The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992 Page: 209
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Embattled Borderland
the attackers in their tracks. The latter, stymied for the moment, re-
joined the main body along the road to Villaldama, where the whole
war party dismounted and ate lunch, behaving, as one of' the judges
later reported, "as though they had not a care in the world."7
Valenzuela and its neighbor had gained a respite, but at some cost.
The raiders had cut down a resident of' Bustamante, Rafael Reyes, in
the fields north of town, where they also captured a woman, Maria
Josefa Cruz. At about 2:oo P.M., the Indians raised a white flag and de-
manded a parley, to which the militiamen on the battle line agreed.
Many of their fellow citizens strongly objected to negotiations of any
kind: the attackers had been tentatively identified as Comanches (but
were, more probably, an amalgam of Comanches and Kiowas or other
allies). The twin communities had a long and bitter acquaintance with
Comanche ways, including their demonstrated untrustworthiness dur-
ing truces." All the same, the two sides eventually arranged a meeting,
where the raiders offered to free Maria Josefa in return for a "fat
horse." After some dickering, during which the northern Indians re-
jected three horses as not sufficiently sleek, negotiations broke off, and
the parley groups returned to their respective camps. Then tragedy in-
tervened: Maria Josefa's father-in-law, Jesis de Luna, desperate to ob-
tain her release, brought up another horse and made straight for the
enemy camp, ignoring appeals from his neighbors to stop. Shortly af-
terward, Juan Garcia, a close friend, rode by on a horse of his own to
offer for ransom, apparently unaware that Luna had preceded him.
Like Luna, he was oblivious to shouted warnings to turn back. The re-
sult was what the Cassandras of the embattled communities had feared:
both men were killed as soon as they reached the raiders, who there-
after broke camp and rode off toward Villaldama and the interior of
Nuevo Le6n.')
The impact of this single raid upon Bustamante and Valenzuela was
devastating. Besides the fatalities noted so far, the Comanches left at
least thirteen additional victims in the vicinity, including Maria Josefa,
who was probably despatched as soon as the parley on her behalf had
ended. Some of the dead, apparently, were never found and buried.
The attackers also abducted over a dozen other persons from the
locality, mostly pre-adolescent boys and girls; a few of them soon es-
caped and rejoined their families, while the rest may have been forcibly
'Ibid., 90-91, 94-95 (quotation)
"Ibid., 92, 95, 97. See A chivo Municipal de Bustamante Documentos D)lversos (cited here-
after as AMB/DD), vol 6, exp 152 (reel 927), is 1-2, for a warning to Bustamante against
treating with Comanche "peace" delegations, Oct. 14, 1827
'Vizcaya Canales (ed ), La mvad6 de los lndwo bdbros, 96 (quotation), 97209
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992, periodical, 1992; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117153/m1/255/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.