The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 98, July 1994 - April, 1995 Page: 405
682 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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A "lovely land full of roses and thorns"
1995
victory and was recognized by the government for his distinguished ser-
vice.62 Following the battle the expedition returned to Chihuahua City.
Langberg's responsibilities as inspector in Chihuahua permitted him
to play a role in the boundary survey beyond merely supplying escort for
the scientific teams. In September 185o, he reported to superiors in
Mexico City that floods had shifted the bed of the Rio Grande down-
stream from Paso del Norte to the south, moving that conceptual
boundary to Mexico's disadvantage.63 That news inspired the Mexican
commissioner, his old friend Pedro Garcia Conde, to stall the Rio
Grande survey in hopes that the lost territory would be restored natural-
ly before the survey of that section.6
In August 1852, Langberg was present during a meeting in Presidio
del Norte (Ojinaga, Chihuahua) between the two nations' boundary sur-
vey leaders, Maj. William H. Emory and Jose Salazar Ilarregui. On that
occasion Langberg presented Emory with a copy of a map of the Big
Bend stretch of the boundary river; it proved most helpful to the Ameri-
can engineers.65 One of the first practical maps of that difficult section, it
was drawn from the work of Langberg's surveyors during his 1851 cam-
paign. In addition to the Big Bend, it marked a trail south from Boquil-
las to Santa Rosa, and another from Santa Rosa to Fort Duncan at Eagle
Pass, Texas.66
In the spring of 1853, Langberg "settled a conflict between Mexico
and the United States" at Paso del Norte, quelling another incursion by
American "volunteers," and returned to Chihuahua City with his
62 Ibid., Box B, Expedici6n a la Laguna de Jaco. Authorities in Santa Rosa were asked to "at-
tend and transport" some of the sick and wounded from the battle, and recommendations were
made to provide appropriate pensions to the survivors and the families of the deceased.
63 Exp. 6-17-59, El Inspector de las Colomas Militares de Chihuahua comunlca que el Rio
Bravo ha formado un brazo que deja terrenos mexicanos del lado de Estado Umdos, Jose Maria
Lacunza to Pedro Garcia Conde, Oct. 25, 1850, 1, AHSRE.
64 Harry P. Hewitt, "The Mexican Commission and Its Survey of the Rio Grande River Bound-
ary, 1850-1854," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XCIV (Apr., 1991), 565.
1 William H. Emory, Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey. ., introduction
by William H. Goetzmann (3 vols.; Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1987), I, xix; Ron-
nie C. Tyler, The Big Bend: A Hstory of the Last Texas Frontier (Washington, D. C.: U.S. Department
of the Interior, 1975), 82. See note 13, citing the William H. Emory Papers. If the map given
Emory seemed simplistic or crude to him, it is interesting to note that several months later ex-
plorer Froebel wrote. "Langberg showed me here some beautifully-executed topographical draw-
ings belonging to the survey, by a Polish gentleman serving under him." Froebel, Seven Years
Travel, 332.
66 Emory, Report, xix-xxii, 11, 18-19, 84; Ron C. Tyler, "Exploring the Rio Grande," Arizona
and the West, X (Spring, 1968), 54-55; Tyler, The Big Bend, 14, 66, 67, 71, 82, 90. See also
William H. Goetzmann, "Science Explores the Big Bend," Password, III (Apr., 1958), 62-66. Two
maps ascribed to Langberg are presently located in the Sociedad Mexicana de Geografia y Es-
tadistica, Armando Sangnana and Maria Cnstina Sinchez de Bonfil, Catdlogo de mapas y pianos (2
vols.; Mexico, D. F.: Sociedad Mexicana de Geograffa y Estadistica, 1986), I, 40-41.405
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 98, July 1994 - April, 1995, periodical, 1995; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101216/m1/461/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.