mission and presidio, as already stated, meant church and fortress. the places chosen for these buildings were generally in the very midst of populous and fierce indian tribes. for the object of the builders was not only to hold the country against france, but also to reduce the savages and convert them to the catholic religion.
the red man had already his own rude belief in the great spirit who sat behind the clouds and watched over the flight of his arrows and the tasseling of his corn. he loved to tell about the happy hunting-grounds to which he would travel after death, attended by his horse and his dog.
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it required a great deal of patience and perseverance on the part of the missionaries to make these wild creatures understand the meaning of the strange things they saw and heard: the hymns and prayers which broke the stillness at morning and at eventide, the candles blazing on the altar, the tinkling of bells, the movements of the priests, the humble attitude of the proud spanish soldiers at mass. they crowded about the chapels, now accepting the new faith with childlike confidence, at other times seeking a chance to massacre priest and soldier in cold blood.
but these missionaries belonged to an order whose business it was to be patient. they were franciscans from the monastery of st. francis at zacatecas in mexico, and they were pledged to poverty and self-denial. gentle, but sturdy, these barefooted friars, in their coarse woolen frocks and rope girdles, exercised a strange fascination over the indians who fell under their influence.
a franciscan father.
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captain domingo ramon went bravely to work with his soldiers and franciscans. he was very much loved by the indians. they adopted him into their tribes and cheerfully aided him in the hard labor of clearing and building. within a few years the country was dotted with missions. some of these were temporary structures, rude and frail; others were built of stone. the noble and majestic ruins of the latter fill the beholder to-day with wonder and delight. if the mission served also as a presidio, it was entitled to a garrison of two hundred and fifty soldiers; where there was no fortress, the church itself served as a stronghold. among the earliest of the missions thus built were our lady of guadalupe (gwah-dah-loop′ā), at victoria (1714); mission orquizacas (or-kee-sa′-kass), on the san jacinto river (1715); mission dolores near san augustine (1716); adaes, east of the sabine river (1718); nacogdoches (1715); and espiritu santo, at goliad (la bahia) (1718).
the mission alamo,[7] which was to play so prominent a part in the later history of texas, was begun under another name, in 1703, on the rio grande river. it was removed to the san pedro river at san antonio in 1718. in 1744 it was finally built where its ruins now stand, on the alamo plaza in san antonio, and was called the church of the alamo.
early in 1718 the foundation of san josé (ho-sā′) de aguayo, the largest and finest of all the missions, was laid near san antonio. the little settlement which had so pleased the eye of st. denis four years before had grown to a village. it had been laid off and named for the duke de bexar (bair), a viceroy of mexico; and st. denis’ road, which linked it on the southwest with st. john the baptist and on the northeast with natchitoches in louisiana, had already become a traveled highway. the mission and presidio of san josé were therefore of the first importance.
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captain ramon himself may have selected the site. it was a few miles below the town, on the limpid and swift-flowing river san antonio. a day or two after the site was decided upon, a long procession wound across the beautiful open prairie from the village. it was headed by a venerable barefoot franciscan father, who carried aloft a large wooden cross; on either side of him walked a friar of the same order, and behind them came acolytes and altar-boys bearing censer, bell, and vessels of holy water. captain ramon and his soldiers on horseback, and stiff and erect in their holiday uniforms, followed with the spanish flag in their midst; the mexicans who composed the slim population of san antonio came next; then, grave and stately in their blankets and feathered headdresses and as proud as the spaniards themselves, stalked a hundred or more converted apache and comanche warriors. a rabble of indian squaws and papooses brought up the rear.
this procession went slowly along under the morning sun, now over the flower-set prairie, now through a strip of woodland. the river, breast-high to the women and boys, was forded, and as the foremost group reached the farther shore, the old franciscan lifted his hand; a church hymn, sweet, powerful, resonant, arose from five hundred throats. thus they came, singing, to the place where san josé was to stand.
a large space was marked off; the ground plan of the great church was sketched on the turf,—perhaps with the point of captain domingo ramon’s sword; the church prayers were said, and the corner-stone, already hewn and shaped, was sprinkled with holy water.
the scene on the spot daily thereafter for many years was a busy and picturesque one. everybody worked with a will,—soldiers, priests, and indians, all filled with a holy zeal. even the indian women fetched sand in their aprons, and the indian children set their small brown bodies against the stones and helped push them into place. tradition says that the people brought milk from their goats and cows to mix the mortar, thereby making it firmer and more lasting.
the beautiful twin towers went slowly up; the great dome was rounded over the main chapel; the double row of arched cloisters stretched their lovely length along the wall; the artist, juan huicar (wee′-car), sent out by the king of spain, set his fine carvings above the wide doors.
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at the same time the enclosing wall was raised; the fort with its flying buttresses, the guardhouse, the huts into which the indian converts were locked at night—all these were completed. orchards and gardens were planted, and irrigating ditches were dug. again and again the work was interrupted by attacks from indians; but when the fight was over the dead were buried, the wounded were cared for, and the building and planting went on as before.[8]
such was the manner of the building of the texas missions. it took sixty years to complete san josé. in the meantime the handsome mission of la purissima concepcion (immaculate conception) and san francisco de la espada (st. francis of the sword) were erected, both also on the san antonio river.
the mission of san saba was built in 1734, on the san saba river in what is now menard county. the good fathers were at first very successful in converting the apaches and the comanches, who flocked to them in great numbers. but the reopening of las almagras (red ores), an old silver mine near the mission, brought into the neighborhood many reckless men; and quarrels soon arose between them and the indians—quarrels which were one day to bear bitter fruit.
