Presidio de San Saba

06/21/2026

American Revolution reaches Texas

June 21 1779

On this day in 1779, Spain came to the aid of the rebelling American colonists by formally declaring war on Great Britain.The primary role played by Texas in the conflict was to supply Spanish forces mounting an assault on British territory from Louisiana. King Carlos III commissioned Bernardo de Gálvez to conduct a campaign against the British along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast. In order to feed his troops, Gálvez sent an emissary, Francisco García, to Texas governor Domingo Cabello y Robles requesting the delivery of Texas cattle to Spanish forces in Louisiana. Accordingly, between 1779 and 1782, 10,000 cattle were rounded up on ranches belonging to citizens and missions of Bexar and La Bahía. Rancho de la Mora was typical of these ranches, and escorts were provided from small posts like the Fuerte de Santa Cruz del Cíbolo. From Presidio La Bahía, the assembly point, Texas rancheros and their vaqueros trailed these herds to Nacogdoches, Natchitoches, and Opelousas for distribution to Gálvez's forces. Fueled in part by Texas beef, Gálvez and his men defeated the British in battles at Manchac, Baton Rouge, Natchez, Mobile, Pensacola, and New Providence in the Bahamas. He was busy preparing for a campaign against Jamaica when peace negotiations ended the war.

03/24/2026

Mexican Law Invites Anglo Colonists

On 24 March 1825, the Mexican legislature, meeting in Saltillo, passed the State Colonization Law of March 24, 1825. The legislation was designed to bring about the peopling of Coahuila and Texas. It encouraged farming, ranching, and commerce. For a nominal fee, the law granted settlers as much as a square league (4,428.4 acres) of pastureland and a “labor” [lah-BOR] (177.1 acres) of farmland. Immigrants were temporarily free of every kind of tax. Newcomers had to take an oath promising to abide by the federal and state constitutions, to worship according to the Christian (i.e., Catholic) religion, and to display sound moral principles and good conduct. After accepting these terms and settling in Texas, immigrants earned the standing of naturalized Mexicans.

Empresarios Stephen F. Austin and Green DeWitt, among others, started their colonies under this law.
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Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas Online articles on:
Mexican Texas – http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/npm01
Mexican Colonization Laws – http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ugm01
Stephen Fuller Austin – http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fau14
Anglo-American Colonization – http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/uma01
Green DeWitt - http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde55
Coahuila and Texas - http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/usc01

03/20/2026

Aguayo expedition enters Texas

March 20th, 1721
On this day in 1721, an expedition under the Marqués de Aguayo crossed the Rio Grande into Texas. José de Azlor y Virto de Vera, Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo, was governor of Coahuila and Texas when the viceroy of New Spain accepted his offer to reestablish Spanish control of East Texas in the wake of the French invasion of 1719. Aguayo organized a force of some 500 men, which he called the Battalion of San Miguel de Aragón, with Juan Rodríguez as guide. Aguayo reached San Antonio on April 4 before proceeding to East Texas. A detachment under Domingo Ramón occupied La Bahía del Espíritu Santo on the same day. The Indians east of the Trinity welcomed the Spanish, as did the French commander Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, who agreed to withdraw to Natchitoches. Leaving 219 of his men at various presidios in Texas, Aguayo returned to Coahuila, where the force was disbanded on May 31, 1722. The expedition resulted in the increase in the number of missions in Texas from two to ten, the increase in the number of presidios from one to four, and the establishment of so definite a Spanish claim to Texas that it was never again disputed by France or by the French in Louisiana.
Article from the TSHA
https://texasdaybyday.com/?id=1144

Related Articles

AGUAYO EXPEDITION
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/upa01

AGUAYO, MARQUES DE SAN MIGUEL DE
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fag02

RODRIGUEZ, JUAN
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fro53

RAMON, DOMINGO
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fra24

ST. DENIS, LOUIS JUCHEREAU DE
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fst01

SPANISH MISSIONS
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/its02

SPANISH TEXAS
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/nps01

Map of the Aguayo Expedition from TSHA...
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/upa01 See less

Explore the Aguayo Expedition of 1721, a pivotal mission that reestablished Spanish control in East Texas, increased the number of missions and presidios, and strengthened military presence against French encroachment.

03/11/2026

Please plan to attend the upcoming annual commemoration, Saturday, March 14th, 2026, 2:00 p.m., the 268th Anniversary of the Destruction of the Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá and the Martyrdom of the Fathers Alonso Giraldo de Terreros and Jose de Santiesteban Aberín in Menard County, Texas, at the location of the Mission Site, Farm to Market 2092 E Highway. Bring a chair, please. https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5...

The Menard County Historical Commission with Chairman, Col. USMC (ret.) Terrell Kelley and Presidio de San Saba Restoration Corporation directors, along with many commission members, locals and out of town guests will be providing a short ceremony that will include a wreath laying and a blessing of the site by Father Mark John Woodruff, pastor of Menard’s Sacred Heart Catholic Parish. Spanish Colonial Living History reenactors from San Antonio, Gus Martinez and Scott Jones portraying Presidio soldiers.

Speakers planned are Mark Wolf from San Antonio, who will read his cousin’s first-hand deposition of the attack during the ceremony. Mr. Wolf is a direct descendant of Juan Leal, the principal assistant at the mission to Father Terreros. Leal was wounded during the attack, but fully recovered. Mark helped in the re-discovery of the lost mission site and was also a key contributor to the Phase I restoration of the Presidio site.

We will be honoring the twelve brave Spaniards and the Martyrdom of the Fathers Alonso Giraldo de Terreros and Jose’ de Santiesteban Aberín who died bringing Christianity to the San Saba River Valley with a tolling of the Mission bell.

01/22/2026

Here is the Don Joseph Urrutia, cartographer, draftsman and second lieutenant in the regiment of Guadalajara and member of the elite Royal Regiment of America, 1767 map of the Rio de San Sabá area showing the Presidio on the north bank and the acequia para regadio (irrigation canal) to the south. He was in the party of Marques de Rubi who camped in Kimble County in 1767.

Originally called the San Luis de Las Amarillas (when it was a wooden structure) and the Presidio is now known as the Presidio de San Sabá (as a stone fort structure) and was established to protect the Santa Cruz de San Sabá Mission, 4 miles East of the Presidio down river. We have a small Mission Chapel replica of the Mission on display at the Presidio de San Saba Historical Site, 1 mile west of Menard on US 190.

01/01/2026

12-30-2025 Congratulations to archeology team lead by Tamra Walter in Jackson County, Texas.

"Their discovery, made on a private ranch near the historic Presidio la Bahía and Fort St. Louis in Jackson County, ends decades of speculation about what happened to the original location of the historical mission, which was first set up in the late 1600s before disappearing from historical records."

"Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo was founded by Spanish missionaries in the early 1700s in an attempt to convert the indigenous population, the Karankawa people, to Christianity. It played a significant role in Spain’s efforts to colonize the region, but their time there was short-lived, and they left in the mid-1720s."

"An archeology team from Texas Tech in collaboration with Texas Historical Commission archeologists found the lost site of a centuries-old French and Spanish mission in early December.

Team leader Tamra Walter of Texas Tech University said that the discovery not only completes the story of La Salle, but offers a glimpse of life at a Spanish mission between about 1721 and 1726"

The mission known as Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo, located in Jackson County, Texas, was thought to have been lost. The Texas Tech archeology team, along with a few contributors, were able to finally find this mission after lots of hard work.