Tlie Province of Texas in 1762
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Rodriguez had suffered a stroke and Alberto Lopez was very old and stone-deaf. Francisco de Estrada, too, was very old, but Juan Cortinas was still older, and so was Geronimo Flores. Andres Ramon, a member of the Cabildo and a relative of the Ramons of Coahuila, was suffering from an incurable disease that made him practically an invalid. Pedro Flores was also an invalid. Old Isidro de la Garza had broken his leg and was unable to do anything. Thus we get a glimpse of the settlers thirty- one years after the establishment of the Villa of San Fernando. But let us return to the presidio. Menchaca pointed out the multiple duties which the five men of the garrison were supposed to perform and it does seem absurd to have expected so much of them. In addition to all the routine duties of a post they were expected to guard the horses, furnish escort for the governor, the missionaries, or any other official coming to or going from San Antonio to any other place; take messages even to distant Mexico, and convoy trains of supplies. With justified indignation Menchaca declares it was preposterous to expect any five individuals to do all these things and to defend this important outpost of Spain's domin- ion against all enemies. No other presidio along the entire frontier was called upon to protect five missions and a civil settlement. Los Adaes, Orcoquisac, La Bahia, San Saba, San Juan Bautista on the Rio Grande, and Santa Rosa in Coahuila, all had more men than San Antonio de Bejar to garrison them, yet not one of them had to furnish guards to five ;missions and to defend a settlement. Furthermore no other presidio was so exposed nor so frequently attacked by hostile Indians. But its troubles, always great, had been increased tenfold since the destruction of San Saba. Unable to rely upon the perfidious Apaches, who preyed constantly upon the slender resources of this frontier outpost and settlement, it was seriously threatened now with complete destruction by the northern tribes whose enmity had been embittered to no purpose by the friendly policy towards the Apaches. Menchaca, like the settlers themselves and the missionaries, was truly apprehensive. He recounted how in 1762 Governor Martos y Navarrete had unwisely entertained in San Antonio a host of over three hundred and fifty northern Indians, who entered the settlement as friends but fully armed. Although they came in peace, it was a great risk which jeopardized the safety of the presidio and settlement, whose weakness was revealed to every northern warrior. Furthermore, during their stay in San Antonio, the visitors had committed many abuses against the civilians as well as the mission Indians, which had been endured because of the inability to offer resistance. But he was determined that, if the northern tribes returned
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