Abandonment of East Te:xas
northeastern tribes needed arms and ammunition to hunt. Without these means of providing themselves with a livelihood they would starve to death. It was shortly after the visit of Bigotes to Natchitoches that De Mezicres set out on his first expedition to the Cadodachos in an effort to secure the friendship of the nations of the north for the Spaniards. Going by way of the Adaes, Yatasi, and Petit Cado, he met representatives of the Taovayas, Tawakonis, Yscanis, and Kichais at the appointed place and obtained from them a promise that they would go to San Antonio to negotiate a formal treaty of peace. The promise was kept ·,and a peace was actually concluded in 1771 with the Kichais, Tawakonis, Yscanis, Cainiones, and Taovayas, through the combined efforts of De Mezieres, the missionaries. and Governor Ripperda. 16 Proposal for a presidio and mission among tire nations of the nort/1. After the peace was concluded, the Indians expressed a strong desire for a presidia and a mission in their lands. Needless to say the primary incen- tive of the natives was the advantages of trade. Nevertheless. Governor Ripperda discussed the idea in detail in a long letter to the viceroy on July 5, 1772. He explained that he had consulted on the matter with the experi- enced missionary Fray Pedro Ramirez, President of the missions in east Texas, to find out the possibility of the removal of the missions of Nacogdoches and Ais to the site of the proposed presidio. This would save the treasury additional expense. The two missions, founded among the Tejas Indians, were practically abandoned, and they would not resent their removal to the country of their neighbors and friends. The two missionaries could take care of the more numerous group of natives that would likely come to the new mission. But Father Ramirez, according to Ripperda, made a curious and inter- esting suggestion. He declared that the success of the presidio. mission and possible civil settlement in the new location would depend in large measure upon the character and ability of the captain and chief justice. He expressed a lack of confidence in the success of the enterprise if it was entrusted to any one in the Province of Texas. He knew of only one person, a resident of Natchitoches, in the Province of Louisiana, suited for this delicate commission. This was Louis de St. Denis, Lieutenant in His Most Christian Majesty's Army, forty years of age, son of the former com- mandant of the post of Natchitoches, the renowned St. Denis, and a holder
16 Rlpperda to the Viceroy, July 20, 1771 ; A. G. M. Provincias lnternas, Vol. 1 oo, pt. 1, pp. 174-1 78; Bolton, Athanase de Mezleres, I, 92-94.
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