Francisco Amangual, Trustee of the Presidio: Administration, Dereliction, and the Flying Squadrons in the Comandancia General, 1700-1810

Historian Roland RodrÍguez explores the military career of Captain Francisco Amangual (17391810) whose presence in the presidial hierarchy included active participation in convoys, skirmishes, and routine, day-to-day administration. The main thrust of the narrative examines Amanguals tenure as the presidio paymaster (habilitado) for BÉxar, Texas, from 1788 to 1793. Amangual and his cohorts generated voluminous documentation including stockpiles, litigious actions, correspondence, military service records, criminal investigations, and monthly company reports. Their interactions with Native polities, civilians, and fellow soldiers illuminate the overarching administrative functions fulfilled by the paymaster in New Spains Comandancia General. Drawn from a wide cross-section of archival sources, RodrÍguezs approach foregrounds the significance of the borderlands operatives, documenting the seemingly mundane activities of life in the garrison and the more harrowing episodes of soldiering. What we are left with today from their writings is a unique body of literature about army life in the periphery. This case study aims to project onto the stage of presidio history one lesser-known actors role as an unapologetic navigator of complex bureaucratic obligations even as he soldiered on during the empires twilight.

A secondary but no less important focus of the book examines the evolution of the so-called flying squadrons (compaÑÍas volantes), a kind of make-ready cavalry unit in the Provincias Internas.

The volantes evolved as a specialized contingent charged with surveilling New Spains frontiers. Late in life, Amangual headed the San Carlos de Parras company. In much the same way as it brings Amanguals multi-faceted career to light, the book assigns a cogent place to the complicated history of the flying squadrons. In doing so, the narrative presents a critical reevaluation of the colonial presidio experience. See more