Last Attempts at 111/issionary Control of Indians
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Needless and futile were these suggestions of the governor. Jose Maria Guadiana, the commander at Nacogdoches, could no more increase the vigilance with the force at his command than the average indigent tubercular patient can afford eggs, meat, milk, sunshine, and rest. When Guadiana attempted to carry out the governor's instructions, he found an even more alarming condition existed among the coastal tribes. Having heard that strangers frequented the Arkokisas, he sent Bernabe del Rio, an experienced soldier, with two others to visit and reconnoiter the coastal area from the mouth of the Trinity to the Neches and the Sabine. Three men were all he could spare. They learned from the Arkokisas that a French trader had established his quarters just beyond the Sabine, but Del Rio was unable to proceed as far as this river. The party observed that there were Cocos and Karankawas living among the Arkokisas, many of whom were apostates from Refugio and Rosario Missions. They were, moreover, agents of the renegade chief, Frazada Pinta, who had come to invite the Arkokisas to join him in an attack on Refugio. They held out to their prospective allies the ease with which the herds of the new mission could be driven off. The three soldiers learned that Indians from different tribes were gathering near the crossing on the Colorado and also in an area between the Brazos and the San Jacinto for the attack. Chief Frazada Pinta was sick, but other chiefs would lead the hordes if he should die. 27 The implication of the effect of the abundant supply of arms and ammunition and of the contact with foreign traders is plainly revealed in the development of such a situation as this. But it was not until a year later that some of the fears of the com- mandant general were realized. On August 14, 1799, there arrived in the country of the Tejas, near Nacogdoches, nine settlers from the Arkansas, subjects of Louisiana, accompanied by twenty Indians from the north. They brought considerable merchandise for trade without a permit of any kind. At about the same time, ten Louisianians, mostly English traders, accompanied by Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Arkansas penetrated to the villages of the Taovayas and the Comanches on Red River with a large supply of guns, powder, and lead to be offered in exchange for horses. Lieutenant Del Moral set out from Nacogdoches with twenty-two men to order the intruders out. When he arrived in the country of the Taovayas, great was his surprise to find that these Indians and the Comanches supported the intruders, warned him not to
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%?Jose Maria Guadiana to Manuel Munoz, October 23, 1798. Bexar Ard,ivu.
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