5/30/1688: Spanish explorer captures deserter of LaSalle's failed French colony

[Craig Tx]

On this day in 1688, Governor Alonso De León of Coahuila arrived at the Indian village ruled by Frenchman Jean Jarry.

This deserter from the La Salle expedition (1685) took up residence among the Coahuiltecan Indians in what is now Kinney County, Texas, and held sway over them as their ruler. The location is generally believed to be Anacacho Mountain, some fifteen miles southeast of Brackettville. The Spanish governor, fearful of a French-inspired Indian uprising, persuaded Jarry to return with him to Monclova. The next year, Jarry served as a guide on De León's expedition to Fort St. Louis. Afterward, De León sent the Frenchman to the Rio Grande to await visitors expected from the Hasinai, or Tejas, Indians in eastern Texas. Nothing more is heard of him.