| |
THE FIRST TEXAS CAPITALby
Bob Bowman | |
Greeters
at Robeline, Louisiana, seem to take a measure of pleasure in pointing
out that the first Texas capital of Texas stands on a blacktop road a few miles
east of town.
The site is Los Adaes, and it was indeed a Texas
capital -- the colonial capital of Spanish Texas from 1729 to 1773. The fact that
Texas has allowed one its capitals to remain in Louisiana intrigues a considerable
number of folks.
In recent years, Louisiana has invested a lot of money
in Los Adaes, making it an excellent place to brush up on your early Spanish Texas
history.
The site dates back to the l700s when Father Francisco Hidalgo,
a Franciscan missionary from New Spain (now Mexico), urged the French governor
of Louisiana to establish a post near East Texas. He knew that such an action
would alert New Spain and cause the Spanish government to reestablish previously
closed Spanish military posts and Franciscan missions.
The founding of
Natchitoches in 1774 by Frenchman St. Denis and the construction of Fort St. Jean
Baptiste had the predicted effort. In 1716, the Spanish established six missions
and one fort in East Texas. The easternmost mission, San Miguel, was built among
the Adaes Indians, only 15 miles from the French fort.
An attack on Mission
San Miguel, ordered by Louisiana governor Bienville during the French-Spanish
hostilities of 1719, alarmed the Spanish and they built a new fort to counter
any further French intrusion into Spanish territory.
As a result, the
Presidio Nuestra Senora del Pilar de los Adaes (Fort of Our Lady of Pilar at the
Adaes) was surrounded by a hexagonal stockade with three bulwarks. Inside the
walls were a chapel, guard house, barracks, wells, blacksmith shop, and powderhouse.
Corrals, service buildings and the dwellings of the Indians and the soldiersą
families were located outside the fort.
In 1729, Spain designated
Los Adaes as the capital of the province of Texas and the official residence of
its governor. A house was built for him and Los Adaes remained the seat of government
for the province during the next 44 years.
The 100 soldiers stationed
at Los Adaes were Mexican cavalrymen who defended the mission and escorted the
governor and missionaries on their travels. The soldiers also doubled as farmers
and herdsmen.
Except for one minor raid by the French upon Los Adaes,
relations between the Spanish and French were, as a matter of necessity, friendly.
Although Spain prohibited trade with the French, the latter sought it and took
advantage of supply shortages at Los Adaes. An illegal trade soon flourished between
the fort and Natchitoches. This commerce became so important that Natchitoches
suffered a recession when Los Adaes closed in 1773.
For many years, Los
Adaes was simply a place in the woods marked by a monument erected by the women
of Robeline.
Today, however, the location has an excellent archeology
workshop, an interpretive complex, an overlook, and an outline of Presidio Los
Adaes. Texas visitors should be forewarned that Louisiana residents still enjoy
having Texas' first capital sitting in their midst. |
All
Things Historical
>
Sept.
22-28, 2002 column
A
syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
Published with
permission
(Bob Bowman is a former president of the East Texas Historical
Association and the author of 28 books on East Texas history and folklore. He
lives in Lufkin.) | | |
