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195 T h e b i o g r a p h y o f C a r l o s d e l a G a r z a ismorethan the story of his life. He lived during the critical period that encompassed the end of the Spanish empire in Mexico, the birth of the Republic of Mexico, and the revolution that created the Texas Republic. He was born and died at the southern end of the great cattle triangle between the Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers, where Texas ranching was born. The region between Presidio La Bahía (later Goliad) and the juncture of the Guadalupe and San Antonio rivers witnessed a wide range of events, from the explorations of French and Spanish frontiersmen, to encounters among Spanish padres and soldiers and Indians, to confrontations between the Spanish military and pirates and filibustering Anglo-Americans. It was the site of the last Spanish mission founded in Texas, Nuestra Señora del Refugio. The region’s landings and ports of El Sabinito, El Muelle Viejo, El Bergantino, and El Copano were Spain’s and Mexico’s Gulf gateway to Texas. De la Garza’s ranch and village below Goliad on the San Antonio River represented the region’s last Spanish frontier. Carlos de la Garza was born in 1807 at Presidio La Bahía del Esp íritu Santo de Zúñiga, better known as Presidio La Bahía. His parents , José Antonio and Rosalia de la Garza, were in possession of the De la Garza ranch at the time of his birth. Presidial soldiers such as José Antonio acquired ranches along the San Antonio River with hopes of receiving titles once the missions were secularized. The ranch has been in the family for hundreds of years according to oral family history; two hundred years is certain. Located on prime terrain , the ranch and roads leading to the ferry sat above the floodplain, with the homestead on a bluff on the left bank of the river and the ferry upstream at the bottom of a ravine. The river’s elevation rapidly declines into the coastal marshlands as it winds into the Guadalupe River and San Antonio Bay. Midway between the Gulf and La Bahía, the ranch served as a waystation and sentinel for the presidio. A Spanish presence existed in the area long before the De la Garzas and final location of Presidio La Bahía at Goliad. In 1829, De la Garza married Saltillo native Tomasita García and built a hand-hewn double log cabin at the family ranch. They had two CARLOS DE L A GARZA loyalist leader Alonzo Salazar 1 9 6 · a l o n z o s a l a z a r sons and one daughter: Rafael Carlos, Vicente, and Refugia. The ranch and community that developed around their home came to be known in Texas as Carlos Rancho and Ferry Crossing. The roads from the ferry led to Goliad, Victoria, Refugio, Texana, and the Gulf ports at La Vaca and Copano bays, pathways of immigration and commercial activity long since forgotten. It was a thriving community by 1830 and served as a place of refuge for the citizens of Goliad, Victoria, and Refugio during dangerous times before, during, and after the Texas Revolution . The ranch comprised the Santa Gertrudis chapel, a school, blacksmith shop, commissary, barrel house, and ferry crossing.1 This Tejano enclave was home to Badeños—La Bahía settlers and their families descended from Spanish presidio soldiers. Born to the saddle, they raised, broke, and trained horses. On these horses they patrolled beyond Goliad’s territorial jurisdiction, comprising the vast territory between the Nueces and La Vaca rivers up to a vaguely de- fined boundary at Cíbolo Creek between Goliad and San Antonio. Like their ancestors, the Badeños also worked vast herds of cattle on the rich pasturelands between the San Antonio and Guadalupe rivers, considered the cradle of Texas ranching.2 In the 1780s area ranchers had helped supply Spanish general Bernardo de Gálvez with more than 10,000 head of cattle and horses in support of his campaign against the English during the American Revolution. Badeño soldiers and cowboys drove the beeves east to Louisiana, where General Gálvez supplied American patriots and his own army from these herds. Texas cattle, particularly from La Bahía’s jurisdiction, proved a deciding factor in his victorious campaign over British strongholds along the...

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