Tejano History
Oyarzun, Juan Angel De
Tejanos |
OYARZÚN, JUAN ÁNGEL DE (?–?). Juan Ángel de Oyarzún was captain of the company from San Luis Potosí that took part in the Ortiz Parrilla Red River Campaign in 1759. He wrote a diary of events of the month-long march from the San Saba River near the site of present-day Menard and of the battle fought on October 7 on the Red River near present-day Spanish Fort. The Oyarzún account begins on September 1, 1759, with the arrival of the troop gathered in San Antonio at “the place [situación] that the Reverend Father Missionaries fr. Alonso Giraldo de Terreros and fray Joseph de Santiesteban occupied and where they, with some soldiers and other men of arms, were slain at the cowardly [aleboso] impulse of the enemies.” This was the site of Santa Cruz de San Sabá Mission, which had been burned to the ground during the attack by the allied Norteños (“northern tribes”) on March 16, 1758. The site, unknown for 200 years, at last was identified archeologically in January 1994 after a thirty-year search. Oyarzún relates the campaign, led by Diego Ortiz Parrilla, commandant of the nearby San Luis de las Amarillas Presidio, to punish the Indians responsible for the attack. The expedition left San Sabá on September 7, 1759.
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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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