The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 39, July 1935 - April, 1936 Page: 225
346 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Campaigning in the Big Bend of the Rio Grande
sought had taken alarm and were in full flight. Without delaying
an instant the troopers flung themselves on horseback and for
four long hours maintained a headlong but vain pursuit. Two
stragglers were captured, both women, another of the same sex
was killed by one of the Mescalero allies, and a few horses were
picked up by the trail. According to the captives their band called
themselves the Nit-agende, or Seed Sowers. The Indians had been
warned of the Spaniards' presence by footprints of the Lipan
scouts, who had failed to wear the Mescalero moccasins provided
by Ugalde for such occasions. To the fluently expressed disgust
of Ugalde misfortune did not end with this. Enthused by an
Indian woman's account of a large number of Cendes and Mes-
caleros at the Aguaje del Tobaco, a waterhole far to the north-
west, so named, as Ugalde quaintly wrote, because tobacco grew
there, the expedition penetrated nearly to El Paso del Norte, only
to find that they had been forestalled by the Comanches, who
had wiped out the entire encampment. The hardy northern raiders
were never quite forgiven for the episode, Ugalde showing such
depth of feeling in his official reports and later correspondence
as to call forth sarcastic comments from Ugarte,18 that ever-
ready source of criticism. The return journey, however, was
slightly more profitable. In order that more ground might be
covered, the force was divided, fifty-two men under Lieutenant
Bustamante, of the company of the Alamo, reconnoitred the
Sierra del Guadalupe and killed or took prisoner six braves in
a brush with a small war-party of Indians. At the same time, a
Spaniard who had been in captivity for fourteen years was re-
covered.
A short time after this encounter one of the Mescalero allies,
while scouting a rancheria of his erstwhile compatriots, killed its
headman, capturing his wife and daughter. Upon being hotly
pursued by the fallen chief's followers, the newly made widow was
mercilessly slaughtered for delaying the flight, but the scout
tenaciously retained the girl, bringing her triumphantly back to
the troops. These minor actions ended the first phase of the
general campaign and served to brighten the outlook of the
comandante, he being naturally of an optimistic disposition. For
four and a half months Ugalde and his troops had been con-
s8Ugarte to Flores, Arispe, November 12, 1787, Provincias Internas, vol.
112, A. G. M.225
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 39, July 1935 - April, 1936, periodical, 1936; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101095/m1/245/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.