p
:1
397
1Wissio11ary Activity Among the Apaclzes, 1743-1758
the stock to the San Marcos for lack of pasturage in order that they might be in condition for the long march. He ordered the soldiers, the missionaries, the supplies, and the Tlascalteca Indians to proceed to this stream, planning perhaps to go on from there to San Saba. Fray Alonso promptly denounced this move as having no other object than to squander Don Pedro de Terreros' money. 90 Tl1e founding of tlte San Saba 1J1ission and the Presidio of San L11is de las Amarillas. By the first of April there seemed to be no longer any reason for delay. But Parrilla's fear that the whole project was hopeless still made him hesitate. Uncertain of the true character of the San Saba River and distrustful of the real attitude of the Apaches, he decided on a plan that would allow him freedom of movement, if necessity required it, and would not jeopardize the entire expedition in case of a surprise. On April 9, 1757, he ordered sixty-one soldiers, the missionaries, and the Tlascalteca Indians to take up the march from San Marcos to San Antonio, leaving the greater part of the supplies gathered in the temporary camp under guard of thirty-nine men. Just why he did not proceed by way of the Colorado directly to San Saba is not clear. Perhaps he chose the San Antonio route, although it was longer, because it was better known. Fray Santisima Trinidad, always ready to detect perverse motives, de- clares it was only to cause greater expense to Don Pedro de Terreros. From San Antonio the expedition seems to have followed the well estab- lished road to the Pedernales and the Llano Rivers marked by Galvan and Don Pedro de Rabago y Teran to the San Saba, where they arrived on April 18 and pitched camp near present Menard. Not an Indian greeted them. On April 23, the site recommended by Galvan and Don Pedro was examined, and council was held to discuss the course of action to be followed. Parrilla was frankly . in favor of giving up the enterprise. Not so the padres, who threatened to return to Mexico and report the whole matter, if a mission was not founded at once. Par- rilla was forced to submit. It was decided to found two missions, one for the Queretaran missionaries and one for those of the College of San Fernando, but only one was actually established. The missions were to 9 °For many of the details of the misunderstanding the only source is a bitter denunciation of Fray Mariano and Colonel ParriJla made by Fray Santisima Trinidad, who was an aggressive partisan. He named his expose Vi11dicla dtl Rio d, Sa,, Saba. The document is cited :\t great length by Dunn in his "Apache missions on the San Saba," The Quarterly, Vol. 17, p. 395. The writer has been unable to locate a copy of this interesting document.
Powered by FlippingBook