Manuel Muñoz (1730– July 27, 1798) was a soldier, colonel and governor of Texas between 1790 and 1798. Early life Muñoz was born in 1730, probably in Matamoros, a city of Castile, Spain. He joined the Royal Spanish Army in his youth where he ascended to captain in the Spanish Army. In 1759, Manuel temporarily settled in Texas as the first commander of the "Presidio del Norte". Shortly after, in 1760, the Presidio was attacked by Apache Native Americans but Muñoz aided in the repelling of the attack. Later, in 1775, he participated in the war between the troops of Colonel Hugo Oconór and the American Indians, commanding the troops of Nueva Vizcaya. Due to his leadership during the war, Muñoz was appointed lieutenant colonel in 1777. In the 1770s and 1780s, Muñoz worked in several "posts" in the Rio Grande region, "negotiated" with one of the Apache tribes (particularly with the Mescaleros) and carried out several military campaigns against the Native Americans of the frontier who resigned the Christian religion. Texas Governor In 1790, Muñoz became governor of Texas. In 1792 Muñoz served as Acting governor, at the same time that the Count of Sierra investigated his management. A year later, Munoz secularized the Mission San Antonio de Valero and in 1792 he also fulfilled with the decree of "partial secularization" directed to the other four Spanish missions that were carried out in San Antonio. Muñoz supervised trade among the settlers and the Native Americans and investigated illicit trade among the Spanish and French of Louisiana that existed before his term. In addition, he regulated the work of the Amerindians in their work on the churches and priestly quarters and declared that these works could only be carried out with permission from the commander general. He also "checked the mission and presidio accounts". Native Americans gained greater autonomy: Munoz converted Native Americans who had acquired the Christian religion into independent owners of lands, upending social structure based on race that had been established by the Spanish. In addition, the sacred ministry was the only one institution in which the missionaries could work "and placed the common property of the mission Indians". This property was supervised by the authorities, either by the alcalde, a Spanish politician figure who administrated the Spanish municipalities, or the justice. In 1793, the mission Refugio was established. In 1795, Muñoz rose to colonel in the