El Camino Real in Victoria County

The plaque credits a road to Captain Juan Bustillo y Ceballos, and the man had a career. Born in Spain about 1691, he captained La Bahia presidio from 1724 to 1731 and helped move the Queretaran missions from East Texas to San Antonio in 1730. He became governor of Texas in 1731 and settled the Canary Islanders at San Antonio. In 1732 he led 160 Spaniards and sixty Native men against the Apache, tracking them to their rancherias and winning a short peace. He resigned in 1734 and later sat on the Audiencia in Mexico City.

What the plaque says

El Camino Real in Victoria County THE CAMINO REAL (ROYAL ROAD), ALSO KNOWN AS THE KING'S HIGHWAY, WAS A SERIES OF ROUTES LINKING SPANISH MISSIONS AND PRESIDIOS IN TEXAS AND LOUISIANA. BEGINNING IN 1725, THE SPANISH EMPLOYED ONE SUCH ROADWAY, THE LOWER CAMINO REAL, THAT WENT THROUGH PRESENT-DAY VICTORIA COUNTY. AT FIRST, A ROAD DEVELOPED TO SUPPLY PRESIDIO NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LORETO, ALSO KNOWN AS LA BAHIA, WHICH WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1721 ATOP THE BURNED REMAINS OF LA SALLE'S FORT ST. LOUIS. IN 1725, DUE TO THE LACK OF FRESH WATER, TIMBER, AND BUILDING STONES, AND ATTACKS BY THE UNPREDICTABLE KARAWANKA INDIANS, THE PRESIDIO MOVED INLAND TO TONKAWA BANK, A HIGH BLUFF ON THE GUADALUPE RIVER IN PRESENT-DAY RIVERSIDE PARK IN VICTORIA. THE NEXT YEAR, BOTH IT AND THE RELATED MISSION, NUESTRA SEÑORA DEL ESPIRITU SANTO DE ZUÑIGA, MOVED FURTHER UPSTREAM, 7 MILES NORTH OF PRESENT-DAY VICTORIA. IN 1727, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE GUADALUPE WAS IMPASSABLE, NECESSITATING THAT SUPPLIES BE BROUGHT OVERLAND FROM BEXAR TO THE SITE VIA A ROAD ESTABLISHED BY CAPTAIN JUAN BUSTILLO Y CEBALLO. HIS ROAD WAS A PRECURSOR TO THE BEXAR-LA BAHIA-NACOGDOCHES ROAD. SOLDIERS FROM THE PRESIDIO LA BAHIA USED THIS ROUTE WHEN ASSIGNED TEMPORARILY TO POSTS ELSEWHERE. OTHERS USED THE ROAD, INCLUDING PRIESTS, SOLDIERS, AND SUPPLY TRAIN ESCORTS, WHO USED THE DETOUR BY 1731 TO AVOID APACHE RAIDERS IN AND AROUND SAN ANTONIO. IN 1749, PRESIDIO LA BAHIA AND MISSION ESPIRITU SANTO MOVED A FINAL TIME, TO THE SAN ANTONIO RIVER SOUTH OF PRESENT-DAY GOLIAD. THE ROAD THROUGH VICTORIA COUNTY CONTINUED TO BE USED FOR THE NEXT CENTURY. THE GUADALUPE RIVER SITE IS REFERRED TO ON SPANISH MAPS AS "RANCHO VIEJO." THE LOWER CAMINO REAL WAS A VITAL LINK BETWEEN BEXAR AND EAST TEXAS, DURING WHICH TIME THE PRESIDIO LA BAHIA AND MISSION ESPIRITU SANTO PLAYED PIVOTAL ROLES FOR THE SPANISH. (2010)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of the Coastal Bend — 7.4 mi
  Victoria College's museum of thirteen thousand years on the middle Texas coast, from Clovis hunters and Karankawa potters to La Salle's lost Fort St. Louis and the first ranches.
• De León Plaza — 7.4 mi
  The central plaza of Guadalupe Victoria, the only predominantly Mexican colony in Texas, founded by Martín De León in 1824 and taken from his family after 1836.
• Fannin Battleground State Historic Site — 18 mi
  The open prairie east of Goliad where Fannin's retreating column formed a square short of the Coleto Creek timber on March 19, 1836, and surrendered the next day.
• Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum — 19 mi
  A cattle-country museum in Cuero's 1903 Knights of Pythias Hall, telling the Guadalupe Valley's 1866 drive north and the Sutton-Taylor feud that bloodied DeWitt County.

More markers nearby

• Site of Mission Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo de Zuniga — 3.4 mi
• Camp Henry E. McCullouch — 3.8 mi
• Mission Espiritu Santo Cattle Ranch — 4.3 mi
• Camp Victoria — 4.8 mi