Villasur Expedition Ambushed

Testimony from participants taken in July of 1726, and taken on behalf of widows of the deceased.

Day 3 (August 13 or 14)
Alonso Rael de Aguillar recalled, he was in the main camp with Pedro de Villasur that fateful morning. "They all unsaddled at once to change horses. At this moment, a body of the people who were ambushed fell upon them, and with both firearms and arrows committed the havoc which is well known."

Felipe Tamaris, who was with the animals, testified: "The horseherd had been gathered at daybreak; and at the time when all the soldiers were exchanging horses, an ambush of some five hundred enemies fell upon them with firearms, lances, and arrows."

José de Santisteban, who also was with the horse herd, remembered: "At daybreak they brought the horses to the camp, and the soldiers were unsaddling them in order to remount. At this moment the enemy advanced, attacking them, many troops with firearms assaulting the camp."

He continued, "Don Pedro de Villasur at once told the witness and his comrades to hasten to stop it, encouraging those who were in camp to defend themselves. The witness saw that at a volley he fell to the ground."

Melchor Rodriguez was with Domingo de Mendizábal "near the tent of his master, General Don Pedro de Villasur, when the French attacked, and during the fray he heard the General tell Mendizábal to bring out the carbines from the tent, then saw the latter go in but does not know if he came out or was killed there." Antonio de Armenta added he had not seen "Mendizábal die, but saw him later when the camp was in a blaze."

The horses stampeded. It took time, but the men recaptured many. Santisteban’s corporal "having overtaken the horses, as is stated above, the said José Griego charged the enemy with a halberd, killing all whom he met, until at a shot he fell from his horse."

Antonio Valverde had been told in September of 1720, "it was almost impossible for them to see one another for the smoke and dust which was arising. Hearing the voices of the few who courageously defended themselves among such a multitude of enemies, the officer in charge of the horses, with three others who followed him, charged fearlessly, breaking through the circle which they had made, and killing many of the Panana Indians. This enabled about seven of our men to escape, although badly abused and wounded from the shower of bullets and arrows. The said officer and a comrade were killed in the assault."

Rael testified, "Although our men put themselves on the defensive, in comparison with that multitude they were few, and were unable to hold out. And although those who were mounted were sufficiently strong to beat off those great numbers, yet because most of them were already dead, they were not able to succor all."

He added, "they did rescue the deponent, who had nine wounds, and was in such condition that the Indians had cut off a lock of his hair which he had braided."

Santiago Giravalle, servant of Jean l’Archevêque in the main camp, "stayed with him until he died, and then escaped with a bullet shot in his chest and several other wounds." Rodriguez "escaped from a ring of Pawnees."

The Days Following
Villasur’s men wounded enough of their attackers that they were not followed when they fled with the horses. They got as far as the Apache, presumably at El Cuartelejo, who fed them for two days and supplied them "from their paltry stores of provisions."

Valverde only mentioned their care of the Españoles, but they also would have been helping the warriors from the pueblos and, if there had been any, their own guides or those from Jicarilla. He vouchsafed:

"This is admirable that, being heathen, and seeing our people so reduced in health and strength, they did not attempt to take from them the horses which were bringing, without which have been in worse state than those whom they had left dead in the fight."

Notes: Panana was the Spanish term for the Pawnee; the Skidi band of southern Pawnee lived along that part of the Platte. The viceroy in 1720 was Baltasar de Zúñiga y Guzman.

Armenta, Antonio de. Testimony for the 1723 marriage of Manuel Flores to the widow of Domingo de Mendizábal, in Chávez.

Chávez, Angélico. New Mexico Roots, Ltd, 1982.

Giravalle, Santiago. Testimony for the 1727 marriage of Bernardino de Sena to the widow of Jean l’Archevêque, in Chávez.

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.

Rodriguez, Melchor. Testimony for the 1723 marriage of Manuel Flores to the widow of Domingo de Mendizábal, in Chávez.

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 the viceroy, September 1720, in Pichardo.