Villasur expedition

Part of the War of the Quadruple Alliance

Date	June 16 – August 14, 1720
Location	Great Plains, United States
Result	Pawnee and Otoe victory

Belligerents

Spain
Pueblo
Apache

Pawnee
Otoe

Commanders and leaders

Pedro de Villasur †

Jose Naranjo

Strength

40 Spanish soldiers
60-70 Pueblo warriors
12 Apache warriors

Casualties and losses

46 killed

The Villasur expedition of 1720 was a Spanish military expedition intended to check the growing French influence on the Great Plains of central North America. Led by Lieutenant-General Pedro de Villasur, the expedition was attacked in present-day Nebraska by a Pawnee and Otoe force. Forty-six of the Spaniards and their Indian allies were killed. The survivors retreated to their base in New Mexico.

In the first part of the 18th century, French explorers and fur traders began to enter the plains west of the Missouri River. In 1714, Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont became the first European known to have reached the mouth of the Platte River; other French traders may have visited the area and lived among the Indians. Spain, which had claimed "ownership" of the Great Plains since the Coronado expedition of the 16th century, worried about the expansion of French influence in the region. In 1718, the War of the Quadruple Alliance broke out between France and Spain.

The governor of the Spanish colony of Nuevo México, based in Santa Fe, directed Villasur to capture French traders on the plains. Spanish authorities hoped to gather intelligence about French ambitions in the region. Villasur, who had no experience of Indians, left Santa Fe on June 16, 1720, leading an expedition that included about 40 Cuera soldiers of a mounted frontier corps, 60-70 Pueblo allies, a priest, a Spanish trader, and approximately 12 Apache guides, who were tribal enemies of the Pawnee. Jose Naranjo, scout leader and explorer, was of African-Hopi parentage. A war captain for the Spanish Indian auxiliaries, Naranjo had by 1714 already explored the Platte River region three times.

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Wikipedia