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Show 462 BEST LOCATION FOR A PRESIDIO. ( place to be) on the Rio de la Asumpcion or in such of its vicinity as may be within the Tejua nation. This presidio would very suitably consist of 50 cuirassiers ( soldados de cuera), 80 dragoons, and 50 convicts- and if more, so much the better. In this way, and in this situation of good pasturage, can be furnished the guard necessary for the missions which may be founded on the Rio Gila. I regard this presidio as a formidable defense ( antemurdl) against the Apaches; for when they, harassed by our arms, may seek to retreat to our- I mean to their- lurking carilla, Jickorie, Ticorilla, etc., from xicara, a cup- shaped basket, from the Aztec xicara, a cup; so called on account of the small baskets which they made. These were the northernmost division of the Apache, being regarded as the northern stem of the Faraones or Apaches Vaqueros. Their principal habitat was northeastern and northern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado, about the headwaters of the Arkansaw and Canadian and the upper Rio Grande. They are now on a reservation in northwestern New Mexico, where they number 853.- F. W. H. " How to subdue the Apache" when we took possession of New Mexico and Arizona in 1846 was as serious a question as it had been in Garces' time; and it was not settled till General Crook finally accomplished the task, after these Indians had devastated much of the country for nearly 30 years after we acquired it. It is interesting to note that one of the means to this end which Garces recommended was the establishment of a presidio on Rio de la Asumpcion- precisely the measure which our government took when it planted Fort Verde on the river of that name. I was post surgeon there in 1881, and know how important a military establishment this one had been. |