The Junior Historian, Volume 14, Number 6, May 1954 Page: 2
32 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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THE JUNIOR HISTORIAN
of Sierra Gorda to strike and retreat.
Although Escand6n was ruthless with
offenders, he was kind and gentle with
the helpless.
This firmness and fairness won the
respect of the Indians, who soon made
peace. For his services he was promoted
to colonel and then to lieutenant general
of Sierra Gorda. Escand6n changed
from a warrior to a colonizer held in
great esteem. He believed that peace
could be secured only by occupying the
land beyond Sierra Gorda and reducing
the Indians to mission life. With this in
mind he established eleven missions and
so impressed the king with the value
of his services that he was given the
title of Count of Sierra Gorda.
Beyond Sierra Gorda lay the vast re-
gion from Tampico to the San Antonio
River, then called Seno Mejicano, un-
explored, unsettled, and the refuge of
thousands of Indians. To ensure peace,
it was necessary to enter this unknown
region and settle it. Several earlier at-
tempts had been made but none had
succeeded. The viceroy of New Spain
kept these failures in mind as he tried
to decide on the man to head a new
expedition. On September 3, 1746, he
decided that Escand6n was the man to
do this job. He appointed him lieutenant
governor and captain general of Seno
Mejicano with full authority to conquer
and settle the area.
Escand6n applied the tactics of a
military campaign to the plan for colo-
nization. He decided that in January,
1747, seven divisions would descend
simultaneously from seven directions
in the area and converge on the Lower
Rio Grande. Parties were sent out with
minute instructions for a mammoth re-
connaissance. All in all the campaign
was so carefully and accurately planned
that within three months an area eight
hundred miles wide was explored and
fourteen sites for future settlements
selected. The greater part of the expense
of these operations was borne by Escan-
d6n.
Two more years passed before colo-nists set out for the area already mapped
and explored. Escand6n issued a call
for five hundred volunteer settlers but
was answered by some seven hundred
families (about four thousand persons).
Such was the people's confidence in
Escand6n. Each family was to receive
five hundred pesos, free land, and tax
exemption for ten years.
Two settlements were planned in Tex-
as, one on the Nueces River and one on
the lower San Antonio River. The first,
Verdoya, never took place, but the sec-
ond was founded by removing La Ba-
hia from the Guadalupe River to the
San Antonio River. Six years later, in
1757, there were twenty-four settle-
ments and fifteen missions. About 1,500
families made their homes in the colony,
Nuevo Santander. Those settlers had
8o,ooo horses and mules, and 300,000
sheep and goats. The more industrious
citizens carried on trade down the Rio
Grande and the Gulf.
Like all great men, Escand6n made
bitter enemies. Although he had demon-
strated his unselfish motives continuous-
ly throughout the efforts at colonization,
he was. involved in accusations against
his character and integrity. Escand6n,
the man who had served without pay
and who had borne much of the expense
of early colonizing ventures, was
charged with waste of royal money and
was also accused of failing to co-operate
in the conversion. It is ironic that such
a charge should be brought against the
man who had tried to reduce all the In-
dians to mission life.
One of his bitterest enemies was Mi-
guel Arizpe who made a report to the
Spanish government about provinces of
Texas, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and
Coahuila. This report resulted in Ariz-
pe's imprisonment for six years. Its
main theme was that under Escand6n,
his subordinates and successors had de-
prived the people of their right of elec-
tion, It further charged that the people
had been placed under military despot-
ism and kept in ignorance to make it
[continued on page 22]
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Texas State Historical Association. The Junior Historian, Volume 14, Number 6, May 1954, periodical, May 1954; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391341/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.