Spanish Influence

In 1688, a small Spanish expedition found La Belle’s wreck in Matagorda Bay, but failed to find Fort St Louis itself. The following year Alonso De Leon, governor of Coahuila, crossed the Rio Grande near present-day Piedras Negras with 85 soldiers, two priests, some servants, and a contingent of Natives. They had information from Jean Gery, a Frenchman who had arrived with the La Salle colony and was living with some Natives near the Rio Grande. Using intelligence from nearby Native groups, the De Leon expedition found the tragic scene of the failed French colony. The remaining colonists had been killed by the Karankawas, and several bodies were still visible on the ground. The Spanish buried the bodies and wrote a poem in honor of the dead.

Though there were no living people at the French colony when the De Leon expedition found it, that did not mean that the French would never come back.  The De Leon expedition buried La Salle’s cannons, and made plans to return and establish their own settlement on the site.

A short 33 years after the last French settlers died at Fort St. Louis, the Spanish returned to the site, and built their own fort on top of the failed French fort.   They called it Nuestra Señora Santa María de Loreto de la Bahía del Espíritu Santo… but usually called it Presidio La Bahia.

Presidio La Bahia itself was a star-shaped fort, with wooden walls. Buildings inside were made out of clay daub over wooden poles. These huts, called jacales, housed the soldiers. They were mostly clustered around the perimeter of the fort, leaving the middle largely open. Outside the walls, archaeologists found non-European artifacts, suggesting that the Karankawa were living outside the fort.

Who were the presidio soldiers?

The idea of a “Spanish colony” brings to mind a settlement populated by people from Spain, but this was not the case. Very few Spanish colonists were actually from Spain. Most were of Native heritage or were of mixed Native and Spanish heritage. Still others were of African descent. The Spanish empire was cosmopolitan and mobile, and the composition of many Spanish colonies reflected that reality.

Some soldiers brought their wives and families with them to the presidio. Others married women of the local community. This jewelry was most likely worn by officers’ wives. The women of the presidio would have used stones much like this Native American mano and metate to grind corn in order to make tortillas. Mano is the Spanish word for hand, which refers to the stone which is held in the hands and moved back and forth against a larger stone in order to grind seeds and nuts. Metate is a word derived from the Native American word metatl, meaning the larger stone against which the mano is ground.

Religion was an important factor for the Spanish empire. Missionaries spread Catholicism throughout the New World. Spanish settlers were also primarily Catholic. These religious medallions are reflective of the importance the Spanish placed on maintaining and expressing their faith as they expanded their empire.

After a few years of disastrous relations with the Karankawa, the mission and presidio on Garcitas Creek were moved. The mission moved first to what is now Riverside Park in Victoria. In 1726, the mission moved again, to Mission Valley, just north of Victoria. The presidio moved with it. 41 years after La Salle first founded the colony on Garcitas Creek, the site was abandoned, and no one had plans to come back.

After a few more years, the mission and presidio were moved a final time to Goliad, where their remnants can be visited today. 

By the 1790s, unrest was growing around the fourth location of Mission Espiritu Santo and Presidio La Bahia. While some unrest was local, much came from the north. The horses and guns introduced to North America by Europeans radically changed Native cultures. One of the cultures most changed were the Comanche. They adopted the horse and gun as central ways of life, and used them to expand their influence. As they swept into north Texas, they displaced the Lipan Apaches, who in turn moved even further south. Aggression between the Lipan and Comanche people sparked violence throughout Texas. San Saba Mission was burned, and Spanish expeditions were attacked. Escalating violence and competing land claims caused tension for the mission and presidio at Goliad. The Spanish were increasingly trying to phase the missions out, believing that their job was mostly complete. As funds diminished and the Mexican War of Independence started, the mission and presidio were largely ruined.

In 1821, Mexico achieved independence from Spain. Martin De Leon, a merchant and soldier who had been ranching in northern Mexico and south Texas, used the opportunity to start a colony of 41 Mexican families on the Guadalupe River. This colony was the beginning of the city of Victoria.

A peineta is a large decorative comb, often made of tortoise shell. They are usually worn under a mantilla, or lace head covering. This peineta belonged to María Luisa Lazo, whose father was part of De León’s colony in 1824. She married Philip Dimmitt who was the first Texan to command Presidio La Bahia in 1835. Only the highest class of Spanish women wore a peineta.

Hobnail safes were first produced in Europe. This safe was probably made by a Spanish or Mexican craftsman for Dillman Mantz in the early 1800s, in his blacksmith shop on his land in Victoria. The Mantz family was among the early settlers in Victoria and subsequently became large property owners.