Villasur Expedition at the River

Testimony of participants taken in July of 1726.

Day 1 (August 11)
If this was August 11, it was Sunday. The feast day of San Lorenzo was August 10.

Francisco was sent to talk to the Pawnees. He took "some knives and small bundles of tobacco as gifts," along with a letter written in French by Jean l’Archevêque.

A Pawnee returned with a letter Archevêque couldn’t read because the paper was in poor condition. No one could understand the ambassador’s words. "Then one of their Indians came with a banner of fine linen, which was answered with another." Finally, "another letter written in Spanish and [was] sent with paper, ink, quills."

José de Santisteban said one native "wore a three-cornered hat, and that another Indian whom he saw on the banks of the river carried a rapier in his hand." While some have taken the hat to mean coureurs were present, it may only confirm there had been continuing contact with French traders since 1719. After all, Alonso de Rael Aguilar said Pedro de Villasur took hats as gifts on this expedition.

Day 2 (August 12)
Francisco appeared with some Pawnees. He said "they were well-disposed, that he did not know whether there were any" French present and "that they did not permit him to return."

At this point the sequence becomes vague. Antonio Valverde wrote in 1720, that Villasur, "having waited two days, they did not reply, and he became suspicious that they might be planning some treachery." None of the witnesses mentioned doing nothing for a day, so it’s not clear how much time elapsed between the sighting of Francisco and Villasur’s decision to investigate personally.

He called a council with Tomás "Olguín, his subaltern, and other officials, made known his desire to cross the river." Felipe Tamaris continued, "They had already found a ford on the said river to do so. As preparations were being made, the Pawnees surprised some of our Indian allies who had crossed to bathe and carried off one of them"

Villasur called another meeting of his advisors, who vetoed his plan to still cross the river. Instead, Pedro de Rivera Villalón summarized, "it was resolved to withdraw to the other river, distance one day’s march from that one. He forded it, pitched camp."

"Shortly before nightfall," Rael said "many of his companions heard a dog bark, and a noise as of people crossing the river." He added, Villasur "ordered that they should warn those with the horses to be on their guard, and some of the Indians whom he took from this kingdom were sent, so that they might check those who were crossing the river." Valverde believed he also ordered them to "give him a report of everything."

By the time the command reached the men with the horses, it had been diluted. Tamaris said, "a corporal on behalf of the subaltern warned them that they should be very careful because they said a noise had been heard on the river as though people were crossing it."

Rael said the auxiliaries "did not go there, because they reported that there was no occasion (to do so)." During the proceedings against Valverde that followed in 1727 in Mexico City, the war auditor, concluded "the Indians who were worn out with the march of the day and naturally careless. It was very likely and necessary that they should give themselves to sleep."

Santisteban reported another breach in the chain of command occurred later. He said, he had:

"approached with a companion to drink water at the inlet near the river. They thought they heard a sound of voices there, and believing it to be by the Panana Indians, he went to notify his corporal just as there came from the camp the notice to be on guard, by order of the subaltern, Tomás Olguín. The witness coming with his corporal they were with the said subaltern, who told them to withdraw the horses until morning; and that it was not necessary to notify the commandant, as he had already posted a strong guard."

Notes: The viceroy in 1720 was Baltasar de Zúñiga y Guzman; the one in 1726 and 1727 was Juan de Acuña. Zúñiga then was president of the Consejo de Indias or Council of the Indies. Juan de Oliván y Rebolledo was the Oidor de Guerra. The Spanish called the Pawnee the Panana; they were probably the Skidi band of southern Pawnee.

Oliván y Rebolledo, Juan de. Report to the viceroy, 29 May 1727, in Pichardo.

Pichardo, José Antonio. Manuscript, 1808-1812, translated and annotated by Charles Wilson Hackett in Pichardo’s Treatise of the Limits of Louisiana and Texas, volume 1, 1931.

Rael de Aguilar, Alonso. Deposition, July 1726, in Pichardo; quotes on "knives and tobacco" and on Francisco’s last communication.

Rivera Villalón, Pedro de. Report to the auditor of war, 1726, in Pichardo.

Santisteban, José de. Deposition, July 1726, in Pichardo.

Tamaris, Felipe. Deposition, July 1726, in Thomas.

Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935.

Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Letter to viceroy, September 1720; on Archevêque’s letters.