Our Catholic Heritage in T cxas
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the mission guards, they had succeeded in saving the lives of the mis- sionaries but not the property. The hostilities of the Apaches in San Antonio, he declared, were well known. In 1726, in plain view of the garrison, they captured an Indian shepherd from one of the missions, who was rescued by the soldiers. When he was brought back it was discovered he had been seriously wounded with a lance. In 1727, just a short distance from the mission, the Apaches cut a neophyte to pieces. In 1728, they had attacked Mis- sion San Juan Bautista on the Rio Grande and done much damage before aid was sent from the presidio. Had it not been for the two guards, who kept them at bay with their firearms, the Apaches would have destroyed the mission. The two soldiers were necessary, he said, because they not only afforded protection to the Indians congregated, but enabled the missions to hold out against surprise attacks until aid arrived. Without them, by the time help was sent from the neighboring presidios, many lives had been lost and much damage done. Contrary to the insinuation that the insistence for guards was due to fear, he emphatically declared the missionaries did not fear for their lives, knowing as they did, that they might be called to make this sacrifice at any time in the fulfillment of their daily labors. The reasons that moved them to request the presence of two soldiers in each mission was the sal- vation of souls and the propagation of the faith. The success in the attainment of these objects was seriously jeopardized, if the mission guards were removed: 0 Before the king had time to act, it seems the viceroy changed his mind on the subject. Early in 1730, Rivera wrote a long report, answering the arguments advanced by the missionaries against the withdrawal of the two soldiers furnished to the missions in the vicinity of San Juan Bau- tista and San Antonio de Valero. Although insisting that they were unnecessary as protectors, citing numerous instances in New Mexico and other provinces visited, where the missions were making satisfactory progress without mission guards, he recommended in the end, that if the viceroy wished, he could order the captain of the Presidio of San Antonio de Bejar to furnish each mission in its vicinity one soldier. He was not to reside at the mission, however, but he was to go from the presidio to the mission each morning, returning to his garrison in the afternoon. With characteristic irony he declared that with this aid for ,1Memorial of Fray Miguel Sevillano to the King, November 12, I 729. Archivo del Colegio de la Santa Cruz, 1716-1749.
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