Chapter 5: Missions and Settlements

Chapter 5: Missions and Settlements

Assignment

Spain Looks to Texas

In your vocabulary books write down the definitions for the following words.

Vocabulary

1. Presido

2. council

Spanish officials learned of La Salle’s fort in Texas soon after it was built. They immediately sent troops to destroy it. An expedition led by Alonso de Leon, the governor of Coahuila, reached the site on April 22, 1689, only to find the fort deserted and in ruins.

As part of the settlement of New Spain, friars in 1682 founded the first permanent settlement of Europeans in Texas—the mission of Corpus Christi de la Ysleta, located near present-day El Paso. Most Spanish activity during the 1690’s, though was in the eastern part of Texas, near French Louisiana. Fearing the arrival of La Salle in 1685 would produce French settlements, Spanish officials made a stronger effort to establish colonies. In the next several decades, Spain built missions, military outposts called presidios, and towns in lands occupied by Native Americans.

presidio

council

military outposts

A Mission Abandoned

Wednesday

Tuesday

A Tejas Mission

Despite the promising beginning, troubles soon struck San Francisco de los Tejas. Drought ruined the Teja’s crops, and disease killed many of the Native Americans and one of the friars. The Tejas rejected the Catholic religion and resented the Spaniards’ attempts to change the way they lived.

De Leon then led his troops northeast. Near the Colorado River, they met a large group of Hasinai people, whom they called the Tejas, a word meaning “friend.” Angelina, a Hasinai woman, served as guide and interpreter. Father Damian Massanet, a Catholic church official on the expediton, promised he would come back. When the expedition returned to Mexico, Massanet asked the viceroy for permission to found a mission among the Tejas.

Assignment

You are going to create a mission out of clay. Today you are going to draw a rough draft of your mission.

Things that are needed

in your mission:

1. courtyard

2. church

3. Living quarter for

soldiers

4. Living quarters for

Native Americans

The viceroy agreed, and in the spring of 1690 Father Massanet, three other friars, and about 100 soldiers set out for East Texas. When the expedition arrived at the Tejas villages in late May, the Tejas greeted the Spanish visitors with a feast.

The first Spanish mission in East Texas was dedicated on June 1, 1690. It was a crude log building and contained only a few simple furnishings. Named San Fransisco de los Tejas, the mission was located a few miles west of the Neches River near the present-day town of Weches.

Assignment

Meanwhile, officials in Mexico City decided that the mission must be abandoned. Realizing France was not a threat, there was no reason to spend money supporting missions so far from Spanish settlements.

Using your drawing as a guide, use molding clay to make your mission. Take your time and do a good job!

Assignment

One of its missionaries was Father Francisco Hidalgo, a gentle friar who had known the Tejas of San Francisco de los Tejas. Father Hidalgo repeatedly asked permission to return to start another mission. His requests were ignored.

Although the future of the mission was a disappointment, its mere presence had strengthened Spain’s claim to Texas. The Spaniards now realized that a colony needed presidios and Spanish families who would settle on the land.

If you are not finished drawing your mission, finish with your drawing. Once finished, color and label your drawing.

From 1693 to 1714, Spain made no effort to settle Texas, but settlements along the Rio Grande flourished. Mission San Juan Bautista was built west of the river near the present-day town of Eagle Pass in 1699. The mission, five miles from the Rio Grande, was strategically located near a series of crossings providing access to Texas. Here the outpost eventually grew into a complex of three missions, a presidio, and a town. The mission earned the title of the “Mother of Texas Missions” because it was the base for many expeditions whose aims were to establish missions in East Texas. The mission at San Juan Bautista provided grain, cattle, and horses to missionaries on these expeditions.

Thursday

France Threatens Again

Several years after La Salle’s venture in the 1680’s, France made another attempt to claim the lands drained by the Mississippi. In 1699 a French expedition established a colony on the Gulf Coast at Biloxi in present-day Mississippi. Some other French trading posts were scattered throughout the Mississippi Valley.

The unexpected arrival of the French party alarmed Captain Diego Ramon, the presidio’s commander. He arrested St. Denis and sent him to Mexico City to be examined by the viceroy. St. Denis insisted that France had no plans to occupy East Texas.

Without the knowledge of Spanish officials, Father Hidalgo wrote a letter to the French government in Louisiana, asking that the French establish a mission among the Tejas. The French governor listened to Hidalgo’s proposal because it offered an opportunity to open trade.

The French governor appointed Louis de St. Denis to negotiate with the Spanish officials on the Rio Grande. St. Denis had traded successfully with Native Americans in Louisiana. ON the way to the Rio Grande, he built a trading post, Natchitoches, on the Red River. The St. Denis and a small party left for San Juan Bautista, arriving in July 1714.

The French were not interested in taking territories or converting the Native Americans to Catholicism . French traders wom the friendship of many Native Amercian groups, and the French made large profits exchanging blankets, guns, and wine for furs and skins. The French also hoped to trade with Spanish merchants in Mexico, but Spanish law prohibited foreigners from trading in the colonies of New Spain.

Assignment

The Spanish viceroy and his council, or advisers, did not believe St. Denis. They ordered new missions to be built in East Texas with Spanish soldiers to protect them. Trade between the Spanish and French was stopped. Curiously, the viceroy appointed St. Denis to guide the Spaniards into East Texas. The Spaniards could benefit from his knowledge of Texas trails and his good relations with Native Americans. St. Denis was also given permission to marry Manuela, the step-granddaughter of Captain Ramon.

Continue working on your clay models