User talk:Aguarick

AGUAYO EXPEDITION.The Aguayo expedition, a project of the Marqués de Aguayo,qv resulted from the French invasion of 1719, which caused the Spanish to retreat from East Texas. In response to Aguayo's offer, the viceroy commissioned him to reoccupy the area. Aguayo gathered together a force of about 500 men, organized as a mounted infantry, which he called the Battalion of San Miguel de Aragón. Four thousand horses and other livestock provided transportation and provisions. Juan Rodríguezqv actedas guide.

After numerous delays the expedition crossed the Rio Grande, on March 20, 1721, and reached San Antonio on April 4. A detachment under Domingo Ramónqv occupied La Bahía del Espíritu Santo on the same day Aguayo reached San Antonio. Accompanied by the friars who had been in San Antonio since the French invasion, the main body of the expedition went on to East Texas. The party proceeded by way of the sites of present New Braunfels and San Marcos to a crossing of the Colorado River a few miles below the site of present Austin, crossed Little River at the Griffin Crossing east of the site of Belton and the Brazos near the site of Waco, marched southeast to the Old San Antonio Roadqv above the site of Navasota and followed the road to the former Spanish settlements between the Trinity and Red River. Detours necessitated by heavy rains caused the Aguayo trail to skirt the Apache country and run in sight of the Balcones Escarpment.qv

The Indians east of the Trinity welcomed the Spanish, as did Louis Juchereau de St. Denis,qv who, as commander of the French forces in the area, agreed to withdraw to Natchitoches. While in East Texas Aguayo reestablished six missions: San Francisco de los Tejas (renamed San Francisco de los Neches), San José de los Nazonis, Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción de los Hainai, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches, Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de los Ais, and San Miguel de Linares de los Adaes. He also reestablished the presidio of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de los Tejasqv and built and garrisoned the presidio of Nuestra Señora del Pilar de los Adaesqv for the protection of the missions against hostile Indians or possible French encroachment.

In the fall of 1721 the members of the expedition not stationed in East Texas returned to San Antonio, which Aguayo strengthened by the establishment of a third mission there, San Francisco Xavier de Náxara,qv and by the rebuilding of San Antonio de Béxar Presidio.qv On a side trip to La Bahía he established the presidio of Nuestra Señora de Loretoqv and the mission of Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga.qv He also initiated a direct sea route from La Bahía to Veracruz as a course of supply for the Texas mission establishments.

Leaving 219 of his men at various presidios in Texas, Aguayo returned to Coahuila, where the force was disbanded on May 31, 1722. The expedition resulted in the increase in the number of missions in Texas from two to ten, the increase in the number of presidios from one to four, the strengthening of the military force from fifty to 269 soldiers, and the establishment of so definite a Spanish claim to Texas that it was never again disputed by France or by the French in Louisiana. See also SPANISH TEXAS, SPANISH MISSIONS.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eleanor Claire Buckley, "The Aguayo Expedition in Texas and Louisiana, 1719-1722," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 15 (July 1911). Carlos E. Castañeda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas (7 vols., Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1936-58; rpt., New York: Arno, 1976). Charles W. Hackett, "The Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo and His Recovery of Texas from the French, 1719-1723," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 49 (October 1945).

Charles W. Hackett

AGUAYO, MARQUÉS DE SAN MIGUEL DE (?-1734).José de Azlor y Virto de Vera, soldier and governor, the son of Artal de Azlor, was born in Spain, a member of a family long distinguished in the service of the Spanish crown. He married Ignacia Xaviera, daughter and heiress of Agustín de Echevers, first Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo. Through this marriage José de Azlor became the second Marqués de Aguayo.

In 1712 he and his wife went to Mexico to live on one of their haciendas, Patos, which included almost half of Coahuila. In 1719, after offering to drive the French out of the area claimed by Spain, Aguayo was appointed governor and captain general of the provinces of Coahuila and Texas, an office he assumed on October 21. In 1720 he received a commission from the viceroy of New Spain to reoccupy the East Texas missions and presidios that had been abandoned during the French invasion in 1719. Aguayo offered to finance the expedition himself, and the viceroy accepted that proposal. The Aguayo expeditionqv so solidified the Spanish claim to Texas that it was never again challenged by the French. When Aguayo entered Texas the province had only one presidio and two missions, one of which, San José y San Miguel de Aguayo, had been established only a few months earlier under the patronage of the Marqués. When he left, Texas had four presidios and ten missions. Aguayo was also responsible for the beginnings of colonization in Texas. He recommended that steps be taken to settle 400 families between San Antonio and the East Texas missions, one-half of the settlers to be recruited from Galicia, the Canary Islands, and Havana and the other half to be composed of loyal Tlaxcalán Indians.

On June 13, 1722, Aguayo resigned the governorship of Coahuila and Texas because of ill health resulting from the hardships of the expedition. In 1724 he was rewarded for his efforts with promotion to field marshal by the Spanish king. He died on March 7, 1734, and was buried in the chapel of Santa María de las Parras.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eleanor Claire Buckley, "The Aguayo Expedition in Texas and Louisiana, 1719-1722," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 15 (July 1911). Charles W. Hackett, "The Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo and His Recovery of Texas from the French, 1719-1723," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 49 (October 1945).

Lewis W. Newton

Entradas and Royal Inspection Expeditions Future DeWitt Colony 1550-1800 Aguarick (talk) 22:41, 12 January 2009 (UTC)