Bexar Soldiers Assigned to San Francisco Xavier de Gigedo (San Xavier) 1751 - 1755

"Rábago’s arrival on August 11, 1754, nearly a year after the date of his order, was the occasion for another glimpse of conditions at San Xavier, and for a new proposal for its suppression. On his way up he examined the principal rivers with a view to their advantages for settlement. Near the Guadalupe springs he found a site to which, he thought, fifty families might be moved from San Antonio. The San Marcos, even at the spring, he thought offered small advantages for irrigation. Immediately upon reaching San Xavier he took possession and reviewed the troops. The presidio had its full quota of fifty soldiers, of whom Joseph Joaquin Músquiz (Eca y Músquiz) was lieutenant, Diego Ramón alférez, and Asencio del Raso sergeant. A number of names are identical with those of soldiers there in 1752. They were in a sorry condition. Amongst them they had one hundred and six horses and a mule, but eight soldiers were entirely without mounts. Some were completely equipped with arms, offensive and defensive, powder and balls, but others lacked cloak, leather jacket, shield, musket, saber, ammunition, bridle, saddle, spurs, one or all. The garrison was equipped with four re-enforced pedreros, or swivel guns, but they were without siguëñas, and the quarters were mere huts of thatch.

In short, in Rábago’s opinion, the presidio would always be useless where it was, and should be moved to a new frontier."

Years later, Father Mariano made the following supernatural claim:

“The sacrilegious homicides having been perpetrated, the elements at once conspired, declaring divine justice provoked; for in the sky appeared a ball of fire so horrible that all were terrified, and with so notable a circumstance that it circled from the presidio to the mission of the Ocesios [Orcoquiza], and returned to the same presidio, when it exploded with a noise as loud as could be made by a heavily loaded cannon. The river ceased to run, and its waters became so corrupt that they were extremely noxious and intolerable to the smell. The air became so infected that all who went to the place, even though merely passing, became infected by the pest, which became so malicious that many of the inhabitants died, and we all found ourselves in the last extremes of life. Finally, the land became so accursed that what had been a beautiful plain became converted into a thicket, in which opened horrible crevices that caused terror. And the inhabitants became so put to it, in order to escape the complete extermination which threatened them, that they moved more than thirty leagues away, with no other permission than that granted them by the natural right to save their own lives.”

The names given in the revista are: (1) Don Joseph Joaquin de Ecaymusquis, teniente; (2) Don Diego Ramon, alférez; (3) Asencio del Raso, sargento itinerario; (4) Antonio Flores, cavo; (5) Nicolas Caravajal, cavo; (6) Joachin Garcia, cavo interino; (7) Carlos de Urueña; (8) Phelipe Neri del Valle; (9) Guernonimo Rodriguez; (10) Joseph Antonio de Estrada; (11) Marcos Minchaca; (12) Euseuio Garcia; (13) Joseph Vicente Guerrero; (14) Fran.co Sanchez; (15) Joseph Cristobal (Xptobal) Vela; (16) Joseph Juachin de Estrada; (17) Juan Francisco de Avila; (18) Joseph Antonio Charles; (19) Pedro del Rio; (20) Joseph de Sosa; (21) Joseph Antonio Rodriguez; (22) Vicente Ferrer Moncalvo [sic]; (23) Francisco Maldonado; (24) Santiago Garcia; (25) Joseph Flores; (26) Pedro Duran; (27) Pedro Martin; (28) Miguel de Sosa; (29) Jose de Torres; (30) Fran.co de Iruegas; (31) Mario Martines; (32) Joseph Manuel Martin; (33) Joseph Joachin Perez; (34) Joseph Calletano de Olivarri; (35) Gregorio Dominges de Renteria; (36) Thomas Barrera; (37) Antonio Clemente Flores; (38) Juan Antonio Ramires; (39) Ignacio de Raso; (40) Joseph Joachin del Valle; (41) Juan Diego de la Garza; (42) Francisco Xavier de Zuniga; (43) Joseph Barroso; (44) Pablo Joseph Carmona; (45) Asencio Cadena; (46) Manuel de la Garza; (47) Joseph Marcos Mendez; (48) Mariano de Esquibal; (49) Joseph Maria Martinez; (50) Juan de Sosa (Testimonio de los Autos fechos, á consulta de Don Pedro Ravago Terán, etc., 1753–54).