An artist’s drawing of the Presidio of Tucson as it looked in the late 1700s. The Presidio de San Agustin de Tucson remained the only Mexican settlement in the area in the 1820s. It had been founded on August 20, 1775. Hugo O’Connor, Spanish commander of the northern provinces, and Fray Tomas Garces, a priest of San Xavier del Bac, had selected the Santa Cruz River site for the presidio. Both the Spanish and then the Mexican soldiers of Presidio of Tucson worked with the local Indian people to grow crops and raise cattle. Yet forty-five years after it was established, Apache Indian raids were still a major problem for the soldiers and families of the now Mexican presidio and settlement of Tucson. Farther to the east, a major problem was developing. The land was known as Texas. Thousands of American settlers had come to make Texas their new home. These settlers soon had more loyalty to the United States than to Mexico. War broke out between the Texans and Mexico. On March 6, 1836, the Mexican army attacked a mission church called the Alamo. Led by Mexican President Santa Anna, the Mexican army attacked the 178 Texans in the Alamo. The large Mexican force soon overran and killed all the Alamo defenders. Chapter 6 • Territory of New Mexico  65