Page "Goliad, Texas" Paragraph 4

With the conclusion of the Seven Years War in 1763, France ceded Louisiana and its claims to Texas to Spain.

With France no longer a threat to the Crown's North American interests, the Spanish monarchy commissioned the Marquis de Rubi to inspect all of the presidios on the northern frontier of New Spain and make recommendations for the future.

Rubi recommended that several presidios be closed, but that La Bahia be kept and rebuilt in stone.

La Bahia was soon " the only Spanish fortress for the entire Gulf Coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the Mississippi River.

" The presidio was at the crossroads of several major trade and military routes.

It quickly became one of the three most important areas in Texas, alongside Béxar and Nacogdoches.

A civil settlement, then known as La Bahia, soon developed near the presidio.

By 1804 the settlement had one of only two schools in Texas.