In 1633, the province of Apalachee in Spanish Florida received its first full-time resident missionaries, and the Franciscan Mission of San Pedro y San Pablo de Patale was one of the first missions with a resident priest established in the region after that date. Like other Spanish missions in Florida, this outpost of Spanish domination was intended to convert and "civilize" the Indians, and it also served as a center for the civil and military authority of Spain on the frontier. Archeological investigations at the site in 1971 revealed the structural remains of the mission church and other buildings, along with a cemetery for the burial of Christians containing some 64 graves. Patale evidently remained an important part of the mission system until its destruction in June 1704, after colonial rivalry between Spain and England had become very keen. In 1703-1704, Colonel James Moore of South Carolina led an English expedition to destroy the Spanish Apalachee missions, and on June 23, 1704, Patale was attacked and captured by the English, who then used the mission as a base of operations. A Spanish counterattack with Indian allies in July ended in another English victory, and afterward the site seems to have been abandoned. During the decades of its existence, Patale played an integral part in the military, political, and religious background of the Tallahassee area.