1. Spanish Missions in Texas 1650-1800

2. Race to Claim Texas Texas was between Spanish Mexico &
French Louisiana
La Salle had established Fort Saint Louis for France.
Spain
Texas
France
La Salle

3. In 1689 Spaniard Alonso de Leon finds the remains of Fort St. Louis
Alonso de Leon reported favorably on the land of East Texas and the Caddo Indians
Father Damian Massanet who was with de Leon requested help from Mexico City to convert the Caddo, or the Tejas as they called them, to Catholicism

4. Missions The mission was Spain’s main tool for colonizing Texas.
Their purpose was to convert Native Texans to the Catholic faith,
In addition the mission workers attempted to convert the natives into Spanish subjects.
Missions in Texas were supported by the Catholic church, but they were designed to be self sufficient.
They also would help keep the French out of Texas

5. Most missions in Texas consisted of a square compound enclosed by four walls. They also had a main chapel which was at the center of life in the mission.
Early missions were small and made of wood. While later missions were large and built with stone.
The land around the mission was also used for animals and growing crops for food.

6. Spain’s First East Texas Mission
In 1690 de Leon and Massanet , a few other priest and 100 soldiers set off to build a mission in east Texas.
They build the Mission San Francisco de los Tejas
Reconstruction of San Francisco de los Tejas

7. A year later the mission was in trouble
A year later the mission was in trouble. Drought had caused the crops to fail.
Disease caused the Native Texans to become hostile & they refused to work in the missions
The Mission could not survive so in 1693 it was abandoned.

8. The French Return
By 1700 the French return to Louisiana and developed trading relationship with Native Americans
In 1713 Spanish Priest Father Francisco Hidalgo asked French priests to provide churches to East Texas Natives
The French sent Louis de St. Denis to visit Father Hidalgo

9. France and Spain were at war
But St. Denis and Hidalgo both wanted to convert the east Texas Indians.
Spanish government had St. Denis arrested
Spain decided to establish more missions to protect their territory

10. Spain Reclaims East Texas
In 1716 San Francisco de los Tejas was reopened
A mid-point for supply caravans was needed.
In modern day San Antonio the Mission San Antonio de Valero and the Mission San Antonio de Bexar was built.
Valero would become the Alamo

11. w
Mission San Antonio de Valero

12. The Chicken War
East Texas missions were unsuccessful because of the same reasons as before.
The Indians didn’t want to live in them.
In 1719 French Lt. Philippe Blondel “invaded” Texas with 6 soldiers. They captured a mission near Nacogdoches.

13. Blondel and his men looted the mission and Blondel took and tied a few chickens to his saddle.
The chickens made his horse buck (jump) and Blondel fell from his horse. The Spanish missionaries escaped when this happened.

14. The Incident referred to as “The Chicken War”
The escaped Spanish exaggerated the news claiming that a huge French army was invading
The Spanish panicked and retreated back to San Antonio abandoning East Texas
The Spanish realized how weak they were in Texas