DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this story, and I'm just the one drivin' you through it. April 25, 1716. That's the date you want to hold onto.
That is the day Captain Domingo Ramón set out on an expedition with a purpose that would echo across East Texas for centuries. He left Presidio San Juan Bautista, crossed the Rio Grande, and he did not come alone. More than seventy people made that crossing with him — men, women, children — bound for the Spanish province of Texas to build something that had never existed there before.
What they built was Presidio Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de los Tejas. Some called it Presidio Dolores. Some called it Presidio de los Tejas.
Either way, it was the first presidio in the entire province of Texas. And not only that — it was the first Spanish settlement in Texas to have women and children among its inhabitants. Think about what that means.
This was not a garrison of soldiers staring at each other across a dusty courtyard. This was the beginning of a community. Now, why out here in East Texas?
Well, the French had something to say about that. By 1716, French traders were heavily present among the Caddo Indians of the Caddo Confederacy, and Spain was not particularly pleased about it. Captain Ramón's mission was to plant a fort and a chain of missions among the Tejas Indians — to establish a Spanish presence so firm that French ownership claims over Texas couldn't get a foothold.
And for a time, it worked. The sketches that survive of Presidio Dolores show you a square-shaped fort, two bastions anchoring opposite corners, an interior plaza ringed with small houses, and a chapel sitting near the south bulwark. You can picture it — that little walled world out in the piney woods, holding its ground.
Then came 1719. A French attack on Mission San Miguel changed the equation entirely, and the Spanish abandoned Presidio Dolores and the missions. Just walked away from everything Ramón's expedition had built.
But here is where the story turns again. Spanish and French tensions eased in 1721, and back came the Spanish — this time under the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo, the new Spanish Governor. He reestablished Presidio Dolores and all six of the missions.
The fort lived again. It did not live forever. After a Spanish military review in 1727, Presidio Dolores was closed in 1729.
The three nearby western missions were abandoned the following year, in 1730. The presidio that had been the first of its kind in all of Texas — the settlement that had staked Spain's claim against French ambitions, the place where families had made a life in the wilderness — was gone. In 1936, the Commission of Control of the Texas Centennial placed a Centennial marker to honor the presidio's legacy.
And in 2014, this marker picked up where that one left off. Captain Ramón crossed the Rio Grande with more than seventy souls and built something that wasn't supposed to last forever — but the ground it stood on remembers.
What the marker says
On April 25, 1716, Captain Domingo Ramón embarked on an expedition to establish a permanent settlement in the Spanish province of Texas, which resulted in the establishment of Presidio Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de los Tejas (also called Presidio Dolores or Presidio de los Tejas). Capt. Ramón left the Presidio San Juan Bautista and crossed the Rio Grande with a group of more than seventy people to build and occupy a fort and a chain of missions among the Tejas Indians of the Caddo Confederacy in East Texas. French trading with the Caddo Indians was heavily present by 1716, and a French attack on Mission San Miguel in 1719 prompted the Spanish to abandon Presidio Dolores and the missions. Spanish and French tensions eased in 1721. The Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo, the new Spanish Governor, reestablished Presidio Dolores and the six missions. Sketches of Presidio Dolores exhibited a square-shaped fort with two bastions on opposite corners, an interior plaza with small houses along its perimeter, and a chapel near the south bulwark. After a 1727 Spanish military review, Presidio Dolores was closed in 1729 and the three nearby western missions were abandoned in 1730. Presidio Dolores was not only significant because it was the first presidio in the province of Texas, it was also the first Spanish settlement to have women and children. Its status as an established presidio helped to displace French ownership claims over Texas. The Commission of Control of the Texas Centennial placed a Centennial marker in 1936 to honor the Presidios legacy. (2014)