Mission Nuestra Señora de la Luz
El Orcoquisac Archeological District
Wallisville, Texas
Coordinates: 29.838580,-94.745131
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Photo by ljmacphee. Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.
French trading on the Spanish border
The French at Natchitoches, near Los Adaes, had been actively trading in the area around Los Adaes, Texas' first capital, in present-day Louisiana, since the 1720s. Their activity threatened the trade monopoly and influence the Spanish were fostering among the indigenous peoples there. In 1754, the Spanish governor, Jacinto de Barrios y Jáuregui, sent soldiers to arrest the French working at a small trade post at the mouth of the Trinity River, among them, Joseph Blancpain and his associates. The Spaniards marched the French prisoners down to Mexico City, where Blancpain later died. Barrios decided to establish a military outpost at the site of the French trading outpost. In 1756, it became the Presidio San Agustín de Ahumada.
That same year, two Franciscan priests from the College of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas were assigned to found Mission Nuestra Señora de la Luz del Orcoquisac for the local Akokisa people near the presidio. The foundation of Spanish presidios and missions was closely related and one usually followed the other. Besides religious conversion, missions often became economic hubs that drew both travelers along El Camino Real de los Tejas and the local Indians. Friars often depended on the presence of presidio soldiers to maintain order in mission communities and discourage raids. The original plan was to turn El Orcoquisac into a secular settlement with 50 families, and take over the trade relationships the French had established. A Spanish presidio, however, was a military base and was not well-equipped with trade goods to build strong connections with the local peoples. Mission Nuestra Senora de la Luz also failed to attract many converts and struggled with the local environment.
Image by Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Courtesy of NASA/GSFC.
The friars had a difficult time at the mission, complaining of flies, mosquitos, and unpotable water which led to dysentery. After a short time at their mission at the mouth of the Trinity River, both friars became ill. Fray Bruno Chavira ordered the younger Fray Marcos Satarain to go to Los Adaes for treatment. Chavira later sickened and died at the mission in 1757, and he was replaced by Fray José Francisco Caro. Around this time the mission was moved closer to the presidio and rebuilt of timber, clay and moss, and roofed with palmetto. The land the friars were trying to farm was marshy and frequently flooded and both the presidio and the mission suffered from lack of supplies.
In 1762 the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau --executed just prior to the Treaty of Paris that ended France's war with Britain -- ceded western Louisiana to Spain. This new addition eliminated the political need for El Orcoquisac, although the mission and presidio remained viable for a while longer. In 1766, a hurricane swept through and severely damaged the mission and presidio. The buildings were rebuilt or relocated as a result. A formal inspection in 1767 by the Marqués de Rubí and the engineer, Nicolás de Lafora, concluded that the mission and the presidio had little strategic importance. By 1771, the friars and the soldiers were removed. El Orcoquisac was left empty and its location was lost for many years afterward.
Photo by fossilmike. Courtesy of Flickr.
The site of El Orcoquisac, which includes the mission and presidio, was rediscovered by an amateur historian John V. Clay in 1965. This discovery was confirmed by later archeological investigation. The archeological district, which includes the site of Blancpain's trading outpost, the presidio, mission, and more than 200 American Indian sites, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The remains of the mission and presidio are below the ground. The Wallisville Heritage Park is a nonprofit organization engaged in the preservation, restoration, and study of the Wallisville Townsite and El Orcoquisac Archeological District, which includes Mission Nuestra Señora de la Luz. Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, the Trinity River, Cypress Swamp &Lake Charlotte are popular places for birding, fishing, hunting, canoeing, and kayaking along Galveston Bay.
Plan Your Visit
The Wallisville Heritage Park is located at Exit 807 on Interstate 10 at Wallisville, TX in Chambers County, and is open to the public, free of charge Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 409-389-2252 or visit The Wallisville Heritage Park website or call 409-389-2252.
For more extensive coverage of the Spanish colonial period in Texas, visit San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, a unit of the National Park System composed of four missions located in separate locations in San Antonio, TX. For more information visit the National Park Service San Antonio Missions National Historical Park website or call 210-932-1001.
Last updated: April 15, 2016