Chap. IV. Basques in America. A duel in Comanche land
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Rumours spoke of an army of shadows that always rode in the light of the full moon. Their cries, they said, were a harbinger of devastation. When Comanche horsemen entered New Mexico in the early 18th century, they declared war on the white man and cornered the Spanish settlers in their own forts. ©Photographs by David Quintas and text by Martín Ibarrola.
Journalist S. C. Gwynne notes that there was "only one truly great governor who accomplished what two centuries of predecessors in office and, subsequently, dozens of politicians, Indian agents and American armies failed to achieve: a genuine peace treaty with the Comanche". The man's name was Juan Bautista Anza and he was the son of a soldier, miner and explorer from Hernani who found a new home in the Mexican province of Sonora (now Arizona).
The Guipuzcoan died in an Apache ambush and Anza grew up an orphan on the wild plains of the American West. After a successful military career, he was appointed Governor of New Mexico and made an unusual decision. The Creole called up the "soldados de cuera", gathered volunteers, summoned friendly tribes and, on 15 August 1779, set out with 600 men into the heart of Comanche territory.
Their objective was to wipe out Cuerno Verde, a ruthless native who swore revenge after the Spanish killed his father. To avoid detection, the governor's troops advanced by night and crept stealthily through the Rocosas. Crossing the Almagre Mountains, they found a native settlement and, although Cuerno Verde and most of the warriors were absent, they attacked. After interrogating the prisoners, Anza knew that the Comanches would soon return from their southern raids, so he set up a deadly ambush.
The attack surprised the Indian leader, who fought to his death on the battlefield. After this show of force, the governor turned to diplomacy, sought the respect of his adversaries, and allowed free trade in New Mexico. Chroniclers say that the embrace between Anza and the great chief Ecueracapa, son of Cuerno Verde, lasted long minutes and forged one of the most enduring peace treaties in American history.
This is not his only feat. While still a captain, Anza opened the first overland route from Arizona to the coast of Alta California (Upper California), a route that the Spanish -including his father- had pursued for decades. The explorer would repeat the expedition accompanied by 240 settlers, 110 of whom were children. They travelled across 2,000km of desert, trekked for months on the verge of dehydration, had several births and marriages, crossed sandstorms and endured all manner of unforeseen events.
It took a year for Anza's caravan to reach the Californian bay, which, according to the Franciscan Pedro Font, had a "most delightful view" of the sea. The surviving settlers founded a new mission there and laid the foundations of the city we now call San Francisco. The trail blazed by that Basque-born cowboy was designated a National Historic Trail by the US Congress in 1990 and a sign now tells hikers its name: Anza's Trail.
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