The French sent an emissary to the same El Cuartelejo Apache in 1724 that Antonio Valverde had approached in 1719. While the governor of Nuevo México had been seeking intelligence about the French, Etienne de Véniard, sieur de Bourgmont, wanted to eliminate barriers to trade with Santa Fé and learn the location of Mexico’s silver mines.
While the governor’s trek was a dutiful examination of an area the Spanish believed they controlled, Bourgmont followed the tradition of quixotic adventurers like La Salle, who envisioned French power extending along the Mississippi river. Bourgmont wanted nothing less that a Pax Gallica that would suppress inter-tribal wars so he could use the Apache as his intermediaries with the Spanish.
Claude Charles du Tisné had tried to open trade with the Apache in 1718 for Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, governor of Louisiana, but had been stopped by the Missouri. He tried a different route in 1719 and was delayed by the Osage, who feared the Wichita to the west. When he finally reached the Wichita, they refused to let him contact their Apache enemies.
While Bourgmont was in Paris negotiating a contract with agents of Philippe, the king’s regent, interest in Louisiana was being fueled by the Compagnie des Indies, which held the monopoly on trade in the Caribbean and Nouvelle France. Its director, John Law, issued more notes than the bank’s assets could support. The Mississippi Bubble burst in 1720, leaving colonists stranded en route to the gulf coast and no funds to develop the area.
Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix arrived in New Orleans in early 1722. He later recalled, he "heard only of plots to desert and of settlers and soldiers who had disappeared." Later that year a hurricane struck that destroyed all the buildings and the grain harvest.
Bourgmont arrived seeking help in 1723. Although he managed to leave with 40 soldiers, many deserted as they headed north up the Mississippi. The Missouri met him at Fort de Chartres near Kaskaskia. When he discovered some men in his retinue were selling the natives into slavery and trading the remaining horses, he had them censured.
They appealed to Le Moyne, who asked his cousin, Pierre Dugué, commandant of Illinois country, to refuse aid to Bourgmont. His letter said, "we should drop the idea and push our tribes toward war with them and trade in slaves for the account of the Company." According to Frank Norall, he had become dependent on revenue from the sales of Apaches and Pawnees.
Bourgmont jousted with Dugué at Chartres. He was forced to wait for lead, but otherwise received the trade goods and other supplies he requested. In those forty days, three-quarters of his remaining soldiers died from fever or malnutrition.
He recruited enough additional men from nearby Cahokia to continue. On June 29, Bourgmont sent an advance party to the Kansa by river with trade goods and other bulky or heavy items. The group included 17 Frenchmen, who were probably soldiers, and 5 Canadians, who probably were coureurs or the voyageurs who handled the boats.
Bourgmont left five days later with three soldiers, a drummer, a servant, and four others. They were escorted by 100 Missouri and 64 Osage. The supply group wasn’t at the rendevous on July 8. Bourgmont became ill. Fever spread through his camp. When the others arrived on July 16, most of the crew were sick.
The next day, Bourgmont met with the Kansa, Osage, and Missouri to explain his mission of peace. He told the Kansa they could join him, but if they did, they couldn’t retreat when they entered the territory of their deadly enemies.
While they waited to continue west, more people died. On July 20, the Osage fled camp. Only twenty Missouri were left. A few days later, Bourgmont sent the sickest back to Fort de Chartres by boat.
He set out again on July 24, just as the summer storms were increasing. This time, his escort included more than 1,100 Kansa who were joining him as they headed for their summer hunting grounds. They included 300 warriors, 2 head chiefs, and 14 war chiefs. Most of the 300 women and 500 children carried packs while the 300 dogs dragged travois.
By July 31, Bourgmont was so weak he no longer could sit on a horse. He sent François Gaillard ahead to meet with the Apache. He knew rumors already would be spreading.
For safe conduct, he gave Gaillard two Apache captives he had ransomed from the Kansa along with letters in Spanish and Latin, in case the agent met any Spaniards or their chaplains. The young woman and adolescent boy were to explain his mission to their chiefs. Presumably, they were selected because they had learned enough of the Sioux language spoken by the Kansa to understand what they were told.
Just as he was preparing to return to Chartres, the Oto arrived to say their band was coming to join the expedition. The expedition’s journal keeper, Philippe de la Renaudiére, said their chief "was very vexed to see M. De Bourgmont ill."
Bourgmont left the next day on a litter carried by the Missouri accompanied by "three Kansa chiefs and the chief of the Otos with his escort of four warriors." While Renaudiére treated this as routine, Norall noted the appearance of the Oto was significant because they had been allies with the Sioux who treated the French as enemies.
He regained his strength at the fort while waiting for news that Gaillard had succeeded. When he was told, a few days later, that the Apache Gaillard was bringing to meet the Kansa took fright when they saw the funeral rituals for a prominent woman who had died, he decided he needed to return to the Kansa as quickly as possible.
He left again of September 20 by boat with a doctor, nine soldiers, his secretary, and his son by a Missouri woman. He sent anther man ahead to notify the Oto.
A week later Bourgmont arrived at the Kansa village, where he heard Gaillard had calmed the Apache, and that they were on their way back to meet him. He finally met their leader on October 2. Neither Valverde’s report nor Bourgmont’s log name the chief. He was presumably the same man.
Notes: Pierre Dugué was the sieur de Boisbriand or Boisbriant. Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, the sieur de Bienville, was the younger brother of the Pierre Le Moyne mentioned in the post for 17 May 2015. Tisné was mentioned in the post for 21 June 2015. Coureurs were fur traders; voyageurs were the men who transported the pelts by canoes. The Missouri, Osage, Kansa and Oto all spoke Siouan languages. The Wichita, like the Pawnee, were Caddo speakers. The Apache were Athabascans.
Charlevoix, Pierre-François-Xavier de. Histoire et Description Générale de la Nouvelle France, 1744; quoted by Norall.
Norall, Frank. Bourgmont, 1988; the other tribe who changed alliances from the Sioux to the French was the Iowa.
Renaudiére, Philippe de la. Journal of the Voyage of Monsieur de Bourgmont, translation in Norall.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Antonio Valverde and the Apache
Dedicating rivers and other landmarks to Spanish saints served the dual purpose of extending the rule of the crown and Christianizing the land. For Roque de Madrid and Juan de Ulibarrí it was done with a sense of deeds well done. For Antonio Valverde, one senses an underlying discomfort with anything unfamiliar.
When he met leaders of Apache bands who could confirm rumors about the French, he didn’t simply treat them as vassals owing him homage as their liege. He couldn’t overcome his awareness of their separateness as heathen pagans. They, of course, were wise enough to further their own ends by disguising their feelings and adopting the appropriate gestures.
On the second day of his journey, Bernardo Casillas surprised a small settlement. "As soon as these Apache learned of the coming of the Spaniards, they came to see the governor, who received them very kindly and gave them tobacco and something to eat. The pagans, after giving many signs of pleasure, said their enemies, the Comanche, were persecuting and killing their kinsmen and others of their nations."
The next day, Carlana arrived with representatives of the Sierra Blanca Apache. After he partook of the proffered plate of mutton, he said they were fleeing their country to get help from the Jicarilla Apache. Valverde said, he "entertained them all that he could. Then, having said good-bye, they went away greatly contented."
A day later they arrived at the Jicarilla camp only to find the leader, El Coxo, was elsewhere seeking help from the Navajo. His sons told him they were standing on the spot where the Comanche and Ute had killed sixty. Valverde remembered, he "received them with his accustomed kindness, entertained, fed them and gave them tobacco."
That afternoon, Valverde, the priest, José de Tagle Villegas, Francisco Montes Vigil, and "some soldiers" rode up stream to a settlement. The Apache "welcomed the señor governor with great rejoicing. At the same time it was observed that many women and children, a mob of heathens who heard the bustle and confusion at the arrival of the governor, fled to the hills."
Carlana returned on September 27 with 69 men prepared to find their enemies. The next day, he suggested they dispatch scouts. Valverde agreed. "After ordering them to be given chocolate and tobacco," he sent them off.
They returned two days later. "The Christian Indians tried to go where the latter were, but the governor would not allow it, but kept them alone." Carlana told them they were nearing the enemy camps. He said they should go nearer the mountains and travel by night.
Valverde wrote, "At this news all the settlers gathered around the tent of the governor. He ordered them seated and chocolate brought to them. Considerable tobacco was given to the Apaches and the interpreters, for this is the best gift that can be made to them."
Some days later, on October 7, Carlana told him the enemy had set up more than sixty tents where they were riding. He "rewarded him with meat and flour. This made him very happy."
Three days later, Valverde no longer trusted Carlana, though he didn’t say why. Perhaps he blamed the native for the rough terrain and bad weather. On October 10, he simply reported "in order better to bolster up the fidelity of the Apaches two of his nation should go with four outside Indians, two of the pueblo of Taos and two of those from the Picuríes."
The next day they began going down the Arkansas river where they met ten men from El Cuartelejo on October 14. Two days later, Valverde decided he wanted "to visit the numerous ranchería" of the group coming to meet him. When he got near, on October 18, he sent two "Indians of the Taos nation" ahead with a message saying he was coming in peace to talk. They responded they would come with another group, the Calchufines.
The unnamed representatives arrived on October 20. They asked him to delay leaving, because all their people were coming "because of his great fame." Valverde reminded the viceroy he had been instructed to "solicit by all means possible the reciprocal friendship of the Apaches of El Cuartelejo, both for the good purpose and Catholic zeal of his excellency to convert them to our faith, and to be able, by means of them, to attain knowledge of the location, designs, and movements of the French."
The next day, he, the priest, Villegras, Vigil, José de la Fuente, and "other active and retired officers" went with the Apace chiefs to see the rancherías on the other side of the river. There they saw the dogs." He added, he was "considerably surprised to behold that aggregate of heathenism and to see so many souls apart from our holy mother Church."
On October 22, he heard more concrete details about the activities of the French from a Calchufine who had been shot during an attack by the Pawnee and Jumano. The unnamed man said, "they had seized their lands, and taken them from that time on." He provided more facts about the French, which they "were told by some women of their tribe who were made captives among the French on the occasions when they had war, but who had fled and returned to their kinsmen."
Once he had the intelligence he needed, Valverde wanted to return immediately to Santa Fé. He said he couldn’t wait the arrival of more refugees who were facing a winter with no reserved food supplies. He said he would return, but had to leave because his people had nothing to eat, meaning he and his followers couldn’t live on the buffalo and corn that would sustain his audience if they were lucky enough to be left unmolested.
Notes: José de Tagle Villegas was described as Valverde’s lieutenant; from the Tagle name and his position as a confidant, one would guess he was a countryman of Valverde. Francisco Montes Vigil was a lieutenant. José de la Fuente was a royal ensign. Bernardo Casillas was an ensign. The priest was Juan del Piño who had been assigned to Pecos pueblo. Calchufine also were called the Paloma. The Pawnee were probably the Skidi band of southern Pawnee.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche, 1719, reproduced by Alfred B. Thomas in After Coronado, 1935.
When he met leaders of Apache bands who could confirm rumors about the French, he didn’t simply treat them as vassals owing him homage as their liege. He couldn’t overcome his awareness of their separateness as heathen pagans. They, of course, were wise enough to further their own ends by disguising their feelings and adopting the appropriate gestures.
On the second day of his journey, Bernardo Casillas surprised a small settlement. "As soon as these Apache learned of the coming of the Spaniards, they came to see the governor, who received them very kindly and gave them tobacco and something to eat. The pagans, after giving many signs of pleasure, said their enemies, the Comanche, were persecuting and killing their kinsmen and others of their nations."
The next day, Carlana arrived with representatives of the Sierra Blanca Apache. After he partook of the proffered plate of mutton, he said they were fleeing their country to get help from the Jicarilla Apache. Valverde said, he "entertained them all that he could. Then, having said good-bye, they went away greatly contented."
A day later they arrived at the Jicarilla camp only to find the leader, El Coxo, was elsewhere seeking help from the Navajo. His sons told him they were standing on the spot where the Comanche and Ute had killed sixty. Valverde remembered, he "received them with his accustomed kindness, entertained, fed them and gave them tobacco."
That afternoon, Valverde, the priest, José de Tagle Villegas, Francisco Montes Vigil, and "some soldiers" rode up stream to a settlement. The Apache "welcomed the señor governor with great rejoicing. At the same time it was observed that many women and children, a mob of heathens who heard the bustle and confusion at the arrival of the governor, fled to the hills."
Carlana returned on September 27 with 69 men prepared to find their enemies. The next day, he suggested they dispatch scouts. Valverde agreed. "After ordering them to be given chocolate and tobacco," he sent them off.
They returned two days later. "The Christian Indians tried to go where the latter were, but the governor would not allow it, but kept them alone." Carlana told them they were nearing the enemy camps. He said they should go nearer the mountains and travel by night.
Valverde wrote, "At this news all the settlers gathered around the tent of the governor. He ordered them seated and chocolate brought to them. Considerable tobacco was given to the Apaches and the interpreters, for this is the best gift that can be made to them."
Some days later, on October 7, Carlana told him the enemy had set up more than sixty tents where they were riding. He "rewarded him with meat and flour. This made him very happy."
Three days later, Valverde no longer trusted Carlana, though he didn’t say why. Perhaps he blamed the native for the rough terrain and bad weather. On October 10, he simply reported "in order better to bolster up the fidelity of the Apaches two of his nation should go with four outside Indians, two of the pueblo of Taos and two of those from the Picuríes."
The next day they began going down the Arkansas river where they met ten men from El Cuartelejo on October 14. Two days later, Valverde decided he wanted "to visit the numerous ranchería" of the group coming to meet him. When he got near, on October 18, he sent two "Indians of the Taos nation" ahead with a message saying he was coming in peace to talk. They responded they would come with another group, the Calchufines.
The unnamed representatives arrived on October 20. They asked him to delay leaving, because all their people were coming "because of his great fame." Valverde reminded the viceroy he had been instructed to "solicit by all means possible the reciprocal friendship of the Apaches of El Cuartelejo, both for the good purpose and Catholic zeal of his excellency to convert them to our faith, and to be able, by means of them, to attain knowledge of the location, designs, and movements of the French."
The next day, he, the priest, Villegras, Vigil, José de la Fuente, and "other active and retired officers" went with the Apace chiefs to see the rancherías on the other side of the river. There they saw the dogs." He added, he was "considerably surprised to behold that aggregate of heathenism and to see so many souls apart from our holy mother Church."
On October 22, he heard more concrete details about the activities of the French from a Calchufine who had been shot during an attack by the Pawnee and Jumano. The unnamed man said, "they had seized their lands, and taken them from that time on." He provided more facts about the French, which they "were told by some women of their tribe who were made captives among the French on the occasions when they had war, but who had fled and returned to their kinsmen."
Once he had the intelligence he needed, Valverde wanted to return immediately to Santa Fé. He said he couldn’t wait the arrival of more refugees who were facing a winter with no reserved food supplies. He said he would return, but had to leave because his people had nothing to eat, meaning he and his followers couldn’t live on the buffalo and corn that would sustain his audience if they were lucky enough to be left unmolested.
Notes: José de Tagle Villegas was described as Valverde’s lieutenant; from the Tagle name and his position as a confidant, one would guess he was a countryman of Valverde. Francisco Montes Vigil was a lieutenant. José de la Fuente was a royal ensign. Bernardo Casillas was an ensign. The priest was Juan del Piño who had been assigned to Pecos pueblo. Calchufine also were called the Paloma. The Pawnee were probably the Skidi band of southern Pawnee.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche, 1719, reproduced by Alfred B. Thomas in After Coronado, 1935.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Antonio Valverde’s World
Antonio Valverde y Cosío was raised in Villapresente, a remote village in the Cantabrian mountains of Spain not far from the Altamira cave. The population in 1594 was 60 vecinos, or about 300 people. Beneath the Marqués de Villapresente, the principal families included the Bustamantes y Tagles and the Ruizes de Peredo.
Juan de Valverde was a master stonemason in the Burgos area village in 1608. However, Antonio’s parents were Antonio Velarde and Juana de Velarde y Cosío.
He was in Sombrerete by 1693 when he was 21. There Valverde enrolled with Diego de Vargas. He spent the rest of his life in the civil service, but amassed his fortune around El Paso.
No one from Villapresente appears to have been part of the conquistador generation. Hugh Thomas has found a Luis de Bustamante from Palencia, to the west of Villapresente, who was actually the son of Martín García and Mari García.
A Francisco Valverde was with Pánfilo de Narváez in 1520. Another Francisco from Trujillo was related to Francisco Pizarro. His family settled in Cuba and Perú. A third Francisco de Valverde joined the Franciscans in Zacatecas in 1617.
Thomas mentions no Velardes. If Antonio came from an unknown family of Velardes, Valverde was a prestigious near-assonant to appropriate.
More than likely, one man or maybe several emigrated from Villapresente to New Spain, but maintained contacts with their families. From there, others must have followed in a chain. While we don’t know who helped Valverde settle in México, we can surmise that after he moved, his sister’s son, Juan Domingo de Bustamante came over from Villapresente. After him, Bernardo de Bustamante y Tagle arrived from Madrid. Angélico Chávez said, he might have been the brother, nephew, or even son of Juan.
As fitted his assumed position, Valverde lived within a social hierarchy in which the governor outranked representatives of the church, and each outranked his senior officers. Soldiers of the presidio were more important than settlers, and both were more important than auxiliaries.
He informed the viceroy, he always maintained the proper degrees of formality with each caste, and defined the times he had met with the lower orders, like when they were seriously ill, as acts of great generosity on his part.
Valverde was more religious than either Roque de Madrid or Juan de Ulibarrí. He not only took a priest with him on his campaign against the Comanche, but Juan George del Pino celebrated mass every morning. On the day before the feast day "of the glorious patriarch San Francisco," he, the priest and the "military chiefs" shared "a small keg of rich spiritous brandy made at the Pass of the Río del Norte of the governor’s own vintage" to toast the saint.
The next morning, after mass, he ate with "the father chaplain and officers of war." Again Valverde "ordered a cask of wine which had been made at the pass to be brought out. With it they all drank the health of the governor and of the chaplain and celebrated the saint’s day of San Francisco." He noted he had "regaled" them with "the best rich bread and melon preserves he carried for such an occasion to entertain the reverend father chaplain and himself."
Like Madrid and Ulibarrí, Valverde named landmarks he passed, though he primarily limited himself to rivers and camp sites. Many were named for Franciscan notables or people associated directly with Christ.
His references to Mary were not to her Virgin status, but to her interventions in the affairs of mortals. He renamed the Apache’s Río de Colorado as Nuestra Señora de la Soledad. Springs and camp sites were dedicated to Nuestra Señora de Dolores, Nuestra Señora del Carmel, and Nuestra Señora de Pilar de Zaragosa.
Cimarron creek was called La Flecha by the Apache. Valverde renamed it "Nuestra Señora de Rosario." That manifestation was especially dear to him. On October 1, he, "with all the camp [...] prayed with zeal to the Holy Mary of the Rosary. This was the day on which by her intercession her most Holy Son granted that celebrated victory which to all Christendom has been, is, will be one of great rejoicing."
After breakfast "with some persons and settlers whom he wished to entertain," he served "very good glasses of wine" in her honor. Later that same day Cristóbal Rodarte died and Valverde distributed rations to hungry settlers.
Villapresente still celebrates four festivals: El Carmen, Christ, La Esperanza, and La Flor or Our Lady of the Rosary. They observe the last on October 15. According to Wikipedia, the date was changed to October 7 in 1571. Valverde’s October 1 is the day used for this rite in eastern orthodox churches.
This was not the only hint of cultural ties between his family’s tradition and the levant. He named places for Santa Efijenia, an Ethiopian converted by Matthew; for San Onofre, an Egyptian hermit; and for San Nicolás Obispo, a Greek bishop. He also recalled La Exaltazión de la Santa Cruz, which was an allusion to Helen, mother of Constantine.
When he died, he left money to Villapresente to build a chapel dedicated to Nuestra Señora de la Ermita de La Guarda and a school to teach residents "to read, write and counting, and also be instructed in the Christian doctrine and the principal mysteries of the Catholic faith."
Notes:
Alvarez, Mariña. "En Busca del Pasado de Villapresente," El Diario Montanes, 08 April 2009.
Cantabria government website. "López Marcano Presentará Mañana En Villapresente El Libro ‘Fundación de la Capellanía de Nuestra Señora de la Ermita de La Guarda y Obra Pía de Escuela de Primeras Letras’," 11 December 2009.
González Echegaray, María del Carmen. Artistas Cántabros de la Edad Moderna, 1991; on Juan de Valverde.
González Montes, Francisco and JI Alútiz Santiago Rubio. "Villapresente in Memory;" population number for 1594.
Hendricks, Rick. "Settling the Estate of Bernardo Antonio Bustamante y Tagle," New Mexico History website.
Hoyo, Eugenio del. Historia del Nuevo Reino de León (1577-1723), 2005; on the Francisco de Valverde in Zacatecas.
Reocín city government website. "Villapresente."
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935.
Thomas, Hugh. Who’s Who of the Conquistadors, 2000.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche, 1719, reproduced in Alfred Thomas. The other place names he bestowed were:
Associated with Christ
Stream - San José, father
River - San Miguel, archangel
Camp site - Santa María Magdalena
Spot - San Pablo, apostle
Associated with Franciscans
River - San Francisco
River - San Antonio
Canyon - Santa Rosa
Spot - Santa Theresa
Associated with Dominicans
River - Santo Domingo
Associated with Jesuits
Spring - San Ignacio, named by Piño, not Valverde
Wikipedia. Entries on Marian Feast Days, Antonio Valverde y Cosío, and Villapresente.
Juan de Valverde was a master stonemason in the Burgos area village in 1608. However, Antonio’s parents were Antonio Velarde and Juana de Velarde y Cosío.
He was in Sombrerete by 1693 when he was 21. There Valverde enrolled with Diego de Vargas. He spent the rest of his life in the civil service, but amassed his fortune around El Paso.
No one from Villapresente appears to have been part of the conquistador generation. Hugh Thomas has found a Luis de Bustamante from Palencia, to the west of Villapresente, who was actually the son of Martín García and Mari García.
A Francisco Valverde was with Pánfilo de Narváez in 1520. Another Francisco from Trujillo was related to Francisco Pizarro. His family settled in Cuba and Perú. A third Francisco de Valverde joined the Franciscans in Zacatecas in 1617.
Thomas mentions no Velardes. If Antonio came from an unknown family of Velardes, Valverde was a prestigious near-assonant to appropriate.
More than likely, one man or maybe several emigrated from Villapresente to New Spain, but maintained contacts with their families. From there, others must have followed in a chain. While we don’t know who helped Valverde settle in México, we can surmise that after he moved, his sister’s son, Juan Domingo de Bustamante came over from Villapresente. After him, Bernardo de Bustamante y Tagle arrived from Madrid. Angélico Chávez said, he might have been the brother, nephew, or even son of Juan.
As fitted his assumed position, Valverde lived within a social hierarchy in which the governor outranked representatives of the church, and each outranked his senior officers. Soldiers of the presidio were more important than settlers, and both were more important than auxiliaries.
He informed the viceroy, he always maintained the proper degrees of formality with each caste, and defined the times he had met with the lower orders, like when they were seriously ill, as acts of great generosity on his part.
Valverde was more religious than either Roque de Madrid or Juan de Ulibarrí. He not only took a priest with him on his campaign against the Comanche, but Juan George del Pino celebrated mass every morning. On the day before the feast day "of the glorious patriarch San Francisco," he, the priest and the "military chiefs" shared "a small keg of rich spiritous brandy made at the Pass of the Río del Norte of the governor’s own vintage" to toast the saint.
The next morning, after mass, he ate with "the father chaplain and officers of war." Again Valverde "ordered a cask of wine which had been made at the pass to be brought out. With it they all drank the health of the governor and of the chaplain and celebrated the saint’s day of San Francisco." He noted he had "regaled" them with "the best rich bread and melon preserves he carried for such an occasion to entertain the reverend father chaplain and himself."
Like Madrid and Ulibarrí, Valverde named landmarks he passed, though he primarily limited himself to rivers and camp sites. Many were named for Franciscan notables or people associated directly with Christ.
His references to Mary were not to her Virgin status, but to her interventions in the affairs of mortals. He renamed the Apache’s Río de Colorado as Nuestra Señora de la Soledad. Springs and camp sites were dedicated to Nuestra Señora de Dolores, Nuestra Señora del Carmel, and Nuestra Señora de Pilar de Zaragosa.
Cimarron creek was called La Flecha by the Apache. Valverde renamed it "Nuestra Señora de Rosario." That manifestation was especially dear to him. On October 1, he, "with all the camp [...] prayed with zeal to the Holy Mary of the Rosary. This was the day on which by her intercession her most Holy Son granted that celebrated victory which to all Christendom has been, is, will be one of great rejoicing."
After breakfast "with some persons and settlers whom he wished to entertain," he served "very good glasses of wine" in her honor. Later that same day Cristóbal Rodarte died and Valverde distributed rations to hungry settlers.
Villapresente still celebrates four festivals: El Carmen, Christ, La Esperanza, and La Flor or Our Lady of the Rosary. They observe the last on October 15. According to Wikipedia, the date was changed to October 7 in 1571. Valverde’s October 1 is the day used for this rite in eastern orthodox churches.
This was not the only hint of cultural ties between his family’s tradition and the levant. He named places for Santa Efijenia, an Ethiopian converted by Matthew; for San Onofre, an Egyptian hermit; and for San Nicolás Obispo, a Greek bishop. He also recalled La Exaltazión de la Santa Cruz, which was an allusion to Helen, mother of Constantine.
When he died, he left money to Villapresente to build a chapel dedicated to Nuestra Señora de la Ermita de La Guarda and a school to teach residents "to read, write and counting, and also be instructed in the Christian doctrine and the principal mysteries of the Catholic faith."
Notes:
Alvarez, Mariña. "En Busca del Pasado de Villapresente," El Diario Montanes, 08 April 2009.
Cantabria government website. "López Marcano Presentará Mañana En Villapresente El Libro ‘Fundación de la Capellanía de Nuestra Señora de la Ermita de La Guarda y Obra Pía de Escuela de Primeras Letras’," 11 December 2009.
González Echegaray, María del Carmen. Artistas Cántabros de la Edad Moderna, 1991; on Juan de Valverde.
González Montes, Francisco and JI Alútiz Santiago Rubio. "Villapresente in Memory;" population number for 1594.
Hendricks, Rick. "Settling the Estate of Bernardo Antonio Bustamante y Tagle," New Mexico History website.
Hoyo, Eugenio del. Historia del Nuevo Reino de León (1577-1723), 2005; on the Francisco de Valverde in Zacatecas.
Reocín city government website. "Villapresente."
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935.
Thomas, Hugh. Who’s Who of the Conquistadors, 2000.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche, 1719, reproduced in Alfred Thomas. The other place names he bestowed were:
Associated with Christ
Stream - San José, father
River - San Miguel, archangel
Camp site - Santa María Magdalena
Spot - San Pablo, apostle
Associated with Franciscans
River - San Francisco
River - San Antonio
Canyon - Santa Rosa
Spot - Santa Theresa
Associated with Dominicans
River - Santo Domingo
Associated with Jesuits
Spring - San Ignacio, named by Piño, not Valverde
Wikipedia. Entries on Marian Feast Days, Antonio Valverde y Cosío, and Villapresente.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Frontier Expeditions: Antonio Valverde
Antonio Valverde led the 1719 campaign against the Comanche and Ute. The council that authorized the governor’s actions was discussed in the posting for 9 July 2015. In many ways it was a repetition of the one led against the Faraón by Juan Páez Hurtado in 1715. It began too late in the season, never found its quarry, and disappointed potential Apache allies.
They went north along the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo until they reached the Arkansas river near modern day Pueblo. From there they followed the Comanche down river as far as modern day Rocky Ford. The pages of Valverde’s diary describing the return journey were torn away.
Perhaps because he grew grapes near El Paso, Valverde recorded the ways they lived off the land. Armies on the move still scavenged as they went. Their commanders were responsible for maintaining the horse herds and providing materiel, but not with provisioning their men. When he ordered his men to leave unmolested the crops of Apache living near La Flecha, it wasn’t acts of maliciousness by his men that concerned him, but their effects on potential allies.
They left Taos on September 20. Two days later, Carlana arrived while Valverde was eating "boiled meat and vegetables." He gave the leader of the Sierra Blanca a plate, but the Apache would only eat the mutton, not the chicken, "which surprised all."
The next day Carlana returned the hospitality when he "gave them ears of green corn."
A week later, on 27 September, soon after crossing the Purgatorie river, seven soldiers and some settlers encountered the hitherto unknown poison ivy. He gave them "pinole and mutton" and had the barber, Antonio Durán de Armijo, attend them. A few days later, Valverde recorded they tried chocolate for relief. Many followed Francisco de Casados, who discovered rubbing saliva on the welts gave some relief.
The next day they arrived at the Canadian river, where they found "a grove of plum trees, many willows and many wild grapes, from which vinegar was made." There also were deer. The auxiliaries surrounded "them, drove them into camp, at which there was great glee and shouting." He adds, they "caught many deer so that the Indians were sufficiently provisioned with good fat meat."
Carlana told Valverde it was time to send out scouts, implying they had reached Comanche territory. The governor ordered "four squads of settlers formed as a guard, in whose custody the camp would be during the night." Since they would now begin traveling at night, he "ordered the sheep that were being driven killed and dressed, to be carried upon the pack animals."
The next day one of the Santa Cruz settlers, Cristóbal Rodarte, died. When Valverde was told the man was ill, he had him brought to his own tent and given "medicines that appeared proper for his case (these medicines and others he carried as a precaution.)" He then had the priest, Juan del Piño, administer the "sacrament of penitence."
After he died, the governor had the sergeant major, Alejandro Rael de Aguilar, "bring together all the settlers in order to provision them [...] they were already in considerable need, having sustained themselves the day before with nothing but meat from the deer which they had caught, and that no other governor of the past had done as much." That was the day he was having the sheep killed for himself.
The following day they passed a river junction with "many plums, which though wild are of fine flavor and taste. With these and many very delicious wild grapes the people satisfied themselves."
They were now in country teaming with game. On October 3, "they hunted and caught many deer and a lot of good fat prairie hens with which they made very delicious tamales." The next day they saw more "deer and prairie chickens which moved about in flocks." Valverde ordered a settler who "was very sick with a pain in his stomach" be given a "cup of tea."
They reached the Huerfano, a tributary of the Arkansas, on October 5. Soldiers gathered from the "large groves of plum trees and cherries" before crossing the next day onto grassy plains. They saw their first buffalo on the seventh. They killed more than twelve head, "so the whole camp was provided with meat."
They continued to find evidence of Comanche encampments. On October 10, they again saw many herds of buffalo, of which "the Christian Indians and the heathen Apaches killed about fifteen head." Valverde sent out two groups of soldiers to herd them toward the camp. "In this way they succeeded in provisioning the camp with meat."
They were now marching downstream. On October 13, "here were also many buffalo herds, walking about feeding and wandering in all directions on those plains." However, Carlana told him, the Comanche had altered their route to enter land with "few springs and those too scanty to support the horse herd."
They were around Rocky Ford on the fourteenth when Valverde realized they no longer had provisions to continue. He sent "the settlers, two squads of soldiers" along with "the Indian people, to kill some buffalo for meat."
Valverde began with 105 soldiers and settlers, then added 30 auxiliaries from the pueblos and 69 Sierra Blanca. More than 200 men, for there must have been uncounted servants. They had to be fed everyday. It hardly mattered if they shared food, or each group foraged for itself, they were an aggregated demand of calories to be extracted from the wilds.
While Valverde and his men debated the wisdom of returning to Sante Fé, the first representatives from El Cuartelejo arrived to say more were coming to meet them. They continued to live on buffalo while waiting for them.
Five days later, on 20 October, they had used up the meat they had prepared. Valverde sent the alcalde mayor of Taos, Miguel Tenorio y Alba, with a plea for the pueblo priest to send aid. He wrote Juan de la Cruz "of his great want, which made it necessary for them to eat buffalo meat and gruel made from corn meal, and for some this was scarce."
When the chief arrived the next day, Valverde listened when told the Paloma were now refugees evicted from their lands by "French united with Pawnee and Jumano." The camp expanded to include another thousand hungry people, and more were expected.
Two days later Valverde inspected the gun shot wound suffered by one. However, he said, they could no longer wait for the rest, but must return because their "supply of provisions had failed."
He promised they would return to "expel the French from it as the lands belong only to the majesty of our king." With this the homeless were "were consoled and pleased."
Notes: Current place names have been used. The Purgatorie was then called Río de las Animas. The Pawnee were probably the Skidi band of southern Pawnee.
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche, 1719, reproduced in Thomas; not sure if tamale was in the original, or if this is a translator’s modernization.
They went north along the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo until they reached the Arkansas river near modern day Pueblo. From there they followed the Comanche down river as far as modern day Rocky Ford. The pages of Valverde’s diary describing the return journey were torn away.
Perhaps because he grew grapes near El Paso, Valverde recorded the ways they lived off the land. Armies on the move still scavenged as they went. Their commanders were responsible for maintaining the horse herds and providing materiel, but not with provisioning their men. When he ordered his men to leave unmolested the crops of Apache living near La Flecha, it wasn’t acts of maliciousness by his men that concerned him, but their effects on potential allies.
They left Taos on September 20. Two days later, Carlana arrived while Valverde was eating "boiled meat and vegetables." He gave the leader of the Sierra Blanca a plate, but the Apache would only eat the mutton, not the chicken, "which surprised all."
The next day Carlana returned the hospitality when he "gave them ears of green corn."
A week later, on 27 September, soon after crossing the Purgatorie river, seven soldiers and some settlers encountered the hitherto unknown poison ivy. He gave them "pinole and mutton" and had the barber, Antonio Durán de Armijo, attend them. A few days later, Valverde recorded they tried chocolate for relief. Many followed Francisco de Casados, who discovered rubbing saliva on the welts gave some relief.
The next day they arrived at the Canadian river, where they found "a grove of plum trees, many willows and many wild grapes, from which vinegar was made." There also were deer. The auxiliaries surrounded "them, drove them into camp, at which there was great glee and shouting." He adds, they "caught many deer so that the Indians were sufficiently provisioned with good fat meat."
Carlana told Valverde it was time to send out scouts, implying they had reached Comanche territory. The governor ordered "four squads of settlers formed as a guard, in whose custody the camp would be during the night." Since they would now begin traveling at night, he "ordered the sheep that were being driven killed and dressed, to be carried upon the pack animals."
The next day one of the Santa Cruz settlers, Cristóbal Rodarte, died. When Valverde was told the man was ill, he had him brought to his own tent and given "medicines that appeared proper for his case (these medicines and others he carried as a precaution.)" He then had the priest, Juan del Piño, administer the "sacrament of penitence."
After he died, the governor had the sergeant major, Alejandro Rael de Aguilar, "bring together all the settlers in order to provision them [...] they were already in considerable need, having sustained themselves the day before with nothing but meat from the deer which they had caught, and that no other governor of the past had done as much." That was the day he was having the sheep killed for himself.
The following day they passed a river junction with "many plums, which though wild are of fine flavor and taste. With these and many very delicious wild grapes the people satisfied themselves."
They were now in country teaming with game. On October 3, "they hunted and caught many deer and a lot of good fat prairie hens with which they made very delicious tamales." The next day they saw more "deer and prairie chickens which moved about in flocks." Valverde ordered a settler who "was very sick with a pain in his stomach" be given a "cup of tea."
They reached the Huerfano, a tributary of the Arkansas, on October 5. Soldiers gathered from the "large groves of plum trees and cherries" before crossing the next day onto grassy plains. They saw their first buffalo on the seventh. They killed more than twelve head, "so the whole camp was provided with meat."
They continued to find evidence of Comanche encampments. On October 10, they again saw many herds of buffalo, of which "the Christian Indians and the heathen Apaches killed about fifteen head." Valverde sent out two groups of soldiers to herd them toward the camp. "In this way they succeeded in provisioning the camp with meat."
They were now marching downstream. On October 13, "here were also many buffalo herds, walking about feeding and wandering in all directions on those plains." However, Carlana told him, the Comanche had altered their route to enter land with "few springs and those too scanty to support the horse herd."
They were around Rocky Ford on the fourteenth when Valverde realized they no longer had provisions to continue. He sent "the settlers, two squads of soldiers" along with "the Indian people, to kill some buffalo for meat."
Valverde began with 105 soldiers and settlers, then added 30 auxiliaries from the pueblos and 69 Sierra Blanca. More than 200 men, for there must have been uncounted servants. They had to be fed everyday. It hardly mattered if they shared food, or each group foraged for itself, they were an aggregated demand of calories to be extracted from the wilds.
While Valverde and his men debated the wisdom of returning to Sante Fé, the first representatives from El Cuartelejo arrived to say more were coming to meet them. They continued to live on buffalo while waiting for them.
Five days later, on 20 October, they had used up the meat they had prepared. Valverde sent the alcalde mayor of Taos, Miguel Tenorio y Alba, with a plea for the pueblo priest to send aid. He wrote Juan de la Cruz "of his great want, which made it necessary for them to eat buffalo meat and gruel made from corn meal, and for some this was scarce."
When the chief arrived the next day, Valverde listened when told the Paloma were now refugees evicted from their lands by "French united with Pawnee and Jumano." The camp expanded to include another thousand hungry people, and more were expected.
Two days later Valverde inspected the gun shot wound suffered by one. However, he said, they could no longer wait for the rest, but must return because their "supply of provisions had failed."
He promised they would return to "expel the French from it as the lands belong only to the majesty of our king." With this the homeless were "were consoled and pleased."
Notes: Current place names have been used. The Purgatorie was then called Río de las Animas. The Pawnee were probably the Skidi band of southern Pawnee.
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche, 1719, reproduced in Thomas; not sure if tamale was in the original, or if this is a translator’s modernization.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Frontier Expeditions: Juan Páez Hurtado
Faraón Apache were raiding areas east of the Sangre de Cristo in the summer of 1715. They came to fairs at Pecos, and preyed on the Jicarilla Apache to their north.
The governor, Juan Flores Mogollón, and his advisors debated much of the summer. Gerónimo Ye, lieutenant governor of Taos, recommended they attack in mid-August while the Apache bands were harvesting their crops. Once they buried their shelled corn, they would leave for the buffalo plains, not to return to their rancherías until planting time in May.
The Spaniards did not listen. According to Elizabeth John, they harvested their own corn in September, and couldn’t believe a crop planted in May would be ripe by August.
Juan Páez Hurtado led the expedition that left in September. They traveled for two weeks, but never saw a Faraón. Páez concluded someone from Pecos must have warned them. Gerónimo had cautioned Flores against including that group in his plans, since the two groups had intermarried.
John noted it still was an important expedition because it was the first time a governor had included non-Christianized Indians among the auxiliaries. Unfortunately, she noted, "failing contact with the enemy, the Jicarilla and Cuartelejos had no chance to show their mettle and ample reason to grow disgusted with Spanish management of the effort."
Páez reviewed the troops in Picurís on August 30. The roster indicated he took 239 horses and 34 mules for 36 soldiers and 21 settlers. The soldiers averaged 4.6 horses, militia from Albuquerque and Santa Fé 5.8, and men from La Cañada 2.3. Men from the last were the ones who were more likely to bring mules as well as horses, although two capitánes from Santa Fé brought 11 animals. Mounts for the 149 auxiliaries weren’t recorded.
Below is the list of men associated with Santa Cruz, along with some from Santa Fé and Albuquerque for comparison. Note especially the differences in numbers of horses each commanded.
Presidio Officers (9 in complete list, named by rank)
Madrid, Roque. Maestro de Campo, left behind with flux.
Domínguez, Jose. Adjutant-general, fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Santisteban, Salvador de. Sublieutenant, detached, fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses.
Luján, Pedro. Capitán de Campaña, fully armed with 4 horses.
Rael de Aguilar, Alonso. Capitán de Campaña, fully armed and provisioned, with 5 horses.
Rael de Aguilar, Eusebio. Royal ensign, fully armed and munitioned with 3 horses and 1 mule.
Presidio Soldiers (28 in complete list, named in alphabetical order)
Baca, Bernabe. In place of Juan José de Archuleta, who was unprepared; fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Córdoba, Simón de. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Durán, Miguel, Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses; warned for abusing members of Galisteo pueblo in 1708.
García de Noriega, Alonso. Corporal, fully armed and provisioned with 7 horses; named in complaint of abuse in 1708, not punished.
Griego, José. Fully armed and provisioned, with 5 horses.
Jirón, Dimas.
Lobato, Blas. Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses.
López, Antonio. Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses.
Luján, Juan. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned with 5 horses.
Martínez, Juan de Dios Sandoval. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Ribera, Juan Felipe de.
Rodríguez, Lorenzo. Corporal, fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses; named in complaint of 1708 for obeying abusive orders from Miguel Durán.
Romero de Pedraza, Domingo. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Sánchez, Juan. Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses.
Silva, Manuel de. Fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses.
Tafoya, Antonio. Corporal, fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses.
Trujillo, Domingo. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Settlers from La Canada (complete list, alphabetized)
Apodaca, Juan Antonio. Fully armed with 1 horse and 1 mule.
Archuleta, Diego. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 4 horses.
Baca, Simón. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned with 1 horse and 2 mules.
Candelaría, Juan de. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 4 horses.
Griego, Lorenzo. Fully armed, lacked jacket with 2 horses. Rejected because he was not ready. Son-in-law of Cristóbal de la Serna.
López, Juan. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned, with 2 horses and 2 mules.
López, Luis. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 2 mares, 1 horse, and 1 mule.
Luján, José. Fully armed and lacking provisions, with 2 horses and 3 mules.
Márquez, Diego. Fully armed, with 1 mare and 2 mules.
Martín, Antonio. For his father, Diego Martín; full armed and provisioned, lacking leather jacket with 3 horses.
Martín, Francisco. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket and sword, with 2 horses.
Rodarte, Cristóbal. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 2 horses and 2 mules.
Settlers from Santa Fe (7 in complete list, alphabetized)
Armijo, Bisente de. Fully Armed and provisioned with 11 horses.
Griego, Nicolás. Who volunteers, fully armed and provisioned with 2 horses and 1 mule.
L’Archevêque, Jean de. Capitán, fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses and 5 mules; he takes an armed personal servant.
Settlers from Albuquerque (3 in complete list, alphabetized)
García, Luis. Capitán, fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned with 10 horses and 1 mule.
Ulibarrí, Antonio de. Capitán, fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned, with 6 horses.
Auxiliaries (Complete list has 8 pueblos; 3 had guns)
Santa Clara, 12.
San Juan, 17, for three having hidden, remained behind. The alcalde mayor will have to give account of them.
Notes: The Faraón also were called Chipaynes, Lemitas, and Sejines.
Presidio soldiers from Santa Cruz were those whose surnames appear at some time in a Santa Cruz land or marriage record. Valverde also took roll on August 28 in Santa Fé. Among those who were on that list but not on the one for August 30 were: Alejo Gutíerrez, Antonio de Herrera, Joachim Sánchez, Ensign Cristóbal de Torres, and Francisco Trujillo from the presidio.
The August 30 roster does not include Ambrosio Fresqui or Bartolomé Sánchez, although their names appeared in the journal of the expedition. José López Naranjo was listed with the pueblo contingent as capitán.
Names have been standardized. Details on disciplinary incident appeared in the post for 26 May 2015.
John, Elizabeth A. H. Storms Brewed in Other Men’s Worlds, 1996 edition.
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935; contains rosters for August 28 and August 30.
The governor, Juan Flores Mogollón, and his advisors debated much of the summer. Gerónimo Ye, lieutenant governor of Taos, recommended they attack in mid-August while the Apache bands were harvesting their crops. Once they buried their shelled corn, they would leave for the buffalo plains, not to return to their rancherías until planting time in May.
The Spaniards did not listen. According to Elizabeth John, they harvested their own corn in September, and couldn’t believe a crop planted in May would be ripe by August.
Juan Páez Hurtado led the expedition that left in September. They traveled for two weeks, but never saw a Faraón. Páez concluded someone from Pecos must have warned them. Gerónimo had cautioned Flores against including that group in his plans, since the two groups had intermarried.
John noted it still was an important expedition because it was the first time a governor had included non-Christianized Indians among the auxiliaries. Unfortunately, she noted, "failing contact with the enemy, the Jicarilla and Cuartelejos had no chance to show their mettle and ample reason to grow disgusted with Spanish management of the effort."
Páez reviewed the troops in Picurís on August 30. The roster indicated he took 239 horses and 34 mules for 36 soldiers and 21 settlers. The soldiers averaged 4.6 horses, militia from Albuquerque and Santa Fé 5.8, and men from La Cañada 2.3. Men from the last were the ones who were more likely to bring mules as well as horses, although two capitánes from Santa Fé brought 11 animals. Mounts for the 149 auxiliaries weren’t recorded.
Below is the list of men associated with Santa Cruz, along with some from Santa Fé and Albuquerque for comparison. Note especially the differences in numbers of horses each commanded.
Presidio Officers (9 in complete list, named by rank)
Madrid, Roque. Maestro de Campo, left behind with flux.
Domínguez, Jose. Adjutant-general, fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Santisteban, Salvador de. Sublieutenant, detached, fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses.
Luján, Pedro. Capitán de Campaña, fully armed with 4 horses.
Rael de Aguilar, Alonso. Capitán de Campaña, fully armed and provisioned, with 5 horses.
Rael de Aguilar, Eusebio. Royal ensign, fully armed and munitioned with 3 horses and 1 mule.
Presidio Soldiers (28 in complete list, named in alphabetical order)
Baca, Bernabe. In place of Juan José de Archuleta, who was unprepared; fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Córdoba, Simón de. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Durán, Miguel, Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses; warned for abusing members of Galisteo pueblo in 1708.
García de Noriega, Alonso. Corporal, fully armed and provisioned with 7 horses; named in complaint of abuse in 1708, not punished.
Griego, José. Fully armed and provisioned, with 5 horses.
Jirón, Dimas.
Lobato, Blas. Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses.
López, Antonio. Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses.
Luján, Juan. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned with 5 horses.
Martínez, Juan de Dios Sandoval. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Ribera, Juan Felipe de.
Rodríguez, Lorenzo. Corporal, fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses; named in complaint of 1708 for obeying abusive orders from Miguel Durán.
Romero de Pedraza, Domingo. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Sánchez, Juan. Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses.
Silva, Manuel de. Fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses.
Tafoya, Antonio. Corporal, fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses.
Trujillo, Domingo. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.
Settlers from La Canada (complete list, alphabetized)
Apodaca, Juan Antonio. Fully armed with 1 horse and 1 mule.
Archuleta, Diego. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 4 horses.
Baca, Simón. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned with 1 horse and 2 mules.
Candelaría, Juan de. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 4 horses.
Griego, Lorenzo. Fully armed, lacked jacket with 2 horses. Rejected because he was not ready. Son-in-law of Cristóbal de la Serna.
López, Juan. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned, with 2 horses and 2 mules.
López, Luis. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 2 mares, 1 horse, and 1 mule.
Luján, José. Fully armed and lacking provisions, with 2 horses and 3 mules.
Márquez, Diego. Fully armed, with 1 mare and 2 mules.
Martín, Antonio. For his father, Diego Martín; full armed and provisioned, lacking leather jacket with 3 horses.
Martín, Francisco. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket and sword, with 2 horses.
Rodarte, Cristóbal. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 2 horses and 2 mules.
Settlers from Santa Fe (7 in complete list, alphabetized)
Armijo, Bisente de. Fully Armed and provisioned with 11 horses.
Griego, Nicolás. Who volunteers, fully armed and provisioned with 2 horses and 1 mule.
L’Archevêque, Jean de. Capitán, fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses and 5 mules; he takes an armed personal servant.
Settlers from Albuquerque (3 in complete list, alphabetized)
García, Luis. Capitán, fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned with 10 horses and 1 mule.
Ulibarrí, Antonio de. Capitán, fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned, with 6 horses.
Auxiliaries (Complete list has 8 pueblos; 3 had guns)
Santa Clara, 12.
San Juan, 17, for three having hidden, remained behind. The alcalde mayor will have to give account of them.
Notes: The Faraón also were called Chipaynes, Lemitas, and Sejines.
Presidio soldiers from Santa Cruz were those whose surnames appear at some time in a Santa Cruz land or marriage record. Valverde also took roll on August 28 in Santa Fé. Among those who were on that list but not on the one for August 30 were: Alejo Gutíerrez, Antonio de Herrera, Joachim Sánchez, Ensign Cristóbal de Torres, and Francisco Trujillo from the presidio.
The August 30 roster does not include Ambrosio Fresqui or Bartolomé Sánchez, although their names appeared in the journal of the expedition. José López Naranjo was listed with the pueblo contingent as capitán.
Names have been standardized. Details on disciplinary incident appeared in the post for 26 May 2015.
John, Elizabeth A. H. Storms Brewed in Other Men’s Worlds, 1996 edition.
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935; contains rosters for August 28 and August 30.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Militia Duty
Nuevo México was less reliant on its civilian militia between 1714 and 1733 than it had been in years immediately after the Reconquest. Military requirements changed from assaults on established settlements that defied colonial authority to defenses against raids by highly mobile native bands.
The one had required massive forces for short periods in discrete locations. Expeditions to the frontiers took men away for weeks in summer and fall. People dependent on their crops to eat could not afford that time.
When Juan Páez Hurtado led an expedition against the Faraón Apache in 1715, he took 21 settlers with 36 soldiers and 149 auxiliaries. Everyone, military and civilian, reported fully armed with horses or mules. It took more than two weeks during harvest season, August 30 to September 14, to reach their destination, and probably less time to return.
The following year, Félix Martínez prepared a campaign against the Moqui. He apparently had trouble raising troops to go so far west. He offered pardons to any Español or Pueblo man under sentence if he enlisted. Only three took his offer: Antonio López, Marcos Montoya, and Felix Martines. In addition, he took ten men from San Juan and four from Santa Clara.
Three years later, in 1719, Antonio Valverde led an expedition against the Utes and Comanches that included 60 men from the presidio with "45 settlers and volunteers." In addition there were "30 natives of [torn out] prepared for war with their arms."
They left Taos on September 20, at the end of harvest season, and agreed to return a month later, on October 22. Again, they probably didn’t take as long getting home, though they took a different route.
The changed attitude towards service was reflected in the lack of supplies the volunteers brought. Valverde had to provide them with ammunition and leather jackets. He also contributed 75 horses and mules. They must have come from a poorer segment of society that did those who rode with Páez.
Pedro Villasur led troops on a search for the French in 1720. He took 42 men from the presidio with 60 auxiliaries from the pueblos. Except for the priest, the others were all retired military men or civilian capitánes: José López Naranjo of Santa Cruz, Cristóbal de la Serna of Embudo, and Jean l’Archevêque of Santa Fé.
They left Santa Fé on June 16, and were ambushed two months later, on August 13th or 14th. The dead included 31 from the presidio, at least 11 from the pueblos, and all the non-presidio men.
Each expedition took twice as long as the previous one, growing from a one way trip of two weeks to one for a month to one for two months. Apart from the increasing time commitments, established men may have felt different loyalties to a leader of the Reconquest like Diego de Vargas, who was tasked with protecting them, and to one of the later political appointees who obeyed orders governed by Spain’s fractious relations with France. Participation in the one was ennobling. Involvement with the other was not.
The rank of capitán was still prestigious, but bivouacs were not. Santa Cruz diligencias matrimoniales in these years indicated the capitánes were all fathers of participants or witnesses, not grooms. All but one were alive before the Reconquest when military valor was expected. The post-Reconquest generation hadn’t assumed that role.
At the same time settlers were less inclined to join military campaigns, men in the presidios were withdrawing into their private world. They began to see civilians as little more than elevated servants to be given the most distasteful tasks like sentry duty.
There was probably no great turnover in forces, and in the years after the Reconquest, many have been local recruits. Veterans had found ways to supplement their income. They could afford to marry and dabble in real estate. Their sons enlisted. They and their daughters married others whose fathers were soldiers.
Before 1720, most of the soldiers who married women in Santa Cruz were widowers and their second wives were related to local capitánes or other military men. Felipe Pacheco married the daughter of Capitán Sebastían Martín, Bernardo Fernández married Sebastían niece, and Melchor de Herrera married the widow of Matías Martín. He was the son of Sebastían’s cousin Domingo Martín Serrano and Josefa de Herrera.
The other widowers who married in Santa Cruz were Roque de Madrid and Juan Trujillo, who married Roque’s granddaughter. María Madrid’s mother was Antonia de la Serna, Cristobal’s niece.
Joaquin de Anaya was a widower who married Domingo Martín Serrano’s daughter. There’s no indication he was in the presidio. The two soldiers who witnessed his marriage probably knew his deceased father, Sargento Mayor Francisco de Anaya.
Antonio García de Perea was a soldier, but not a widower when he married the daughter of the one-time alférez of Chama. Diego Gonzales was dead when two soldiers confirmed their right to marry.
After the Villasur disaster, few presidio men married women in Santa Cruz. Julian Madrid, the son of Roque, married the daughter of one of Sebastían Martín’s nephews. Antonio de Armenta married a soldier’s widow.
Two men who married local women were sons of soldiers who had acquired land in Santa Cruz. Pablo Manuel Trujillo, the son of Capitán Baltasar Trujillo, married the daughter of Capitán Diego Márquez. Antonio de Santisteban, the son of Ayudante Salvador de Santisteban, married Francisca Fernández Valerio, whose father was probably somehow related through Bernardo Fernández’s first wife, an unknown Valerio.
In ten years, from 1720 to 1730, there were only four alliances between Santa Cruz and the presidio. It was clear that settlers in the north were beginning to want a professional soldiery, and the men in the presidio were becoming a self-sufficient community thirty miles away.
Notes:
Athearn, Frederic J. A Forgotten Kingdom, 1978; has details on Martínez campaign against the Moqui.
Chávez, Angélico. New Mexico Roots, Ltd, 1982, contains the diligencias matrimoniales.
_____. Origins of New Mexico Families, 1992 revised edition.
Páez Hurtado, Juan. Lists of soldiers, settlers, and Pueblo auxiliaries, in Thomas.
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935; also contains details on Villasur expedition.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche, 1719, reprinted by Thomas.
Capitánes named in diligencias matrimoniales between 1714 and 1730
Alive at time of 1680 revolt. Dates of birth at left were calculated from ages and may be inaccurate: the ages may be guesses, and the calculations may be off a year since no months are given.
Juan de Archuleta, deceased in 1714, father of groom
José López Naranjo, father of groom
Cristóbal de la Serna, father of bride
1631 Luís Martín, deceased in 1716, father of groom, bride
1668 Cristóbal de Torres, father of bride
1668 José Trujillo, father of bride, groom
1670 Baltasar Trujillo, father of groom
1671 Sebastían Martín, father of bride
1671 Miguel Tenorio de Alba, witness, married
1672 Ignacio de Roybal, notary
1674 Diego de Medina, deceased in 1717, father of bride, groom
Alive at time of Reconquest
1681 Diego Márquez, father of bride
The one had required massive forces for short periods in discrete locations. Expeditions to the frontiers took men away for weeks in summer and fall. People dependent on their crops to eat could not afford that time.
When Juan Páez Hurtado led an expedition against the Faraón Apache in 1715, he took 21 settlers with 36 soldiers and 149 auxiliaries. Everyone, military and civilian, reported fully armed with horses or mules. It took more than two weeks during harvest season, August 30 to September 14, to reach their destination, and probably less time to return.
The following year, Félix Martínez prepared a campaign against the Moqui. He apparently had trouble raising troops to go so far west. He offered pardons to any Español or Pueblo man under sentence if he enlisted. Only three took his offer: Antonio López, Marcos Montoya, and Felix Martines. In addition, he took ten men from San Juan and four from Santa Clara.
Three years later, in 1719, Antonio Valverde led an expedition against the Utes and Comanches that included 60 men from the presidio with "45 settlers and volunteers." In addition there were "30 natives of [torn out] prepared for war with their arms."
They left Taos on September 20, at the end of harvest season, and agreed to return a month later, on October 22. Again, they probably didn’t take as long getting home, though they took a different route.
The changed attitude towards service was reflected in the lack of supplies the volunteers brought. Valverde had to provide them with ammunition and leather jackets. He also contributed 75 horses and mules. They must have come from a poorer segment of society that did those who rode with Páez.
Pedro Villasur led troops on a search for the French in 1720. He took 42 men from the presidio with 60 auxiliaries from the pueblos. Except for the priest, the others were all retired military men or civilian capitánes: José López Naranjo of Santa Cruz, Cristóbal de la Serna of Embudo, and Jean l’Archevêque of Santa Fé.
They left Santa Fé on June 16, and were ambushed two months later, on August 13th or 14th. The dead included 31 from the presidio, at least 11 from the pueblos, and all the non-presidio men.
Each expedition took twice as long as the previous one, growing from a one way trip of two weeks to one for a month to one for two months. Apart from the increasing time commitments, established men may have felt different loyalties to a leader of the Reconquest like Diego de Vargas, who was tasked with protecting them, and to one of the later political appointees who obeyed orders governed by Spain’s fractious relations with France. Participation in the one was ennobling. Involvement with the other was not.
The rank of capitán was still prestigious, but bivouacs were not. Santa Cruz diligencias matrimoniales in these years indicated the capitánes were all fathers of participants or witnesses, not grooms. All but one were alive before the Reconquest when military valor was expected. The post-Reconquest generation hadn’t assumed that role.
At the same time settlers were less inclined to join military campaigns, men in the presidios were withdrawing into their private world. They began to see civilians as little more than elevated servants to be given the most distasteful tasks like sentry duty.
There was probably no great turnover in forces, and in the years after the Reconquest, many have been local recruits. Veterans had found ways to supplement their income. They could afford to marry and dabble in real estate. Their sons enlisted. They and their daughters married others whose fathers were soldiers.
Before 1720, most of the soldiers who married women in Santa Cruz were widowers and their second wives were related to local capitánes or other military men. Felipe Pacheco married the daughter of Capitán Sebastían Martín, Bernardo Fernández married Sebastían niece, and Melchor de Herrera married the widow of Matías Martín. He was the son of Sebastían’s cousin Domingo Martín Serrano and Josefa de Herrera.
The other widowers who married in Santa Cruz were Roque de Madrid and Juan Trujillo, who married Roque’s granddaughter. María Madrid’s mother was Antonia de la Serna, Cristobal’s niece.
Joaquin de Anaya was a widower who married Domingo Martín Serrano’s daughter. There’s no indication he was in the presidio. The two soldiers who witnessed his marriage probably knew his deceased father, Sargento Mayor Francisco de Anaya.
Antonio García de Perea was a soldier, but not a widower when he married the daughter of the one-time alférez of Chama. Diego Gonzales was dead when two soldiers confirmed their right to marry.
After the Villasur disaster, few presidio men married women in Santa Cruz. Julian Madrid, the son of Roque, married the daughter of one of Sebastían Martín’s nephews. Antonio de Armenta married a soldier’s widow.
Two men who married local women were sons of soldiers who had acquired land in Santa Cruz. Pablo Manuel Trujillo, the son of Capitán Baltasar Trujillo, married the daughter of Capitán Diego Márquez. Antonio de Santisteban, the son of Ayudante Salvador de Santisteban, married Francisca Fernández Valerio, whose father was probably somehow related through Bernardo Fernández’s first wife, an unknown Valerio.
In ten years, from 1720 to 1730, there were only four alliances between Santa Cruz and the presidio. It was clear that settlers in the north were beginning to want a professional soldiery, and the men in the presidio were becoming a self-sufficient community thirty miles away.
Notes:
Athearn, Frederic J. A Forgotten Kingdom, 1978; has details on Martínez campaign against the Moqui.
Chávez, Angélico. New Mexico Roots, Ltd, 1982, contains the diligencias matrimoniales.
_____. Origins of New Mexico Families, 1992 revised edition.
Páez Hurtado, Juan. Lists of soldiers, settlers, and Pueblo auxiliaries, in Thomas.
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935; also contains details on Villasur expedition.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche, 1719, reprinted by Thomas.
Capitánes named in diligencias matrimoniales between 1714 and 1730
Alive at time of 1680 revolt. Dates of birth at left were calculated from ages and may be inaccurate: the ages may be guesses, and the calculations may be off a year since no months are given.
Juan de Archuleta, deceased in 1714, father of groom
José López Naranjo, father of groom
Cristóbal de la Serna, father of bride
1631 Luís Martín, deceased in 1716, father of groom, bride
1668 Cristóbal de Torres, father of bride
1668 José Trujillo, father of bride, groom
1670 Baltasar Trujillo, father of groom
1671 Sebastían Martín, father of bride
1671 Miguel Tenorio de Alba, witness, married
1672 Ignacio de Roybal, notary
1674 Diego de Medina, deceased in 1717, father of bride, groom
Alive at time of Reconquest
1681 Diego Márquez, father of bride
Sunday, August 09, 2015
Neanderthals in Estremadura
Access to the Iberian peninsula is limited by mountains. One can come from Africa, across the Straits of Gibralter, as the Carthaginians did. Later, the Vandals moved down the countryside into Africa. Later still, Moslems moved north. After the reconquest, Moors and Jews moved back south to Tunis.
One can come by sea from the east, as the Phoenicians and Greeks did, or one can inch around the Pyrenees. Neanderthals living along the Mediterranean coast were related to those living in Italy and southern France. Those found from the Bay of Biscay to the Cantabrian mountains were related to those in northern Europe.
Bands reached the limestone mountain barriers on the west side of the Estremadura by 70,000 years ago during a general cold spell. The lower levels of the cave at Gruta da Oliveira on the Almonda branch of the Tagus have remains of burned small tortoises.
Tortoises were still being used 62,000 years ago, but most of the bones were from plant eating ungulates: rhinoceros, mountain goats, deer, and horses.
The climate was cold and damp. Charcoal remains came from Scots pine, a tree that can’t tolerate droughts. It eventually sought refuge near the Pyrenees.
Men had adapted. Only 50% of their tools were made from flint. The rest came from locally available quartzite and quartz.
About 55,000 years ago, the behavior of the glacier changed in the Estremadura. The climate alternated between periods of dry cold and moister warmth. During cold spells, arid steppe dominated the landscape. Dust flaked off barren uplands. Sediments covered decaying bones.
During warm times, Scots pine sometimes had time to emerge. Roots dug into the soil and erosion abated.
A few times the climate warmed enough for deciduous and evergreen oaks to return with hazel and copper beech. One time, birches appeared with aurochs. Another time, junipers and alders.
Animals and Neanderthals followed their food supply. They usually returned to Gruta da Oliveira in the warmer periods.
In the layers of the cave from 50,000 years ago, Mariana Nabais believed bones were burned for fuel because they didn’t produce smoke. Pines might not have returned. The land might still have been treeless.
In the time between 48,000 and 40,000 years ago, mountain goats were present along the Almonda. Some fragments of wood charcoal survived.
Nabais said the burned bones were again important in the occupation dated to 42,900 years ago. The climate might have warmed, but the landscape remained treeless. The most common species were rabbit and red deer. Hares and rabbits were another animal genus to survive the Pleistocene along the Portuguese coast and up the Tagus. The European rabbit would eventually emerge from there to repopulate the countryside.
Around 35,000 years ago, the climate began to warm. Forests and pigs appeared. Neanderthals ventured further into the Estremadura.
A work site has been found on a tributary of the Tagus that drew its waters from the limestone of the Gruta de Oliveira, rather than the granite of the east. Instead of ore bearing deposits, the soils around Foz do Enxarrique contain calcium carbonate that preserved bones.
Men were making tools on the gravel terrace using the quartzite and quartz. Most of the bones were red deer, but teeth of horses and aurochs have been found. Archaeologists also discovered a tooth left by a straight-tusked elephant, one of the last recorded appearances of Elephas antiquus in Europe.
The weather turned cold again around 32,700 years ago. Dry steppe dominated. The roof collapsed on the cave at Gruta da Oliveira. Mountain goats disappeared, but deer, wood mice and garden dormice remained. Species of salamanders, lizards, and frogs survived in the Estremadura.
Neanderthals moved farther south. Their last known remains, dated to 24,000 years ago, were found at Gibralter. Extreme cold arrived around 22,000 years ago and lasted nine thousand years.
Notes:
Badal, Ernestina, Valentín Villaverde, and João Zilhão. "The Fire of Iberian Neanderthals. Wood Charcoal from Three New Mousterian Sites in the Iberian Peninsula," International Meeting of Charcoal Analysis, Sagvntvm, 2011.
Cardoso, João Luís. "The Mousterian Complex in Portugal," Zephyrus 59:21-50:2006.
Gómez, Africa and David H. Lunt. "Refugia Within Refugia: Patterns of Phylogeographic Concordance in the Iberian Peninsula," in Steven Weiss and Nuno Ferrand, Phylogeography of Southern European Refugia, 2006.
Nabais, Mariana. "The Neanderthal Occupation of Gruta Da Oliveira (Almonda Karstic System, Torres Novas, Portugal)," Jóvenes En Investigación Arqueológica, Jornadas, 2009.
Notes on species: Only the genus or family could be determined for many of the animal and plant remains.
Animals Large
Auroch - Bos primigenius
Deer Red - Cervus elaphus
Elephant Straight Tusk - Elephas antiquus
Goat Mountain goat - Capra
Horse - Equus
Rhinoceros - Rhinocerotidae
Pig - Sus
Animals Small
Dormice Garden - Eliomys quercinus
Frog Iberian Painted - Discoglossus galganoi
Hares - Leporidae
Lizard Iberian Wall - Podarcis hispanica
Mice Wood - Apodemus sylvaticus
Rabbit European - Oryctolagus cuniculus
Salamander Fire - Salamandra salamandra
Tortoise Hermann’s - Testudo hermanni
Trees
Alder - Alnus
Beech Copper - Fagus sylvatica
Birch - Betula
Hazel - Corylus
Juniper - Juniperus
Oak - Quercus
Oak Evergreen - Quercus ilex
Pine Scots - Pinus sylvestris
One can come by sea from the east, as the Phoenicians and Greeks did, or one can inch around the Pyrenees. Neanderthals living along the Mediterranean coast were related to those living in Italy and southern France. Those found from the Bay of Biscay to the Cantabrian mountains were related to those in northern Europe.
Bands reached the limestone mountain barriers on the west side of the Estremadura by 70,000 years ago during a general cold spell. The lower levels of the cave at Gruta da Oliveira on the Almonda branch of the Tagus have remains of burned small tortoises.
Tortoises were still being used 62,000 years ago, but most of the bones were from plant eating ungulates: rhinoceros, mountain goats, deer, and horses.
The climate was cold and damp. Charcoal remains came from Scots pine, a tree that can’t tolerate droughts. It eventually sought refuge near the Pyrenees.
Men had adapted. Only 50% of their tools were made from flint. The rest came from locally available quartzite and quartz.
About 55,000 years ago, the behavior of the glacier changed in the Estremadura. The climate alternated between periods of dry cold and moister warmth. During cold spells, arid steppe dominated the landscape. Dust flaked off barren uplands. Sediments covered decaying bones.
During warm times, Scots pine sometimes had time to emerge. Roots dug into the soil and erosion abated.
A few times the climate warmed enough for deciduous and evergreen oaks to return with hazel and copper beech. One time, birches appeared with aurochs. Another time, junipers and alders.
Animals and Neanderthals followed their food supply. They usually returned to Gruta da Oliveira in the warmer periods.
In the layers of the cave from 50,000 years ago, Mariana Nabais believed bones were burned for fuel because they didn’t produce smoke. Pines might not have returned. The land might still have been treeless.
In the time between 48,000 and 40,000 years ago, mountain goats were present along the Almonda. Some fragments of wood charcoal survived.
Nabais said the burned bones were again important in the occupation dated to 42,900 years ago. The climate might have warmed, but the landscape remained treeless. The most common species were rabbit and red deer. Hares and rabbits were another animal genus to survive the Pleistocene along the Portuguese coast and up the Tagus. The European rabbit would eventually emerge from there to repopulate the countryside.
Around 35,000 years ago, the climate began to warm. Forests and pigs appeared. Neanderthals ventured further into the Estremadura.
A work site has been found on a tributary of the Tagus that drew its waters from the limestone of the Gruta de Oliveira, rather than the granite of the east. Instead of ore bearing deposits, the soils around Foz do Enxarrique contain calcium carbonate that preserved bones.
Men were making tools on the gravel terrace using the quartzite and quartz. Most of the bones were red deer, but teeth of horses and aurochs have been found. Archaeologists also discovered a tooth left by a straight-tusked elephant, one of the last recorded appearances of Elephas antiquus in Europe.
The weather turned cold again around 32,700 years ago. Dry steppe dominated. The roof collapsed on the cave at Gruta da Oliveira. Mountain goats disappeared, but deer, wood mice and garden dormice remained. Species of salamanders, lizards, and frogs survived in the Estremadura.
Neanderthals moved farther south. Their last known remains, dated to 24,000 years ago, were found at Gibralter. Extreme cold arrived around 22,000 years ago and lasted nine thousand years.
Notes:
Badal, Ernestina, Valentín Villaverde, and João Zilhão. "The Fire of Iberian Neanderthals. Wood Charcoal from Three New Mousterian Sites in the Iberian Peninsula," International Meeting of Charcoal Analysis, Sagvntvm, 2011.
Cardoso, João Luís. "The Mousterian Complex in Portugal," Zephyrus 59:21-50:2006.
Gómez, Africa and David H. Lunt. "Refugia Within Refugia: Patterns of Phylogeographic Concordance in the Iberian Peninsula," in Steven Weiss and Nuno Ferrand, Phylogeography of Southern European Refugia, 2006.
Nabais, Mariana. "The Neanderthal Occupation of Gruta Da Oliveira (Almonda Karstic System, Torres Novas, Portugal)," Jóvenes En Investigación Arqueológica, Jornadas, 2009.
Notes on species: Only the genus or family could be determined for many of the animal and plant remains.
Animals Large
Auroch - Bos primigenius
Deer Red - Cervus elaphus
Elephant Straight Tusk - Elephas antiquus
Goat Mountain goat - Capra
Horse - Equus
Rhinoceros - Rhinocerotidae
Pig - Sus
Animals Small
Dormice Garden - Eliomys quercinus
Frog Iberian Painted - Discoglossus galganoi
Hares - Leporidae
Lizard Iberian Wall - Podarcis hispanica
Mice Wood - Apodemus sylvaticus
Rabbit European - Oryctolagus cuniculus
Salamander Fire - Salamandra salamandra
Tortoise Hermann’s - Testudo hermanni
Trees
Alder - Alnus
Beech Copper - Fagus sylvatica
Birch - Betula
Hazel - Corylus
Juniper - Juniperus
Oak - Quercus
Oak Evergreen - Quercus ilex
Pine Scots - Pinus sylvestris
Wednesday, August 05, 2015
Neanderthal Life: El Sidrón
Stereotypes of Neanderthal life abound. Facts are limited to what can be deduced from the bones and stones they left.
Remains of twelve individuals from 49,000 years ago were found at El Sidrón, in the Cantabrian range of Asturias in northern Spain. That’s during the devastating cold spell mentioned in the post for 29 July. Evidence suggests the Neanderthals were eaten, and their bones left together. They later fell through an opening when the limestone cave’s roof collapsed, probably during a flood.
The twelve must have been members of a single band composed of three adult men and three adult women, along with two teenage males, and a male child. The genders of the other adult, the other teenager and the infant couldn’t be determined.
The three men were brothers. The women were not related, and had come to live with the band. One adolescent and one of the children were brothers, born about three years apart. No comment has been made on the absence of young girls in the group.
It’s likely the band had moved outside its ancestral range in northern Europe, and interbred with people already in the south. A jaw bone had the character of northern Neanderthals, while the faces showed the broadness and lowness associated with southern ones.
The climate was cold and dry. In Catalonia to the east, Francesc Burjachs and Ethel Allué found pollens from composites, sage brushes, and grasses in those millennia. Scattered Scots pines survived in the dry steppes.
Yarrow was surely one of the composites. One subspecies, Ceretanica, is a relic of the Pleistocene Pyrenees. Achillea millefolium spread into North America from a refuge in Bergenia and, today, grows nearly everywhere from the far north of the Yukon to Honduras. You sometimes see it here along the roadside.
Few animal bones were found among the litter at El Sidrón. Antonio Rosas’ team identified a red deer with "very few small mammals and gastropods." When Karen Hardy’s group examined plaque from the Neanderthals’ teeth, they found "few lipids or proteins from meat."
The teeth showed signs of dietary deprivation, often from the fourth and twelfth years of life. The enamel of five individuals indicated they’d been malnourished twice and one person had suffered four times. One of the adolescents had lived through "an exceptionally severe episode of physiological stress"
In the absence of meat they were relying on plants. Hardy’s team found the plaque contained "a
range of carbohydrates and starch granules." They also found "evidence for inhalation of wood-fire smoke and bitumen or oil shale." The starches were so changed by roasting, they couldn’t be identified.
Roasting requires close contact with fire. Perhaps they used sticks to manipulate foods. Yarrow is slow to ignite, and stays green in most winters. It might have been grasped like a potholder for protection.
No wooden tools have survived from El Sidrón. The ones found were stone. The only adaptation to changed circumstances was most used local chert. A few were fashioned from quartzite.
Burns must have been a problem. The two plants Hardy’s team could identify, yarrow and camomile, have both been used to treat burns and other skin injuries. They were probably chewed raw and either spat onto the wound, or the wounded finger was sucked. It’s been used that way in recent times by the Zuñi in New Mexico, the Crow of Montana, the Cree of Saskatchewan, and the Bella Coola of British Columbia.
The chewed plant has been used to treat toothaches by the Cree and Paiute. Rosas’ colleagues found one of the El Sidrón individuals at had had an abscess caused by periodontitis associated with biting hard. They noted, "This sort of lesion is common among Neandertal lineage populations."
The other physical problem Neanderthals were known to have, broken bones, wasn’t mentioned for El Sidrón. Elsewhere, Thomas Berger and Erik Trinkas found nearly all the bodies that survived showed signs of fracture and healing. Most had three or four wounds, primarily to the upper body. The trauma pattern closely resembled injuries suffered by today’s rodeo competitors.
Trinkas noted, they didn’t find any broken leg bones among the Neanderthal relics. That kind of injury must have been fatal in a mobile band. No broken bones in a band meant they either weren’t eating meat, were left behind or, possibly, were eaten.
Notes: Red deer is Cervus elaphus, sage bush is Artemisia, Scots pine is Pinus sylvestris, chamomile is Anthemis nobilis. Generic yarrow is Achillea millefolium, the Pyrenees subspecies is Achillea millefolium ceretanica.
Aleksoff, Keith C. "Achillea millefolium," 1991, in U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System.
Burjachs, F. and E. Allué. "Paleoclimatic Evolution During the Last Glacial Cycle at the NE of
the Iberian Peninsula," in María Blanca Ruiz Zapata, et alia, Quaternary Climatic Changes and Environmental Crises in the Mediterranean Region, 2003.
Hardy, Karen, Carles Lalueza-Fox, et alia. "Neanderthal Medics? Evidence for Food, Cooking, and Medicinal Plants Entrapped in Dental Calculus," Naturwissenschaften 99:617-626:2012; quotation on smoke.
_____. Discussed by Matt Kaplan in "Neanderthals Ate Their Greens," Nature website, 18 July 2012; quotations on lipids and starches.
Hirst, K. Kris. "El Sidrón - Evidence for Neanderthal Cannibalism in Spain," About Archaeology website.
Lalueza-Fox, Carles, Antonio Rosas, et alia. "Genetic Evidence for Patrilocal Mating Behavior among Neandertal Groups," National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings 108:250-253:2011.
Moerman, Dan. Native American Ethnobotany, 1998, summarizes data from a number of ethnographies.
Rosas, Antonio, Carles Lalueza-Fox, et alia. "Paleobiology and Comparative Morphology of a Late Neandertal Sample from El Sidrón, Asturias, Spain," National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings 103:19266-19271:2006; quotation on dietary stress.
Trinkas, Erik. Quoted in "Evidence Suggests Skulduggery among the Neanderthals," The Washington Post, 23 April 2002.
_____ and T. D. Berger. "Patterns of Trauma among Neadertals," Journal of Archaeological Science 22:841-852:1996
Remains of twelve individuals from 49,000 years ago were found at El Sidrón, in the Cantabrian range of Asturias in northern Spain. That’s during the devastating cold spell mentioned in the post for 29 July. Evidence suggests the Neanderthals were eaten, and their bones left together. They later fell through an opening when the limestone cave’s roof collapsed, probably during a flood.
The twelve must have been members of a single band composed of three adult men and three adult women, along with two teenage males, and a male child. The genders of the other adult, the other teenager and the infant couldn’t be determined.
The three men were brothers. The women were not related, and had come to live with the band. One adolescent and one of the children were brothers, born about three years apart. No comment has been made on the absence of young girls in the group.
It’s likely the band had moved outside its ancestral range in northern Europe, and interbred with people already in the south. A jaw bone had the character of northern Neanderthals, while the faces showed the broadness and lowness associated with southern ones.
The climate was cold and dry. In Catalonia to the east, Francesc Burjachs and Ethel Allué found pollens from composites, sage brushes, and grasses in those millennia. Scattered Scots pines survived in the dry steppes.
Yarrow was surely one of the composites. One subspecies, Ceretanica, is a relic of the Pleistocene Pyrenees. Achillea millefolium spread into North America from a refuge in Bergenia and, today, grows nearly everywhere from the far north of the Yukon to Honduras. You sometimes see it here along the roadside.
Few animal bones were found among the litter at El Sidrón. Antonio Rosas’ team identified a red deer with "very few small mammals and gastropods." When Karen Hardy’s group examined plaque from the Neanderthals’ teeth, they found "few lipids or proteins from meat."
The teeth showed signs of dietary deprivation, often from the fourth and twelfth years of life. The enamel of five individuals indicated they’d been malnourished twice and one person had suffered four times. One of the adolescents had lived through "an exceptionally severe episode of physiological stress"
In the absence of meat they were relying on plants. Hardy’s team found the plaque contained "a
range of carbohydrates and starch granules." They also found "evidence for inhalation of wood-fire smoke and bitumen or oil shale." The starches were so changed by roasting, they couldn’t be identified.
Roasting requires close contact with fire. Perhaps they used sticks to manipulate foods. Yarrow is slow to ignite, and stays green in most winters. It might have been grasped like a potholder for protection.
No wooden tools have survived from El Sidrón. The ones found were stone. The only adaptation to changed circumstances was most used local chert. A few were fashioned from quartzite.
Burns must have been a problem. The two plants Hardy’s team could identify, yarrow and camomile, have both been used to treat burns and other skin injuries. They were probably chewed raw and either spat onto the wound, or the wounded finger was sucked. It’s been used that way in recent times by the Zuñi in New Mexico, the Crow of Montana, the Cree of Saskatchewan, and the Bella Coola of British Columbia.
The chewed plant has been used to treat toothaches by the Cree and Paiute. Rosas’ colleagues found one of the El Sidrón individuals at had had an abscess caused by periodontitis associated with biting hard. They noted, "This sort of lesion is common among Neandertal lineage populations."
The other physical problem Neanderthals were known to have, broken bones, wasn’t mentioned for El Sidrón. Elsewhere, Thomas Berger and Erik Trinkas found nearly all the bodies that survived showed signs of fracture and healing. Most had three or four wounds, primarily to the upper body. The trauma pattern closely resembled injuries suffered by today’s rodeo competitors.
Trinkas noted, they didn’t find any broken leg bones among the Neanderthal relics. That kind of injury must have been fatal in a mobile band. No broken bones in a band meant they either weren’t eating meat, were left behind or, possibly, were eaten.
Notes: Red deer is Cervus elaphus, sage bush is Artemisia, Scots pine is Pinus sylvestris, chamomile is Anthemis nobilis. Generic yarrow is Achillea millefolium, the Pyrenees subspecies is Achillea millefolium ceretanica.
Aleksoff, Keith C. "Achillea millefolium," 1991, in U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System.
Burjachs, F. and E. Allué. "Paleoclimatic Evolution During the Last Glacial Cycle at the NE of
the Iberian Peninsula," in María Blanca Ruiz Zapata, et alia, Quaternary Climatic Changes and Environmental Crises in the Mediterranean Region, 2003.
Hardy, Karen, Carles Lalueza-Fox, et alia. "Neanderthal Medics? Evidence for Food, Cooking, and Medicinal Plants Entrapped in Dental Calculus," Naturwissenschaften 99:617-626:2012; quotation on smoke.
_____. Discussed by Matt Kaplan in "Neanderthals Ate Their Greens," Nature website, 18 July 2012; quotations on lipids and starches.
Hirst, K. Kris. "El Sidrón - Evidence for Neanderthal Cannibalism in Spain," About Archaeology website.
Lalueza-Fox, Carles, Antonio Rosas, et alia. "Genetic Evidence for Patrilocal Mating Behavior among Neandertal Groups," National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings 108:250-253:2011.
Moerman, Dan. Native American Ethnobotany, 1998, summarizes data from a number of ethnographies.
Rosas, Antonio, Carles Lalueza-Fox, et alia. "Paleobiology and Comparative Morphology of a Late Neandertal Sample from El Sidrón, Asturias, Spain," National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings 103:19266-19271:2006; quotation on dietary stress.
Trinkas, Erik. Quoted in "Evidence Suggests Skulduggery among the Neanderthals," The Washington Post, 23 April 2002.
_____ and T. D. Berger. "Patterns of Trauma among Neadertals," Journal of Archaeological Science 22:841-852:1996
Sunday, August 02, 2015
Neanderthal Tools: La Cueva de los Aviones
Neanderthals, especially those inhabiting areas to the north of the Iberia peninsula, relied primarily on flint for their tools. Paul Mellars noted a strong "coincidence between raw material distributions and the occurrence of the richer and more intensively occupied open-air sites" in southwestern France. In Spain, flint nodules only occurred in the area of Cap Salou on the Catalonian coast.
When flint wasn’t available, tool makers substituted chert, a similar silica rock. Its primary location in Spain was the Jurassic layers in the Sistema Ibérico.
Perhaps because flint wasn’t as widely distributed as the animals they hunted, early Neanderthal tool makers developed techniques that produced more flakes from a nodule than previous methods. Once formed, Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel and Alain Tuffreau said, Mousterian technology didn’t change.
Southern Neanderthals who sought refuge in southeastern Spain during the cold spell 50,000 years ago still used flint for sidescrapers and points, but were forced to adapt quartz for their other tools. Their diet also expanded to include local species. They left behind marine mollusk shells and rabbit and tortoise bones along with those of horses, deer, and ibex.
La Cueva de los Aviones was less than five miles from the Mediterranean. João Zilhão’s team found the local Neanderthals not only ate local varieties of cockles, mussels, and limpets, but also some that weren’t local. They believed they must have wrapped the dog whelks in algae to prevent them from spoiling on the journey back to the cave.
The archaeologists noticed that some of the shells they found were from inedible species. Many had holes from 4.5 mm to 6.5 mm in diameter. While nature and weather could have produced holes, they believed these specific clam shells were selected because they could be strung into ornaments.
Glycymeris nummaria shells are nearly circular with a diameter that can reach 2.4 inches across. According to Wikipedia, they’re marked by radiating, concentric lines. The exterior is dull, usually a dark or pale brown. The inside is " glossy, white or pale yellow, often with irregular brown markings."
Hematite residues were found on one of the clam shells. Researchers found the nearest source for the iron oxide was two or three miles away in the modern mining district of La Unión.
More interesting than the ornamental clam shell was a spiny oyster shell that had contained "a red lepidocrocite base mixed with ground particles of charcoal, dolomite, hematite, and pyrite." Zilhão’s group thought it was either used for mixing or storing pigments.
The existence of a container implies the development of one of the necessary concepts that allowed individuals to move beyond being dependent on what was found each day to storing food for later use and for boiling it.
Notes:
Bocquet-Appel, Jean-Pierre and Alain Tuffreau (April–June 2009). "Technological Responses of Neanderthals to Macroclimatic Variations (240,000-40,000 BP)," Human Biology 81:287-307:2009.
Gibbons, Wes and Teresa Moreno. The Geology of Spain, 2002; on locations of flint.
Gómez, J. J. and S. R. Fernández-López. "The Iberian Middle Jurassic Carbonate-Platform System: Synthesis of the Palaeogeographic Elements of Its Eastern Margin (Spain)," Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 236:190-205:2006; on locations of chert.
Mellars, Paul. The Neanderthal Legacy, 1996.
Wikipedia, on the mollusk species.
Zilhão, João, et alia. "Symbolic Use of Marine Shells and Mineral Pigments by Iberian Neandertals," National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings 107:1023-1028:2010.
The edible local species were:
Cerastoderma - common cockle
Monodonta - sea snail
Mytilus - saltwater mussel
Patella - limpet
The non-local edible species were:
Nassarius incrassatus - thick-lipped dogwhelk
Gibbula - small sea snail
The ornamental species was:
Glycymeris insubrica/nummaria - bittersweet clam
The utilitarian species was:
Spondylus gaederopus - European spiny oyster
When flint wasn’t available, tool makers substituted chert, a similar silica rock. Its primary location in Spain was the Jurassic layers in the Sistema Ibérico.
Perhaps because flint wasn’t as widely distributed as the animals they hunted, early Neanderthal tool makers developed techniques that produced more flakes from a nodule than previous methods. Once formed, Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel and Alain Tuffreau said, Mousterian technology didn’t change.
Southern Neanderthals who sought refuge in southeastern Spain during the cold spell 50,000 years ago still used flint for sidescrapers and points, but were forced to adapt quartz for their other tools. Their diet also expanded to include local species. They left behind marine mollusk shells and rabbit and tortoise bones along with those of horses, deer, and ibex.
La Cueva de los Aviones was less than five miles from the Mediterranean. João Zilhão’s team found the local Neanderthals not only ate local varieties of cockles, mussels, and limpets, but also some that weren’t local. They believed they must have wrapped the dog whelks in algae to prevent them from spoiling on the journey back to the cave.
The archaeologists noticed that some of the shells they found were from inedible species. Many had holes from 4.5 mm to 6.5 mm in diameter. While nature and weather could have produced holes, they believed these specific clam shells were selected because they could be strung into ornaments.
Glycymeris nummaria shells are nearly circular with a diameter that can reach 2.4 inches across. According to Wikipedia, they’re marked by radiating, concentric lines. The exterior is dull, usually a dark or pale brown. The inside is " glossy, white or pale yellow, often with irregular brown markings."
Hematite residues were found on one of the clam shells. Researchers found the nearest source for the iron oxide was two or three miles away in the modern mining district of La Unión.
More interesting than the ornamental clam shell was a spiny oyster shell that had contained "a red lepidocrocite base mixed with ground particles of charcoal, dolomite, hematite, and pyrite." Zilhão’s group thought it was either used for mixing or storing pigments.
The existence of a container implies the development of one of the necessary concepts that allowed individuals to move beyond being dependent on what was found each day to storing food for later use and for boiling it.
Notes:
Bocquet-Appel, Jean-Pierre and Alain Tuffreau (April–June 2009). "Technological Responses of Neanderthals to Macroclimatic Variations (240,000-40,000 BP)," Human Biology 81:287-307:2009.
Gibbons, Wes and Teresa Moreno. The Geology of Spain, 2002; on locations of flint.
Gómez, J. J. and S. R. Fernández-López. "The Iberian Middle Jurassic Carbonate-Platform System: Synthesis of the Palaeogeographic Elements of Its Eastern Margin (Spain)," Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 236:190-205:2006; on locations of chert.
Mellars, Paul. The Neanderthal Legacy, 1996.
Wikipedia, on the mollusk species.
Zilhão, João, et alia. "Symbolic Use of Marine Shells and Mineral Pigments by Iberian Neandertals," National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings 107:1023-1028:2010.
The edible local species were:
Cerastoderma - common cockle
Monodonta - sea snail
Mytilus - saltwater mussel
Patella - limpet
The non-local edible species were:
Nassarius incrassatus - thick-lipped dogwhelk
Gibbula - small sea snail
The ornamental species was:
Glycymeris insubrica/nummaria - bittersweet clam
The utilitarian species was:
Spondylus gaederopus - European spiny oyster
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