Abando11111e11t of East Texas 2 99 short notice? How could they transport all their household goods and their farm products without adequate means of transportation? Little wonder that in their bewilderment many fled to Natchitoches, where they possibly had friends and even relatives, determined to stay there until the garrison and the governor departed, at which time they would return to their abandoned homes. Others took refuge among the Indians themselves in their effort to evade the summons of their king. Governor Ripperda left strict orders with Lieutenant Gonzalez to gather all the settlers and their belongings and start the march to San Antonio on June 25. He left as many horses and mules as he could spare and some provisions, for which he himself paid and offered to provide a recompense to those who would furnish oxen to cart the artillery and ammunition of the abandoned presidio. He gave orders that such property of the presidio as could not be transported at this time should be buried. 43 Ri-pperda's marclt to San Antonio. It was not necessary for the governor to go to Orcoquisac, for it will be remembered the garrison from that post had been previously withdrawn and its commander Rafael Martinez Pacheco was already in San Antonio:" He stopped for a few days in Nacogdoches to suppress the mission there. While at this place, he was visited by Chief Bigotes of the Tejas. He, like all the other chiefs of the different tribes of east Texas, had become alarmed at the withdrawal and stopped a campaign he had planned against the Osages to come to plead with Governor Ripperda. With him marched a large group of Indians in their war paint. Their angry insistence that the Spaniards remain in east Texas upset the governor, who had some difficulty in explaining to them that the Spaniards were not going to join the Apaches against them. With the aid of the mis- sionary he finally succeeded in quieting their fears. He cordially invited them to come to San Antonio with the Spaniards, who were on their way there, and to serve as an escort for them. The Indians declined the inv~tation and the governor, his bodyguard, and the missionary from Nacogdoches proceeded without further interruption to San Antonio. Immediately upon his arrival, the governor proceeded to reorganize the garrison of San Antonio, by adding to it the necessary number of "Rlpperda to the Viceroy, July II, 1773, September 28, 1773, Gil Ibarbo to Oconor, January 8, 1774. A.G. M. Protlineitu '"'""as, Vol. too, pt, 2, pp. 493·494; Hisloria, 51 1 248-251, 259-266. "See p. 98 ante. Bolton makes some conjectures concerning the circumstances of the abandonment of Orcoqulsac, but the real facts have been given In detail In the present volume. Bolton, T1:1:as ;,, t/11 Midd/1 Ei1/,t11#//, C1#lury, 387.
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