First Battle of Terrenate
Encyclopedia
The First Battle of Terrenate in July, 1776 was a military engagement during the Spanish
period
of Arizona
. It was fought between Spanish soldier
s and Apache
warrior
s, near the Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate
in the present day southern Arizona.
, was chosen on August 22, 1775 by Hugo O'Conor, an Irish
mercenary
in charge of relocating Spanish fortification
s on the Sonora
n frontier
. The spot was on a bluff
overlooking the San Pedro River, which provided natural fortifications on three sides.
The walls were built in the shape of a large square, with one triangular bastion
at a corner to protect the presidio
's two front walls and a main gate protected by a two-story guardhouse
. Several adobe-walled structures and jacal
s were also constructed to house the families of the garrison
soldiers, along with a small barracks
, an officer's quarters, a chapel
and a plaza
. The area had pasturage, wood and water.
The garrison consisted of the commander, Francisco Tovar and fifty-six heavy cavalry
men, a few artillery
pieces had not yet arrived at the isolated post which was still incomplete at the time of battle. The fighting men were armed with pistol
s, musket
s, sword
s and lance
s.
Although not the first Apache-Spanish battle involving the Santa Cruz de Terreante soldiers, the battle on July 7, 1776 was said to have occurred at the fort, but it did not, according to archaeologists Deni Seymour and Mark Harlan who have reviewed the documentary evidence. The battle took place along the San Pedro River, near the uncompleted fort, and it left the commander and twenty-four of his men dead after a long fight. According to this new information, the Spaniards saw the Apache fording the San Pedro somewhere to the north of the presidio, and although unprepared, they pursued the Apache. Armed with bows and arrows the Apache resisted the attack, pushing the Spanish back. The Spaniards eventually forded the river but were then overwhelmed. Some Apaches were also killed or wounded; exact numbers are unknown. A few Spaniards survived to tell the story.
, within modern day Mexico
, on the San Ignacio River. When they arrived they found that forty Apaches had looted the settlement, murdered the inhabitants and burned the church. The incident became known as the Magdalena Massacre
. Apache attacks on Fort Terrenate became so fierce that over eighty men perished while manning it, during only four years of its use; two of the dead were commanders.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
period
Spanish period of Arizona
In the late 18th century, colonists began steadily entering the region of northern New Spain that is the modern-day U.S. state of Arizona. They were attracted by reports of the discovery of deposits of silver around the Arizonac mining camp...
of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. It was fought between Spanish soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s and Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
warrior
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
s, near the Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate
Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate
The Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate, or Fort Terrenate, among several other names, is a former Spanish military presidio, or fortress, located roughly west of the town of Tombstone, Arizona in the United States of America.- History :...
in the present day southern Arizona.
Background
The fortress of Santa Cruz de Terrenate site, near the middle of the San Pedro RiverSan Pedro River (Arizona)
San Pedro River is a northward-flowing stream originating about ten miles south of Sierra Vista, Arizona near Cananea, Sonora, Mexico. It is one of only two rivers which flow north from Mexico into the United States. The river flows north through Cochise County, Pima County, Graham County, and...
, was chosen on August 22, 1775 by Hugo O'Conor, an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
in charge of relocating Spanish fortification
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
s on the Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
n frontier
Frontier
A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...
. The spot was on a bluff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
overlooking the San Pedro River, which provided natural fortifications on three sides.
The walls were built in the shape of a large square, with one triangular bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...
at a corner to protect the presidio
Presidio
A presidio is a fortified base established by the Spanish in North America between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fortresses were built to protect against pirates, hostile native Americans and enemy colonists. Other presidios were held by Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth...
's two front walls and a main gate protected by a two-story guardhouse
Guardhouse
A guardhouse is a building used to house personnel and security equipment...
. Several adobe-walled structures and jacal
Jacal
The jacal is an adobe style housing structure historically found throughout parts of the south-western United States and Mexico. The structure was employed by some Native people of the Americas prior to European colonization and was later employed by both Hispanic and Anglo settlers in Texas and...
s were also constructed to house the families of the garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
soldiers, along with a small barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
, an officer's quarters, a chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
and a plaza
Plaza
Plaza is a Spanish word related to "field" which describes an open urban public space, such as a city square. All through Spanish America, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be...
. The area had pasturage, wood and water.
The garrison consisted of the commander, Francisco Tovar and fifty-six heavy cavalry
Heavy cavalry
Heavy cavalry is a class of cavalry whose primary role was to engage in direct combat with enemy forces . Although their equipment differed greatly depending on the region and historical period, they were generally mounted on large powerful horses, and were often equipped with some form of scale,...
men, a few artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
pieces had not yet arrived at the isolated post which was still incomplete at the time of battle. The fighting men were armed with pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
s, musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
s, sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s and lance
Lance
A Lance is a pole weapon or spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior. The lance is longer, stout and heavier than an infantry spear, and unsuited for throwing, or for rapid thrusting. Lances did not have tips designed to intentionally break off or bend, unlike many throwing weapons of the...
s.
Battle
The Spaniards did not have long to wait before hostile Apaches began to harass the settlement, attacking anyone who ventured out for water or those who tried to plant crops in the nearby fields. Apaches were attracted by the large number of horses kept at the settlement and they ran off the herds whenever they were unguarded. The Apache also burned the fields of crops and the jacals.Although not the first Apache-Spanish battle involving the Santa Cruz de Terreante soldiers, the battle on July 7, 1776 was said to have occurred at the fort, but it did not, according to archaeologists Deni Seymour and Mark Harlan who have reviewed the documentary evidence. The battle took place along the San Pedro River, near the uncompleted fort, and it left the commander and twenty-four of his men dead after a long fight. According to this new information, the Spaniards saw the Apache fording the San Pedro somewhere to the north of the presidio, and although unprepared, they pursued the Apache. Armed with bows and arrows the Apache resisted the attack, pushing the Spanish back. The Spaniards eventually forded the river but were then overwhelmed. Some Apaches were also killed or wounded; exact numbers are unknown. A few Spaniards survived to tell the story.
Aftermath
In August the fort finally received a shipment of weapons. Captain Francisco Ignacio de Trespalacios replaced the fallen commander and brought reinforcements to bring their number up to eighty-three men. In mid-November, 1776, Trespalacios led thirty of them to the mission of MagdalenaMagdalena de Kino
Magdalena de Kino is a city and surrounding municipality located in the Mexican state of Sonora covering approximately 560 square miles . According to the 2005 census, the city's population was 23,101, and the municipality's population was 25,500. Magdalena de Kino is in the northern section of...
, within modern day Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, on the San Ignacio River. When they arrived they found that forty Apaches had looted the settlement, murdered the inhabitants and burned the church. The incident became known as the Magdalena Massacre
Second Magdalena Massacre
The Second Magdalena Massacre was an attack by Apaches against the Spanish mission village of Magdalena de Kino, in the present day northern Mexico...
. Apache attacks on Fort Terrenate became so fierce that over eighty men perished while manning it, during only four years of its use; two of the dead were commanders.
See also
- Spanish period of ArizonaSpanish period of ArizonaIn the late 18th century, colonists began steadily entering the region of northern New Spain that is the modern-day U.S. state of Arizona. They were attracted by reports of the discovery of deposits of silver around the Arizonac mining camp...
- Capture of Tucson (1846)Capture of Tucson (1846)The Capture of Tucson was a United States attack on the Mexican city of Tucson, Sonora, now the present day Tucson, Arizona. The would be combatants were provisional Mexican Army troops and the American Mormon Battalion. Tucson fell in December of 1846 without resistance.-Capture:The...
- Capture of Tucson (1862)Capture of Tucson (1862)The Capture of Tucson was a United States attack on Tucson in Confederate Arizona on May 20, 1862. A Union force of 2,000 took the city from ten Tucson militiamen without a shot fired.-Background:...
- Siege of TubacSiege of TubacThe Siege of Tubac was a siege of the Apache Wars, between settlers and militia of Confederate Arizona and Chiricahua Apaches. The battle took place at Tubac in the present day southern Arizona...
- American Indian Wars
- Apache WarsApache WarsThe Apache Wars were a series of armed conflicts between the United States and Apaches fought in the Southwest from 1849 to 1886, though other minor hostilities continued until as late as 1924. The Confederate Army participated in the wars during the early 1860s, for instance in Texas, before being...
- Navajo WarsNavajo WarsThe Navajo Wars were a series of battles and other conflicts, often separated with treaties that involved raids by different Navajo bands on the rancheras along the Rio Grande and the counter campaigns by the Spanish, Mexican, and United States governments, and sometimes their civilian elements....