>From: "Brian W. Kenny" <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Rediscovery of Santa Cruz de San Saba >Cc: [log in to unmask] > >[ AzTeC / SWA SASIG ] : > >http://www.history.swt.edu/Catholic_Southwest.htm >http://www.history.swt.edu/CSW/volume8/volume8.htm >http://www.history.swt.edu/CSW/volume8/Books8.htm#The Rediscovery of Santa >Cruz de San Saba > >V. Kay Hindes, Mark R. Wolf, Grant D. Hall, and Kathleen Kirk Gilmore, with >Spanish document translation by Philip A. Dennis. The Rediscovery of Santa >Cruz de San Saba, A Mission for the Apache in Spanish Texas [San Saba >Regional Survey Report I]. Austin: Texas Historical Foundation and Texas >Tech University, 1995. Pp. viii, 94. $15. paper. > >This publication will be of interest to all lovers of Texas history and the >history of our Spanish Colonial period. The mission site "disappeared" a >little over one hundred years ago and had been the subject of several >attempts to locate it during the past thirty years. The brief history of >the Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba is covered in detail. The mission was >founded in April 1757 as a joint effort of the Colleges of San Fernando de >Mexico and Santa Cruz de Queretaro. Located in a newly explored area >northwest of San Antonio in the San Saba River Valley, the mission was one >of the last of more than thirty-five missions established by the Spanish in >Texas for the purpose of Christianizing the Indians. The specific purposes >of this mission were the conversion of the Apache Indians, suppression of >raids by the Comanche and other Northern Indian tribes, and as an outpost >against possible French encroachments. Efforts to attract the Apaches or >other Indians failed and the priests from the College of Santa Cruz de >Queretaro abandoned the mission in late 1757 leaving three priests from the >College of San Fernando de Mexico behind. On 16 March 1758 the mission >complex was attacked and burned by an estimated 2,000 Comanche Indians, >killed eight of the approximately thirty priests, soldiers, auxiliaries, >and family members that were in the compound at the time. The survivors >escaped to the nearby Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas. The mission was >never rebuilt and efforts to convert the Indians in the area were >abandoned. The mission buildings were of a wattle and daub construction >which is a closely spaced wood framework covered in an adobe-like mud. The >buildings were burned to the ground by Indians and this combined with time >and the elements obliterated surface traces of the mission site. After the >Presidio was abandoned, it was approximately one hundred years before the >area was resettled. These factors all >combined to cause the mission site to become lost. The publication's tables >and appendixes include names, occupations, and dispositions of the >occupants of the mission at the time of the Indian attack as well as >itemization of equipment and supplies original to the mission, including >their cost. One appendix gives translations of Spanish documents relating >to the mission's history and some events subsequent to the Indian attack. >Of particular archeological interest are the descriptions >of the multi-disciplinary methodology used to locate the mission site. The >use and results of resources ranging from information obtained through >Spanish archival records and previous research to aerial surveys and ground >penetrating radar are described and explained. Like pieces of a large >puzzle, these clues all come together and the actual site was located with >minimal field work. The well-written and easily read text is generously >supported with numerous photographs, tables, charts, maps, and site plots. >The photographs include both those of the site and archeological works as >well as the numerous artifacts recovered. Detailed descriptions of many of >the most significant artifacts are >given in support of the photographs. Other appendixes include a Spanish >vocabulary and the lot number/provenance usually found in archeological >reports. An eight and one half by eleven format was used by the publisher >which allows better definition of some of the figures and photographs. The >authors suggest the same multidisciplinary approach they used can be >adapted to find other locations. As they conclude, "The mission's location >was never truly 'lost.' It only remained to be rediscovered." Hal Cherry >Texas Old Missions and Forts Restoration Association. > >----- >Southwestern Archaeology (SWA) >Archaeology, Anthropology and History of the American Southwest >http://www.swanet.org/ >telnet://aztec2.asu.edu > >Brian W. Kenny; P.O. Box 61203 Phoenix AZ 85082-1203; [log in to unmask]; >(602) 227-3154 voice msg pager > > > Anita Cohen-Williams Listowner of HISTARCH, SUB-ARCH, SPANBORD Co-listowner/Manager of ANTHRO-L Contributing Editor, Anthropology http://www.suite101.com