unnecessary. Viceroy Casafuerte recommended the promotion of Colonel Pedro de Rivera to the rank of brigadier, and his appointment as special inspector and regulator of presidios, which was done by the sovereign in 1724. Accompanied by the lieutenant colonel of engineers, Francisco Álvarez Barreiro, who was to make plans, Rivera proceeded on his mission. The task occupied him four years, during which time he journeyed three thousand leagues, and reorganized the presidios in the best possible manner. The government Gazeta of June 1728 mentions his return to Mexico from his arduous labors, when he made his report to the viceroy.[1]
In 1729 the number of presidios was fixed at twenty, that of New Mexico being the most distant, with seventy-seven men and three commissioned officers. On the 20th of April was issued the new reglamento, under which the annual expenditure for such troops was reduced from 444,883 pesos to 283,930 pesos; the prices of goods and provisions sold to the soldiers were fixed, and captains of presidios were required to reside permanently in their presidios. The law also prescribed the circumstances under which Indians might be aided against hostile tribes.[2]
The king, accepting the viceroy's suggestions, de-
- ↑ Rivera, Diario y Derrotero, 1-76. In October, 1727, the king had ordered the establishment of a presidio at the Real de Boca de Leones in Nuevo Leon with a corporal and fourteen men, which were later increased to 25. New Mex., Cédulas, MS., 245-7. In 1728 a full report was called for by the crown upon all the presidios, and the force each could rely on both paid and unpaid; also upon armament of all kinds, etc. Id., 324-31.
- ↑ It also marked out the course of duty for each man in the presidio, and the discipline to be maintained. Instruc. formada en virtud de Real Órden, 9; New Mex., Cédulas, MS., 335-7; Zamora, Bib. Ley. Ult., iv. 284; Escudero, Son. y Sin., 61-2, 70; Arévalo, Compend., 228. Mota Padilla, Conq. N. Gal., 177, speaking on the subject about 1742 gives the presidios then existing, namely: Nayarit, Durango, El Pasage, El Gallo, Mapimi, Cerro Gordo, San Bartolo, Conchos, Nuevo Mexico, El Paso, Janos, Fronteras, Sinaloa, Adais, Texas, Bahia del Espíritu Santo, San Antonio de Béjar, Rio del Norte, Coahuila, Cerralvo, Cadereita, and the force at Saltillo, with a total force of 846 officers, rank and file. In 1754 frontier presidios were ordered to have each four swivel guns, and 50 muskets with the requisite ammunition, lances, shields, etc. Sixteen articles were issued for their rule. Ditches, ramparts, and stockades were to be erected. Instruc. Vireyes, 29. In 1755 Engineer Cámaras Altas was sent to make a thorough map of the northern frontiers of
