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CHAPTER IV
LAST ATTEMPTS AT MISSIONARY CONTROL OF INDIANS, 1783-1801
The control of the native tribes grew in importance as the eighteenth century was drawing to a close. The urgent need of winning their friendship and support in order to block effectively the westward march of the Anglo-American pioneer admitted of no delay. Faith in the old and tried frontier mission system had been seriously shaken by its retarded achievements but not altogether lost. The Refugio Mission undertaken so late in the period demonstrates the truth of this assertion. Officials, however, were growing desperate in the face of the unmistakable signs of the approaching storm. The Indian hordes which raided the weakened outposts were like the leaves of the forest swept by the whirl- wind. The cession of Louisiana to Spain had momentarily lulled the fears of Spanish authorities in Texas and transferred interest to the more eastern frontier. But the realization that Louisiana had, in fact, brought the danger of foreign aggression closer home and made it a reality, came as a rude awakening that caused the frantic governors to make strong pleas to the commandant general and the viceroy for the help which was granted too late. The policy of conciliation and appease- ment was given one last trial, and the king was almost fooled into supporting one more scheme for the conversion of all the natives of Texas before the missionary system was abandoned to a slow and lingering death. Hope for the salvation of Texas and of the whole of New Spain was to be transferred to colonization and military prowess. When the new commandant general, Felipe Neve, took charge of the Internal Provinces, Sonora, Nueva Vizcaya, Coahuila, and Texas, he wrote the stern Visitador, Jose de Galvez, that the military force posted in Texas was woefully inadequate to protect the miserable settlers of this wretched province even against the Indians, let alone against foreign attack. There were fifty-six men at San Antonio de Bejar and ninety- six at La Bahia, with an irregular force of thirty men at Nacogdoches. Fortunately the numerous and warlike nations of the north were in general friendly. But the depraved and thieving Apaches were a drain on the slender resources of the settlers and the missions. These Indians, like leeches, were sucking the lifeblood of the province. Kindness and fairness were lost on such perfidious savages. A war of extermination
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