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 Vicinity of site: "Mision De Las Cabras"
N 29° 06.515 W 098° 10.525
14R E 580231 N 3220296
This historical marker is near the site where a fortified visita of Mission Espada was built in 1731 that was called Mission de las Cabras, meaning "Mission of the Goats."
Waymark Code: WM129QK
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/07/2020
Views: 8
The TX historical marker is south of Floresville along TX-97 where, shortly after TX-97 crosses the San Antonio River, FM 132 forms a junction with TX-97. The marker is on the south corner of this junction.
The remote chapel was used by the local Indians who had agreed to tend the Mission Espada's cattle herd that was grazed in this area. Apparently there were goats kept in the area for use by the Mission's herders as well as cattle, horses and mules normally used for running the ranch.
Marker Number: 7
Marker Text:
("Mission of the Goats")
A fortified visita of Mission Espada, founded 1731 in San Antonio. Situated near Paso de las Mujeres ("Crossing of the Women"), an important ford on the San Antonio River, known to most parties obliged to travel between Mexico and San Antonio. Meadow land along the river and near the crossing was used to pasture cattle owned by Mission Espada. Indians under Espada's protection were kept here to herd the cattle. For the care of souls of the herdsmen, a chapel was built. The 1895 guide, "San Antonio at a Glance," described the Old Cabras site as a 2-acre, diamond-shaped lot with bastions at each end.
After secularization of the missions in 1794, lands here were owned by one of the descendants of Spain's colonists from the Canary Islands, Ignacio Calvillo. In turn, the Cabras site was inherited by Calvillo's flamboyant daughter, Dona Maria Del Carmen (born in 1765). Noted for her independent spirit, she forsook her husband, Gavino Delgado, and personally managed the ranch, her long black hair flying in the wind as she rode a great white horse. She kept down Indian troubles by paying tribute in beef. In her time and for a century afterward Old Mission Cabras remained in use for rites of the church.
(1970)
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Visit Instructions:
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