Heroes of the Santa Fe Trail

by Randy D. Smith

  Don Francisco had nine children, four boys and five girls. Mariano Jose’ was the oldest and most influential with knowledge of English, French and Latin. A brother, Tomas had been sent to Durango, Mexico, for higher education and remained as an influential lawyer and judge. The younger brothers, Antonio Jose’ and Jose’, were probably equally well educated, something comparatively rare in New Mexico at that time. Jose’, the youngest, became acting governor of New Mexico in 1845 and was married to a niece of Manuel Armijo, governor of New Mexico when it fell to Stephen Kearny’s forces.

  The Chavez family enjoyed enormous profits by freighting and wholesaling goods from the United States to New Mexico over the Santa Fe Trail. From New Mexico to the interior of Mexico by way of the old camino real or royal road established by the system of Catholic missions throughout the Southwest and California, many of the rich families and ruling elite were able to consolidate their hold upon the provincial economies and thereby increased their influence after the arrival of the Anglos. The “rich got richer” and the “poor did a bit better.”

  Throughout the 1820s and 30s the Chavez brothers, Mariano, Jose’ and Antonio Jose’ all undertook trips east to make purchases from wholesalers and importers. The Chavez brothers customarily left their wagons and crews in Independence, Missouri, and went to St. Louis, Pittsburgh and even New York to purchase goods for return to Santa Fe. They had lots of money, spent lots of money and made lots of money. Therefore, they became highly influential throughout the parts of the free enterprise conscious United States where they traded. Money talked and the Chavez family spoke with a loud voice.

  Tragedy and a major international incident involved the Chavez family in the winter of 1843. Antonio, then in his late 20s, left Santa Fe in February for Missouri with two wagons and five men. He carried a large shipment of furs, fifty-five head of mules, and an estimated $25,000 in specie and gold. If family trade patterns continued as usual, he planned to sell the mules and furs in the Missouri markets, take the money east to purchase large quantities of trade goods, and form or join a caravan to return with these goods to Santa Fe in the spring.

  The winter had been mild and Chavez left a month earlier than usual. About four miles southeast of present-day, Lyons, Kansas, Chavez’s group was waylaid by a bitterly cold winter storm. The weather was so bad that Chavez lost all but five of his mules to exposure. His group had no choice but to wait for another caravan to come along. It is said that for security reasons, Chavez buried most of his money along a small creek where they were stranded.

  Within a few days, a party of fifteen horsemen approached the Chavez camp. A ruffian named John McDaniel, who held a commission in the Texas army, given him by Charles Warfield, led them. McDaniel was to join Warfield as part of a Texas force to raid Mexican commerce on the Santa Fe Trail to provide income for a cash-starved Texas Republic from lands that the Republic claimed.

  When McDaniel realized that the camp belonged to Mexicans, he ordered his men to rob them and allowed the men to divide the loot among them. Seven of McDaniel’s men then left with what loot they had. The remainder stayed behind with McDaniel in an effort to locate more. It was common knowledge that Mexicans traveling east often carried substantial amounts of cash for purchasing goods. When McDaniel searched Chavez he found a small amount of money on his person and demanded to know where the rest was hidden. When Chavez refused to answer, McDaniel had him beaten severely. Beating followed beating until Chavez admitted that there was more money but refused to reveal the location.

  Two more terrible days of stalemate and beatings followed. With nothing to lose, certainly not his life at that point, Chavez refused to tell. He was taken to the edge of the creek where he attempted an escape, was run down, and upon threat of death, refused to give any further information. McDaniel executed Chavez and threw his body unceremoniously into the creek. Chavez’s servants were turned out upon the winter prairie to perish without proper clothing or food. McDaniel and his thugs rode on for the Big Bend region of the Arkansas.

  An American trader named Reuben Gentry had been following Chavez’s small caravan. Caught in the same winter storm, he had also suffered greatly but managed to save his livestock. He expected to catch Chavez and was surprised to see tracks where the Chavez group had turned south. His own party was too weak to follow and he elected to continue east. After a while he became suspicious, and by the time he reached Independence on April 19, voiced his concerns about Chavez’s fate.

  The disappearance and eventual discovery of the fate of Chavez created a major international incident between Texas, Mexico and the United States. The United States immediately deployed dragoons to investigate the matter. McDaniel and his men were captured and two, McDaniel and Joseph Brown, were executed, largely because of the influence of Don Mariano Jose’ Chavez. Uncle Dick Wootton said at the time that McDaniel’s major mistake was to assault such a preeminent family as the Chavez’s. The implication of the statement is that the punishment would have not been as severe had a Mexican family of less importance been involved.

  For a time the Chavez family was bitter about the murder of Antonio but the executions of Brown and McDaniel seem to have provided enough retribution to settle the issue. The family continued in the Santa Fe Trade, and certain members were refuted to be millionaires by the 1860s.

  Ethnocentric perceptions colored many of the writings about the New Mexico merchant class throughout the early years of the Santa Fe trade. There is also the clear difference in the socio-economic standings of both sides of the Santa Fe trade. The Yankees involved in the trade were largely working class individuals without formal education, although certainly more than the American average. The New Mexico traders tended to be the ricos who maintained their economic standings with an iron fist of control over the commoners of the Rio Grande Valley. New Mexican peasants were looked down upon by both with the same racist tendencies. How else can Bent’s harsh statements be reconciled with the fact that he married into a New Mexico family and held his relatives in high regard? It is because he was not talking of the upper classes in his statement but rather the peasant class in general. It that regard he was no different than the gente fina of the Rio Grande Valley, and as we saw in the last chapter, it cost him his life.

  In general, the New Mexican merchants more than held their own against Yankee intrusions for a substantial period of time. It was only with the advantages that the Americans gained from the Mexican War that many were toppled from power and influence. Most, however, survived and went on to develop with the country as New Mexico developed into a territory and eventually a member of the United States of America. The problem with recognizing the importance and contributions made by the Mexicans is representative of many views of history, the failure to see the situation from both sides of the mirror, in this case the Anglo viewpoint refusing to recognize the Mexican.

  Chapter 7

  With Riley, On the Border

  Major Bennet Riley

  The First Military Escort of the Santa Fe Trail was a daring adventure of experimentation, bravery, cowardice and endurance.

  Missouri traders garnered a bonanza in profits from the Mexican settlements of Taos, Santa Fe and Chihuahua during the first five years of the Santa Fe Trade in the 1820s. While men of wealth dominated the beaver trapping industry of the Rockies, the Santa Fe trade was within the common merchant’s realm of influence. Tales of great profits during the early years enticed men into mortgaging everything they had to purchase goods and equipment for trading on the Santa Fe market. The Santa Fe trade represented a highly risky capital venture, however. If a merchant was willing to brave the Plains extremes of weather and environment, he could expect a healthy one hundred per cent or more return on his investment. If unfortunate, he could lose everything.

  William Bent

  Indians were generally not a problem during the early years of the trade. As long as the traders traveled in large caravans, they were allowed to pass unmolested.

/>   Early traders developed a seasonal pattern of travel to Santa Fe. The first caravan usually left Franklin, Missouri, around the beginning of May. To leave much earlier usually meant that there wasn’t enough graze to sustain the livestock properly. To leave much later put the trains squarely on the dreaded Jornada del Muerte a barren stretch of the Southwest Plains Cimarron Cut-off during hot, dry weather. There was the danger of deficiencies of water and extreme stress on the livestock and men when crossing during mid-summer. If all went well, the caravan reached Santa Fe around the twentieth of July. Once in Santa Fe the traders attempted to dispense their goods quickly and leave by the middle of August. Such a departure date put the traders back on the Plains by the middle of September, still warm enough for pleasant travel and yet not so late that dangerous winter storms might overwhelm them. If all went well, the adventurers were back in Missouri by October with enough profits to live comfortably and purchase goods for the next season’s trade.

  During late September of 1828, tragic events changed the entire nature of the Santa Fe trade. The first caravan of the season, under the leadership of Bill Sublette and M. M. Marmaduke, was returning to Missouri after a highly profitable and uneventful trek. Two traders, Daniel Munroe and a young man named McNees, rode ahead of the caravan. About 40 miles southwest of the Cimarron River, while napping on the banks of a small stream, later named McNees Creek, they were shot with their own weapons. McNees died on the spot and Munroe finally succumbed after the caravan carried him to the banks of the Cimarron.

  As the funeral ceremonies were concluding, a band of seven Indians appeared on the opposite bank of the Cimarron. Having already decided that Indians were responsible for the death of their comrades, the traders invited the braves into camp for a parley. It didn’t take long for the visitors to realize that their welcome was not what was expected. After a brief confrontation, the Indians wheeled about and attempted to leave. The traders opened fire and killed all save one, who presumably returned to his people with the news of the massacre. All hell broke loose on the Santa Fe Trail as raiding parties wracked returning traders. Before making it back to Franklin, the Sublette-Marmaduke party lost a thousand horses and mules to a raiding party. The following caravan under Captain John Means had to literally fight a path through a gauntlet of raiders for days on end. Members of the party became so exhausted that a few fell from their mounts after falling asleep. Means was hacked to death and scalped while trying to form a rear guard defense.

  Eventually, after losing all livestock and wagons, survivors buried most of their gold and silver coin on Chouteau’s Island in the Arkansas River section of Adam’s Desert, just west of the lower crossing near present-day, Dodge City, Kansas. The party walked the final five hundred miles on foot. When the first of Means’ starving band reached Independence, Missouri, the remainder was strung for one hundred fifty miles along the trail, some too weak to even speak. One man, named Herriman, was found lying on his back, blind, with a stick in his hand to keep prairie wolves from attacking him. Estimated losses on the trail that year amounted to between thirty and forty thousand dollars. What began as an uneventful season, ended with financial and personal disaster for many.

  Newspapers, politicians and business interests of the day demanded action from the government. By far the most popular demand was for the establishment of a military post along the Arkansas River at the boundary between the United States and Mexico. A military post in the heart of Indian country four hundred miles from the nearest neighboring fort was not practical. Another problem was that the United States had no mounted troops at that time. It was estimated that at least two companies of infantry and two of dragoons were necessary to patrol the trail from Cantonment Leavenworth to the Mexican border and hold such an isolated position on the edge of the Cimarron desert. Finally, since almost all Indian engagements were taking place on Mexican soil, a U.S. post situated on the north side of the Arkansas River was practically worthless unless some kind of treaty could be established with the Mexican government for U.S. troops to cross the border. Considering well-founded Mexican suspicion of the aggressively expansionist Anglos, such a treaty was unlikely.

  In spite of such faults, lobbyist activities from several sources, including influential Thomas Hart Benton, forced a bill through Congress “to provide for the better defense of the Western Frontier of the United States, and for the better security of the inland trade with Mexico.” It briefly authorized President Andrew Jackson to mount four infantry companies to protect and defend Santa Fe Trail trade.

  The farthest military post of the time was newly established Cantonment Leavenworth on the eastern Kansas frontier. Three companies of the Sixth infantry were ordered to the post under the command of Brevet Major Bennet Riley for caravan escort duty. At forty-two, Riley was an officer of long and distinguished service and veteran of the War of 1812. Riley was commonly known for tact, efficiency, courtesy, and regarded as a tough by-the-book officer. Riley was also at a difficult period of his career. Given a customary brevet rank of major in place of decorations or pay increases, Riley had been a captain for ten years. Advancement to the higher ranks was difficult for any officer in such a small, poorly financed army organization as the United States maintained at that time.

  One of the youngest officers in the command was Second Lieutenant Philip St. George Cooke. Cooke functioned as chronicler for the expedition and most of what is known of this incident comes from Cooke’s authorship of both a journal and Riley’s official report. Cooke would go on to serve for many years along the Santa Fe Trail as a dragoon officer. Although later serving as a Union cavalry officer in the Civil War under McClellan, Cooke was the father-in-law of J.E.B. Stuart, and his son was also a Confederate officer. An excellent campaign officer against Indians in the West, Cooke did not enjoy great military success in the Civil War. Cooke died in 1895, the last commissioned survivor of the 1829 expedition. Riley and Cooke were the only officers of the unit to be promoted above the rank of captain in the following years.

  Riley made a groundbreaking decision for the expedition. Mules and horses were the usual draft animals of the plains. By attempting the use of much cheaper yoked oxen to pull the wagons, Riley could save enough to outfit supplies for the entire expedition. This was a dangerous experiment because no one was certain if the animals could hold up to the demands of the trail. If the oxen played out, Riley’s entire command could face the same tribulations of the Means party. Never the less, sixty yoke of oxen were procured to pull nineteen wagons and a cart.

  On June 3, 1829, Major Riley’s escort battalion crossed the Missouri River opposite Cantonment Leavenworth. It became apparent that the oxen promised to do very well on the trek, once covering twenty-four miles in a day. The force joined a civilian caravan of approximately sixty men and thirty-nine wagons under the captaincy of Charles Bent.

  Rather than marching among the wagons, the unit advanced ahead remaining in the general vicinity usually making fifteen to eighteen miles a day. Of the next one hundred and forty miles to Council Grove, oxen and men remained in good condition.

  Council Grove was a popular assembly point along the trail. Well watered with good sources of timber for cooking and wagon repair, caravans usually rested there for a few days before moving on. The following morning it became apparent that the caravan was entering Indian Territory. Six horses, three of them officers’ and three belonging to a local sutler, were stolen during the night. To make matters worse, a courier from Leavenworth had arrived and informed Riley that he had not encountered two soldiers detailed from the column to provide escort. Riley abandoned plans to send his own couriers back to Leavenworth with mission reports. One or two men would have little chance if picked off by small war parties roaming the area. He decided to push on without keeping in contact with the outpost.

  Progress was generally slow as the caravan ventured on toward the international border of the Arkansas River. Riley placed his troops on half rations of flour and reserved
salt pork issues for emergencies by the time he reached the river on the first of July. Buffalo meat was used to sustain the troops. On the ninth, his unit assisted the caravan with the river crossing three miles below Chouteau’s Island, commonly referred to as the Upper Crossing. The next morning Riley forded the river and held conference with Bent and other caravan interests. He sent a letter to the governor of Santa Fe relating his plans to wait for the caravan’s return in early October.

  ***

  Charles Bent had a request of his own. He asked for the use of a yoke of oxen to test their performance on the remainder of the trail. If the animals continued to perform as well as they had, it would make a significant difference in future caravan expenses. Riley complied eagerly.

  Riley also detailed a squad to accompany Milton Bryan to the cache on Chouteau’s Island to secure the silver from the Means expedition if it remained. Although flooding had washed away the earth leaving the silver exposed to view, it was reclaimed, packed in sacks and entrusted to Riley’s keeping.

  Bent’s caravan advanced only nine miles before the sand dunes on the south bank caused the teams to become dangerously strung out as one wagon after another became stalled in the loose sand. Bent heeded Riley’s advice and dispatched sixteen men to act as advance and rear guards. He could not persuade the guards to ride the crests of the hills on either side of the depression through which the train traveled. Although this would have been an excellent method of watching for progression of hostile forces, men feared being silhouetted against the horizon and therefore likely targets for Indian snipers.