Texas Almanac, 1968-1969 Page: 54
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54 TEXAS ALMANAC-1968-1969
The f rst Span so mission in East Texas was San Francisco de los Tejas, built in 1690.
This replica of the original mission stands in Mission San Francisco de los Tejas State Park
near Weches, Houston County.LaSalle and the French
The second flag to fly over Texas, that of
France, came with Rene Robert Cavalier,
Sieur de la Salle, in 1685. The announced
purpose of La Salle's expedition was to estab-
lish a French settlement at the mouth of the
Mississippi. Possibly La Salle was driven on
the Texas coast by storms. There is also evi-
dence that he sailed past the mouth of the
Mississippi for the deliberate purpose of
establishing a French post within striking
distance of Spanish operations in northern
Mexico.
Landing at the head of Lavaca Bay, La
Salle established Fort Saint Louis from which
he made a number of expeditions, some to
the west, apparently in search of the gold
and silver mines of the Spaniards, and later
to the east In search of the Mississippi. La-
Salle was killed by one of his own men in
1687. The place of his death is usually fixed
at a site near Navasota. Fort Saint Louis
was soon destroyed by disease and the In-
dians. The establishment of this colony had
little direct result. Indirectly it had a per-
manent influence because it alarmed the
Spaniards in Mexico and made them estab-
lish settlements north of the Rio Grande.
East Texas Missions
In 1689 an expedition of Capt. Alonso de
Leon, governor of Coahuila, set out to de-
stroy Fort Saint Louis. The expedition was
accompanied by Father Massanet, whose
purpose was to establish a mission in Texas.
The abandoned Fort Saint Louis was dis-
covered in 1690, and the expedition of De
Leon proceeded eastward as far as the
Neches River.
The first East Texas Mission, San Fran-
cisco de los Tejas, was established near the
Neches, probably near the present town of
Weches, in northeastern Houston County, in1690. Later in the same year the mission
Santisimo Nombre de Maria was established
nearby.
These missions were maintained by a
handful of soldiers and priests for a few
years. But fear of the French declined and
the Spanish effort in East Texas was aban-
doned.
One lasting result of this excursion was
the naming of the territory which is Texas
today. This previously was not definitely
identified on Spanish maps. During the expe-
dition of Captain de Leon, an Indian was
asked the name of his tribe to which he re-
plied, "Tejas." Apparently the word, mean-
ing "friends" or "allies," was meant by
the Indian to be applied to an intertribal
group of Caddoes. It came to be applied by
Spanilards to the land between the Rio
Grande and the Red River known today as
Texas.
Saint Denis Rearouses Spanish Fear
Spanish complacency about their claim to
Texas was jolted again in 1714 by the sud-
den appearance of the French explorer and
trader Louis Juchereau de Saint Denis, at
San Juan Bautista on the Rio Grande near
present-day Eagle Pass. The Frenchman,
who had traversed Texas without attracting
the attention of Spanish authorities, said his
purpose was to establish trade. However, he
was arrested and sent to Mexico City to ex-
plain his intentions to the viceroy. The result
was a Spanish expedition to Texas to estab-
lish missions and settlements. Capt. Domingo
Ramon was sent out from San Juan Bautista.
Later East Texas Missions
The expedition of Captain Ramon was ac-
companied by Father Francisco Hidalgo, who
had been working to have missions estab
lished among the Texas Indians. Near the old
San Francisco de los Tejas mission, a new
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Texas Almanac, 1968-1969, book, 1967; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth113809/m1/56/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.