Handicaps to Mission Development, 1731-1750
Fligltt of mission Indians. One of the first measures of Governor Fernandez de Jauregui in September was the restoration of the three soldiers to each one of the missions. But the remedy came too late. As early as April, 1737, the Indians had begun to abandon the missions, encouraged by the indifference of the governor in aiding the Padres to hold them to their duties. The spring of the year always made the neophytes restless for their roaming ways, and it was necessary at this time more than at any other to hold them kindly but firmly to the routine of their daily tasks. On April 12, Father Fray Santa Ana informed Captain Urrutia of San Antonio that for several days the missions had been without a single soldier and the missionary remarked: "You can imagine how the Indians are and what the Padres can do when there is not one to incline them to sow the seed and do the chores required for a rational and civilized living." He requested him, there- fore, to send at least one man to each mission. He furthermore informed him that the Tacame Indians of Mission San Francisco de la Espada had fled and that an escort of two or three soldiers to accompany a missionary, who was ready to go in quest of them, was needed. To this Captain Urrutia replied regretfully that he had orders from Governor Franquis not to furnish a single man to the missions. Feeling guilty, Captain Urrutia wrote an explanatory letter to the viceroy on April 18, stating that it was not his fault, but that he had to carry out the orders of the governor. 63 The flight of the Tacames was the beginning of a series of similar abandonments. The Indians, seeing that no efforts were made to restrain them, became bolder and the missionaries were helpless. On June 8, 1737, Father Ysasmendi, of Mission San Francisco, went to Mission Concepcion, where Father Santa Ana was residing, to report the complete abandon- ment of his mission. He explained that a few days before the neophytes had killed a number of mission cattle without permission and committed several other excesses, but that fearful of the consequences, he had abstained from doing more than reprimand the Indians. He knew full well that no assistance from the Presidio of San Antonio could be expected and he tried to let the incident pass. But whether the Indians feared punishment sooner or later, knowing they were guilty, or emboldened by the failure to restrain them, they all abandoned the mission on June 7, and went to live in the woods. There were two hundred
63 Fray Santa Ana to Capt. Urrutia, April 12, 17 37; Urrutia to the Viceroy, April 1 8, 1737; A. G. "1., ,lfisio11es, vol. 21, pt. 2, pp. 379-380.
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