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Aguayo Expedition and San Jose Mission, 1719-I722
the king had sent his soldiers to protect and defend the Indians against their enemies, and the missionaries to instruct them in the Christian faith. He declared that the Spaniards had come to stay among them permanently and urged them to congregate in pueblos. st Accompanied by the Tejas Indians, the expedition resumed its march to the Neches River. On the 27th of July, Father Espinosa left the main body and went in advance of Aguayo with the chief of the Tejas and his followers to gather the Indians at the site of the first Mission of San Francisco de los Tejas 60 and make arrangements for its reestablishment. When the expedition came up on the following day, it was greeted by a large number of Indians,-men, women, and children,-all of whom brought gifts to the Spaniards and seemed genuinely happy at their return. Among those who welcomed the Spaniards was a chief of the Neche tribe, who, with sixty followers, 61 marched into camp in perfect order and fired several salutes. Aguayo was impressed by this demonstration and, after smoking the peace pipe, listened to their manifestations of loyalty and joy. He assured them he had come at the command of the king to protect them against their enemies, asked them to return to the:r village, gave them provisions, and promised to distribute gifts upo his arrival. The guns and the military formation observed by these Indians, a they came into camp, were expressive evidence of the activity of the French during the absence of the Spaniards. At this very time, St. Denis, who had been appointed commander of Natchitoches on July 1, 1720, and had assumed his post early in 1721, 62 was but a short distance away, at the site of the abandoned Mission of La Purisima Concepcion. He now dispatched a messenger to solicit an interview with the Marquis in orders to acquaint him with the instructions he had recently received 59Pefia, Derrotero, 14-17. 60 This was the original mission founded by De Leon in 1690. It was located about four and a half miles from the mouth of a small stream called San Pedro and seven or eight miles west of the place where the road crossed the Neches Rivet. The site was about ten miles from the Neche village, which was located a short distance beyond the river. Bolton, "The Native Tribes about the East Texas Missions," Quarterly, XI, 265; Buckley, "The Aguayo Expedition,'' Quarilf'ly, XV, 43, note. 61 Peiia, in his Derrotero,, gives the number as sixty, although it has been stated there were seventy in the group. Buckley, op. cit., Pena, Derrotero, 15. 62 Margry, op. cit., VI, 220-224.
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