González to the viceroy, March 18, 1724, Ibid., 2-9. Pérez, although well recommended by González, was not held in very high regard by Aguayo. The latter said that Pérez had served in the army for twenty years, and had never merited promotion beyond the rank of a private soldier. Pérez himself admitted that he wis illiterate and could only sign his name—and his signature was in very rustic characters. His promotion to San Antonio, however, seems to have turned his head somewhat, and he did not prove to be so peaceful and pliable as González had supposed him. He was later made lieutenant of the presidio of Béxar, and still occupied that position as late as 1738, at which time he was in his fifty-sixth year.
