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Tl,,e Founding of Mission Nuestra Senora del Refugio
the coast. In October, 1797, a party of Comanches raided the cattle ranch of Mission Refugio and drove off two herds. Lieutenant Amangual from La Bahia was sent in pursuit, but they outdistanced him. Intimi- dated by these fierce fighters, many of the mission Indians in Refugio, as well as in Espiritu Santo and Rosario, began to take refuge in the inaccessible marshes, lakes, and islands along the neighboring coast whenever an attack or raid was rumored. 98 Pedro Nava, the commandant general of the Interior Provinces, dis- approved of the frequent abandonment of the missions by the Indians. He argued, and with much justification, that if the natives were allowed to leave to hunt for food, or protection, or pleasure, they could not be Christianized and trained in the habits and customs of civilized man. He urged the missionaries not to permit the neophytes to leaYe their missions on any pretext. At the same time he gave strict instructions to all officials in Texas to keep the missions supplied, and to furnish them with adequate protection in order that the natives congregated should have no excuse for leaving. 99 Relations wit/1 the military to 1801. Except for an occasional com- plaint,100 the first two years of Mission Refugio at its permanent loca- tion were remarkably free from friction with military officials. Trouble with the Indians during this same period was also slight. The com- mandant general consequently instructed Mufioz to reduce the mission guards from ten to five. Nava was a firm believer in discipline and he thought that soldiers detailed to mission duty and to the protection of presidial stock became lax in the observance of military duties. He desired the largest and most efficient number of soldiers to be available at a moment's notice in the presidios.101 Two years later Fray Garavito protested against the quartering of troops among the neophytes. He had been looking over the early instructions for the establishment of Refugio and decided that the soldiers should be stationed outside the mission stockade. They had of late become too familiar with the natives. Fray Garavito attributed their desire to live within the enclosure to laziness and to their pro- 98 Govemor Munoz to Elguezabal, October 17, 1797; Garavito to Jose Miguel del Moral, October 13, 1798. Bexar Arcltives. 99 Juan Bautista Elguezabal to Munoz, January 17, 1798; Elguezabal to Gara\.ito. February 1, 1798. Bexar Archives. 100 snva to Munoz, June 22, 1796. Bexar Archives. 161 Pedro Nava to Manuel Munoz, June 7, 1797. Bexar Arcltives.
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