Mission San Francisco de la Espada (Boundary Increase)

About this property

Mission San Francisco de la Espada (also Mission Espada) is a Roman Rite Catholic mission established in 1690 by Spain and relocated in 1731 to present-day San Antonio, Texas, in what was then known as northern New Spain. The mission was built in order to convert local Native Americans to Christianity and solidify Spanish territorial claims in the New World against encroachment from France. Today, the structure is one of four missions that comprise San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. Founded in 1690 as San Francisco de los Tejas near Weches, Texas, and southwest of present-day Alto, Texas, Mission San Francisco de la Espada was the second mission established in Texas. The mission focused on converting Coahuiltecan and Nabedache Indians. Three priests, three soldiers and supplies were left among the Nabedache Indians. The new mission was dedicated on June 1, 1690. A smallpox epidemic in the winter of 1690–1691 killed an estimated 3,300 people in the area. The Nabedache believed the Spaniards brought the disease and hostilities developed between the two groups. Drought besieged the mission in the summers of 1691 and 1692, and the Nabedache wished to get rid of the mission. Under threat of personal attack, the priests began packing their belongings in the fall of 1693. On October 25, 1693, the padres burned the mission and retreated toward Monclova. The party lost its way and did not reach Monclova until February 17, 1694. The mission was re-established in the same area on July 5, 1716, by the Domingo Ramón-St. Denis expedition. It was named as Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Tejas. The new mission had to be abandoned in 1719 because of conflict between Spain and France. The mission was tried once more on August 5, 1721, as San Francisco de los Neches. As the Nabedache were no longer interested in the mission, and France had abandoned effort to lay claim in the area, the mission was temporarily relocated along the Colorado River in July 1730. Mission Tejas State Park encompasses the original site of the mission. The mission relocated to its current location in the San Antonio River area (coordinates 29.3177°, -98.4498°) in March 1731 and was renamed San Francisco de la Espada. Don Juan Antonio Pérez de Almazán (Captain of San Antonio de Béxar) would then go on to transfer possession of the mission from New Spain to the Indians, namely the chief of the Pacao nation. They would, however, still be expected to convert to Christianity, perform farm labor, and were governed by Governor Manuel de Sandoval. Rebellion from the Indigenous populations within the mission arose again in June 1737 when only one Indian out of one hundred thirty-seven remained due to the punishments that the priests would administer to them. These accusations would then be ignored, resulting in all Coahuiltecans permanently fleeing from the mission.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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