Missionary Activity Among t/1e Apaches, 1743-1758
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the former mission. With sorrow-laden hearts the party buried in silence the bodies of Fray Alonso and two soldiers in the cemetery. The others were interred in graves prepared at the place where their remains were found. About half way between the presidio and the mission the two soldierc;, Joaquin Garcia and Luis Chirinos, sent to the rescue of the padres and their companions, were buried where they fell. The charred head and corpse of Father Fray Santiesteban, when found, were laid to rest by the side of Fray Alonso in the church cemetery. Ten in all had fallen victims to the fury and rage of the Comanches and their allies. 99 Tlte call for aid. The night of the attack, March 16, Colonel Parrilla sent two messengers to San Antonio, and again on the 23rd, he sent two Indian runners with details of the unfortunate destruction of the mission. Although the first two were long on the road, the account was actually taken to San Antonio by a fugitive soldier who arrived on the 19th. In answer to the appeal for help a lieutenant and eighteen men were im- mediately dispatched to San Saba in spite of the opposition of the scared settlers. Great fear was felt that the victorious savages would sweep down to San Antonio and destroy the entire settlement. The few Spanish settlers, missionaries, and soldiers on the Guadalupe hurried to San Antonio for safety. When the Governor learned of the attack on April 3, while at Nacogdoches, he immediately set out for San Antonio to take charge of affairs, but floods prevented him from reaching his destination. In the meantime, when the second messengers, sent by Parrilla on the 23rd, returned to San Saba without having delivered their message, Parrilla sent Lieutenant Galvan and Fray Miguel Molina, with four soldiers, to make a detailed report of the occurrences and urgently to request aid and supplies. He explained that all the cattle, some two thousand head, had been abandoned as a result of the attack and that he had provisions for only one week. He also asked that a for'ce of Indians be sent if possible. Unfortunately Captain Urrutia could send no more aid, since he had only five men, besides the fifteen assigned to the five missions. Fray Mariano did not think it wise to transfer the mission Indians requested, because he felt that the natives could not be trusted if sent out of the missions. The best that the San Antonio commander could do was to send out an urgent appeal for help to Los Adaes, La Bahia, San Juan
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