4/14/1689: Coahuila governor discovers and names Guadalupe River

[Craig Tx]

On this day in 1689, Alonso De Leon, Spanish governor of Coahuila, discovered and named the Guadalupe River at the approximate future site of Victoria, while leading his fourth and final expedition to find and destroy the French settlement at Fort St. Louis.

De Leon, an early advocate of establishing missions along the Texas frontier, blazed much of the Old San Antonio Road in the course of his expeditions. Eight days after discovering the Guadalupe, he and his party of 114 men, which included Damian de Massenet, came upon the ruins of the French settlement on the banks of Garcitas Creek. De Leon left Texas for the last time in 1690 and died in Coahuila a year later, probably around the age of fifty-two. In 1721 the Spanish built Nuestra Senora de Loreto de la Bahia Presidio on the site of Fort St. Louis.