|
Indians defeat Spanish force on Red River
On this day in 1759, hostile Indians lured a Spanish troop under Diego
Ortiz Parilla into a battle near a fortified Taovaya village on the Red
River near the site of present Spanish Fort. The Spaniards fought a
four-hour battle against their numerically superior opponents, who also
included Comanches, Yaceales, and Tawakonis. As darkness fell, Ortiz
Parilla led an orderly withdrawal, though he was forced to leave a pair
of cannons on the treacherous sandbank where the Spaniards had found
themselves pinned down. The expedition thus failed in its objective,
which was to punish the Indians responsible for the destruction of Santa
Cruz de San Sabá Mission in March 1759. Though Ortiz Parilla's
detractors exaggerated the extent of the Spanish defeat, he was replaced
as commandant of San Luis de las Amarillas Presidio by Felipe de Rábago
y Terán, who held the fort on the San Saba River as a face-saving
measure for almost another decade.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- ORTIZ PARRILLA RED RIVER CAMPAIGN
- ORTIZ PARRILLA, DIEGO
- TAOVAYA INDIANS
- SPANISH FORT SITES
- SANTA CRUZ DE SAN SABA MISSION
- SAN LUIS DE LAS AMARILLAS PRESIDIO
- SPANISH TEXAS
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Freedmen's Bureau agent is assassinated (1868)
- Alamo survivor dies (1883)
|
