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Escandon and Settlement of Lower Rio Grande, 1738-1779
Gigedo in 1755 to his successor on the state of the settlement of Nuevo Santander. the name finally given to the Seno Mexicano, he describes the circumstances of the selection. "The Marquis of Altamira, now dead," says the viceroy, "recommended and advised that I should entrust the exploration and settlement of Seno Mexicano to him [Escandon]. Convinced in my mind that this undertaking had long been neglected out of all proportion to its importance in the service of God, the king, and the state, and that the time had arrived to offer Our Lord not one but innumerable souls from among the numerous barbarous nations that roamed the land and to redeem the lives, honor, and wealth of the settlers that lived in their vicinity, I accepted the suggestion, honoring Escandon with the title of my lieutenant general, not only in order to distinguish him from other governors, alcaldcs mayores and jttSticias, who were ordered to cooperate with him, but also in order to compensate him for his labors and the expense incurred in the pacification [of Sierra Gorda]. This should encourage him to bear those that may arise in the new explorations." 10 Thus Jose de Escandon was not only made governor of the new land, but the personal and immediate representative of the viceroy himself, investing him with powers no other official enjoyed in New Spain. In pursuance of his instructions and the desire to carry the light of civilization and Christianity into the unexplored region of the Gulf coast, Escandon was destined to found the first settlements and missions in the lower Rio Grande Valley from present Laredo to the southern limits of Hidalgo County and to make the detailed exploration of the entire coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the mouth of the San Antonio River. After a long conference with the viceroy and the Marquis of Altamira, it was decided that a general reconnaissance should be made. The aim of Escandon was to apply to the plan of colonization the same tactics of a military campaign. The plan as outlined was to penetrate the area from seven different points simultaneously, each one of the exploring expeditions converging upon the mouth of the Rio Grande, which was about the same distance from Tampico as it was from the Presidio de la Bahia del Espiritu Santo on the Guadalupe. "It is our purpose," said Escandon, "to explore, pacify, and settle the unknown lands that now form a sort of bag lying between Tampico, Panuco, Villa de Valles, Custodia de Rio Verde, Nuevo First enfrada of Escandon, 1747.
I0/11strucciones que los Vireyes de Nueva Espaiia ... 52-53.
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