I have posted three posts since October 11 concerning rebellions, revolts, and uprisings that the Spanish had to deal with here in the New World between 1768 and 1783. There were some major ones that occurred and caused the Spanish to really exert themselves in putting these disturbances down, either through persuasion, an overwhelming show of force, or violence and repression. Well, I found another conflict within this time frame that the Spanish had to deal with - a punitive military expedition against the Comanche. A couple of years ago, I ran across a thin book entitled Anzas 1779 Comanche Campaign (2nd Edition). The author is Ron Kessler and the book was published Adobe Village Press in 2001. (Mr. Kessler, who is a non-academic, emphasizes that the difference between his 1st and 2nd editions is that with the 1st edition he did not have a copy of the Spanish journal of Lt. Col. Anza in hand but, by the 2nd edition, he had acquired one and supplemented the 2nd edition with the newly-acquired information). Mr. Kessler has published several books dealing primarily with the Spanish in the colonial Southwest. In short, by 1779 the Comanche, particularly the Jupe Comanche, had been raiding a number of the Spanish settlements in northern New Mexico. They were initially focused on obtaining vengeance for the death of a great war-chief at the hands of Spanish colonial troops. But, their raids became especially damaging to the Spanish settlers in New Mexico as they began to take Spanish women and children as hostages and some Spanish men and allied-Pueblo Indians who they tortured to death. The Spanish decided that this situation called for special measures. Lt. Col. Juan Bautista de Anza II was recommended for the job and appointed Governor and Military Commander of New Mexico by King Carlos III on May 19, 1777. Anza mounted an expedition northward from Santa Fe, NM into Comanche territory in what is today the state of Colorado. The author states that this campaign was ...one of the most brilliant military maneuvers of all time. Anza pushed his troops on a gruelling 615(!!!) mile trek in 28 days and finally brought the Jupe Comanche to battle just north of the present-day Colorado Springs, CO in the Battle of Greenhorn Meadows. The new war chief of the Jupe Comanche, Cuerno Verde (Green Horn after a special headdress he wore into battle) was killed in the battle along with 96 of his warriors. The Spanish captured 35 Comanche women and children and seized over 500 horses. The surviving Jupe Comanche scattered eastward onto the Great Plains for protection. A portrait of Lt. Col. Juan Bautista de Anza II hangs in the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, NM. Our daughter, Meg, is in her junior year at St. Johns College in Santa Fe. Each Thanksgiving, my wife, June, and I travel to Santa Fe to spend the holiday with her because her college only gives their students two days off for this holiday. I have told my wife that I want to be sure to go to the Palace of the Governors and see this portrait.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 01:23:10 +0000
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