Tejano History
Garza Falcon, Miguel De La
GARZA FALCÓN, MIGUEL DE LA (1699–1753). Miguel de la Garza Falcón, explorer, colonizer, and soldier, the son of Gen. Blas de la Garza Falcón and Beatriz de Villarreal, was born in Pesquería, Nuevo León. On October 8, 1699, he was baptized at the cathedral in Monterrey. He was the brother of the colonizer Blas María de la Garza Falcón, whose descendants still reside in South Texas. His father was governor of Coahuila (1723–29, 1733–35). Miguel was married, but his wife's name is unknown. It is believed that he had three children. He served twenty years as alferez and lieutenant under his father. In 1735, the elder Garza Falcón and José Antonio de Ecay Múzquiz were ordered to explore both sides of the Rio Grande to locate a site for the proposed Presidio de Santa Rosa María del Sacramento. Traveling upstream, the party located a likely site some twenty miles from San Juan Bautista, near the site of Guerrero, Coahuila. The main body stopped there, but Miguel de la Garza Falcón was ordered to explore fifty leagues farther upstream. Because of rough terrain and snow he and his men were able to travel only twenty leagues in three days, to a place called La Santa Cruz de Mayo, where some unknown Spanish explorer had set up a large wooden cross. There he turned back and after three days' hard march rejoined his father.
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Full article on the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas Online
Courtesy of the Texas State Historical Association.
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