Socolow Susan - Spanish Captives in Indian Societies

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Spanish Captives in Indian Societies: Cultural Contact along the Argentine Frontier, 1600-1835Author(s): Susan Migden SocolowSource: The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 72, No. 1 (Feb., 1992), pp. 73-99Published by: Duke University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2515948.

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2/28

HispanicAmiierican

istoricalReview

2:1

Copyright

?

1992 by Duke Universityress

ccc ooi8-2i68/92/$1.50

Spanish

Captives

n Indian

Societies:

CulturalContact

Along

he

Argentine rontier, 600-1835

SUSAN MIGDEN SOCOLOW

EU

O

P

E

A

N

-

N

D

I

A

N frontiers, he intermediate

zones

between

areas of secure European settlement

and those where Amerindians maintained their au-

tonomy,were similar n many ways in the American empires

of Spain and

Great Britain. In both colonial empires frontier egions were

usually zones

oftension nd conflict,where frequent aiding ometimes ave way to

open

warfare. n

bothempires,

iolencebetweenEuropeans

nd Indians

regularlyed to mutual aking

f aptives.While iterate nglo-Americans

had little nterest

n

captured

ndians nd rarely othered o record nfor-

mation bout them, hey

were often nterested

n

their ellows

who had

been

held

captiveby

ndians.As a result

Anglo-American

istorical

itera-

ture ncludes substantial ocumentary

ecord n

European

aptives,

ma-

terial hatprovides xtremely

aluable,often nique, nformationbout

the societies n both

sides ofthe frontiernd their nteraction.'

rontier

The authorwould ike to thankJames aeger,

Kristine ones,Juan

Carlos

Garavaglia,

nd

John uricek or heirhelpful omments n

earlier ersions f his

paper.

i.

The studies

f

aptives

n

English

America nclude

James

Axtell: he

nvasionWithin

(1986), The European and the ndian 1981),

nd The White ndians

fColonialAmerica,

William nd Mary

Quarterly 2 (1975),55-88; Alden T. Vaughan,

Crossing he Cultural

Divide: Indians ild

New

Englanders, 605-1763,

roceedingsf heAmerican ntiquarian

Society

go

(April 1980),

23-99

(with

D. Richter), nd Puritans mong the Indians

(with

Edward

W.

Clark).See alsoJ.Norman

Heard, White nto Red: A Study f theAssimilation

of

WhitePersons

Capturedby

ndians

Metuchen,N.J.:

Scarecrow

ress,

1973);

A.

Irving

Hallowell, American ndians,White nd

Black:The Phenomenon

fTransculturalization,

CurrentAnthropology

(i963),

519-31.

One ofthe major ources

vailable o U.S. histori-

ans has been thecaptivity arrative;ee WilcombWashburn, d., The Garland Library f

Narratives f

NorthAmerican ndian Captivities

New York:Garland,1977). For an

inter-

esting nalysis f the weakness fthese

ources ee

Rov

Harvey

Pearce, The Significances

of

the Captivity

Narrative, merican iterature

9

(1947), 1-20.

Because Latin America

lacked both a strong

radition f widespread

iteracy nd a religious radition hat mpha-

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74

|

HAHR

I

FEBRUARY

I

SUSAN MIGDEN

SOCOLOW

relations etween

Europeans nd Indianshave been studied ar ess thor-

oughlyforSpanish

America, lthough ecentworkon northernMexico

and New Mexicohas begun to examine his uestion n a SpanishAmeri-

can

context.2 his essay

s

intended s a

contributionowardfilling hat

gap

in the

historicaliterature or ne frontier

rea, central nd southern

Argentina, sing the often ragmentaryut

nonetheless ntriguing ata

from he sixteentho the earlynineteenth

enturies.

Patterns f Frontier

Relations

The southern egionof South

America,

he area

that n the

eighteenth

centurywould become theViceroyaltyf the Rio de la Plata, was, like

northernMexico, a

region nhabited y several ndian societies ble to

fend

ff panish

onquest

n

greater

r esser

degree

until

he

nineteenth

century. he

independence f hesegroupswas n part ided by the adop-

tionof the horse,which

by

the

end

ofthe

sixteenth

entury ad become

an

integral art

of ndigenous ulture

n

southern outh America.As

a

complement o the

Indians' warrior thos, the animal allowed for the

development f a

horse culture nd permittedndiansto imagine nd

sometimes o achieve

militaryqualitywith he

Spaniards. ndian tribes

also gradually ecamedependent n cattle s both source ffood nd an

object oftrade

with

ther ndians

nd Spaniards like. But t s the horse

sized the Babylonian aptivity,aptivity arratives ere relatively areduring he colonial

period.

The most

well-knownaptivity arrativen LatinAmerica s Cautiveriofeliz, ritten

by FranciscoNnfiez ineda y Buscafian, eld captive

n

Chile n

1629

for evenmonths. or

Argentina,

.

Guinnard, res nos

de

esclavitud ntre

os

Patagones BuenosAires-M6xico:

Espasa-Calpe, 1941), recounts Frenchman's xperiences

n

1856-59. Some

studieshave

concentrated n the

arger

ssue ofwarfare

long hecolonial rontier,ncluding uanCarlos

Garavaglia, La guerra n el Tucuman olonial: ociedady economia n un area de frontera

(1660-1760), HISLA 4 (i984), 21-34; PhilipW. Powell, Soldiers, ndians, and Silver:The

NorthwardAdvance of New Spain,

1550-16oo

(Berkeley:

Univ. of California

ress, 1952);

AlvaroJara,Guerre et societe u Chile: Essai de sociologie oloniale Paris: Inistitut

es

Hautes Etudes de l'Am6rique atine, 1961). For captives n non-Indianiociety ee ElleniG.

Friedman, panish Captives

n

NorthAfrica n the Early ModernAge (Madisoln:

Univ. of

Wisconsin ress, 1983).

2.

On

Mexico, see Oakah

L.

Jones,Nueva Vizcaya:Heartland f the

SpanishFrontier

(Albuquerque:

Univ.

ofNew MexicoPress,1988);ThomasH. Naylor nd CharlesW.

Polzer,

The

Presidio nd the Militia

on

theNorthern rontier f New Spain: A

Documentary

is-

tory Tucson:

Univ.

of ArizonaPress, 1986). Two notable xceptions o this

generalization

are PeterAlan Stern, Social Marginalitynd Acculturationn the Northern rontier fNew

Spain Ph.D. diss.,

Univ.

ofCalifornia, erkeley, 984),312-53; and GabrielGuarda Gey-

witz, Los cautivos n la guerra e Arauco, Boletin e la AcademiaChilena de la Historia

54:98 (1987),93-157.

The first

escriptionfSpanish aptives

n

the Latin

Americani

istori-

cal

literatures provided y BernalDiaz del Castillo,who encountered wo

Spanish aptives

in his 1519 expedition o Mexico. BernalDiaz del Castillo,The Discovery nd

Conquest of

Mexico,1517-1521 New York:Harper& Bros., 1950),45-46.



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SPANISH CAPTIVES

IN INDIAN SOCIETIES

75

thatheightened

he

level of conflict

mong ndian

groups nd between

Indians

nd white

ociety.3n addition,

hese ndian

groups endedto

in-

habit onesthatwere either eripheralr inaccessible o themainstream

of Spanish

colonization,

o

live in

dispersed

nd smallcommunities,

nd

to be adept

at the techniques f eminomadic

iving nd guerrilla

arfare.

From

the beginnings f

Spanish ettlement

n the sixteenth

entury,

ranches, owns,

nd citieswere periodically

hreatened

y Indian raids:

to thenorth he

Ava-Chiriguanosnd

the Calchaquies;

n

the center

of

the region, he Chaco groups

uch

as the Guaycurua, he

Charrua, nd

the

Mocobi; and

to the southPampas,

Pehuenche, ehuelche,

nd

Arau-

canian tribes.4

At times a state of

endemicwar existed, s

Indian

raids

and Spanishentradas xplodedalongthe frontier.5n themiddleof the

eighteenthentury,

owever, combination

f

foreign nd colonialpolicy

considerations

aused the Spanish

rown

o

reexaminets

defense

osition

3. Throughouthis aperthe

term paniard s used to describe hosepeople, regardless

of theirbirthplace,who

believed themselves o be of Hispanicculture.

On

the heightenled

conflict, ames chofield aeger, Aniother

iew

of he Mission

s a Frontiernstitution:he

Guaycuruain eductions f

Sainta

e, 1743-1810,

HAHR

65:3 (Aug.1985), 495. On cattle,

KristineJones, La Cauitiva:AnlArgenitine

oltutiono Labor Shortage

n the Pampas, n

Brazil and the Rio de

la

Plata:Challenge nd Response, n Anthology

f Papers Presented

at the SixthAnnual Conference f ICLLAS, ed. Luis Clay M6ndez and LaureniceBates

(Charlestoni,L., 1983), 2. On

grotip

lharacteristics,

hierry aignies,

La gtierrasalvaje'

en los confines e los Andes y del Chaco: La resistencia hiriguana

la colonizaci6n uro-

pea, QuintoCentenario Universidad

omplutense e Madrid) (1985),

104. The Indians f

thisregioniended o travelwithini

ell-definedreas and were therefore lot ruly iomiiadic.

4. For a more detailed discussion

f the colonialperiod see

SusanlMigden Socolow,

Los cautivos espafioles

ni as sociedades ndigenas: l contacto ultural trav6sde

la

fronterargentina, nuario EHS (Tandil,Argentina) (1987),

99-136.

See also Thierry

Saignes,

M6tis et

sauvages:

Les

enjeux

du

metissage ur

la frontierehiriguano 1570-

1620), Melanges

de

la

Casa

de

Vel6zquez 18:1 1982),87; Padre Hernando

de

Torreblanica,

Relaci6n

hist6ricade

Calchaqui

(Buenos Aires: Ediciones Culturales

Argentinas, 984);

Teresa PiossekPrebisch, edroBohorquez:El Inca del Tucumdn,

656-1658

Buenos

Aires:

Gente de Letras, 1983); Edberto Oscar Acevedo, El gobernadorMartinez e Tineo y el

Chaco,

Revistade HistoriaAmericanay Argentina

2

(1983-84),

11-65;

James

.

Saeger,

Eighteenth-Centuryuaycuruan

Missions

n

Paraguay,

n

Indian-Religious elations

n

Colonial SpanishAmerica, d. Susan E. Ramirez Syracuse:Maxwell

chool of Citizenship

and PublicAffairs, 989), 55-86; Kristine

.

Jones, Conflict

nd

Adaptation

n the

Argen-

tine

Pampas, 1750-1880 Ph.D.

diss.,

Univ.of

Chicago, 1984),38;

Alfred

. Tapson,

The

Indian Problem n the Argentine ampas,1735-1852 Ph.

D.

diss.,

Univ.of

California,

os

Angeles, 1952),

nd

Indian

Warfare n the

Pampaduring

he ColonialPeriod,

HAHR

42:1

(Feb.

1962),

ii.

For contemporaryeports n the frontiernd Indian

ocieties ee Pedro de

Angelis, omp., Colecci6nde

obras y documentos elativos la historia

ntiguay moderna

de las provincias el Rio

de

la

Plata, 6

vols.

BuenosAires: mprenta

el Estado, 1836,

re-

print ditorialPlus Ultra,1969), and ThomasFalkner, .J.,A Description

f Patagonia nd

theAdjoining artsofSouthAmerica

1744]

(Chicago: rmanndArmann,

935).

5.

According

o Urbanode Iriondo, y 1722 notone estancia n Santa Fe had escaped

attack y Indians, long with he

oss ofpropertynd lives

and

the

taking fcaptives.Jos6

Urbano de Iriondo, Apuntes ara

la

historia e

la

Provincia

e Santa Fe, Revistade

la

Juntade EstudiosHist6ricos e Santa Fe

I, 44.



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in SpanishAmerica.One resultwas a new plan of militarizationn the

southern ndian frontierhat ombinednew presidios nd fortswith n

increasingmilitary resence.The governmentstablished line of mili-

tary orts

nthe

750s, reinforcinghem uringhe 770S and 178os.6 he

crown lso encouraged hesettling f ivilian opulation lose to each fort.

All male nhabitantsf he rural istricts ere required o enlist n militia

units.

n

addition, special military nit reated o protect he frontier,

the blandengues,was formed n 1751 and reorganized hortly fter he

founding f

the

viceroyalty.

The Spanishcombined his ine offorts nd missions

with

program

ofpacificationndcooptationf

hostile

ribes. ndian

eaderswere

nvited

to Spanish ettlements, heretheywere entertainednd presentedwith

trinkets.7unds were also suppliedby the sisa tax to pay forransoming

captives nd rewarding aithfulndians. When,

for

xample,

n Indian

referred o as Sinforoso

nd

his uncle brought ack

a

Spanish captive

from he

Tobas,

the

intendent

ewarded

hem nd

theirmen with

goods

worth 04 pesos, including onchos,hats, uniforms,

baston,

tobacco,

and knives.

Sporadic

ncidents

ontinued long

the

Indian frontier,8ut

in

gen-

6. On the forts, obertoH. Marfany,Frontera on los indios

en

el sud y

fundaci6n

de pueblos,

n

Historiade la naci6nArgentina, d. RicardoLevene,

vol.

4, part 1, 307-

33. See also F6lix de Azara, Diario de un reconocimientoe las guardiasy fortiniesue

guarniecena linea de froniterae Btuenos irespara enisanichlarla,n Colecci6nde obras y

docuimentos,omp. Angelis,vol. 5. For anl nalysis f the reaction n the partof the rural

populationi

o

thisdraft ee Carlos

A.

Mayo,

Sociedad rural militarizaci6nie la froniterani

Buenos Aires, 1737-1810, ahrbuch ur Geschichte on Staat, Wirtschaftnd Gesellschaft

Lateinamerikas4 (1987),

251-63.

On theblandengues,Marfany,l indio n a colonizaci6n

de BuenosAires Buenos Aires:Comisi6nNacional e Cultura, 940),85-106.

7.

On

entertainiingisiting

ndian

caciques, Jos6

Torre

Revello, Agasajos

los inidios

(1797),

Boletindel Instituto e Investigaciones ist6ricas 7 1938), 126-30. This practice

is

also mentioned y Angelis,

who adds that

heviceroys

wore su

trajede etiqueta, sign

of esteem for heirguests.Colecci6nde obrasy documentos, omp. Angelis, :106. For a

viceroy's xpenditures n entertainingndians ee Andr6s e Torres,Diario de gastos del

Virreydel Rio de la Plata Marques de Loreto, 1783-1790,foreword y Jos6

M.

Mariluz

Urquijo Bilbao: Diputaci6n

Foral del Sefiorio e

Vizcaya, 1977).

On

sisa funds,

Archivo

Genieral

e la Naci6n

Argenitina,

uenosAires

hereafter GNA],

Testimoniioel

expedienite

sobre a

gratificacion

echa a los indiosfieles

.,

Hacienda, Legajo 122, Expedieiite

081,

IX-34-5-8.

8.

In 1784 ndians raided the estancias n the Mendoza region, nd in

1786

and

i8o6

they

attacked cross the

San

Luis frontier.

n

1784

the

priest

n

charge

of

the Charriian

mission f

Cayastarequested hat he mission e moved o Los Mananciales, site near the

original

ettlement fthe

city

f Santa

Fe,

in

order

o

free

his wardsfrom

the

nvasions

f

the nfidel Indians] fthe Chaco. AGNA, Justicia, egajo 15, Expediente 63, IX-31-4-4.

As late as

1802

Toba Indian tribeswere making ncursions long the Rio Dorado. AGNA,

Testimonio

el

expediente

.

., Hacienda, Legajo

122,

Expediente 081, IX-34-5-8.

On

Spanish-Indianllegal rade,Kristine ones, Nineteenth entury

ritish

ravelAccounts f

Argenitina, aper presented t the AmericanAnthropologyssociationmeeting,Chicago,

Nov. 1983. A revisedversion fthispaper was published n Ethnohistory

3:2

(1986), 195-



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78 | HAHR

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more solated anches. he nextyear heprovincial overnmentf

Buenos

Aires, under the militaryeadership f the governor,MartinRodriguez,

adopted a more offensiveosturewith campaign o the southmodeled

closelyon colonialentradas.During thisfour-yearampaign,

Rodriguez

and his men nvaded ndian erritoryhree imes ut succeeded

n found-

ing onlyone new fort, uerte ndependencia present-day

andil).

Nine

years

later the new

governor

f Buenos Aires,

General

Juan

Manuel de Rosas, again interested n pacifying he

frontier o assure

greater roduction f cattleproducts, egan another desert

ampaign.

Rosas was a prominent ancher nd industrialist. e was also a consum-

mate, ruthless olitician ommittedo extending he grazing ands of

the

province fBuenosAires nd willing o allyhimself o so-called friendly

Indians to achieve his ends. His goal was to free those ands between

the

Salado

River o

the north nd the Colorado

nd

Negro

rivers nd

the

cordillera o

the south rom

ostile ndianencroachment.'0

Rosas was successful.He added

to Buenos

Aires

province

n area

ex-

tending

wo hundred

eagues

west

to

the Andes and

south beyond

the

Rio Negro. Moreover, s leader ofone ofthreedivisions nvolved n the

1833-34 campaign,he was able to returnwith large number f people

previously apturedby the Pampas ndians. Rosas' division,

esponsible

for he eft lank fthe nvasion, dvancedfrom is ranch t Los Cerrillos

to the island of Choele-Choel on the Rio Negro and from

here to the

mouth f he Rio Colorado. Here thetroops plit,with ne

group ontinu-

ing south long the coast to the Rio Negro and thenup

this

river

o

the

confluence f he Limay nd the Neuquen. Other roops

marched

nland,

following he Colorado

nto reas neverbefore

een

by

the

Christians.

The captives hatRosasbrought ack o civilization ere ll encountered

in

this

argeregion.

The

Takingof Captives

The fact hatRosas encountered panish aptives n his desert ampaign

is

hardly urprising, orone of the constants f Spanish-Indianwarfare

in

the Rio

de

la Plata throughout ourcenturieshad

been the taking

10.

Arturo e Carranza,La campaiia del desierto e 1833 Buenos Aires, 1969). John

Lynch,Argentine ictator:Juan Manuel de Rosas, 1829-z852 Oxford: larendon

Press,

1981),

39-41 discussesRosas' recruitmentf ndiansfor is own political nds.

11. On Rosas' conquest,Lynch,Argentine ictator, 4. On the captives,Relaci6nde

los cristianos alvados del cautiverio or la division zquierdadel ejercito xpedicionario l

mando del Seiior BrigadierGeneralD. Juan Manuel de Rosas BuenosAires: mprenta el

Estado, 1835).

A

facsimile dition ntitled uan Manuel

de

Rosas y la redenci6n e cauti-

vos en su campana al desierto 1833-1834) was published y the AcademiaNacionalde la

Historia (Buenos Aires, 1979).



8/28

SPANISH CAPTIVES

IN

INDIAN SOCIETIES

79

ofcaptives

by

both

parties.

Whether t was the

Ava-Chiriguanos

o the

north, he

tribes f the Chaco that ssaulted panish

ettlements,r

the

Indian groups to the south, all seemed

to be interested

n

two types

of

booty-livestock

and human

captives.'2As early

as

1577,

the

Avd-

Chiriguanos ttacked he newly ounded

panish

ettlement

fTarija

and

carried ff

ome 40 people.

Bycapturing paniards nd mestizos he

Ava'-Chiriguanos

ere n fact

continuing heir raditional

ultural atterns, or heyhad alwaystaken

captives

rom ther ndiantribes.'3

lthough fficiallyorbidden y Span-

ish law,

these ndian prisoners fwar were sold as slaves

to Spanishand

mestizo

andowners. panish nd mestizo

aptives,

uch s

twoveryyoung

girls nd a youngmestizo reed n

1590,

were either ansomed r recap-

tured

by the

Spanish

and returned o

Spanish society.More than two

centuries ater, he

Ava'-Chiriguanos

ere

still esisting panish ncroach-

ment nd still aking aptives. n

1809, he

Ava'-Chiriguanohief umbay,

angered that five

captiveshad

been turned

ver to the

comandante

f

Santa

Cruz,

mentioned

hat

since

olden

times,

t has

been

the

custom

to ransom captives]forone silver

peso apiece. Although

n the peace

treaty ignedwith he Spaniards

he same yearCumbay

promised o turn

over all Christian

aptiveswithin

wo years,by i8ii thisclause had not

yetbeen honored.

In

the

south,

n the

pampasregion,probably he

first

eference

o

taking

aptives concerned Spanish sailorcapturedby the

Tehuelche

Indians

n

the early 6oos.'4 By thebeginning f he

eighteenthentury,f

12. On Indiancaptives, arlos

A.

Mayo, El cautiverio sus funciones

n una sociedad

de frontera: el caso de Buenos

Aires (1750-1810), Revista de Indias 45:175

(1985), 235.

On

Tarija, Thierry aignes, Andaluces n el poblamiento el

sur

boliviano:

n torno unas

figuras ontrovertidas,l fundador

e Tarija y sus herederos, I Jornadasde Andalucia y

America I, 186.

13. Saignes, Metis et sauvages, 9, 93, 118,

119.

In general heSpanishdid not enter

intoformalwritten reatieswith

ndians

until

fter 763,far ater han

ither he Frenchor

the English. Lawrence Kinnaird, SpanishTreaties

with

ndianTribes,

Western istorical

Quarterly

10

(1979), 39-48.

14. The sailor's aptivitytory s told

n

SilvestreAntonio e Rojas,

Derrotero

e un

viaje de Buenos Aires a los Cesares,

Colecci6nde obras y documnentos,omp. Angelis,

2:537-48. On the freeing f captives, ee for xample he 1738 etter

f

Juande

Santisso

y Moscosa

to

the Marques

del Torrenueva etailing nvasions nd the taking

f

captives

n

C6rdoba and Tucuman ArchivoGeneralde Indias, Seville [hereafter GI],

Audienciade

Buenos Aires 49); the letter

f

Miguel

de

Salcedo to Josede la Quintana

mentioninghe

taking f some captives

n

an

Indian raid on the Arreciferea of theprovince f Buenos

Aires

n 1740

(AGI,

Audiencia e

BuenosAires42); the etter rom he

Cabildo ofAsunci6n

describing he nvasion f henations f he GranChaco and their aking fcaptives n 1761

(AGI,

Audiencia e Buenos Aires48). As late as 1789,Rafaelde Sobremonte,

he ntendant

ofC6rdoba,referredo ndian nvaders aking somewomen aptives long

he Rio Tercero

(AGI, Audiencia

e

BuenosAires

0).

For an example f hefreeing f aptives ee

the etter

of

JuanVictorinoMartinez e

Tineo to thecrown AGI, Audiencia e

BuenosAires49).



9/28

8o I

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notearlier,most ndiangroups

ncluded omecaptives mong heir opu-

lation.Reports fmyriad ncursionsy hostile ndiansnormallyncluded

mention f the taking f captives,while Spanishentradas ften reed t

least one or two. t was from heranks f x-captives ho had learned he

languages nd customs f their

aptors hatthe Spanishoften ecruited

interpretersnd scouts.

Sporadichostage aking ontinued

long

with

poradic aiding.

ome

of thesehostageswere incorporatednto

ndian

society,

ut others

es-

caped, and still therswere ransomed ack to Spanish ociety.Governors

and

viceroyswere often alled upon to contributeo funds or he ransom

ofcaptives. n 1788,for xample,Viceroy oreto donated totalof 663

pesos

31/2

reales to ransom

rom ndian aptivitypaniardswho had prob-

ably been captured n the 1786 San Luis

raids. From the entries

n his

accountbooks, hepricefor

escuing captive

eemsto

have ranged

rom

50 pesos 41/2

eales

paid

for

woman

n

April1788

to

ioo

pesos paid

for

a

man two months arlier.'5The viceroy lso paid 512 pesos 7 reales for

eight aptives reed n Salinas n

December 1788,an average f64 pesos

per individual.

Such

relativelyarge private iftswere

not

the

only ource of money

for

reeing paniards.

After

eceiving

overnment

ermission,

ndividual

citizens lso ransomedmembers f heir amilies hohad been taken ap-

tive. In

addition, ll people

drawing p

wills n

colonialRio

de

la

Plata

donatedat least two reales to the Fund for he Redemption f Captives,

one

of

the

mandasforzasas riginallynvisioned o

aid in

freeing aptives

in

the

Holy

Land. In the

Rio

de la

Plata thismoneywas

used

to ransom

local people.

Indianswere notthe only nes

to take aptives. panish fficials

ere

not averse to holding ndians as

hostages

n an

attempt

o

coerce

local

tribes. After earning f an Indian raid

in

1582, for xample, Pedro

de

Segura, corregidor f Tomina,heldhostage groupofAva'-Chiriguano

chiefs

who

had

cometo visit.

6

It is

also clearthat

hroughout

he

Rio

de

la

15.

Torres,Diario de gastosdel

Virrey.

i6. On Segura, Saignes,

Metiset sauvages,

8. An6nimo,

Viaje al Riode la

Plata

y

Chile (1752-1756),

Revistade la Junta e EstudiosHist6ricos

e Mendoza9:2 (1980),

367,

mentions

hat the Spanish oldiers ttack

he ndians,

nslaving hosewhom hey

apture.

Recently

publishedresearch hows thatduring he seventeenth

nd

eighteenth

enturies

Spaniardstook ndian

captives

n the Tucuman rea. See Gast6n

Gabriel Doucet,

Sobre

cautivosde guerray esclavos

ndios n

el Tucuman:Notas n torno

un ficheroocumental

saltenio el sigloXVIII, Revista e Historiadel Derecho16

1988), 59-152,

for n interest-

ing discussion f how the

Spanish uthority

sed Indiancaptives

s slaves and

for

detailed

information

bout Spanishcapture

f bothCalchaquisand Guaranis.

On the

Salta official,

Guillermo

urlong, edroJuanAndreu

y su cartaa MateoAndreu

Buenos

Aires:Libreria

del Plata,

1953),

123.



10/28

SPANISH

CAPTIVES IN

INDIAN

SOCIETIES

81

Plata many Indians whom the Spanish managed to capture

in battle were

enslaved. In

1750,

the JesuitAndreu mentioned a government

fficial n

Salta who had captured some Indian children and was selling them for

ioo pesos apiece. In addition, Indians held

in

prison

by Spanish authori-

ties or working n religious institutions r private homes

in Spanish towns

and cities commonly believed

themselves

to

be

captives

of

the

Spaniards.

The finedistinctionsbetween captivity nd imprisonment

r between

cap-

tivity nd Christianization escaped many Indians.'7

From time to time,

captives were exchanged. In

1783

Pedro Pablo Maldonado

was sent to the

Lujain

fort

by

his Indian

captors to

deliver a

message

offering o exchange

two Christians fortwo

specific

ndians.

If the

exchange

were

effected,

he

Indians would consider it a sign of peace, but if the Spaniards failed to

release these two captives, the Spaniards would be

attacked when they

made their yearly visit to the Salinas salt flats.

Spanish society probably took captives as booty, for

profit, nd to teach

a lesson to those whom they considered heathen savages. '

8

Although

the Spanish colony often sufferedfrom a scarcity of

labor, Indian slaves

were too few in number and too intractable to offer viable solution to

Spanish society. Indian societies probably took captivesfor profit, o gain

a

medium of exchange with other Indian groups and the Spanish, and to

increase their labor force. Adult male captives were often enslaved, or at

least thought of themselves as being in some type of

serfdom. n the sur-

viving captivity declarations, both men and women

referto their amo,

their Indian master.

Surviving documents further ttest to the use of

the captives, espe-

cially children, as a medium ofexchange or as goods to be bought, sold,

or

bartered.'9

In

1790,

for example,

the Auca Indians approached

the

17.

On Indians' onfusionbout aptivity:One Indian nd one Christian

ho said

they

had escaped from he Rancheria rrived in the ndiancamp],andthey old howthevhad

been held withhandcuffs

grillos).

ater wogirlswho escaped fronmheResidencia y going

overthe roof ame, and they oldus how

much

heyhad been

made

to work n

the ooms.

Carlos A. Mayo, Fuentespara la historia e la frontera: eclaraciones

de cautivos

Uni-

versidadNacionaldel Mar del Plata, 1985), 19, Declaraci6nde Andresde Rodriguez,

an

Juan e Chascomus,Feb.

20,

1781. On the Christian-Indianxchange, dem.,23, Declara-

ci6n de Pedro Pablo Maldonado,Frontera e Lujan, Aug.26, 1783.

18. For the sale of ndian captives, o-calledpiezas

in

Tucuman, ee Doucet, Sobre

cautivos,

o-12.

According o Mayo Fuentes,

),

captiveswere used as slaves, as part

of

intertribalommerce, s hostages, s messengers,nd as peace offerings.ee amo refer-

ences in, for xample, he testimony

fRafaelde

Soto BuenosAires,June

4, 1752) and of

Juan

Macias

Fuertede NuestraMadre de Cristoy Frontera el Zanj6n, Dec. 31, 1768), in

Mayo,

Fuentes, 3, 11.

19. The testimonyfJuan

ascual

Zurita,

Guardia

del Zanj6n, Dec.

26,

1768,

in

Mayo

(Fuentes, ), alludes to

Indians

who

had

five

Christian

aptives o sell. Nicolas Romero,

after pending wo months s a captiveof the Pampas,was sold to the Pehuenchesfor

poncho. Mayo, Fuentes,17, Declaraci6nde Nicolas Romero,

Guardia

del Monte,

Jan.

15,



11/28

82 | HAHR

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small Spanish

garrisonn Patagonia fferingo trade

a girl ged 4 or

5,

daughter f

Christians, or

aguardiente, lannel aize, yerba, yellow

tin

foil, having

owls, and othergoods. The

governmentesponded

by

supplying lue glass

beads, baize, littlemirrors,mall

bells, ribbons

f

various olors, nd

blue woolenstuff

rom he royalwarehouse, nd pur-

chasing guardiente,

ats, purs,

bridles, mall inbasins, himbles,

arge

rings or eins,

obacco,yerba,

nd

driedfigs or he ndians.The entire

shipment, orth

95 pesos

6

reales,

was

dispatched outh,whilefunds o

cover

his xpensewere transferredrom

he Fund for

he

Redemption f

Captives o the War

Department. reparations ere also

made to

receive

the

child

n

the Buenos Aires

orphanage

while

waiting

o see

ifher

par-

entsor anyrelative laimedher.Although hegovernment arned gainst

havingcaptivity

ecome a branch f commerce,

hat,

n

part,

s what

it

had alwaysbeen.

The very act hat he

RoyalWarehouse tocked

uch

items s glass beads

and smallbells

attests o an ongoing radefueled

by

the

ransoming

f

Spanish aptives.

n

addition, aptiveswere

occasionally

used in

intertribalrade; Pampas

ndians,who did not themselves rac-

tice

formal ondage, provided he Araucanianswith

slaves.20 aptives,

ransomed ack to the

Spaniards r

exchanged etween boriginal

roups,

provided medium

fexchange or ndian ommerce.

The periodicreturn f captives o Spanishsociety ould sometimes

serve

either s a ritual

emonstrationhat n Indian

groupwas willing

o

enter

ntopeace

negotiations ith he ocal authorities

r as an affirmation

of that

peace.21Captives

were also used

by

ndian

groups

s a vehiclefor

signaling heirwillingness o come into

missions.

n

the

mid-eighteenth

century, or xample, s soon as a

provisional eace

was

signed

between

the

Spaniards

nd

an

Indian

group

n

which he ndians

requested

hat

missionary e sentto them, hey

voluntarilyeleasedany captives

iving

among

them. As

Governor ose

de

Andonaegui eported o

the

Spanish

government, hen the Indiansrequested reduccion, theybringwith

them,

t the

same time, large number

f

Christian

aptives. 22

ndeed

1781. On the younggirl,AGNA, Tribunales, egajo 227, Expediente17,

IX-38-9-2.

The

Royal Exchequer frequently entioned upplying imilar oods to the Patagoniagarrison

so that hey an buy horses nd other ivestock.. from he nfidel

ndians. According o

the 1781testimonyf woman aptive, many f hewomen aptives

which he ndian

took

were exchanged or loth nd aguardienten the Spanish utpost long he Patagonian oast;

they lso exchanged attle. Mayo,Fuentes, 1, Declaraci6n e Maria

Paula Santana,Fortin

de Areco, Feb. 23, 1781.

20. On the Pampas ndians,K. Jones, Conflictnd

Adaptation, 4. On captives s

an

exchangemedium,Mayo, El cautiverio,

37.

21. Mayo, El cautiverio, 38.

22. AGI,

Audienciade

Buenos Aires49, letter f Andonaegui

o

Ensenada, June

4,

1749.

See

also

Acevedo,

El GobernadorMartinez e

Tineo, 34,

for

he same

behavior

among he Chunupies.



12/28

SPANISH CAPTIVES

IN INDIAN

SOCIETIES 83

the Spaniards ostno time n interpretinghis onduct s an indication f

the ndians'willingness o eave all savage ustoms ehind.

The

morethan ix hundred aptives reed uringRosas' engthy am-

paignwere taken rom ampas,Tehuelche, nd Araucanian roups.23 ili-

taryofficialsnterrogated

he

captivesone by one, asking fixed et of

questions

to elicit

basic informationbout

them

and theirexperience.

Upon

his

return o Buenos Aires,the governor ad a list of those freed

printed nd widelydistributedn thehope ofhelping hesemen,women,

and children

o find heir infolk. he

published

ist s an excellent

ource

of nformationn

the

demography

f

captivity.

ach

captive

s

described

by name, sex, age, years

n

captivity,ndabilityospeak Spanish.Several

entries re enhancedby more detailedphysical escriptions. ecause of

the

uniformityf the questions sked, the ist of

freed

aptivesprovides

comparable

nd

quantifiable

ata on theentire

roup.

There s

every

ea-

son to believe that hosefreedby Rosas were representativef a typical

groupofcaptives.

DemographicAnalysis f Rosas' List

of Freed

Captives

The moststrikingharacteristicf those ex-captiveswho had not been

born

in

captivity

was thatwomen

outnumbered

men

by

almosttwo

to

one.

Of

the

totalof

634

such

ndividuals, 89 (6i percent)

were

female;

245

(39

percent)

were male.

Indeed the

1833

group fcaptivesprobably

had a

largerproportion

f men than

most aptivegroups, uggesting he

possible presence

of

Spanish renegades mongthose Rosas classified

s

captives.

n

1764, for example,the outgoing overnor f Tucumarn

e-

ferred o

33 Spanish

aids

nto

he

Chaco that ad freed

20

male Christian

captives

.

.

[and]

. .

.

240

women nd

young hildren. 24Another 3

unspecifiedchildren orn ncaptivity presumably estizos)werefreed

in the

1833 campaign, ringing

he otalnumber

eturned

o

creole

ociety

to

707.

The

overwhelmingredominance fwomen

n

the captivegroup

can

in

part

be

attributed o

the Indians'

systematicallyakingwomen

and

childrenwhile

killing

men.25n

the wordsof a

mid-eighteenth-century

23. On the Chaco raids,K.

Jones, Conflictnd Adaptation, 12.

24. AGI, Residenciade

Coronel Don JuanVictorinoMartinez e Tineo, 1764, Audi-

encia de Buenos Aires49. Data cited by Axtell The White ndians, o-61) suggest hat

NorthAmerican ndians lsopreferred omen aptives.Two lists fcaptives reed n

1764

contain 07 men nd 170 women

nd children. aughan nd Richter isagree.

25. Muchthesamepattern f

apturing

omen nd

children nd annihilating en can

be

seen

in

the Spanish apture f ndians n theTucuman egion.Doucet, Sobre

cautivos,



13/28

84 | HAHR

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I


Scottish raveler o the Rio de

la

Plata, thedeathofthe men s certain

f,

by some misfortune,hey re captured y the savages,for hey acrifice

all the Spanishmen except he children. he same treatmentf

Spanish

male

captiveswas

still

n effect

n

1803; according o a freedmale captive,

the Indiansraided to rob from he haciendas nd to take the boys they

encounter aptive,bringing hemup according o their ustoms, nd kill-

ing theadults. Twenty-fiveears arlier heviceroy f he Rio de la Plata

reported hat the Indiansare so inhumane hattheydelight n killing,

making o exceptions ecause of ge or sex, nd only ometimes eserving

the ife f hewomen,whom hey akewith hem n order o ndulge heir

abominable ices.

Specific r approximateges are given or 7.8 percent f hecaptives.

The

mean age forwomen s 21.3 years,while thatformen s only

13

1.

The

same typeof age discrepancy an be seen

in

the median ge,

19

for

women nd 13 for

men.

When menand women re divided nto en-year

age groups,

elow

the

age

of

o there

were more

males

than

females

see

Table i). The largest roup fcaptives alls nto

he

10-19

age group;

his

group s also the modal groupforbothfemale nd

male

captives.

Above

the

age of

19

the male and femaleprofiles iffer reatly. or example,

between the

ages

of

30-39

and

40-49

there re sizable

groups

f

female

captivesbut virtually o males.

Regrouping

he

data nto wo

ets-o

to 14 childhood) nd15+ (adult-

hood)-we can again see thatwhile therewere slightlymore male chil-

dren

han emale mong hecaptive roup, n the dultpopulationwomen

predominatedTable

2).

Only

35 percent

of the female

aptives

were children.The

rest,

n-

deed the largestgroup n captivity, ere adult women.The nextmajor

groupwere whitemalesbelowthe ge of15.Amongmalesonly 8 percent

were

adults.

While

therewas a

slightlyarger

umber f

males

mong

he

totalunder-1s ge group, heover-15 roupwas dominated yfemales.

Thus ndian

captives onsisted

fwomen

f

ll

ages

and

young oys.

Even

among

the

over-15

male

captives, nly

four

were above the

age

of

25.

Interestingly,hese four older men were somewhat typical: wo

were

Paraguayans nd two,Chileans.

The Indian preference or

female

aptives

was

probably

ased on

a

combination f

sexual, trategic,

nd

economic

easons.

Possibly,

women

could

help the ndian tribes eplenish heir opulation. panishwomen,

114-16.

For the Scottish raveler,

ee An6nimo, Viaje al Rio

de la Plata, 67. For the 1803

report,AGNA,

Testimonio

el expediente . . Hacienda, Legajo 122, Expediente

3081,

IX-34-5-8.

or the viceroy's

eport, GI, Audiencia e Buenos

Aires307, Letter

fViceroy

Cevallos to

Jos6 e Galvez,Nov. 27, 1777.



14/28

SPANISH CAPTIVES

IN INDIAN SOCIETIES 85

TABLE 1: Age and Sex ofCaptives

Women Men

Age

N

percentage

N

percentage

0-9

67 17.7

79 32.7

lo-1g

135 35.4 137 56.6

20-29 8o 20.9

22

9.1

30-39

61 16.o

1

.4

40-49 30 7.9

1

.4

50+

8

2.2

2

.8

Total

381

(100o0) 242 (100.0)

Note: Onlycases that ncludedgood age data were ncluded n this able.

TABLE 2: GroupedAge

and Sex of

Captives

Percentage Percentage

f

Percentage Percentage

f

of ll women n this of ll men n this

Age

Women

women

age group

Men

men

age group

Total

0-14

133 34.9

47.0

150 61.9 53.0 283

(ioo.o)

15+ 248 65.1 72.9

92

38.2 27.1 340

(ioo.o)

Total

381 (100o0) (100o0)

242 (100o0) (100o0) 623

like their ndian

counterparts,

ere

economically roductive

members f

native ociety.They were more docile and

physically asier to manage.

Once

capturedby

Indians

hey

howed ittle

endency

o

escape

back to

Spanish ociety

with

eports

f

ndian

military reparations,

s did

Span-

ish men. Of

course,thoseSpanishwomenwho had borne hildrenwhile

in captivity ould have been evenless willing o escape, as thatwould

have

obliged

them o leave their hildren ehind.

The

data on

age

at the

time

of

capture

re far

cantier,

n

part

a re-

sultofthe

ong years

f

captivity

hatdimmed he

memory

f

those aken

captive young see

Table

3).

The

average

femalewas

i6.2 years

old at

the time of her

capture,

while the

average

male was only

7.6 years

old.

It is

interestingo note

thatfemale

espondents

ad a much

higher

ate

of

recall,

n

part

function ftheir

suallybeing

older thanmales when

taken

aptive.

While 62

percent

fthe females

uestioned

ould

give

the

approximateengthoftime of their aptivity,nly37.3 percentofthe

males

could supply

he same

nformation.

evertheless,

he data ndicate

that

males were

overwhelminglyoys

below the

age

of

io

at the timeof

capture. Young children, oth male and female,were attractive o the



15/28

86 | HAHR

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SUSAN MIGDEN

SOCOLOW

TABLE

3:

Age at

Capture by Sex of Captives

Women

Men

Age N percentage

N

percentage

0-9

88

37.5

69 75.8

lo-19 63 26.8

'9

20.9

20-29

40 17.0

2

2.2

30-39 39 16.6

40-49

5

2.1 1

1.1

Total

235

(100o0)

91

(100.0)

Indians because

they could be more fully cculturated nto ndian

society;

yet

the

data show a relative

preferencefor capturing male rather

than

female children.26 n

other

words,

females were

at

risk

to be taken captive

at

any age,

while

the older a male was, the

more probable it was thathe

would be killed

ratherthan captured.

Because

of the

relatively greater age at time of capture among the

female

population,

it is

not surprisingthat a sizable number of women

captured at age 15 or above were

already married

(2i

percent or

52/

248) or widowed (another

ii

percent or 28/248) at the time they were

taken. Indian

raiders

displayed no cultural bias

against takingwomen who

had been previously married or women

with children. Indeed, women of

proven

fecunditymight have been more attractive s prospective

sexual

partners.

Did female

gender help

assure better treatment

once captured?

At

least one source

suggests that

neither

native norcaptive women were well

treated,

both

being flogged

in

a most barbarous manner

if

they

lost

any

of the animals under their care.27

On the other

hand, Spanish captive

women were often taken as wives or concubines by a cacique or warrior

among

both

the

Chaco and

Pampas tribes,although among

certain

groups,

such as the

Chaco

Guaycuruans, captives

had such a low

status that

only

26. For example, n 1832 ndian raiders irculatingn a zone of quintasnear Santa F6

killed

ightmen,

en

women, nd one nfant

n

two hacraswhile aking hree r four oung

boyscaptive.

Urbanode

Iriondo, Apuntes, 5.

27. On flogging, . Jones, La Cautiva, 1.

On Spanishwomen s wives and concu-

bines, Saeger, Another iewof he Mission,

03; Mayo, El cautiverio, 40. For mention

of an Indian married

o a woman aptive ee

the Testimonyf SebastianGonzalez Fron-

teradel Pago de la Magdalenay Fuertedel Zanj6n,Nov.

24, 1770),

Mayo,

Fuentes, 13.

On

status mong he Pampas, Raul Mandrini, La agriculturandigena n la regi6n

pampeana

y sus adyacencias siglosXVIII y XIX), Anuario

EHS

1

(1986),

12.

It has been suggested

that

nly aciques could affordo provide ormore han ne wife nd any hildren he might

bear. On

avoiding he brideprice, Mayo, El cautiverio, 40.



16/28

SPANISH

CAPTIVES

IN INDIAN

SOCIETIES

87

menwho could do no better ook hem s mates.The practice fpolygamy

in Chaco and Pampas Indian society s well as among the Patagonian-

based Tehuelches, specially mong hecaciques,made t easierto absorb

women nto the nativefamily tructure.ndeed amongcertain

Pampas

groups,having manywives,manyhead ofcattle nd much ilver were

all signsof power

and

wealth, nd therefore f social standing.

n

some

tribes he availability f Spanish

women s mates

llowed

men to avoid

the payment f the brideprice that heywould have had to pay for

n

Indianwoman.Seen in this ight, aptivewomen epresentedn attractive

alternative or ndian men ofmarriageablege.

The practiceof

Indian men

taking panish

wives was

beginning

o

change somewhat n the early nineteenth entury s larger groupsof

Araucanians rom hile came to dominate he pampas,

restructuringhe

indigenous ampa tribes

n

the processof Araucanizing he

Desert. 28

The Araucanians isplayed widespread ultural roclivity or

reating

male-centeredmyths bout the sexual skillsof females f another

ul-

ture. They prized Spanish women for their special erotic talents

and

as a result tended to

incorporate

emale

Spanish captives

into their

society

s

slave-concubines, ather hanas wives. Nevertheless,

women

held by Araucanizedtribes as consorts r slaves also providedpower,

wealth, and status to their captors. The net result was that Spanish

women, hrough ne form f exual iaison r another, ormed onds

with

their ndian captors hat

were

usuallynot createdbetweenSpanish

men

and

Indian women. CapturedSpanish dult

men were

rarely

llowed

to

take

ndian wives,

but rather

orced o

endure

nvoluntaryelibacy.

Even though aptured

n

harrowingaids,many panishwomen

ame

to

identify

ith heir

aptors, referring

o

live

among

he ndiansrather

thanreturn o civilization.

his was

especially

rueofwomen aptured

as

younggirls.

The

aforementionednonymous

cotsman lluded

to the

case of twogirlswho werecaptured s young hildren ndsubsequently

ransomed,

ut

who

soon afterward

scaped

from

panish ociety

o

rejoin

the ndians.29

s

early

s

theend

of

he sixteenth

entury panish

oldiers

28. K. Jones, La Cautiva, , 93.

29. On the two girls, Viaje

al

Rio de la Plata, 367. For

another

xample

f

a

Spanish

womanwho preferred o return o

Inidian

ociety,

ee Mayo, El cautiverio, 42. In 1573,

the Toledo expedition eported n

a

mestiza

who

had

remained

with he chiriguanes

hen

theykilled captainAndresManso

. .

when theother ndian womenfled ntothe monlte,

she

wentwith

hem.

Although

ome

Spaniards

who knewher, dvised her to

remain

with

them], he did notwant o return, hoosing o followheothers, nd until oday he remainls

with he ndians,havingbecome a chiriguana. fter en years mong he ndians, he had

no second thoughts bout her oyalty. eginaldode Lizairraga, escripcio6nreve de

toda

la tierrade Peru, Tucuman,Rio de la Plata y Chile,chap. 38 (Madrid: Ediciones Atlas,

1968), quoted by Saignes, Metis et sauvages, 5.



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came acrosscaptiveSpanishwomen

who had been completely ccultur-

ated into ndian society nd who, when giventhe chance, preferred o

remainwith heir o-called aptors.

An instructivepisode s provided

y Luis de la Cruz, a Spanishmili-

tary fficerentto survey

trans-Andeanoutebetween outhern hile

and BuenosAires n 1806.30 Twenty

ays aftereavingSantiago,

etween

Guacaque and Puelee, a woman

whomhe first elieved to be an Indian

was brought o de la Cruz. Upon ookingmore losely he officerealized

that she had Spanish features, nd

he proceeded to questionher. Her

name was Petronila

erez,

and she

was a native f Pergamino, ne ofthe

fortslongtheBuenosAiresfrontier.he was a captive fthe Pehuelches

and

the wifeof the Indian Marifian,

avingbeen previouslymarried

o

Carrilon, rother f he cacique, who

had since died. Petronila ecounted

how she had been taken aptive s a

young hildalong with sister nd

two stepbrothers

n

a

raid

along the

Buenos

Aires

post road,

in

which

her

mother nd stepfather ad been killedby the Indians. De la Cruz,

amazed at

her

ability o speak Spanish, sked her how she had come to

learn it. I've had dealings withother

womencaptiveswho taughtme

how to speak as theydid, Petronila

esponded, estifyingotonly o the

existence f groupof Spanishwomen

aptiveswithin ndian society ut

also to their wareness fbeing inguisticallynd culturally ifferentrom

their

aptors.

While the first

art

ofde la Cruz's

nterview ithPetronila

uggests

self-consciousttempt y Spanish

women aptives o preserve nd trans-

mit their

culture, heirsubsequent

onversation eveals other evels of

complexity.

t is

interestingo notethat

de

la Cruz himself ould not de-

cide whether

o treatPetronila

s

a Spaniard r

an Indian. He enticedher

to return

or

further

uestioning y

offering

er

manygifts,

he tradi-

tional

Spanish pproach o influencing

ndians.

Petronila

n

captivity

ad

lived nthe Salinas rea,a region raversedyannual panish xpeditions

to the salt marshes nd

a

zone of

ncreasing panish

ncroachment. he

admitted hat

over

the

years

he had seen several

paniards,

nd that

n

fact

veryyear

her

twobrothers,

ho had

subsequently

een

freed,

ame

to visit

her

at her

home. Clearly

he

frontier

as a

permeable

one

with

Indians visiting panish settlements

nd

Spaniardsvisiting

ndian ones.

At

this point de la Cruz could no longer ontainhis amazement. Why

didn't

you oin them nd return o theChristians? I didn'twant o eave

because

I

love my

hildren,

as

her

most

human nswer.

30. Bibliotheque

Nationalede Paris, Fondeespagnol179,

Diario e informes

e Luis

de la Cruz sobre a apertura e un caminodesde

el surde Chile hasta

BuenosAires, trav6s

de los Andes i8o6).



18/28

SPANISH

CAPTIVES IN INDIAN SOCIETIES

89

We

do

notknowhow ndian ocialmores ictated hat man

treathis

wife, r whetherwomen, ither

ndianor Spanish,had any say n choos-

ing theirmarriage artners.3'fcapturedwhile stillyoung, s theabove

examplesdemonstrate, panish

womencould be integratednto

ndian

societywell enough hat hey

preferredt to

the

Christian world.

This

preference robably

esulted rom heir oyalty o

their ndian

husbands

and children,

nd

from earof returning

o a

Spanish

worldthatmight

brand hem s socialoutcasts.

Regardless of their motivation, heir behavior

was

inexplicable

o

European men, who could only nterpret

t as a

sign

of

feminine

exual

passion

and weakness.

They prefer

o

live like slaves and

satisfy

heir

passions,thanreside amongthose of theirrace (so corrupt s human

nature). 32While womenwhopreferredndian ifewere licentious

nd

corrupt,

men who chose

captivity

ver

freedom

ere seen as outlaws

or traitors.

o the

Spaniards,

aptivity

as furthermore

punishment

r-

dained by God; one

female

aptivereported

hat

her

daughter

ad spent

the ast

years

s a

beata

in

the House ofReligiousRetreat

n BuenosAires

beseechingGod

that

her

mother e freed, nd doingpenance.

Both men and women

aptured

y the ndianswere expected

o par-

ticipate

n the Indian economy.Among he Guaycuruans o the north,

Indian women nd captives fboth sexesparticipatedn spinning,weav-

ing, preparing

wild

honey

nd carob beans forfermentationnto ntoxi-

cants,

nd

otherdomestic hores.33

o

thesouthfemale aptivesworked

along with

ndian

women t

herding ivestock,mounted n horseback o

tend

he

cattle nd

sheep day nd

night.Among hose ribes hat racticed

agriculture, panish

women

were

involved

n

cultivating heat,barley,

and

beans. They probably

lso joined

in the

preparation f

raw hides,

wool, skins, allow,grease,

nd

ostrich

eathers or rade o

Spanish

mar-

kets,

as

well as in artesanal

roduction

f woven

fabrics,

eather

goods,

and silverobjects.Nativewomen nd captiveswerealso responsible or

all housekeeping hores, ncluding ookingfood, saddling

horses, and

setting p the tents toldos)

hat erved s nativehousing.

31. NorthAmerican ndians, according o Axtell,were most civil to

white women,

allowing hem

s

wide

a

latitude f hoice

n

marriage artnerss they

id

ndianwomen.

He

also argues hat n NorthAmerica he ndianis reated heir nglish aptiveswithkindness,

adopting hem nto ndianculture. The White ndians, 5, 67 passim.,78.

32.

The

quote

is from

An6nimo, Viaje

al

Rio de

la

Plata, 367.

On

the beata, see

Relaci6nde los cristianos alvados, 6.

33. On the Guaycuruans, aeger, Another iew of the Mission, 96,

504.

On herd-

ing, K. Jones, La Cautiva, 1. On agriculturalasks,Mandrini, La agriculturandigena,

14.

On goods for rade,K. Jones,

La

Cautiva, 2. See also Mandrini,

La agriculturandi-

gena, 13.

On

housekeeping asks,

Alcides

D'Orbigny, l

hombre

mnericano

BuenosAires:

EditorialFuturo,1944), 244; Raul Mandrini, os araucanos de las pampasen el siglo

XIX

(BuenosAires:CentroEditorde Am6rica atina,1984), 13.



19/28

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TABLE

4:

Physical

Attributesf

Captives

Women

Men

N percentage

N

percentage

Skin olor

White

92

69.2 50 50.5

Swarthy triguefio)

28 21.0

25 25.5

Dark moreno)

4 3.0 12 12.0

Not given

9 6.8 12

12.0

Total

133 (100o0)

99 (ioo.o)

Hair color

Blond 46 34.6 14 14.2

Red

37 27.8

Brown r

black 37 27.8 43

43.4

Not given

13

9.8 42

42.4

Total 133

(100o0) 99 (ioo.o)

Eye color

Blue 13

9.8 11

11.1

Brown 87

65.4 64

64.7

Green 2

2.0

Not

given

33 24.8

22 22.2

Total 133

(100o0)

99

(ioo.o)

The Indians

certainly hose

their aptiveswith

a view

towardwho

could

best serve heirneeds when cculturatednto heir ociety.

A

modi-

cum

of physical

preferencemay

also have been at work

n

determining

who would

be

captured

or at least who would

survive.

Rosas'

list

pro-

vides

physical escriptions

or

4 percent

fthe women 133/389)

nd

41

percent f

hemen

99/245)

o aid

in

dentificationSee

Table

4).

An

analy-

sis demonstrates

strong reference

or

eople

described

y

the soldiers

freeing hem s

fair-skinnednd/or lond rubio).

Blue

eyes

ojos azules)

were also a popularfeature.This descriptionf the captivepopulation

is rather

tartling

iven

he

overwhelming

redominancef

dark-skinned

(triguenio

r

moreno), ark-eyed

ettlers

long

the frontier.

nalyzing

he

physical

ttributes y

the sex of the

captives,

here s a

suggestion

hat

fair

omplexion,

robably quated

with xotic

physical

eauty,

was even

moreprized

n the

choice of

female hanmale

captives.

In

addition o thosewomen

escribed s dark

were

two lave

women

(one negra

nd theother

morena),

morena

x-slave,

nd a

parda. Among

the

men,

one was classified s

a

mulatillo

nd another s

a black.

The

captivegroup lso included hreehispanizedmale Indians nd a woman

described

as

having

been born

n

the

Abipon Reduccion.

At

most

this

group

f

non-espaiioles

umbered

en. The vast

majority98.5 percent)

f

thecaptives erceived

hemselvess racially panish.



20/28

SPANISH CAPTIVES

IN

INDIAN

SOCIETIES

91

TABLE

5: Birthplace

fCaptives

Province Male Female

Total

Buenos Aires

107 143 250

San Luis

41 99 140

Chile

23 36 59

C6rdoba

11

43 54

Santa Fe

3 14 17

Santiago del Estero 2 10 12

Mendoza 7 7

Paraguay 3

--

3

San

Juan

2

1

3

Entre

Rios 1

1

Tucuman

1 1

Unknown 52 40

92

Total

245 394 639

An

analysis of

geographical

zones

supplying captives

shows

that the

largest group of

captives

were

people born

in the

province

of Buenos

Aires

(Table 5). Providing half

as

many captives

was

San

Luis

province

to

the

west of Buenos

Aires.

The

next-largest

number of

captives

were born

in

Chile and Cordoba. The small numbersofparaguayos, tucumanos, and

san juaninos

freed in the

Rosas

campaign

is

not

surprisinggiven

that

the

captives

found were all

in

an area

to

the

south of Buenos Aires

province,

and

thus

relatively

farfrom he northern

Chaco areas.

But

the small num-

ber of

mnendozinos

s

surprising, especially

in

contrast

to the

relatively

large number ofcaptives born in neighboringChile.

The

vast

majority

of

the

captives

were

countrypeople,

inhabitants of

the agricultural and stock-raising ones opening along the frontier.Only

sixteen individuals

(nine women

and seven

men) had been born

in

a city;

all the others listed rural towns, estancias, and chacras as theirplaces of

birth. Their

modest

origins

show in that

only eight

of them referto their

father

by

the title

Don,

a universal

sign of respect, social standing,

and

at

least a modicum of wealth

in

the

society. Only

one

captive

made

any

reference to owingpropertyherself, nd another dentifiedher husband as

a

wagon

driver

and owner. 34Three

city-bornwomen,

two

of

whom were

related to arrieros, were taken while traveling fromone city to another.

On the

whole,

the

captives

were

typical representatives

f the rural

popu-

34. The former as FelicianaGutierrez, 50-year-old idowfromGuardia del Salto,

who declared that

he had lefther two sons and some goods comprising

er fortune

n

the place of her birth

Relaci6nde los cristianos alvados, 6). The latterwas Maria Angela

Benosa, native fthe city fC6rdoba,who

had been taken n the

same raid on the Guardia

de Salto as she and her husbandwere returning

rom uenosAires

Ibid., 14).



21/28

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TABLE 6: Region

WhereCaptureOccurred

Region Male Female Total

Buenos

Aires

37 97

134

San

Luis

20 56

76

C6rdoba

6 29 35

Santa

Fe

2

8

10

Chile

4 5 9

Mendoza 1

1

Total

69 196 265

lationof the Spanishpampas,people ofmodestmeanswho tendedcattle

or

raised crops for

an

absentee andowner r

perhaps

themselves

eld

smallparcels

of and.

Theydifferedrom

he

rural

opulation

t

argeonly

in

the overrepresentationfwomen n theirmidst.35

Comparing nformationn

place

of birth nd

place of capture

offers

some nsightsnto

herural

opulation f hepampa Table

6).

Just s most

of the

captives

had

been born

n

Buenos Aires or San

Luis, most

were

taken aptive

here.

Those few isted s city wellers

were captured

n

the

campo.

The

greatmajority fcaptives

were

country

eople

taken

aptive

in the very one orregionwheretheyhad been born, reflectionf ow

geographical

mobility

or he

population

t

large. Seventy-one ercent f

the women

forwhom nformation

s

completewere captured

n the

place

of theirbirth

127/180);

formen the numberwas

64 percent 44/69).

A

group

of male

and

female ural

migrantsrom antiago el Estero,

Men-

doza,

and

Paraguay

had

moved to the Buenos

Aires-Cordoba-San

uis

frontier

n

the

hope

of

finding

etter conomic onditions.

n

spite

ofthe

presence of female

migrants,aptures f womentended to occur

n

the

region

ftheir

irth, uggesting

ess

geographicalmobility

or

he

female

ruralpopulation.

One hundred

ninety-fiveespondentsupplied

ven more

pecific

n-

formationn where

they

had been

captured.

Overwhelminglyhey

had

been taken

while on

an

estanciaor chacra

156

individuals),

n a

rural

chapel 6),

or

along

a road

8),

that

s,

in the

countryside.

nother

roup

had been

captured

n

or near fort

5)

or

n

posthouses

postas) ii). Only

7 captives

described he

place where heywere seized

as in

town,

while

another were found

hiding

n a

coal

shed. Those

takencaptive

were

overwhelmingly

ural

people, performingural asks.

Their

capture

had

probably akenplace inmuch hesamewaythatAndreshad been taken

in

1803.

35. Axtell

lso finds hat he NorthAmericans

aptured y ndians

were a typical roup

of

colonists xceptfor he prevalence

fwomen The White ndians,

7).



22/28

SPANISH

CAPTIVES

IN INDIAN SOCIETIES

93

TABLE

7:

Language Retention fCaptives

Women Men Total

No

Spanish 42 64 1o6

Knows

only name

in

Spanish 3 5 8

Minimal Spanish 25 44 69

Total 70 113 183

Working

s an

indenturedaborer

conchabado)

n the estancia

which

belongs

to Don

PastorCornejo on

the

edge of

the

Rio Dorado along

theChacofrontier,lineof everal ndianwarriorsuddenly ppeared

a little fter

oon,

and

shouting

war criesand

making great

deal of

noise,they

made me mount

n

a

horse, hreatening

o killme

f

didn't

do

it,

and

they

arriedme

away

with n Indian

eadingmy

mount.36

While t

s

difficulto

determine

hat

psychologicalrocesses

he

cap-

tivesunderwent uring heir apture nd early aptivity,he istoffreed

captives nd other vidence provides ome nterestinguggestions s to

the ability fthe captives o survive s culturallypanish.

One importantndicator fSpanish ultural ersistence as the reten-

tionofspokenSpanish.Althoughess than peifect ndication f ulture,

it

s a

surrogate ariable.Among hosefreed

n

the Rosas expedition o6

people (or i6.7 percent f he group) ould not peakone word

f

Spanish

(Table 7).

Another

7 were imited o

at

most few panishwords.

More

striking

s

the difference

n

language

retention etween male

and female

aptives.

While at

least

28

percent f the

male

captives 69/

245)

had suffered

otal anguagedeprivation,

he

comparable ercentage

forfemaleswas

only

ii.6

percent 45/389).Females,

who

represented

6i.

5

percent

f the

entiregroup,

were

only 8 percent f those

who

had

sufferedanguagedeprivation. ere, threefactorseem to have been of

capital mportance: ge

at time

of captivity,xposure o a

sizable

group

of

captives

within ndian

society,

nd the

captor ociety's

ttitude oward

the

group.

Those

capturedyoung uickly orgot

ot

only

heirnative

an-

guage

but even the names

of theirmother

nd father.

onversely,

hose

held with

othercaptiveswere able to maintain

heir

anguage

n

spite

of

youth

and

long years among the

Indians.37

inally,

ndian

societies

deemed

women's anguage o be differentrom, fnot nferioro, thatof

36. AGNA,Testimonio el expediente . . Hacienda, Legajo izz, Expediente 081,

IX-34-5-8.

37. Although he ist

of

captivesfreedby Rosas givesno indication f the numbers

f

Spaniardsheld together, olonial ources uggest hat t least some ndian groupsheld as

many

s

30

to

50

captives

t

a time.

Mayo,

El

cautiverio, 40-41.



23/28

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| HAHR

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menand seem to have tolerated panishwomen

continuing o speak a

differentongue.

There s much ndirect videncethat ome groups fSpanishwomen

who spent

much

f heir dult ives n captivity ever osttheir onscious-

ness ofbeing Spanish nd their se of the Spanish anguage.The above-

mentioned estimony f the capturedPetronila

erez,

the woman who

could speak Spanishbecause otherwomen aptives aught t to her, s

evidence of the existence f

groups f captives ware of

their

inguistic

heritage nd working o preserve t amongotherSpaniards.

n

the 1833

group,

at least

eight

women

testified hattheyknew their

names,

the

namesof theirparents, r detailsoftheir apture, s well as theirnative

language,because of nformationiven o them y their companieras.n

some

areas

Spanishwomen aptives eem to have been so

numerous hey

almost ormed heir wn subsociety, ut apparently he same cultural r

informationetwork ever unctionedmongmale

captives.

The

Spanish anguage

was

also maintained y captives

kept

with

ther

members f theirfamilies.

Although his situationwas rare,

at

least 85

captiveswere takenwith t least one otherfamily

member.The largest

family roup freed was thatof Dofia Felipa Ortiz, a

nativeof Antuco,

Chile, and the wifeof Don Pablo Castro. She was freed long with heir

four aughtersndtwo ons,rangingnage from

2

to

6.38

Morefrequent

were

the cases

ofmothers aken aptivewith ne or two

small hildren.

Given the

predominance fwomen mong he

captives,

t s

not

sur-

prising

hat

groupof childrenwas born

n

captivityo

Spanishmothers

and

Indian

fathers.

n

addition o the

634 men, women,

and

children

listed

n

the

inventory,

nother

3 young

hildren

who

are at

the

side

of their

respective

mothers

were

also

freed,

nd at

least

2

more were

left ehind

with

he

ndians.39 nlike hosedetailed

n

the

published ist,

these

children ad been born

n

captivity.

Was one function fcaptives ohelp ndiantribes ecover rom heir

demographic

osses?The data

suppliedby

the

1833 ist,

while too

incom-

plete

to allow for

ophisticated emographic alculations, rovide ome

possible

answers.The

above-mentioned

5

children

robably epresent

most

of the

surviving ffspring

f the female

aptives,

s there

s

little

reason

to

believe thatRosas was willing o leave more than

handful

f

these childrenwiththe Indians.

Calculating

he

ratioof

these

surviving

children o the number fwomen

2io)

between he

ages

of

15

and

39-

38. Relaci6nde los cristianos alvados, 50-51.

39. Ibid., 92, gives hetotalnumber f hildren orn n captivity. he onlywoman

who

specificallymentionedeavingher children ehindwas Manuela Chasarreta,

5o-year-old

widowwho had spent 14 years n captivity. ccording o her

declaration, she has left wo

Indian sons among he nfidels nd has brought Christian

onwithher Ibid., 38).



24/28

SPANISH

CAPTIVES

IN

INDIAN

SOCIETIES 95

the childbearing

ears-yields

a

rough

stimate

f

36

children orn

and

surviving or ach woman.

Informationn age at captivitynd age at return rovides rough

Documents

Socolow Susan - Spanish Captives in Indian Societies