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The 1879 Conquest of the Argentine “Desert” and its Religious Aspects*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

César Bustos-Videla
César Bustos-Videla*
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
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Extract

The conquest of the Argentine pampas, with its well-known effects on Argentine expansion and on the political career of General Julio A. Roca, had a religious accompaniment which gave it some of the aspects of a crusade. Missionary priests went along with the military expedition and followed it up in order to convert and settle the Indians whose wanderings were forcibly suppressed by the operation of the army.

Efforts to Christianize the area had extended over two centuries, with only limited success.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , July 1964 , pp. 36 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1964

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Footnotes

*

The following article is based on the author’s study: “The 1879 Conquest of the Argentine ‘ Desert ’ as a Religious Crusade ”(Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Library School, The George Washington University, 1963).

References

1 This region was referred to in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the “desert.” The word “desert ”in English is a translation of the Spanish word desierto which means deserted or uninhabited, as well as desert; but it was the former meaning which “desert ”was meant to imply. This so-called “desert,” which was uninhabited by whites, was not a desert at all, but a fertile region of vast pampas, or grass-covered plains, with rich soil and excellent pastures.

2 Guillermo Fúrlong Cárdiff, Entre los Tehuelches de la Patagonia; según noticias de los misioneros e historiadores Jesuitas: Diego Rosales, Miguel de Olivares, Nicolás Mascardi, Juan José Quillelmo, Felipe Vander Meeren, Nyel, Armando J., Antonio Alemán, José Cardiel, Antonio Machoni y Francisco Enrich (Buenos Aires, 1943), p. 117.Google Scholar

3 Cárdiff, Guillermo Fúrlong, Entre los Pampas de Buenos Aires; según noticias de los misioneros Jesuitas: Matías Strobel, José Cardiel, Tomás Falkner, Jerónimo Rejón, Joaquín Cornaño, Manuel Querini, Manuel García, Pedro Lozano y José Sánchez Labrador (Buenos Aires, 1938), pp. 16–17 Google Scholar.

4 One of the tribes of the Pampas Indians was the Puelches, who lived close to the southwestern frontier of the Buenos Aires Province along the Rio Colorado. These Indians tried to keep on good terms with the Christians for the purpose of trading and drawing rations which the government promised them through peace treaties. Hasbrouck, Alfred, “The Conquest of the Desert,” Hispanic American Historical Review, XV (May, 1935), 198.Google Scholar

5 The Tehuelches, or southern people, were one of the tribes which made up the Pampas Indians. They lived just south of the Río Negro, in the windswept, arid, brushcovered steppes of the Patagonian tableland. Steward, Julian Haynes and Faron, Louis C., Native Peoples of South America (New York, 1959), p. 408 Google Scholar.

6 Cárdiff, Guillermo Fúrlong, La personalidad y la obra de Tomás Falkner [No. XLVIII, de Filosofía, Facultad y Letras, , Publicaciones del Buenos Aires-Universidad Nacional Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas] (Buenos Aires, 1929), p. 27 Google Scholar.

7 Almost half of these missions were actually on Argentine soil.

8 The name of Father Manuel Querini has also appeared in some books as Cherino, and the name of Father Marías Strobel has also been spelled Strobl in some books.

9 Fúrlong Cárdiff, La personalidad y la obra de Tomás Falkner, p. 27.

10 Muñiz, Rómulo, Los indios pampas (Buenos Aires, 1929), p. 58 Google Scholar.

11 Yunque, Álvaro (Herrero, Arístides Gandolfi), Calfucurá; la conquista de las pampas (Buenos Aires, 1956), p. 76 Google Scholar.

12 Concepción was located near the present town of Estación Castellin.

13 Bolton, Herbert Eugene, “The Mission as a Frontier Institution in the Spanish-American Colonies,” Wider Horizons of American History (New York, 1939), p. 147 Google Scholar. As their first and primary task the missionaries spread the Faith, but in addition, designedly or incidentally, they explored the frontier, promoting its occupation. They defended the settlements, taught the Indians the Spanish language, and disciplined them in good manners.

14 Cárdiff, Guillermo Fúrlong, Falkner, Tomás y su, “Acerca de los Patagones ” (1788) (Buenos Aires, 1954), p. 35 Google Scholar.

15 Fúrlong Cárdiff, La personalidad y la obra de Tomás Falkner, p. 28.

16 This reducción was more commonly referred to as Nuestra Señora del Pilar, or merely del Pilar. The site of this mission was located at what is now known as Mar del Plata.

17 Fúrlong Cárdiff, Entre las Pampas de Buenos Aires, p. 70.

18 The location of the reducción Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados was the place which is now called Copelino.

19 Cárdiff, Fúrlong, Falkner, Tomás y su, “Acerca de los Patagones” {1188), p. 55 Google Scholar.

20 Williams, Mary Wilhelmine, Bartlett, Ruhl J. and Miller, Russell E., The People and Politics of Latin America (4th ed.; Boston, 1955), p. 187 Google Scholar.

21 Falkner, Thomas, A Description of Patagonia and the Adjoining Parts of South America, introduction and notes by Neumann, Arthur E.S. (Chicago, 1935), p. 114 Google Scholar.

22 Ygobone, Aquiles D., El deber argentino ante la Patagonia (Buenos Aires, 1943), p. 19 Google Scholar.

23 Juan Manuel Rosas led one of the first major attempts by the government to conquer and hold the Argentine pampas in 1833 and 1834, when he pushed the Indians back of the Río Colorado, clearing the Province of Buenos Aires as far south as Bahía Blanca. White, John W., Argentina, the Life Story of a Nation (New York, 1942), p. 119 Google Scholar. But by 1875, just a few years prior to Roca’s campaign, the Indians had completely recovered all the lands that had been taken from them. They were masters of the pampas once again and brought their raids and invasions to the doors of Buenos Aires. Prado, Manuel, La guerra al malón (Buenos Aires, 1960), p. 17 Google Scholar.

24 Cárdiff, Guillermo Fúrlong, Los Jesuitas y la cultura río platense (Montevideo, 1933), p. 154 Google Scholar.

25 Udaondo, Enrique, Crònica histórica de la venerable orden tercera de San Francisco en la República Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1920), pp. 199–200 Google Scholar.

26 Udaondo, Enrique, Diccionario biográfico argentino (Buenos Aires, 1938), p. 350 Google Scholar.

27 Mansilla, Lucio Victor, Una excursión á los indios Ranqueles (Buenos Aires, 1907), I, 21 Google Scholar.

28 Córdoba, Antonio Santa Clara, La Orden Franciscana en las repúblicas del Plata; síntesis histórica-1536–1934 (Buenos Aires, 1934), p. 263 Google Scholar.

29 The term “Christian ”was used in writings of the period to refer to any person who was not of Indian stock. It did not necessarily mean he was a member of a Christian church. The meaning of the word “Christian ”in this article has this connotation when it is used generally to refer to the white settlers of the pampas.

30 Ygobone, El deber argentino ante la Patagonia, p. 20.

31 White, , Argentina, the Life Story of a Nation, pp. 118–119 Google Scholar.

32 Arrili, Bernardo González, Sesenta años de república; 1852–1912 (Buenos Aires, 1945), p. 147 Google Scholar.

33 Lugones, Leopoldo, Roca, prólogo de Octavio R. Amadeo (Buenos Aires, 1938), p. 171 Google Scholar.

34 González Arrili, Sesenta años de república, pp. 147–148.

35 Yunque, Calfucurá, p. 340.

36 U.S. Legation Dispatch No. 189, Buenos Aires, 14 May 1878, Department of State, National Archives. By May 8 the President had completed the reconstruction of his cabinet and General Roca was the new Minister of War and Marine. He had been appointed Minister by decree dated January 3, 1878, but when he arrived in Buenos Aires from Córdoba he became ill, and was in grave condition. This kept him away from his new post until April 22, 1878, the date he was sworn in.

37 Yunque, Calfucurá, p. 352.

38 Zeballos, Estanislao S., La conquista de quince mil leguas; estudio sobre la traslación de la frontera sud de la república al Río Negro dedicado a los gefes y oficiales del ejército expedicionario (Buenos Aires, 1878), p. 321 Google Scholar. This situation had prevailed for almost three hundred years, and the records reveal that as early as February 11, 1611, the Pampas Indians were robbing ranches, and attacking Córdoba where they killed nine persons. In a separate attack they assaulted and killed five more persons who were on their way from Córdoba to Buenos Aires. Cervera, Manuel María, Poblaciones y curatos —estudio histórico (Sante Fé, 1939), p. 243 Google Scholar.

39 Olascoaga, Manuel J., Estudio topográfico de La Pampa y Río Negro (Buenos Aires, 1880), p. 46 Google Scholar.

40 Zeballos, La conquista de quince mil leguas, pp. 331–332.

41 Pont, Augusto Marcó del, Roca y su tiempo (cincuenta años de historia argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1931), pp. 124–126 Google Scholar.

42 Zeballos, La conquista de quince mil leguas, p. 328.

43 Vélez, Francisco Melchor, Ante la posteridad; personalidad marcial del Teniente General Julio A. Roca (2 vols.; Buenos Aires, 1938), p. 210 Google Scholar.

44 Ibid., p. 192.

45 Marcó del Pont, Roca y su tiempo, p. 171.

46 Avellaneda, Nicolás, Mensaje del Presidente de la República al abrir las sesiones del congreso argentino en mayo de 1819 (Buenos Aires, 1879)Google Scholar.

47 Hasbrouck, “The Conquest of the Desert,” p. 216.

48 Monsignor Espinosa wrote a diary of the missionary and crusading work during the 1879 campaign. These were unknown until 1939 when they were published. I have relied upon this document for its unmatched value as a primary source, to bring to the reader an untampered collection of first-hand accounts.

49 Stieben, Enrique, De Garay á Roca; la guerra con el indio de las pampas (Buenos Aires, 1941), p. 303 Google Scholar.

50 Ibid., p. 306.

51 Marcó del Pont, Roca y su tiempo, p. 182.

52 Hasbrouck, “The Conquest of the Desert,” p. 221.

53 Lastra, Dionisio Schoo, El indio del desierto (1535–1879) (7a ed.; Buenos Aires, 1957), p. 205 Google Scholar.

54 Hasbrouck, “The Conquest of the Desert,” pp. 218–219.

55 The Times (London), July 5, 1879, p. 7.

56 Prado, La guerra al malón, p. 124.

57 González Arrili, Sesenta años de república, p. 150.

58 Carmen de Patagones was only twenty-one miles from the ocean and 660 miles from Buenos Aires.

59 Stieben, De Garay á Roca, p. 309.

60 On July 28, 1870, Monsignor Mariano José de Escalada, First Archbishop of Buenos Aires, died when he was in Rome attending the First Vatican Council. A metropolitan cabildo, called on September 12, 1870, to choose his successor for the post of Vicar, appointed Dr. Federico León Aneiros who had previously been appointed titular bishop of Aulon on March 21, 1870. Aneiros was from a humble family. He received his doctor’s degree in theology and was ordained a priest in 1848. He alternated his priestly responsibility with newspaper work and founded two newspapers, La Religión and El Orden. He died in Buenos Aires in 1894 after living to see his dreams of a crusade come true.

61 Esquivai, Héctor Darío, Régimen eclesiástico argentino (Buenos Aires, 1928), p. 333 Google Scholar.

62 Copello, Santiago Luis, Gestiones del Arzobispo Aneiros en favor de los indios hasta la conquista del desierto (Buenos Aires, 1944), p. 18 Google Scholar.

63 Constitution of the Republic of Argentina 1853 (Washington, 1960)Google Scholar.

64 Copello, Gestiones del Arzobispo Aneiros, pp. 18, 19, 23.

65 Ibid., p. 27.

66 Ibid., pp. 32–33.

67 Ibid., p. 37.

68 Ibid., pp. 53–54.

69 Ibid., p. 47.

70 Salvaire studied in Paris in the seminary of Saint Vicent de Paul and was ordained in 1871. In the same year, after he was ordained, he came to Buenos Aires and became a teacher in the college of the Lazarist Fathers, San Luis College, for two years, 1872–1874.

71 Copello, Gestiones del Arzobispo Aneiros, p. 54.

72 Diccionario histórico argentina, edited by Piccirilli, Ricardo, Romay, Francisco L., y Gianello, Leoncio (6 vols.; Buenos Aires, 1954), VI, 321 Google Scholar.

73 Copello, Gestiones del Arzobispo Aneiros, pp. 72–73.

74 Ibid., pp. 73–74.

75 Milanesio, Domenico, La Patagonia; lingua, industria, costumi e religione dei Patagoni (Buenos Aires, 1898), p. 45 Google Scholar.

76 This work was printed in Buenos Aires in 1876 and is 122 pages long.

77 Udaondo, Diccionario biográfico argentino, p. 994.

78 Lugones, Roca, p. 171.

79 Copello, Gestiones del Arzobispo Aneiros, p. 70.

80 Ibid., p. 91.

81 Gim, Angel M.énez, La iglesia y el estado argentino (Buenos Aires, 1934), p. 183 Google Scholar.

82 Espinosa, Antonio, La conquista del desierto; diario del capellán de la expedición de 1879 Monseñor Antonio Espinosa, mas tarde Arzobispo de Buenos Aires. Prólogo y notas de Bartolomé Galíndez (Buenos Aires, 1939), p. 40 Google Scholar.

83 This letter was written to Dr. Federico Aneiros, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, by Espinosa on July 14, 1879, after he returned to Buenos Aires.

84 Copello, Gestiones del Arzobispo Aneiros, pp. 200–201.

85 Espinosa, La conquista del desierto, p. 41. When the First Division was in Carhué, the Minister of War offered two hundred pesos, house and board, plus the job of schoolteacher, to any priest who would come here.

86 Ygobone, Aquilcs D., Misiones patagónicas (Buenos Aires, 1946), p. 35 Google Scholar.

87 Espinosa, La conquista del desierto, pp. 46–47.

88 Ygobone, Misiones patagónicas, p. 38.

80 Espinosa, La conquista del desierto, p. 163.

90 Ibid., p. 48.

91 Milanesio, La Patagonia, p. 46.

92 Espinosa, La conquista del desierto, p. 57.

93 Ibid., p. 164.

94 Ibid., pp. 61–65.

95 Ibid., pp. 68–70.

96 Copello, Gestiones del Arzobispo Aneiros, p. 121.

97 U.S. Legation Dispatch No. 303, Buenos Aires, 13 October 1880, Department of State, National Archives.

98 Fúrlong Cárdiff, Entre los Pampas de Buenos Aires, p. 224.

99 Diccionario histórico argentino, VI, 295.

100 Ygobone, Aquiles D., La epopeya patagónica (Buenos Aires, 1946), p. 209 Google Scholar.

101 Zuretti, Juan Carlos, Historia eclesiástica argentina (Buenos Aires, 1945), p. 263 Google Scholar.

102 Moldes, José María, La tierra de los Tehuelches (Buenos Aires, 1938), p. 360 Google Scholar.