removal to another site, and were only
with difficulty kept from deserting. In the following year Colonel
Parilla went out with five hundred men to punish the Indians, but
instead he suffered an ignominious defeat. In the country of the
Taovayases his troops were attacked by a large body of the allies,
before whom they fled, leaving behind them baggage and artillery.1
This victory over the Spaniards, which for more than a decade went
unpunished, served to lessen the prosperity of the none too flourish-
ing Texas settlements. The Comanches and other northern tribes
continued to trouble the presidio of San Saba and even sought the
Apaches in the neighborhood of Bexar.2
This condition of affairs called forth numerous reports from
1See on page 108 a reference to the cannon left by Parilla.
2This section is based upon Bancroft's Mexico (Vol. III), his North Mexi-
can States and Texas (Vol. I), and his Arizona and New Mexico; Prieto,
Historia, Geografia y Estadistica del Estado de Tamaulipas; Bonilla,
Breve Compendio; the royal Reglamento 6 instruction of 1772 (see biblio-
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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/m1/75/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.