The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 15, July 1911 - April, 1912 Page: 56
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Texas Historical Association Quarterly
Santo.' While on the Rio Grande, January 16, 1720, upon his
march to Texas, Aguayo had sent out a detachment of forty men
under Domingo Ram6n to take possession of La Bahia. When he
reached San Antonio, April 4, without having heard from the
party, he sent Indians to inquire about it, but received meanwhile
the information from the party itself that it had taken possession,
April 4. While in San Antonio he made arrangements for a ship
to ply between Vera Cruz and Espiritu Santo, and during his so-
journ in eastern Texas he received supplies from this source. On
his return march, at Mission Guadalupe (Nacogdoches) he re-
ceived word of the royal cddula of May 26, 1721, which approved
the erection of a presidio at Espiritu Santo, with additional in-
structions from the viceroy to add fifty men to the quota then at
that place.
(a) Fear of the French as a Motive in the Erection of the Pre-
sidio at Espiritu Santo.-It will be recalled that the immediate
cause of Aguayo's sending out the detachment from the Rio
Grande, was the rumor of a French and Indian convocation, of
which the Spaniards could get no definite information till they
reached the mission of La Purisima Concepci6n, on the Angelina,
Here Aguayo was informed by Juan Rodriguez, who learned it
from the Texas Indians, that St. Denis, after his return from the
conference with Aguayo on the Neches, had delayed for some days
near the mission of Concepci6n, and that for a time he had gath-
ered there a convocationn2 of Indians with the avowed object of tak-
ing possession of San Antonio and Espiritu Santo. The fact that
Aguayo found eighty Cadodachos at Mission Concepci6n lends
some appearance of truth to the statement of the Indians.3 Added
to these suspicious signs in eastern Texas, La Harpe's contem-
poraneous operations on the coast of Texas, having for their object
the occupation of Espiritu Santo, at least leave something to be
explained, and might be interpreted, not without reason, as a co-
operative scheme to secure French hold in Texas. August 26,
'Royal Oddula, June 18, 1718, Royal Oddula, November 19, 1719, Royal
Oddula, March 16, 1721, etc., in Reales Odulas, tomo 42, Texas Transcripts.
'Pefia, Derrotero, 17.
8Cox says, skeptically, that the "Spanish diario of the journey, however,
is filled with suspicious references to the supposed desire of the French to
penetrate to New Mexico or to the interior of Texas," etc., referring,
doubtless, to the statements of the Derrotero regarding the convocation.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 15, July 1911 - April, 1912, periodical, 1912; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101056/m1/61/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.