Heritage, Volume 8, Number 2, Spring 1990 Page: 30
39 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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LOCATION MAP
T he small town known today as
Guerrero-or more properly,Vicente
Guerrero-is located
in the Mexican state of Coahuila, south of
Piedras Negras. A quiet spot now, it was
the hub of Spanish exploration and
colonization in Texas during the early
eighteenth century. Robert S. Weddle in
his 1968 book referred to this locality as
the Gateway to Spanish Texas.
Indeed, it was a "gateway," with
nearby fords on the Rio Grande creating
easy access to the north side of the river.
Initial Spanish visits to the area in the late
seventeenth century culminated in the establishment
of mission San Juan Bautista
in 1700, protected by a "flying company" of
Spanish soldiers commanded by Diego
Ramon. By 1703, a formal presidio had
been established, and the area became
known as San Juan Bautista del Rio
Grande del Norte. A second mission was
established in 1702-Mission San
Bernardo-and today the ruins of the large
church of the mission are a popular tourist
stop. Actually, the surviving ruins
represent construction initiated in the
1760s, but the church was never
completed. A third mission in the
Guerrero area is little known. San
Francisco Solano was established in 1700,
but never flourished and moved to the San
Antonio River in 1718, where it was
renamed San Antonio de Valero-later,
the Alamo.
30 HERITAGE * SPRING 1990The complex of missions at what is
now Guerrero brought in many of the
hunting and gathering Indian groups of
the surrounding area. A detailed study of
these groups has been published by T.N.
Campbell. However, the most that the
historic archives yield on these Indians is
data on their names and accounts of where
the Spanish encountered them. Almost
nothing was recorded about their culture
and little was written about the significant
changes they must have undergone during
the "missionization process" of the
eighteenth century.
The ravages of time have taken their
toll on the missions. They were officially
secularized in 1793, though San Bernardo
and San Juan Bautista were likely used
until the 1820s. After that time, the
villagers used stone from the mission
buildings for construction in Guerrero.
Additionally, farming and ranching
practices have unintentionally damaged
some of the remains.
In 1975, The University of Texas at
San Antonio began its Gateway Project,
funded by the National Endowment for
the Humanities, the Sid Richardson
Foundation, and the Kathryn O'Connor
Foundation. Project director was Richard
E. W. Adams, and the authors served as
project archaeologists. Thomas C. Greaves
and T.N. Campbell were the project
ethnohistorians, Felix Almaraz was the
his-torian, and J. Parker Nunley carried
out archaeological site surveys on both
sides of the river in the vicinity. Reports
on activities were published through the
Center for Archaeological Research at
UTSA.In visiting Guerrero today, it is
important to understand the nature of
archaeological research that was done at
the missions. Our work concentrated on
San Bernardo and San Juan Bautista. In
1975, we dug at San Bernardo and many
interesting discoveries were made. An
Indian "street"-parallel rows of Indian
apartments-was uncovered northwest of
the present San Bernardo church
(incidentally, the church ruin is in good
repair today because of restoration and
stabilization done by the Mexican
government during the period of our
excavation). In the mesquite brush
northeast of the present church ruin, low
mounds were found and excavated. These
were the locations of the convent and the
original 1702 church, much smaller than
its 1760 successor. Abundant artifacts were
discovered, from both Spanish and mission
Indian occupations. A map was made of
the mission complex; this was very
important in that no Spanish-era map of
San Bernardo has ever been found. The
visitor today will see no evidence of our
excavations. They were backfilled in
accordance with our Mexican excavation
permit. Additionally, the area of the
original church and convent buildings was
subsequently root-plowed and destroyed
by a local rancher as part of pasture
improvement.
At San Juan Bautista, we faced a
greater challenge. The mission had moved
from its original location in what is now
downtown Guerrero in the 1740s. Its final
location was west of town. Records indicate
that a major complex was constructed.
Mission historian, Robert S.Weddle refersHISTORIC TOUR
FOCUSES ON
Guerrero, Coahuilaby
Thomas R. Hester and Jack D. Eaton1~~~~~~~EA
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 8, Number 2, Spring 1990, periodical, Spring 1990; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45428/m1/30/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.