A New History of Old Texas

Founding San Antonio

On June 13, 1691, Spanish explorers gave a name to the spring-fed river whose banks they crossed on that feast day of St. Anthony de Padua - San Antonio. It would take twenty-seven more years of political intrigue, religious zeal, and French incursions before they would be able to plant a permanent settlement there, seeding it with a hardy mix of soldiers, missionaries, and frontiersmen.Selected BibliographyAlessio Robles, Vito. Coahuila y Texas en la época colonial (1978).De La Teja, Jesús F., ed. A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguín (2002).De la Teja, Jesús F. San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain's Northern Frontier (1996).De Zavala, Lorenzo. Journey to the United States of North America: Viaje a los Estados Unidos del Norte de América. Michael Woolsey, trans., and John-Michael Rivera ed. (2005).Fisher, Lewis F. Saving San Antonio: The Preservation of a Heritage (2016).Maverick, Mary A. Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick (2007).McDonald, David R. José Antonio Navarro: In Search of the American Dream in Nineteenth-Century Texas (2013).Poyo, Gerald Eugene, and Gilberto M. Hinojosa, eds.  Tejano Origins in Eighteenth-Century San Antonio (1995).Ramos, Raúl A. Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, 1821-1861 (2010).Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook of Texas Online.Tijerina, Andrés. Tejanos and Texas under the Mexican Flag, 1821-1836 (1994).www.BrandonSeale.com

Missionary San Antonio

Between 1718 and 1731, San Antonio would grow to almost 300 "vecinos," thanks to the establishment of four new missions and the "entrepreneurialism" of the soldiers stationed there, who defied Spanish import restrictions to blaze the first trade routes between Spanish Texas and Eastern North America.Selected BibliographyAlessio Robles, Vito. Coahuila y Texas en la época colonial (1978).De La Teja, Jesús F., ed. A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguín (2002).De la Teja, Jesús F. San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain's Northern Frontier (1996).De Zavala, Lorenzo. Journey to the United States of North America: Viaje a los Estados Unidos del Norte de América. Michael Woolsey, trans., and John-Michael Rivera ed. (2005).Fisher, Lewis F. Saving San Antonio: The Preservation of a Heritage (2016).Maverick, Mary A. Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick (2007).McDonald, David R. José Antonio Navarro: In Search of the American Dream in Nineteenth-Century Texas (2013).Poyo, Gerald Eugene, and Gilberto M. Hinojosa, eds.  Tejano Origins in Eighteenth-Century San Antonio (1995).Ramos, Raúl A. Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, 1821-1861 (2010).Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook of Texas Online.Tijerina, Andrés. Tejanos and Texas under the Mexican Flag, 1821-1836 (1994).www.BrandonSeale.com

The Canary Islanders

When sixteen Canary Island families arrived in San Antonio in March of 1731, they quickly made an impression on the small town. Their first fourteen years in San Antonio would be marked by political conflict, as they formed the first civic government and used their political savvy to advance their vision for their new home.Selected BibliographyAlessio Robles, Vito. Coahuila y Texas en la época colonial (1978).De La Teja, Jesús F., ed. A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguín (2002).De la Teja, Jesús F. San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain's Northern Frontier (1996).De Zavala, Lorenzo. Journey to the United States of North America: Viaje a los Estados Unidos del Norte de América. Michael Woolsey, trans., and John-Michael Rivera ed. (2005).Fisher, Lewis F. Saving San Antonio: The Preservation of a Heritage (2016).Maverick, Mary A. Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick (2007).McDonald, David R. José Antonio Navarro: In Search of the American Dream in Nineteenth-Century Texas (2013).Poyo, Gerald Eugene, and Gilberto M. Hinojosa, eds.  Tejano Origins in Eighteenth-Century San Antonio (1995).Ramos, Raúl A. Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, 1821-1861 (2010).Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook of Texas Online.Tijerina, Andrés. Tejanos and Texas under the Mexican Flag, 1821-1836 (1994).www.BrandonSeale.com

Building San Antonio

During the fifty year period beginning in 1718 and ending around 1768, Spanish friars and Native American converts moved nearly 1 million metric tons of limestone around the San Antonio River valley and erected the UNESCO World Heritage San Antonio Missions, using only crude hand tools and native ingenuity.Selected BibliographyAlessio Robles, Vito. Coahuila y Texas en la época colonial (1978).De La Teja, Jesús F., ed. A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguín (2002).De la Teja, Jesús F. San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain's Northern Frontier (1996).De Zavala, Lorenzo. Journey to the United States of North America: Viaje a los Estados Unidos del Norte de América. Michael Woolsey, trans., and John-Michael Rivera ed. (2005).Fisher, Lewis F. Saving San Antonio: The Preservation of a Heritage (2016).Maverick, Mary A. Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick (2007).McDonald, David R. José Antonio Navarro: In Search of the American Dream in Nineteenth-Century Texas (2013).Poyo, Gerald Eugene, and Gilberto M. Hinojosa, eds.  Tejano Origins in Eighteenth-Century San Antonio (1995).Ramos, Raúl A. Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, 1821-1861 (2010).Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook of Texas Online.Tijerina, Andrés. Tejanos and Texas under the Mexican Flag, 1821-1836 (1994).www.BrandonSeale.com

The Apaches

After thirty years of constant harassment by the Apaches, San Antonians did what few other frontier peoples ever could: beat them and force them to seek peace.Selected BibliographyAlessio Robles, Vito. Coahuila y Texas en la época colonial (1978).De La Teja, Jesús F., ed. A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguín (2002).De la Teja, Jesús F. San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain's Northern Frontier (1996).De Zavala, Lorenzo. Journey to the United States of North America: Viaje a los Estados Unidos del Norte de América. Michael Woolsey, trans., and John-Michael Rivera ed. (2005).Fisher, Lewis F. Saving San Antonio: The Preservation of a Heritage (2016).Maverick, Mary A. Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick (2007).McDonald, David R. José Antonio Navarro: In Search of the American Dream in Nineteenth-Century Texas (2013).Poyo, Gerald Eugene, and Gilberto M. Hinojosa, eds.  Tejano Origins in Eighteenth-Century San Antonio (1995).Ramos, Raúl A. Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, 1821-1861 (2010).Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook of Texas Online.Tijerina, Andrés. Tejanos and Texas under the Mexican Flag, 1821-1836 (1994).www.BrandonSeale.com