A starting point or base from which to determine the location of most of the
tribes is the founding of the mission of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe at the main
village of the Nacogdoches in 1716, for it can be shown that this mission
remained on the same site until it was abandoned in 1773; that the modern city
of Nacogdoches was built at the old mission site; and, therefore, that the
location of this city represents the location of the principal Nacogdoche
village. The evidence briefly stated is as follows: Ramon, whose expedition
founded this mission, wrote in has Derrotero that nine leagues east-southeast of
the principal Hasinai village (the Hainai), on the Angelina River, he arrived at
the "village of the Nacogdoches," and that on the next day he "set out from this
mission," implying clearly that the mission was located where he was writing, at
the Nacogdoche village.1 As is well known, all of
the missions of this section were abandoned in 1719 because of fear of a French
invasion. Pena reports in his diary of the Aguayo expedition of 1721 that
Aguayo, who rebuilt the abandoned missions, entered "the place where stood the
mission of N. S. de Guadalupe de Nacodoches," and rebuilt the church. The
inference is that the site was the old one, more especially since in one
instance in the same connection where a mission site was changed Peņa mentions
the fact.2 This mission was continued without any
known change till 1773, when it was abandoned. But when in 1779 (not 1778, as is
commonly stated) Antonio Gil Ybarbo laid the foundations of modern Nacogdoches
with his band of refugees from the Trinity River settlement of Bucareli, he
found the Nacogdoches mission buildings still standing, settled his colony near
them, and apparently reoccupied some of them.3 Hence
it is clear that the city of Nacogdoches represents very closely, perhaps
exactly, the site of the main village of the Nacogdoche tribe at the opening of
the eighteenth century. If more evidence were necessary, the presence within the
city of Nacogdoches till recent times of four ancient Indian mounds would
strengthen the conclusion.4 With this as a starting
point, it is not difficult to indicate the approximate location of the most
prominent of the remaining tribes. Starting with the Nacogdoche involves the
disadvantage of reading the diaries backwards, it is true, but has the great
advantage of enabling us to proceed from a well-established point.
1. Derrotero, original in
the Archive General y Pãblico, Mexico. The
copy in Mem. de Nueva Espaņa, Vol. XXVII, is
very corrupt. At this point a generous
addition is made by the copist. See folio
158.
3. Antonio Gil Ybarbo to
Croix, May 13, 1779, MS. See Bolton in The
Quarterly, IX, No. 2, for the story of the
beginning of modern Nacogdoches.
4. Information furnished in
1907 by Dr. J. E. Mayfield, of Nacogdoches.
He writes: "Four similar mounds once existed
at Nacogdoches, located upon a beautiful
site about three hundred yards northeast of
the old stone 'fort or stone house that has
recently been removed from the main city
plaza. These have been razed and almost
obliterated. To the east of them is a hole
or excavation from which the earth may have
been taken for the construction of these
mounds."
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The Native Tribes About The East Texas Mission's, Quarterly of the Texas
State Historical Association, By Herbert E. Bolton, April 1908
