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On April 25, 1716, Captain Domingo Ramón embarked on an expedition to establish a permanent settlement in the Spanish province of Texas, which resulted in the establishment of Presidio Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de los Tejas (also called Presidio Dolores or Presidio de los Tejas). Capt. Ramón left the Presidio San Juan Bautista and crossed the Rio Grande with a group of more than seventy people to build and occupy a fort and a chain of missions among the Tejas Indians of the Caddo Confederacy in East Texas. French trading with the Caddo Indians was heavily present by 1716, and a French attack on Mission San Miguel in 1719 prompted the Spanish to abandon Presidio Dolores and the missions. Spanish and French tensions eased in 1721. The Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo, the new Spanish Governor, reestablished Presidio Dolores and the six missions. Sketches of Presidio Dolores exhibited a square-shaped fort with two bastions on opposite corners, an interior plaza with small houses along its perimeter, and a chapel near the south bulwark. After a 1727 Spanish military review, Presidio Dolores was closed in 1729 and the three nearby western missions were abandoned in 1730. Presidio Dolores was not only significant because it was the first presidio in the province of Texas, it was also the first Spanish settlement to have women and children. Its status as an established presidio helped to displace French ownership claims over Texas. The Commission of Control of the Texas Centennial placed a Centennial marker in 1936 to honor the Presidios legacy. (2014) |
