On the disadvantages of the large caballada situado & the rising military parity of the frontier Indians. Forwards his memo on the drawbacks of horse-herd situados (vide pp.3–9) for opinion; argues a California soldier needs fewer than 7 horses + 1 mule given his lighter fatigues vs. Sonora. Striking verbatim passage: when the enemy Indians were first encountered they 'ignoraban el uso de nuestros caballos y armas' and 2 soldiers could rout hundreds — but now 'todos los indios bárbaros que nos hacen la guerra saben ya el uso del arma de fuego, y algunas naciones la poseen con más acierto y seguridad que nuestras tropas mal disciplinadas, habiendo adelantado en el de sus flechas, lanzas y macanas'; they attack in equal numbers, dispute actions, rove the royal roads at will — 'se acabó el tiempo en que un pequeño número de nuestros soldados se hacía respetar de multitud de indios.' After 40 years of war the frontier costs the King >$804,000/year. Closes: ceasing horse/mule breeding in California & the frontier provinces would deter foreigners from penetrating these dominions (they would lack transport across the intervening deserts). Orig. pp.57–65.
| Date | 1780-09-22 (exact) |
|---|---|
| From | Teodoro de Croix |
| To | [superior/Viceroy] |
| Place | Arizpe (Sonora) |
| Series | Provincial State Papers, Benicia (Military) |
| Tomo | IV |
| Original tomo page | 57–65 |
| Savage copy page | 145–147 |
| Scan leaf | n147–n149 |
| Document type | correspondence/memo |
| Source | Savage abstract |
Read this leaf on the Internet Archive ↗ · leaf n147–n149
Teodoro de Croix to [superior/Viceroy], Arizpe (Sonora), 1780-09-22, Provincial State Papers, Benicia (Military), IV, 57–65, Archives of California, C-A 15, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.Cite the document by series, tomo and original tomo page, as the literature does; the C-A number locates it in the repository. To cite this catalogue entry itself, use https://archivesofcalifornia.com/record/ca15/ca15-d173.html