Our Catlwlic Heritage in Texas
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however, was Captain Ramon's inability to get help anywhere. Had it not been for thirty mules loaded with provisions which his deceased father had ordered brought to the presidio at his expense early the year before, they all would have perished. He informed the viceroy that a few days before writing, he had received one hundred fauegas of corn purchased from Mission San Jose in San Antonio, which Governor Almazan had forwarded, but that this shipment would last perhaps fifteen or twenty days, after which they would have nothing to eat.17 In the fall of 1723, the Presidio of La Bahia had furnished ten men to Captain Flores of San Antonio for a campaign against the Apaches. It was because of this fact that Diego Ramon resented the refusal of aid to him now. Since the revolt of the mission Indians, they had become so insolent and threatening that the garrison was unable to do guard duty alpng the bay as instructed. The Karankawas, Cojames, and Guapites must be reduced by force, he said, before the Presidio of La Bahia would be able to perform any service in guarding the coast against possible foreign aggression. 18 But he failed to tell why the mission Indians had revolted and had become so hostile, or to relate in detail the circumstances of his father's death. The cause of Indian hostilities at La Bahia was disclosed, however, by the visit of the governor. Agreeable to his promise to the viceroy, Governor Almazan made a personal inspection of the presidio shortly after his report of March 24. Upon his arrival, he found conditions as bad as he had anticipated. Gambling was rampant, the soldiers were in rags, their arms were unfit for service, and there was little or no discipline. Captain Jose Domingo Ramon had been as careless as his son Diego, the governor surmised, because the state of affairs he found could not have developed in the three months since the death of Domingo. In his report to the viceroy on the inspection, he explained that the Marquis of Aguayo had left the garrison fully equipped and well armed in 1722. Fourteen months after his departure a vessel came from Veracruz with additional clothes for the men, thirty new rifles, and as many new swords. Not- withstanding these facts, half of the rifles in the hands of the soldiers were worthless, and many of them had not been cleaned since they were received. The stockade built at the time of the establishment of the presidio was 17Diego Ramon to the Viceroy, March :.14, 17:.14, Arclzivo San Francisco el Grande, Vol. 10. 11/bid.
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