In 1791, priests Manuel De Silva and Joseph Francisco Mariano Garza sought to spread Christianity among Gulf Coast native tribes now called Karankawa while also helping Spain gain a foothold on the frontier. After establishing a truce of friendship among the coastal Indians, Garza urged some to join the Mission of Rosario, but they did not want to leave their land and instead asked for a mission at the mouth of the Guadalupe River in the heart of Karankawa country, a place of protection when enemies pressed them too closely. The site was already known as El Paraje Del Refugio, The Place of Refuge, and Father Silva drew from that name in calling the future mission Nuestra Senora Del Refugio, Our Lady of Refuge. The mission was formally dedicated on February 4, 1793. It began with 138 recruits, but many were reluctant, and those who remained outside the mission were antagonistic and sometimes hostile and dangerous. The mission remained at this location until April 1794, when Chief Fresada Pinta and his tribe raided and virtually destroyed the establishment. It was later moved to the Rancho De Los Mosquitos on the southwest side of the Guadalupe River in what is now Refugio County, and in January 1795 it was moved farther up the Mission River to the current townsite of Refugio. The mission was used until 1830, when it was secularized and abandoned, and it was the last Spanish mission built in Texas.