A lay brother who escaped from the French invasion warned missionaries in a near by mission about a possible invasion. They overreacted and thought they needed to replace the missions they could lose and sent Marques de Aguayo to create Los Adaes and La Bahia.
This was the incident known as the Chicken War. A French lieutenant (Blondel) and his men raided a small mission manned by only two people- a priest and a lay brother- for its supplies which included some chickens. When the stolen chickens caused Blondel to fall off his horse, the lay brother was able to escape to a nearby mission where he told everyone that there was a massive French invasion of the East Texas missions. This caused the people to panic and abandon their missions. When the Viceroy of Spain heard about the abandoned missions and the “massive French threat” in the area, he sent Aguayo in to reclaim the land and make a statement of Spanish dominance.
