The Apache were living in a flexible society of scattered settlements when Juan de Ulibarrí encountered them in 1706. The Jicarilla, Sierra Blanca and Flecas de Palo were "under the leadership of different chiefs." Carlana was head of the second. They told the commander their "head chief was a lame man whom they called Ysdalnisdael." Ulibarrí also called him "Ucase."
The head of the Jicarilla in 1719 was El Coxo, a name that also meant lame. If he was the same man, it suggested an alliance between the western bands under El Coxo.
When Antonio Valverde arrived at his settlement, his two sons told him their father was with the Navajo. One can assume he was pursuing his own military alliance with Athabascan speakers to the west, rather than relying on those to the east.
Ulibarrí had been sent to El Cuartelejo to extricate people who had fled the Reconquest. The most important was Juan Tupatú, son of the interregnum leader. The other headmen weren’t named by him or by Valverde.
When Bourgmont arrived at the eastern Apache settlement in 1724, the twelve villages each had a chief. The head told the Frenchman: "I am heeded and obeyed in all the villages of our tribe. I am the emperor of all the Padoucas, and they go neither to war nor to the Spaniards without my permission. I am like you, my father. I make my people obey me, and when I need a party of my warriors to go to war, to hunt, or to go to the Spaniards, I have only to announce it in my village and notify the other villages."
His exact words have been translated twice, first for maximum rhetorical impact into French, and then into English. Even with that caveat, it sounds like their social organization had become more disciplined with the threats to its security and the increased density of the population.
Still, the man who was never named did not rule alone. He claimed, when he announced a need for action, "all my war chiefs assemble at my dwelling, and we hold a council." While he suggested they automatically supported him, one suspects the councils had more powers. During his first meetings with the French he was accompanied by the twelve chiefs. Only after they had all evaluated Bourgmont, did he meet with him with a smaller number of subordinates.
Beneath them there were small, autonomous units, probably based on economic units, who voluntarily submitted to the chiefs. When Antonio Valverde had met Carlana in 1719, he was told half his people had deserted him for the protection of a headman called Flaco.
The chiefs still needed to earn, then continually justify their positions by success. The Apache were empirical enough to test the utility of everything.
Valverde was following the Ute and Comanche north along the Sangre de Cristo when he came across a house at La Fleca with a cross on the roof. Both the Jicarilla and the Cuartelejo met him with crosses. The chief of the last group told him his men wore "many crosses, medals, and rosaries around their necks" because the Spanish were strong and "no nation that can conquer them."
The Roman Catholic symbols were integrated into the existing Apache set of rituals. When 69 Sierra Blanca warriors under Carlana joined his troops, "they circled the camp on their horses, jubilantly singing and shouting. In the evening these same messengers dances according to their custom, some covered with red and others with white paint."
Bourgmont’s scribe, Philippe de la Renaudiére, did not mention crosses or rosaries, though he did describe how men and women dressed. Perhaps the fact troops commanded by Pedro de Villasur had been defeated by the neighboring Pawnee destroyed the Spaniards’ aura of invincibility.
Five warriors accompanied the El Cuartelejo chief to the general peace conference in Kansa territory. There, after they had all eaten, they "danced and sang for about an hour and a half in the presence of the chiefs of the Missouris, Otos, Iowas, and Kansas and all smoked together."
When Bourgmont arrived at El Cuartelejo, they didn’t great him with a cross and religious procession. Instead, "they spread a bison robe on the ground and place M. de Bourgmont" and others on it. "Fifteen men then bore them to the dwelling of the head chief."
At the final peace conference, when the Apaches formally broke their alliance with the Spanish and transferred it to the French, the chief referred to symbols important to his traditional religion, not to that of the Europeans. He "grabbed a handful of earth and shouted: ‘Now I regard the Spaniards as I do this dirt.’ Turning to M. de Bourgmont, he said: ‘And you, I regard you as the sun’."
Notes: Juan Tupatú was the son of the revolt leaver, Luis Tupatú. Valverde didn’t mention direction the horsemen rode, clockwise or counter clockwise. Thomas said, there was no further mention of Flaco.
Renaudiére, Philippe de la. Journal of the Voyage of Monsieur de Bourgmont, translation in Frank Norall, Bourgmont, 1988. He wrote the men "wear trousers of dressed skin, with the lower part pulled together in the Spanish manner" and tucked into high moccasins. The women wore "robes of dressed skins. Their blouses and skirts have fringe all around, made of the same material."
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935.
Ulibarrí, Juan de. Diary of expedition to El Cuartelejo, 1706, translation in Thomas.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche Indians, 1719, translation in Thomas.
Showing posts with label 02 Apache 6-10. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 02 Apache 6-10. Show all posts
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Apache Life
The Apache developed technology that made them mobile enough to follow buffalo herds. They used portable, collapsible housing: teepees made from sewn together hides wrapped around poles. More important, they trained dogs to carry their household goods in packs on their backs.
In 1720, the Faraón were east of Santa Fé. Farther north, Paloma and El Cuartelejo Apache bands lived on both sides of the Platte river. To the west, the Sierra Blanca, La Jicarilla and La Flecha bands exploited the canyons near the headwaters of rivers that flowed from the eastern side of passes through the Sangre de Cristo. On the other side of those passes were pueblos that held trade fairs: Taos, Picurís, and Pecos.
Their living arrangements were dictated by the seasonal nature of their food supply. In 1715 Gerónimo Ye, chief of Taos, told the governor in Santa Fé the Faraón returned to their river bank settlement "at the end of April or the beginning of May" when they planted their crops. They harvested in "the middle of August when the moon is almost full. At this time they are shaking out the grain from the ears of corn. Having finished doing this and having buried it beneath the soil, they all go on a hunt for buffalo where they maintain themselves." They lived there in "thirty houses of wood entirely smeared with clay outside," according to the chief of Picurís, Lorenzo.
When Antonio Valverde was trailing the Ute and Comanche in September of 1719, he passed scattered small farming settlements along the streams flowing from the canyons on the eastern face of the Sangre de Cristo. At La Ciéneguilla, he saw "a small adobe house" where Apache "had sown and reaped their maize fields."
At the next Canadian tributary north, he passed "some fields of maize, frijoles, and squashes" in September. About "an arquebus shot" away he saw an adobe house with a flat roof. "Farther up the river eight other houses were found" of La Flecha.
Valverde was following the same general route used by Juan de Ulibarrí in 1706 when he went to El Cuartelejo. At Sierra Blanca he saw "corn, frijoles, and pumpkins" in July. He was told, when he returned, he "would find them together in the rancherías of the Jicarillas."
The Comanche targeted Carlana’s band. Valverde was told they had "attacked two houses" and "burned the people living in them." Half the people fled east. The others were going to La Jicarilla for protection. They were then living in "twenty-seven tipis" in September.
Comanche had raided another settlement the year before Valverde arrived. They killed 60 and absconded with 64 women and children, burned "a little house in the shape of a tower" and set fire to "heaps of maize."
Valverde went up river about five miles where he "found seven terraced houses" with "many ditches and canals in order to irrigate their fields." It was still September and "they had already gathered their crops of corn." They were "placed it in the shape of a wall about half a yard high." They were still processing it. "There was much corn in heaps not yet husked."
From Jicarilla, Ulibarrí met the Penxayes to the east. He noted in late September, they too had "much land planted to corn, frijoles, and pumpkins" on the banks of the Purgatorie. Representatives came down to where he was standing near a mesa in the canyon, so he didn’t see where they lived.
Ulibarrí’s comments make it sound like the Apache broke into small farming settlements in summer along protected streams when game was scarce. After the harvest, they reassembled into larger communities, presumably in places where there was adequate fuel. Groups of men then left to hunt buffalo, probably during the period the animals also were merging into larger groups headed for winter forage.
At El Cuartelejo, Ulibarrí was told the émigrés from Picurís were living in four satellite rancherías: Tachichichi, Nanaje, Adidasde, and Sanasesli. Before they arrived "at the plaza which the rancherías formed," Ulibarri passed a group of "casitos" near a low cliff, "la bajada de dicho alto." In 1726, Bourgmont’s chronicler described them as "sizeable dwellings."
In 1706, the Spaniard praised the "good climate, for at the end of July they had gathered crops of Indian corn, watermelons, pumpkins, and kidney beans." He noted the men they met were out hunting buffalo. After finding us "they had returned to assure the safety of their ranches and maize fields."
When the French arrived, they were sowing "hardly any maize." However, they did "sow a little and a few pumpkins." The difference was reflected in their food. In August of 1706, they gave Ulibarrí "bison meat, roasting ears of Indian corn, tamales, plums." In October of 1724, they served Bourgmont "bison meat cooked in a pot, and some meat that had been dried in the sun, with dried plums pounded up with their pits and cooked in a pot." Later, Philippe de la Renaudiére recorded, "they brought us two plates of maize they had cooked. It was all they had in the village."
Between the two expeditions, the remote settlement had been absorbing refugees from the Comanche. When they heard Valverde was coming in 1719, they came with the Paloma and other exiles to met him along the Platte. He left for Santa Fé before they all arrived. Even so, "they numbered more than two hundred tents, and more than three hundred Indians under arms. Together with the crowd of woman and children there were probably more than one thousand persons."
When Bourgmont visited the main El Cuartelejo settlement five years later, more bands had moved to them for safety, probably including people from some of their own rancherías. The population probably had doubled to "about 140 dwellings, housing about 800 warriors, more than 1,500 women and about 2,000 children."
Instead of living in small groups that reunited for hunts, they lived in large settlements that divided into smaller groups to forage. Renaudiére said, they left "in bands of 50 to 80, sometimes even 100 households together; when they return to their permanent villages, those who had stayed at home leave at once, while those returning bring with them provisions of dried meat, either bison meat or venison, killed not far from their villages."
The disparity in numbers of men and women may have grown. In 1706, Ulibarrí had met a man traveling with "two women and three little boys." In 1624, Renaudiére said some "have as many as four wives."
El Cuartelejo may have been in a situation like the besieged Arkansas described by Jacques Marquette in the post for 12 May 2015. The need to find camping places for so many probably usurped their farm lands. The dangers of enemy attacks made it impossible to find develop new lands along the river. The men who provided meat were protected by their hunting weapons.
Notes: La Ciéneguilla is the Mora valley.
Gerónimo. Testimony before Council of War, Santa Fé, 20 July 1715, translation in Thomas.
Lorenzo. Testimony before Council of War, Santa Fé, 22 July 1715, translation in Thomas.
Renaudiére, Philippe de la. Journal of the Voyage of Monsieur de Bourgmont, translation in Frank Norall, Bourgmont, 1988.
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935.
Ulibarrí, Juan de. Diary of expedition to El Cuartelejo, 1706, translation in Thomas. Thomas wasn’t sure of the translation of "la ranchería que esta muy cerca a la baxada de dho alto, de cuyos ranchos, o casitos," and so gave the Spanish. We all know bajada from our drives from Albuquerque to Santa Fé. "Dho" was the standard abbreviation of "dicho," in Spanish texts of the 1700s, and seems to have meant small.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche Indians, 1719, translation in Thomas.
In 1720, the Faraón were east of Santa Fé. Farther north, Paloma and El Cuartelejo Apache bands lived on both sides of the Platte river. To the west, the Sierra Blanca, La Jicarilla and La Flecha bands exploited the canyons near the headwaters of rivers that flowed from the eastern side of passes through the Sangre de Cristo. On the other side of those passes were pueblos that held trade fairs: Taos, Picurís, and Pecos.
Their living arrangements were dictated by the seasonal nature of their food supply. In 1715 Gerónimo Ye, chief of Taos, told the governor in Santa Fé the Faraón returned to their river bank settlement "at the end of April or the beginning of May" when they planted their crops. They harvested in "the middle of August when the moon is almost full. At this time they are shaking out the grain from the ears of corn. Having finished doing this and having buried it beneath the soil, they all go on a hunt for buffalo where they maintain themselves." They lived there in "thirty houses of wood entirely smeared with clay outside," according to the chief of Picurís, Lorenzo.
When Antonio Valverde was trailing the Ute and Comanche in September of 1719, he passed scattered small farming settlements along the streams flowing from the canyons on the eastern face of the Sangre de Cristo. At La Ciéneguilla, he saw "a small adobe house" where Apache "had sown and reaped their maize fields."
At the next Canadian tributary north, he passed "some fields of maize, frijoles, and squashes" in September. About "an arquebus shot" away he saw an adobe house with a flat roof. "Farther up the river eight other houses were found" of La Flecha.
Valverde was following the same general route used by Juan de Ulibarrí in 1706 when he went to El Cuartelejo. At Sierra Blanca he saw "corn, frijoles, and pumpkins" in July. He was told, when he returned, he "would find them together in the rancherías of the Jicarillas."
The Comanche targeted Carlana’s band. Valverde was told they had "attacked two houses" and "burned the people living in them." Half the people fled east. The others were going to La Jicarilla for protection. They were then living in "twenty-seven tipis" in September.
Comanche had raided another settlement the year before Valverde arrived. They killed 60 and absconded with 64 women and children, burned "a little house in the shape of a tower" and set fire to "heaps of maize."
Valverde went up river about five miles where he "found seven terraced houses" with "many ditches and canals in order to irrigate their fields." It was still September and "they had already gathered their crops of corn." They were "placed it in the shape of a wall about half a yard high." They were still processing it. "There was much corn in heaps not yet husked."
From Jicarilla, Ulibarrí met the Penxayes to the east. He noted in late September, they too had "much land planted to corn, frijoles, and pumpkins" on the banks of the Purgatorie. Representatives came down to where he was standing near a mesa in the canyon, so he didn’t see where they lived.
Ulibarrí’s comments make it sound like the Apache broke into small farming settlements in summer along protected streams when game was scarce. After the harvest, they reassembled into larger communities, presumably in places where there was adequate fuel. Groups of men then left to hunt buffalo, probably during the period the animals also were merging into larger groups headed for winter forage.
At El Cuartelejo, Ulibarrí was told the émigrés from Picurís were living in four satellite rancherías: Tachichichi, Nanaje, Adidasde, and Sanasesli. Before they arrived "at the plaza which the rancherías formed," Ulibarri passed a group of "casitos" near a low cliff, "la bajada de dicho alto." In 1726, Bourgmont’s chronicler described them as "sizeable dwellings."
In 1706, the Spaniard praised the "good climate, for at the end of July they had gathered crops of Indian corn, watermelons, pumpkins, and kidney beans." He noted the men they met were out hunting buffalo. After finding us "they had returned to assure the safety of their ranches and maize fields."
When the French arrived, they were sowing "hardly any maize." However, they did "sow a little and a few pumpkins." The difference was reflected in their food. In August of 1706, they gave Ulibarrí "bison meat, roasting ears of Indian corn, tamales, plums." In October of 1724, they served Bourgmont "bison meat cooked in a pot, and some meat that had been dried in the sun, with dried plums pounded up with their pits and cooked in a pot." Later, Philippe de la Renaudiére recorded, "they brought us two plates of maize they had cooked. It was all they had in the village."
Between the two expeditions, the remote settlement had been absorbing refugees from the Comanche. When they heard Valverde was coming in 1719, they came with the Paloma and other exiles to met him along the Platte. He left for Santa Fé before they all arrived. Even so, "they numbered more than two hundred tents, and more than three hundred Indians under arms. Together with the crowd of woman and children there were probably more than one thousand persons."
When Bourgmont visited the main El Cuartelejo settlement five years later, more bands had moved to them for safety, probably including people from some of their own rancherías. The population probably had doubled to "about 140 dwellings, housing about 800 warriors, more than 1,500 women and about 2,000 children."
Instead of living in small groups that reunited for hunts, they lived in large settlements that divided into smaller groups to forage. Renaudiére said, they left "in bands of 50 to 80, sometimes even 100 households together; when they return to their permanent villages, those who had stayed at home leave at once, while those returning bring with them provisions of dried meat, either bison meat or venison, killed not far from their villages."
The disparity in numbers of men and women may have grown. In 1706, Ulibarrí had met a man traveling with "two women and three little boys." In 1624, Renaudiére said some "have as many as four wives."
El Cuartelejo may have been in a situation like the besieged Arkansas described by Jacques Marquette in the post for 12 May 2015. The need to find camping places for so many probably usurped their farm lands. The dangers of enemy attacks made it impossible to find develop new lands along the river. The men who provided meat were protected by their hunting weapons.
Notes: La Ciéneguilla is the Mora valley.
Gerónimo. Testimony before Council of War, Santa Fé, 20 July 1715, translation in Thomas.
Lorenzo. Testimony before Council of War, Santa Fé, 22 July 1715, translation in Thomas.
Renaudiére, Philippe de la. Journal of the Voyage of Monsieur de Bourgmont, translation in Frank Norall, Bourgmont, 1988.
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935.
Ulibarrí, Juan de. Diary of expedition to El Cuartelejo, 1706, translation in Thomas. Thomas wasn’t sure of the translation of "la ranchería que esta muy cerca a la baxada de dho alto, de cuyos ranchos, o casitos," and so gave the Spanish. We all know bajada from our drives from Albuquerque to Santa Fé. "Dho" was the standard abbreviation of "dicho," in Spanish texts of the 1700s, and seems to have meant small.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche Indians, 1719, translation in Thomas.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Apache Geography
The treeless great plains cover some 500,000 square miles. Very little is habitable without artesian wells and imported fuel. The few clear flowing rivers were used by buffalo, and their hunters. The climate is perennially inhospitable, cold in winter, dry in summer.
When Antonio Valverde was pursuing the Utes and Comanche in 1719, his mission was foiled by weather. He began by hugging the foothills going north where they could find water and kill deer. Snow fell for three days in late September north of the Purgatorie river. "The north wind blew with such biting sharpness all had arrived on the spot numb." They faced sleet a few days later in early October above the Arkansas river. They also confronted bears, a mountain lion, and a wildcat.
When they turned to follow the Platte east in mid-October, "such a furious hurricane came up that it obliged them to withdraw to their tents, which it seemed would be uprooted. The hurricane lasted all night."
Soon after, they came upon herds of buffalo. Wood became so scarce, they burned dried droppings. When their adversaries turned north again, the Apache scout, Carlana, warned them they had taken a route with "few springs, and those too scanty to support" the horse herd.
After all this, Valverde was forced to retreat. He already knew "the rigor of the snow and cold weather, which in these lands is so extreme that it benumbs and annihilates."
Bourgmont faced different environmental challenges when he traveled west in 1724. It was so dry when they left in July, the Missouri river dropped four feet. Then, on July 20th "toward four o’clock in the afternoon, a strong wind came up, with loud thunder and with lightening." They had heavy rain again on July 22, drizzle on the 23rd, and heavy rain again on the 25th and 26th.
After that spate, the weather got "very hot’ on July 28. The next day they stopped midday "to avoid the great heat." The day after was "very hot all day." That night it rained for three hours. The group soon turned back because illnesses fostered by high humidity and mosquitoes had weakened Bourgmont.
They returned in October and faced the same challenges that had confronted Valverde. They had frost on the 10th and 15th. When they had finally reached the El Cuartelejo Apache, "at one in the afternoon it began to sleet" on October 21. They terminated their meeting, because both groups wanted to move before conditions deteriorated. On their return trip the French "saw many bands of wolves."
We’re all familiar with the workings on the monsoons, which begin in July and often dump in October. But they usually drop rain in fall, not snow and sleet. As near as climatologists can determine, temperatures in the first third of the eighteenth century were still several degrees lower than they are today.
Ed Cook found, until 1713, about 40% of the plains was experiencing drought in any given year. The number dropped in 1713 to about 20%. After that dry seasons affected about 35% of the area.
If the plains were a little wetter it might explain why the buffalo seemed so attractive to so many bands on its perimeter. Estimating their population size is difficult because it ultimately relies on guesses about forage availability, which in turn depended upon rain. Most observations only indicate where animals were grazing, not how many there were in total.
When Juan de Ulibarrí went to El Cuartelejo in the summer of 1706, he only encountered stormy weather once, on August 14. He did not mention seeing buffalo herds or any other game, perhaps because the animals were in summer pastures. When he got to the Apache settlement, the men had to travel to locate meat.
Seven years after 1713, in the area coveted by the Comanche, Valverde’s men started coming upon numbers of deer after the first snows north of the Purgatorie. They continued to catch them north near the Arkansas where the also found "lot of good fat prairie hens" and "met some herds of buffalo."
On October 4, Valverde noted: "many deer and prairie chickens which moved about in flocks were caught to such an extent that nowhere else were more caught because of the abundance of this region."
North of the Arkansas they no longer saw deer, but continued to meet "some herds of buffalo." The numbers increased when they turned east to follow the South Platte. At one point, he recorded the herds were so great, more than 800 head, "that in the distance they looked like rolling hills."
Coming from the other direction five years later, natives with Bourgmont "killed, yesterday and today, about 20 deer and several turkeys." In late July, after a rain storm, they saw a "herd of deer on rise of ground."
When he returned in October, his men accompanied the Kansa west to their hunting grounds. On October 12, his chronicler reported, "We see quantities of bison bulls and cows, herds of stags and does, more than 200 all together. There are turkeys along the streams and rivers."
The next day, Philippe de la Renaudiére wrote, "we saw on all sides more than 30 herds of bison. They are so numerous it is impossible to count them. There appeared to be four or five hundred at least in each herd. We see herds of deer that are almost as numerous." On the 14th, there were "herds of bison in great number, as far as we could see."
Given the October dates and stormy weather, both Valverde and Bourgmont probably were seeing what had been small summer herds that had begun congregating into larger ones for the move to winter feeding grounds. They probably were not familiar with the grazing habits of buffalo, and thought what they observed existed year round. They only reported the herds existed, but never mentioned if they were moving north or south.
The Apache, Comanche and Kansa knew better. They didn’t hunt in summer, but in fall. Still they too may have thought the size of the herds were normal. The older men would have remembered drier times, but in ten years the younger generation only would have known the herds that had expanded when forage had improved.
They likely were living in a small time period before population limits were reached, and population sizes stabilized. If Cook is correct, they all - buffalo, natives, Spanish and French - were living in a golden age of abundance on the great plains.
Notes: Animals identifications are from translations of Spanish and French texts; the translators made no attempt to identify species. The year 1713 is not unique to Cook: Lisa Graumlich found evidence the Sierra Nevada to the west were wetter between 1713 and 1732 than they had been earlier.
Cook, Ed, Richard Seager, and Celine Herweijer. "The Characteristics and Likely Causes of the Medieval Megadroughts in North America," Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University website.
Graumlich, Lisa J. "A 1000-year Record of Temperature and Precipitation in the Sierra Nevada. Quaternary Research 39: 249-55:1993, cited by Scott Stine, "Climate, 1650-1850," in University of California, Davis, Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project: Final Report to Congress, Vol. 2, Assessments and Scientific Basis for Management Options, 1996.
Renaudiére, Philippe de la. Journal of the Voyage of Monsieur de Bourgmont, translation in Frank Norall, Bourgmont, 1988.
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935.
Ulibarrí, Juan de. Diary of expedition to El Cuartelejo, 1706, translation in Thomas.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche Indians, 1719, translation in Thomas.
When Antonio Valverde was pursuing the Utes and Comanche in 1719, his mission was foiled by weather. He began by hugging the foothills going north where they could find water and kill deer. Snow fell for three days in late September north of the Purgatorie river. "The north wind blew with such biting sharpness all had arrived on the spot numb." They faced sleet a few days later in early October above the Arkansas river. They also confronted bears, a mountain lion, and a wildcat.
When they turned to follow the Platte east in mid-October, "such a furious hurricane came up that it obliged them to withdraw to their tents, which it seemed would be uprooted. The hurricane lasted all night."
Soon after, they came upon herds of buffalo. Wood became so scarce, they burned dried droppings. When their adversaries turned north again, the Apache scout, Carlana, warned them they had taken a route with "few springs, and those too scanty to support" the horse herd.
After all this, Valverde was forced to retreat. He already knew "the rigor of the snow and cold weather, which in these lands is so extreme that it benumbs and annihilates."
Bourgmont faced different environmental challenges when he traveled west in 1724. It was so dry when they left in July, the Missouri river dropped four feet. Then, on July 20th "toward four o’clock in the afternoon, a strong wind came up, with loud thunder and with lightening." They had heavy rain again on July 22, drizzle on the 23rd, and heavy rain again on the 25th and 26th.
After that spate, the weather got "very hot’ on July 28. The next day they stopped midday "to avoid the great heat." The day after was "very hot all day." That night it rained for three hours. The group soon turned back because illnesses fostered by high humidity and mosquitoes had weakened Bourgmont.
They returned in October and faced the same challenges that had confronted Valverde. They had frost on the 10th and 15th. When they had finally reached the El Cuartelejo Apache, "at one in the afternoon it began to sleet" on October 21. They terminated their meeting, because both groups wanted to move before conditions deteriorated. On their return trip the French "saw many bands of wolves."
We’re all familiar with the workings on the monsoons, which begin in July and often dump in October. But they usually drop rain in fall, not snow and sleet. As near as climatologists can determine, temperatures in the first third of the eighteenth century were still several degrees lower than they are today.
Ed Cook found, until 1713, about 40% of the plains was experiencing drought in any given year. The number dropped in 1713 to about 20%. After that dry seasons affected about 35% of the area.
If the plains were a little wetter it might explain why the buffalo seemed so attractive to so many bands on its perimeter. Estimating their population size is difficult because it ultimately relies on guesses about forage availability, which in turn depended upon rain. Most observations only indicate where animals were grazing, not how many there were in total.
When Juan de Ulibarrí went to El Cuartelejo in the summer of 1706, he only encountered stormy weather once, on August 14. He did not mention seeing buffalo herds or any other game, perhaps because the animals were in summer pastures. When he got to the Apache settlement, the men had to travel to locate meat.
Seven years after 1713, in the area coveted by the Comanche, Valverde’s men started coming upon numbers of deer after the first snows north of the Purgatorie. They continued to catch them north near the Arkansas where the also found "lot of good fat prairie hens" and "met some herds of buffalo."
On October 4, Valverde noted: "many deer and prairie chickens which moved about in flocks were caught to such an extent that nowhere else were more caught because of the abundance of this region."
North of the Arkansas they no longer saw deer, but continued to meet "some herds of buffalo." The numbers increased when they turned east to follow the South Platte. At one point, he recorded the herds were so great, more than 800 head, "that in the distance they looked like rolling hills."
Coming from the other direction five years later, natives with Bourgmont "killed, yesterday and today, about 20 deer and several turkeys." In late July, after a rain storm, they saw a "herd of deer on rise of ground."
When he returned in October, his men accompanied the Kansa west to their hunting grounds. On October 12, his chronicler reported, "We see quantities of bison bulls and cows, herds of stags and does, more than 200 all together. There are turkeys along the streams and rivers."
The next day, Philippe de la Renaudiére wrote, "we saw on all sides more than 30 herds of bison. They are so numerous it is impossible to count them. There appeared to be four or five hundred at least in each herd. We see herds of deer that are almost as numerous." On the 14th, there were "herds of bison in great number, as far as we could see."
Given the October dates and stormy weather, both Valverde and Bourgmont probably were seeing what had been small summer herds that had begun congregating into larger ones for the move to winter feeding grounds. They probably were not familiar with the grazing habits of buffalo, and thought what they observed existed year round. They only reported the herds existed, but never mentioned if they were moving north or south.
The Apache, Comanche and Kansa knew better. They didn’t hunt in summer, but in fall. Still they too may have thought the size of the herds were normal. The older men would have remembered drier times, but in ten years the younger generation only would have known the herds that had expanded when forage had improved.
They likely were living in a small time period before population limits were reached, and population sizes stabilized. If Cook is correct, they all - buffalo, natives, Spanish and French - were living in a golden age of abundance on the great plains.
Notes: Animals identifications are from translations of Spanish and French texts; the translators made no attempt to identify species. The year 1713 is not unique to Cook: Lisa Graumlich found evidence the Sierra Nevada to the west were wetter between 1713 and 1732 than they had been earlier.
Cook, Ed, Richard Seager, and Celine Herweijer. "The Characteristics and Likely Causes of the Medieval Megadroughts in North America," Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University website.
Graumlich, Lisa J. "A 1000-year Record of Temperature and Precipitation in the Sierra Nevada. Quaternary Research 39: 249-55:1993, cited by Scott Stine, "Climate, 1650-1850," in University of California, Davis, Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project: Final Report to Congress, Vol. 2, Assessments and Scientific Basis for Management Options, 1996.
Renaudiére, Philippe de la. Journal of the Voyage of Monsieur de Bourgmont, translation in Frank Norall, Bourgmont, 1988.
Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935.
Ulibarrí, Juan de. Diary of expedition to El Cuartelejo, 1706, translation in Thomas.
Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche Indians, 1719, translation in Thomas.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Bourgmont and the Apache
Bourgmont followed the same mode when he finally reached the Apache. He had first sent a representative with two captives "he bought from the Kansas for the purpose of returning them to their tribe - to advise their kinsmen that they were going to make peace." Before they left, he gave each a blanket and shirt, and sent a "small packet of vermillion, some beads, a kettle, an axe, some awls and some knives" to the chief.
François Gaillard reported the Apache chief had "listened in amazement as slaves praised the French."
The chief and some of his advisors went with Gaillard to the Kansa village where the recovered Bourgmont was waiting. When men from all the bands he had invited arrived, "M. de Bourgmont welcomed them and then ordered a great fire to be made in a beautiful space in front of the entrance to his tent."
Following what must have been known protocols, "on his right, he seated the chief of the Padoucas, then the head chief of the Missouris, and the Oto chiefs, and next the Iowa chiefs and the Kansa chiefs." Each was accompanied by "several warriors." Bourgmont had only two of his men present.
Bourgmont spoke first of peace and trade. His listeners responded by offering "their calumet pipes of peace to each other and to make compliments to one another, according to their fashion."
When the meetings were concluded, the Kansa chief invited Bourgmont, some of his men, and five men from each band "to come and feast at his dwelling." This gave him an opportunity to commit his band to Bourgmont’s mission.
Two days later Bourgmont left with the five Apache to visit their camp. He took seven Missouri, five Kansa, four Oto, three Iowa, and his own half-Missouri son. When they were "about a pistol-shot away from their camp" Bourgmont "ordered his tent put up, and had his Frenchmen stack their arms, with a single sentinel to gaurd them, at the entrance to this tent."
The Apache chief spoke to the warriors who came to investigate. "They spread a bison robe on the ground and placed M. de Bourgmont on it, with his son" along with two of the Frenchmen to take them into the camp. "Then they had us feast with them, with great rejoicing, and as night fell we returned to our camp."
In the days that followed, Bourgmont offered trade goods. They reciprocated with horses. And, "each morning they took the son of M. de Bourgmont into their dwellings and kept him the whole day, and they decided among themselves who would have him on a given day. In the evening they would return him to his father in our camp."
The chief signaled he was ready to pledge his allegiance to the French by coming with the heads of the twelve villages and several warriors. "At once, he gave his hand to M. de Bourgmont and invited him to be seated on his right, and the others after him. Whereupon, M. de Bourgmont invited them all to smoke the great calumet of peace."
The next day, the chief invited him and his two aides "to my dwelling to have a feast." After they had eaten, men from the villages arrived with their women and children. The Apache leader gathered them together to inform them the French were now their allies.
Philippe de la Renaudiére noted, "In a word, one could hardly believe all the attention these people showered upon us during our stay with them." They gave his son the most precious of all gifts, "a dozen blue stones, strung together like a rosary."
They had arrived on October 18. The weather turned bad on the 21st with rain turning to sleet. The French left the next day.
Three years later, the agent of the viceroy concluded the French alliance with the plains Apache constituted no danger to New Spain, "since the purpose of the French have in appearing there is but to trade their goods, muskets and arms with the savages [...] as they are accustomed, especially living among the Pawnees at a distance of two hundred leagues from Santa Fé."
Notes: The French term for Apache was Padouca. A calumet pipe were shared to indicate men from two groups had no hostile intentions to each other. As Marquette learned, it only spanned the time of the meeting, and was no guarantee of permanent peace. The calumet had to be renewed at each meeting. Placing men on the right was made them counter-clockwise in the circle. The blue stones were turquoise.
Marquette, Jacques. Journal included in Claude Dablon’s "Le Premier Voÿage Qu’a Fait Le P. Marquette vers le Nouveau Mexique," translated by Reuben Gold Thwaites in The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, volume 59, 1899.
Norall, Frank. Bourgmont, 1988.
Renaudiére, Philippe de la. Journal of the Voyage of Monsieur de Bourgmont, translation in Norall.
Revolledo, Juan de Oliván. Report to the viceroy, Juan de Acuña, 21 November 1727; translation in Alfred B. Thomas, After Coronado, 1935.
François Gaillard reported the Apache chief had "listened in amazement as slaves praised the French."
The chief and some of his advisors went with Gaillard to the Kansa village where the recovered Bourgmont was waiting. When men from all the bands he had invited arrived, "M. de Bourgmont welcomed them and then ordered a great fire to be made in a beautiful space in front of the entrance to his tent."
Following what must have been known protocols, "on his right, he seated the chief of the Padoucas, then the head chief of the Missouris, and the Oto chiefs, and next the Iowa chiefs and the Kansa chiefs." Each was accompanied by "several warriors." Bourgmont had only two of his men present.
Bourgmont spoke first of peace and trade. His listeners responded by offering "their calumet pipes of peace to each other and to make compliments to one another, according to their fashion."
When the meetings were concluded, the Kansa chief invited Bourgmont, some of his men, and five men from each band "to come and feast at his dwelling." This gave him an opportunity to commit his band to Bourgmont’s mission.
Two days later Bourgmont left with the five Apache to visit their camp. He took seven Missouri, five Kansa, four Oto, three Iowa, and his own half-Missouri son. When they were "about a pistol-shot away from their camp" Bourgmont "ordered his tent put up, and had his Frenchmen stack their arms, with a single sentinel to gaurd them, at the entrance to this tent."
The Apache chief spoke to the warriors who came to investigate. "They spread a bison robe on the ground and placed M. de Bourgmont on it, with his son" along with two of the Frenchmen to take them into the camp. "Then they had us feast with them, with great rejoicing, and as night fell we returned to our camp."
In the days that followed, Bourgmont offered trade goods. They reciprocated with horses. And, "each morning they took the son of M. de Bourgmont into their dwellings and kept him the whole day, and they decided among themselves who would have him on a given day. In the evening they would return him to his father in our camp."
The chief signaled he was ready to pledge his allegiance to the French by coming with the heads of the twelve villages and several warriors. "At once, he gave his hand to M. de Bourgmont and invited him to be seated on his right, and the others after him. Whereupon, M. de Bourgmont invited them all to smoke the great calumet of peace."
The next day, the chief invited him and his two aides "to my dwelling to have a feast." After they had eaten, men from the villages arrived with their women and children. The Apache leader gathered them together to inform them the French were now their allies.
Philippe de la Renaudiére noted, "In a word, one could hardly believe all the attention these people showered upon us during our stay with them." They gave his son the most precious of all gifts, "a dozen blue stones, strung together like a rosary."
They had arrived on October 18. The weather turned bad on the 21st with rain turning to sleet. The French left the next day.
Three years later, the agent of the viceroy concluded the French alliance with the plains Apache constituted no danger to New Spain, "since the purpose of the French have in appearing there is but to trade their goods, muskets and arms with the savages [...] as they are accustomed, especially living among the Pawnees at a distance of two hundred leagues from Santa Fé."
Notes: The French term for Apache was Padouca. A calumet pipe were shared to indicate men from two groups had no hostile intentions to each other. As Marquette learned, it only spanned the time of the meeting, and was no guarantee of permanent peace. The calumet had to be renewed at each meeting. Placing men on the right was made them counter-clockwise in the circle. The blue stones were turquoise.
Marquette, Jacques. Journal included in Claude Dablon’s "Le Premier Voÿage Qu’a Fait Le P. Marquette vers le Nouveau Mexique," translated by Reuben Gold Thwaites in The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, volume 59, 1899.
Norall, Frank. Bourgmont, 1988.
Renaudiére, Philippe de la. Journal of the Voyage of Monsieur de Bourgmont, translation in Norall.
Revolledo, Juan de Oliván. Report to the viceroy, Juan de Acuña, 21 November 1727; translation in Alfred B. Thomas, After Coronado, 1935.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Frontier Expeditions: Bourgmont
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.
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.
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