| 1716 |
| The Viceroy of New Spain, the Marqués
de Valero, authorizes the relocation of the Mission of San Francisco
Solano from the Rio Grande to the San Antonio River. |
| 1718 |
| Mission San Antonio de Valero is founded by Franciscan missionaries
from the College of Querétaro, led by Antonio de San
Buenaventura Olivares. The site chosen for the mission is on
San Pedro Creek, west of the San Antonio River. Formal ceremonies
are performed by the Governor of Coahuila and Texas, Martín
de Alarcón. The area is frequented by numerous native
bands and tribes whose members are recruited as Christian converts
and settlers by the missionaries. |
| 1719 |
| The mission is moved to the east side of
the River. |
| 1720 |
| A second mission, San José y San
Miguel de Aguayo, is established on the river, south
of San Antonio de Valero. |
| 1724 |
| Following a severe storm, San Antonio de
Valero is moved a short distance north, to its final site. |
| 1731 |
| Three missions in East Texas, Nuestra Señora
Purísima Concepción de Acuña, San Juan
Capistrano, and San Francisco de la Espada, are moved to the
San Antonio River. A group of settlers from the Canary Islands
arrives to form a new civil settlement, San Fernando de Béxar. |
| 1744 |
| A cornerstone is laid for a church at San Antonio de Valero. Church
construction continues for several years. |
| 1758 |
The keystone for the church at San Antonio de Valero. |
| 1793 |
By the order of the King of Spain, the San
Antonio de Valero Mission is secularized, its ranch properties
distributed among the civilian population. |
| 1801 |
| Irish-American trader Philip Nolan, leader
of several earlier expeditions to Spanish territory, enters northeast
Texas to hunt wild horses. Spanish troops are sent from Nacogdoches
to capture Nolan and his followers, and Nolan is killed in the ensuing battle. His surviving
followers are marched to San Antonio, where they are held for three months before being transported
to Chihuahua and imprisonment. |
| 1803 |
| The San Antonio de Valero Mission is used as a military
post. The arrival of the Second Company of San Carlos de Parras
from the vicinity of the town of El Alamo in Coahuila is the
possible source for the popular name of the former mission.
A church parish is established and the remains of the church
are used for services for soldiers at the post. |
| 1806 |
| Part of mission is used
as a military hospital. |
| 1807 |
| Zebulon Pike, arrested by Spanish authorities
near the headwaters of the Rio Grande, is cordially received
in San Antonio by the governor. Pike later reports that the
town is laid out on a "grand plan," and notes the
"station of the troops"-the Alamo-east of the river. |
| 1811 |
| Soon after the initiation of the Mexican
independence movement, factions in San Antonio become involved
in the struggle. Juan Bautista de las Casas takes control of
local troops, seizes government officials, and proclaims allegiance
to the independence cause of Father Miguel de Hidalgo y Costilla.
The success of the uprising is short-lived; just over a month
later, loyalist residents under Juan Manuel Zambrano retake
San Antonio for the King. Las Casas and other leaders of the
insurrection are tried and executed. |
| 1813 |
| A filibustering army under Mexican native
José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara and former U.S.
Army officer Augustus Magee enters Texas from Louisiana, and
advances toward San Antonio. After defeating royalist troops
outside the town, the rebel army takes San Antonio. Spanish
governor Manuel Salcedo and other officials are executed. The
victorious Gutiérrez declares Texas' independence and
drafts a constitution, although he is soon forced from power and
removed from the province. Again, the revolutionary triumph
is fleeting; a Spanish royalist army under General José Joaquín de Arredondo
crushes the republican army at the Medina River, and recaptures
San Antonio. The years of fighting leave San Antonio economically devastated. |
| Next -- (1817 - 1835) |
The
Alamo is widely recognized as a symbol of heroic courage in the struggle against oppression. It began as a simple Spanish mission, run by Franciscan missionaries, strategically placed on the El Camino Real - the King's Highway. 
