CHAPTER VI
CONTINUED FOREIGN INTRIGUES AND TURMOIL, 1813-1818
General condititms. Arredondo put Captain Luciano Garcia in com- mand of the garrison at La Bahia, and appointed as Governor of Texas his trusted friend, Lieutenant Colonel Cristobal Dominguez, subject to the approval of the Viceroy. 1 Arredondo gave Dominguez full power as the new governor to deal with the Insurgent prisoners and their sympathizers. He was to reorganize the province, restore order, and adopt all measures necessary. To restore confidence in the new regime, Dominguez promptly issued a proclamation assuring the public that all legal obligations in- curred by Royalist forces would be honored upon presentation of duly au- thenticated claims. He, likewise, warned against disloyalty and threatened with confiscation of property and other drastic penalties, all those who plotted against the reestablished government.z The various tribes had been greatly stirred by the war, for the Insur- gents and the Royalists had solicited their help in the struggle. A fac:tor contributing to their plundering was the abandonment of the regular trad- ing posts. The eastern tribes naturally turned, therefore, to the Louisiana posts. Dominguez pointed out that the friendship of the Indians was essential to restoring peace and urged as the first step the reestablishment of the trading post in Nacogdoches. 3 An idea of the extensive damages suffered may be gathered from a state- ment made by Juan Manuel Zambrano, Jose Antonio Saucedo, Ignacio Perez, and eight or ten other ranchers from the vicinity of San Antonio, who drew up a petition for relief. They alleged that Zambrano alone had lost more than ten thousand head of cattle to rebels and Indians, and that they had suffered such severe losses as to compel them to abandon their ranches:' Once order was restored, the ranchers and farmers began returning to their establishments. But rumors of continued activity by Gutierrez, 1 Joaquin Arredondo to Cristobal Dominguez, Bejar, August 26, 1813, Berar Archives, University of Texas. 2 Govemor Cristobal Dominguez to the People, Bejar, August 26, 30, 1813, Berar Archives. 3 Dominguez to Commandant General Arredondo, Bejar, September 7, 1813, Bejar Archives. 'Juan Manuel Zambrano, Jose Antonio Saucedo, et al., to Commandant General Arredondo, Bejar, September 17, 1813, Bi:l:ar Arc/rives. [ 12I ]
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