Handicaps to J1/issio11 Development, 1731-1750
37
the Apache Indians should experience the rigor of Spanish arms to chastise their daring, it would be well to authorize the captain of the presidio to undertake a formal campaign. "To allow them to go without the punishment they deserve," he declared, "will result in greater depre- dations which may seriously handicap those missions."·' The Can,uy Islanders, who were having their first experience with Indians. were greatly discouraged and apprehensive that the red men would completely destroy the settlement. Fortunately, after June 25, 1731, there was a temporary lull in the repeated attacks. Early in August, however, an Apache prisoner was brought to San Antonio, who informed the fearful settlers that his people were gathering in large numbers in preparation for a concerted attack upon the establishment. That the warning was not an empty boast was soon shown. R,me1.1ed activity of Apacl,es. Less than a month after the Apache prisoner had made his declaration, on September 18, 1731, at noon, a party of Indians suddenly attacked the herd of horses at the presidio and drove away sixty. Captain Juan Antonio Perez de Almazan, who was sick at the time, was immediately notified of the outrage. In spite of his illness, he ordered five men and a corporal to set out in pursuit at once, telling them that he would follow shortly. When Perez de Almazan overtook his men, he found them about a league from the presidio engaged in a hotly contested fight with forty Apaches. As the small Spanish reenforcement of twenty men arrived, about five hundred Indians suddenly came out from ambush, well mounted and fully armed. Approaching the Spanish force in the shape of a half moon, the wily warriors of the plains soon surrounded the soldiers. For two hours a fierce battle ranged in which the Spaniards displayed the courage of desperation. Two soldiers had been killed and thirteen were wounded. The circle of death was gradually closing about them. The little party dismounted and rushed to a clump of trees, determined to sell their lives dearly. Just as they were preparing to make a last stand, the Indians unexpectedly broke the circle with a wild yell and disappeared beyond the hills, leaving the almost exhausted band of astonished soldiers in full possession of the field. Little wonder that Captain Almazan in reporting the occurrence declared that it was only a miracle of Di\'ine Providence that the whole settlement was not exterminated. Had the
4 Rivera to the Viceroy, May 26, 1731, A. G. ,JI., Provi11cias I nternas, \'ol. 2 36, pt. I.
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