• U II I
Tlee Begi1111i11g of Formal Colonization
303
It is interesting to note how differently Salcedo reacted to this proposed settlement on the Trinity. He wrote Barr that he could proceed at once with the reoccupation of Orcoquisac with his Negroes, but that he was to make a report on each prospective settler from Louisiana. Salcedo stipulated that only Catholics were to be admitted to Texas as settlers. Almost two years later Salcedo instructed Cordero to notify Barr that his failure to fulfill the contract within the specified time rendered the original grant null and void. He added significantly that neither Barr nor anyone else would ever again be given permission to establish a settlement at this post, because it was advisable to keep foreigners from establishing themselves too near the American frontier. 34 Fatl1er Delgadillo and tlee Orcoquisac Mission. It was during this time, too, that Father Jose Maria Delgadillo requested the commandant general's permission to reestablish the abandoned mission of the Orco- quisacs (Arkokisas). Elguezabal, in reply to an inquiry of Salcedo, made a detailed report on August 15. He recounted the origin of the old post among the Orcoquisacs, the Blancpain episode and the measures adopted by viceregal officials to prevent a recurrence of the incident. The site had been chosen for the presidio and mission, he said, because it was a strategic point from which to keep close watch along the coast for enemies and contraband traders. To that end, he had already given instructions to the commander of Nacogdoches for sending at regular intervals a picket of soldiers to visit the old site and report anything unusual. The Orcoquisac nation, once a powerful tribe, now numbered about two hundred and fifty men, women, and children. They were, he explained, kin to the Bidais, another tribe that ranged north and east from the coast and numbered some three hundred in all. If a mission was to be founded for the Orcoquisacs, it should be so planned that it could care for as many of the Bidais as would choose to join their kinsmen. The governor frankly expressed his lack of confidence in Father Delgadillo and his plan. He was too young and inexperienced. As far as Elguezabal knew, Father Delgadillo had never been among either the Orcoquisacs or the Bidais. Everything he had stated about them in his petition was based on second-hand information. The governor believed that, although these Indians had always been on friendly terms with the Spaniards and very fond of the missionaries, 3 'Salcedo to Darr, August 29, 1804; Salcedo to Cordero, August 24, 1806. BJrar Archives.
r
Powered by FlippingBook