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Site of Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas
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The ruins of Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas in 2010.
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| Location: | Menard County, Texas, USA |
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| Built: | 1757 |
| Governing body: | Menard County |
| NRHP Reference#: | 72001369[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | August 25, 1972 |
Presidio San Luis de las Amarillas, now better known as Presidio San Sabá, was founded in April 1757 near present day Menard, Texas, United States to protect the Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá, established at the same time. The presidio and mission were built to secure Spain's claim to the territory. They were part of the treaty recently reached with the Lipan Apaches of the area for mutual aid against enemies. The early functioning of the mission and presidio were undermined by Hasinai, also allied with the Spanish, attacking the Apaches.[2] The mission was located three miles downstream from the presidio by request of the monks at the mission to ensure that the Spanish soldiers would not be a corrupting influence on the Lipan Apaches the monks were trying to convert to Christianity. The original presidio and mission were built out of logs.
On March 16, 1758, a band of 2000 Comanche and Wichita Indians, bitter enemies of the Lipan Apache, attacked Mission Santa Cruz de San Sabá. The presidio sent a small force to aid the mission, but the soldiers were driven back. Two of the three priests at the mission were killed and the mission was destroyed.
More than a year later, a force of 600 men from the presidio set out to find and punish the indians responsible for the attack on the mission. The Spanish force was repulsed with heavy losses and the presidio commander was relieved of command. The new commander replaced the log stockade with a stone compound. The post was abandoned in 1768, reoccupied briefly in 1770, then permanently abandoned.
A portion of the presidio was rebuilt as a Works Progress Administration project for the Texas Centennial in 1936.
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