4/10/1768: Rubí report recommends reorganization

[Craig Tx]

On this day in 1768, the Marqués de Rubí filed an official report in Mexico City on Spain's frontier presidios.

He had just traveled some 7,600 miles, from the Gulf of California to Louisiana, on a 23-month inspection tour. His report recommended that Spain reorganize its frontier defenses in a cordon of fifteen presidios more or less along the current U.S.-Mexico border. The report also recommended that Spain maintain only San Antonio and Santa Fe to the north of this line; abandon East Texas completely; and undertake a war of extermination against the Lipan Apaches. More than four years passed before a royal proclamation, the New Regulations for Presidios, incorporated many of Rubí's recommendations. Under the New Regulations, Spain abandoned all missions and presidios in Texas except those at La Bahía and San Antonio, designated the latter city the new capital of Texas, removed all settlers and soldiers from East Texas, and implemented a new policy intended to establish good relations with the enemies of the Apaches.