Spanish colonization of the Americas had started in Mexico and then moved north into the present-day states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The Spanish viewed American Indians as a source of labor which could be exploited and the success of the Spanish colonies in the Americas was based on this exploitation.
Along with the Spanish colonies were the Spanish missions. In her book The Jumanos: Hunters and Traders of the South Plains, Nancy Parrott Hickerson writes:
“The church’s position was evangelical and paternalistic; the friars considered the Indians to be childlike but sinful beings. They were to be saved from perdition through baptism and, that accomplished, their way of life was to be transformed.”
Briefly described below are a few of the American Indian-Spanish events of 1774.
Northwest Coast
The Spanish, of course, had a long history of exploring, exploiting, and colonizing the southern Pacific Coast of North America and by the end of the eighteenth century were pushing north.
In 1774, Juan Pérez sailed north along the coast with instructions to take possession of all places suitable for European settlement in the name of Spain. At the northern end of Queen Charlotte Island in what is now British Columbia, Pérez was ceremonially welcomed by three Haida canoes. One of the ship’s officers threw a present (a cracker wrapped in a kerchief) into one of the canoes. The next day, trade began with the Haidas who offered him furs and fine wool blankets. In his chapter in North American Exploration. Volume 2: A Continent Defined, geographer James Gibson writes:
“He was met in ceremonious and friendly fashion by some Haidas, who were eager to trade, wanting mostly iron in exchange for Chilkat robes.”
On the return voyage, Pérez stopped at Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island and traded with the Nuu-chah-nulth. The Indians offered furs for Monterey shells and iron knives. James Gibson writes:
“The great eagerness of the Haidas and Nootkas for trade and the high quality of their trade goods (furs) told the Spaniards that there was considerable potential for commercial relations between the coastal Indians and European mariners, and that therefore the situation should be closely monitored; unlike Cook, however, they failed to recognize the real value of sea otter skins, perhaps because they did not yet know that these were prized by Chinese customers.”
In 1774, Spanish ships exploring the Pacific Coast were driven ashore at Point Grenville in present-day Washington state due to strong winds. The Spanish took formal possession of the bay. The Spanish sent ashore a party of seven men to obtain wood and water, but they were attacked by a force of 300 Indians. The Indians smashed the longboat and salvaged all of its iron. In retaliation, several Indians were killed when they approached one of the ships in a canoe.
Texas
The Spanish, in an attempt to stop the Comanche horse raids, sent out a French trader, J. Gaignard, to establish contact with the Comanches and establish peace with them. At a Taovaya village he encountered three Naintane Comanches and gave them tobacco for their chief. A few weeks later, a Comanche war party passed through the area and the trader also gave them tobacco.
The Taovayas, however, did not allow the trader to pass their village and travel on to the Comanche villages, even though one Comanche chief had invited him. Finally, Comanche Chief Evea arrived with numerous Comanches at the Taovaya village. Gaignard arranged for a great council. He made a plea for peace and gave out many gifts, including flags and blankets. There was no lasting peace as a result of this council.
In 1774, the Spanish established Pueblo de Bucareli on the banks of the Trinity River.
New Mexico
In 1774, a war party of 1,000 Comanche warriors raided the Pueblos of Santa Clara and San Juan. They killed seven men and captured 300 horses. The Comanches then hit the pueblos of Picurís and Nambé, killing two Picuriseños and running off the Nambé horse herd.
A war party of about 100 Comanches attacked Pecos Pueblo and was pursued by the Pueblos and Spanish. After five days, they caught up with the Comanches and attacked them. The Comanches counterattacked and forced the Spanish into a defensive square. That night, the Comanches were tricked into fleeing when a captive shouted that the Spanish were only a vanguard of a larger group. During the battle, 40 Comanche were killed.
A war party of about 200 Comanches attacked Albuquerque, killing five men and running off the horses.
In 1774, the Spanish under the leadership of Carlos Fernandez and some Pueblo allies, attacked a Comanche village near Spanish Peaks and took more than a hundred prisoners. Fernandez claimed to have killed 400 Comanches and captured 1,000 horses. However, the Comanche village contained only 60 lodges and had a population of about 300.
California
The Spanish missionary program was designed to bring about the total conversion of the Indians: to change them from pagans into Christians and from Indians into tax-paying Spanish citizens. In 1769, the Spanish Franciscans, a Catholic Order, began to establish a series of missions in California. In their book Indians, Franciscans, and Spanish Colonization: The Impact of the Mission System on California Indians, Robert Jackson and Edward Castillo report:
“The missionaries, assisted by soldiers, congregated Indians into communities organized along the lines of those in the core areas of Spanish America, where Indian converts were to be indoctrinated in Catholicism and taught European-style agriculture, leatherworking, textile production, and other skills deemed useful by the Spaniards.”
In 1774, the San Gabriel mission was moved because of problems with agriculture and hostility from the local Indians. The hostility from the local Indians had been caused by the brutality of the Spanish soldiers who were assigned to protect the mission.
More American Indian histories
Indians 101: Lord Dunmore's War of 1774
Indians 101: Some American Indian events 250 years ago, 1773
Indians 101: American Indians and Europeans 250 years ago, 1773
Indians 101: American Indians 250 years ago, 1772
Indians 201: The Tuscaroras join the Iroquois League
Indians 201: Queen Anne's War in the north
Indians 101: Washington's Chehalis Indians and the Americans in 1792
Indians 201: Ute Indians and the Spanish quest for silver in 1765