Our Catliolic Heritage in Texas
Significance of Aguayo's Expedition. A fresh supply of horses . arrived in San Antonio from Coahuila on April 30, and the Marquis began active preparations for his start back to Coahuila. On May 5, having left a garrison of fifty-four men in San Antonio he set out for Coahuila, where after some hardships, he arrived with his men on May 25. In obedience to orders received from the viceroy, he paid and disbanded his troops on the 31st, giving each man provisions to make the trip home. 82 "The Aguayo Expedition," declares Miss Buckley, "the last of its kind into Texas, exceeded all others in size and results. It was perhaps the most ably executed of all the expeditions that entered Texas, and in results it was doubtless the most important. It secured to Spain her hold on Texas for about one hundred and fifteen years .. . When Aguayo retired from Texas he left ten missions where before the retreat there had been seven, four presidios where there had been two, two hundred and sixty-eight soldiers instead of some sixty or seventy before, and two presidios were for the first time erected at the points where danger from foreign aggression was most feared-Los Adaes and Espiritu Santo." 83 IZThe summary given above is based in the main on Pena's Derrotero and Aguayo's letter to the king of June 13, 1722, found in Archivo de Santa Cru:1 de Queretaro, 1716-1749 (Bolton Transcripts). UBuckley, o;. cit., XV, 60-61.
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