Manuel Muñoz (Governor of Spanish Texas)

Manuel Muñoz
28ºGovernor of the Spanish Colony of Texas
In office 1790 – 1798
Preceded by	Rafael Martínez Pacheco
Succeeded by	José Irigoyen
Personal details
Born	1730 Matamoros (Castile-La Mancha), Spain
Died	1799 San Antonio, Texas
Spouse(s)	María Gertrudis de Cipiran
Profession	Colonel and Political
Religion	Christian

Manuel Muñoz (1730–1799) was a soldier, a colonel and governor of Texas between 1790 and 1798.

Biography

Early life

Manuel Muñoz was born, in 1730, probably in Matamoros, a city of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. He was serving as Captain of the Spanish Army when, in 1759, he temporarily settled in Texas as the first commander of the Presidio del Norte, which had just been created. The following year, when the prison was attacked by Apache Native American, he helped repel the attack. Later, in 1775, he acquired the government of Nueva Vizcaya, while the war between Contingents of American indians took place, which obeyed to Colonel Hugo Oconór. Due to their efforts and their great capacity of defence and governance during the war, Muñoz was appointed Lieutenant Colonel in 1777 and in 1780, he was promoted to Colonel. In the decades of 1770 and 1780, Muñoz won several stalls along the Rio Grande, he did business with the Mescalero Apaches, and he got that, together, carry out campaigns against the renegades of the border.

Governor of Texas

In 1790 Muñoz took the post of governor of Texas. In 1792, At the same time that the Count of Sierra investigated his management, Muñoz served as Acting governor. The following year, Munoz fulfilled with the Decree of Secularization of the Mission San Antonio de Valero and the following year he did the same with the decree of "partial secularization" directed to the other four Spanish missions that were carried out in San Antonio. Munoz took the missions for convert to Native Americans who had acquired the Christian religion into independently owned, changing social structure based on race that had established the Spanish. Native Americans gained greater autonomy and no longer had to rely on the Spanish. The common property of the American indians was supervised by the Spanish court or the mayor. In 1793, he founded the mission, Refugio. However, later, 1796, Muñoz fell ill and he asked the king of Spain for permission to retire. Juan Bautista Elguézabal was designed to help Muñoz until he obtains a response from the king. In January 1797, Muñoz was informed that the governor of Coahuila (Mexico), Manuel Antonio Cordero y Bustamante, had been chosen by the king as his successor, but, however, it decided to command a war against the Apaches, and Munoz had to remain in office as governor until further notice. In March of that year, Cordero sent word that he had been appointed lieutenant governor of Nuevo Santander, and that therefore he could not govern Texas. A year and a half later, in June 1798 José Irigoyen was appointed provisional governor of Texas to hold the office of Muñoz. He could not be permanent governor of the province due to illness he was suffering and that prevented him from taking office. Muñoz died on July 27, 1799 in San Antonio.^[1]

Personal life

Manuel Muñoz was married to María Gertrudis de Cipiran, who also came from Castile. She died in 1793. It is not known if they had children.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Steve Gibson (November 26, 2008). http://207.200.58.4/handbook/online/articles/MM/fmu5.html. Handbook of Texas Online – Muñoz, Manuel. Accessed October 9, 2010, at 12:50 pm. 

Persondata
Name	Munoz, Manuel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1730
Place of birth	Matamoros (Castile-La Mancha), Spain
Date of death	1799
Place of death	San Antonio, Texas