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Abandonment of East Texas
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the majority were footsore. The old lieutenant could go no further. Gonzalez, veteran of many a campaign against the Indians, who had gi,·en his best years to the service of his king, but who was scheduled for discharge upon arrival in San Antonio, was spared the ignominy by the kind hand of death. At Nacogdoches, on July 30, 1773, the old pioneer soldier breathed his last. Two women also died here from illness contracted on the road. The Tejas Indians gathered at the old Mission of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches and Chief Bigotes pleaded with and threatened the Spaniards if they persisted on withdrawing. With Gonzalez dead and only a sergeant now in charge, it was thought best to accede in part to the demands of the alarmed Indians and to leave at Nacogdoches two families, nine persons in all, to show the natives that the Spaniards were not deserting them, but would return later. The chief agreed to come to San Antonio with his warriors to plead with the go,·ernor for the return of at least one missionary and some Spaniards to live among them. It was after the departure from Nacogdoches that the footsore and weary travelers experienced their worst sufferings. It was now the middle of summer. The heat, the lack of water, the consumption of all the available food, the death of the few beasts of burden which necessitated the transfer of the heavy loads to the tired shoulders of the worn-out men and women, all these trying conditions exacted their toll, particularly among the weak and emaciated children. Before San Antonio was reached ten persons had been left in unmarked graves along the path of the tragic trek. Shortly after they left Kacogdoches many of the marchers had been obliged to trade their holy medals and their rosaries to the Indians to obtain food. One can well imagine the joy with which the footsore traxelers greeted a rescue party sent by Go,·ernor Ripperdi. It was on the Brazos Rh·er that the relief party with horses and provisions reached them. But the one hundred and sixty-se\"en families were well-nigh exhausted with many days of fasting and so weak that they profited little from the unexpected abundance of supplies. "Hardly had the relief pro,·isions reached us," says Ibarbo, "than, becaw,e of our weakened condition, we all took sick." \Vith feet swollen from walking ancl muscles ad1ing with fatigue, they trudged on to Santa Cruz, the new post on the Cibohi, where a few of them decided to stay, too weak to go farther. Finally, after untold hardships the group reached San Antonio on September ~6.
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