August 19, 1749
According to the Texas State History Association, on this day four Apache chiefs, accompanied by many followers, buried a hatchet, along with other instruments of war, in a peace Ceremony in San Antonio. TSHA states that the ceremony indicated the Apache’s conversion to Christianity in exchange for protection by the Spanish from Comanche raids. The plaque embedded in Main Plaza in 2008 tells a different story, and cites a different date and year: Captain Toribio de Urrutia and Fray Santa Ana now determined to do their best to establish a permanent and lasting peace with the Apache nation. …this was a great day for San Antonio. After thirty years of depredations, the harassed settlement was about to secure, as was thought, a lasting peace. Early in the morning the plaza began to fill with an eager throng… First, a great hole was dug in the center of the plaza, and in this were placed a live horse, a hatchet, a lance, and six arrows, all instruments of war. Then Captain Urrutia and the four chiefs, joining hands, danced three times around the hole, the Indians afterwards doing the same with the priests and the citizens. When this ceremony was concluded, all retired to their respective places. Then, upon a given signal, all rushed to the hold and rapidly buried the live horse, together with the weapons, thus signifying the end of war…
