Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
II6
Retreat from East Texas. But news of the French attack had preceded him. By the time he reached his goal, panic had seized the little garrison. The soldiers under Captain Domingo Ramon were ready to retreat. Through the efforts of the missionaries, a hurried consultation was held. The officers, the priests, and some of the families discussed the situation. The majority of the missionaries emphatically were for staying a while longer to ascertain the real force of the enemy and their designs. But the women-there were eight-were for immediate abandonment. They were willing to risk the perils of the wilderness and the danger from hostile Indians, if allowed to go to the San Antonio River with two soldiers as an escort. In vain did the Padres point out there was no immediate danger and that the French were more than one hundred leagues away. Fear being unreasonable, panic spread with the unfounded rumors of French activity; and the families, soldiers, and some of the religious to whom the spirit of fear had been communicated, decided to withdraw without further delay as far as San Francisco Mission on the Neches. 19 That the labor of the missionaries had not been entirely in vain is brought out in the critical situation that now faced them. The Indians, who had become sincerely attached to the missionaries, earnestly entreated that they be not left alone at the mercy of the French. They offered to put out scouts to warn the Spaniards of the first approach of the enemy, and agreed to help them in case of a fight. Father Espinosa assured them that the Spaniards were not abandoning their country, but were merely withdrawing temporarily and would return with reenforcements soon. In order to quiet them, he stayed at Concepcion for a few days, but hearing that Ramon and his group were about to retreat farther, he decided to go to San Francisco and try to use his influence to persuade them to remain. The Indians now became truly apprehensive, and although the Padre told them he was leaving some of the furnishings of the mission in their care to convince them of his return, they, too, decided to follow the missionary to San Francisco de los Tejas. They were determined that the Spaniards should not withdraw. After holding a new consultation at the camp on the east bank of the Neches River, it was decided that everybody, with the exception of 19The details of the retreat are based on two accounts, one by Fathers Espinosa and Margi), given in their letter of July 2, 1719. (Buckley, "The Aguayo Expe- dition," Quarter/,, XV, n-14) the other found in Espinosa's Chronica, 453-455. Arricivita, in his Chronica, gives a briefer account on page 1 oo.
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