Mission San Saba

Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba was one of the Spanish missions in Texas. It was established in April 1757, along with the Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas, later renamed Presidio of San Sabá, in what is now Menard County. Located along the San Saba River, the mission was intended to convert members of the Lipan Apache tribe. Although no Apache ever resided at the mission, its existence convinced the Comanche that the Spanish had allied with the Comanche's mortal enemy. In 1758 the mission was destroyed by 2,000 warriors from the Comanche, Tonkawa, Yojuane, Bidai and Hasinai tribes. It was the only mission in Texas to be completely destroyed by Native Americans. The Indians did not attack the nearby presidio.

In retaliation, the Spanish government authorized an expedition in 1759 to attack the Comanche. Colonel Diego Ortiz Parrilla led over 500 Spanish soldiers and Apache braves into Comanche territory. Along the Red River, Spanish soldiers encountered a Wichita village which had been heavily fortified, complete with a moat and wooden stockade. The Indians lured Ortiz into an ambush and after a four-hour battle in which the Spanish suffered 19 dead, he and his troops retreated, leaving two cannon in the hands of the Indians.

To commemorate the destruction of Santa Cruz de San Sabá, the benefactor commissioned a painting in 1762, completed in 1765 (illustration). This became the first work of art to depict a historical event in Spanish Texas. A historical marker was erected near the site of the mission, and archaeological excavations were carried out in the 1990s.

In 1716, Spanish officials authorized the settlement of the border province Spanish Texas, in the hopes of checking the influence of French missionaries and traders in neighboring Louisiana. Over the next several years, missionaries established a series of Spanish missions in Texas, ministering primarily to the Hasinai and Coahuiltecan tribes. By 1731, many of the missions were relocated to the San Antonio River, and the number of soldiers in Texas was cut to 144.

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