Auction Name: 2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts & Texana Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 47011

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6328*47011

[Santa Fe Expedition]. Francisco Garcia Conde Broadside Address Issuing a Warning and Call to Arms. Single printed sheet (in Spanish), 8 5/8 x 12 3/8 inches. Chihuahua: Imprenta del Gobierno a cargo de Cayetano Ramos; January 9, 1841. Francisco García Conde was governor and commandant general of Chihuahua at the time this address was issued. His message is a forceful call for civilian mobilization in the face of mounting frontier violence and continuing threats from Texas. Although García Conde never explicitly names the Santa Fe Expedition, the broadside must be read against events unfolding simultaneously in late 1840-early 1841. Signed in type at the conclusion, Garcia Conde adds his rubric in live ink.

His address reads, in small part (in translation):

"Four hundred savages, spawned by the Mogoyón, have come to exact the tribute of calamity-and what resources, under such critical circumstances, are available to the Government? What are the means the laws have given to its authority to repress so many acts of violence and heal wounds so profound? I tell you frankly: they are insufficient even to provide a slight defense of your interests, which diminish daily because of the same situation of the country, until the time comes when, being nothing, they will not even be found among the private patrimony of the citizens."

At the time, Texas was preparing (and secretly organizing) the Santa Fe Expedition, aimed at redirecting trade away from Mexico. Chihuahua and New Mexico were already destabilized by Comanche and Apache raids, economic collapse, and a weakened military.

His reference to "Four hundred savages, spawned by the Mogoyón" is a rhetorical warning of the potential dangers of Indian raids and foreign invasion for which they must prepare. He calls for civilians to fund and man local defenses acknowledging the central governments resources have been depleted: "I have devoted myself to seeking the most suitable means to attain ends so important. To that effect, I requested and obtained from the Supreme Government the power to expand the defense of the Department; I ordered the collection of the donation that was requested throughout the Republic for the war in Texas; and I adopted measures that seemed practicable."

With this broadside Garcia Conde sets in motion military preparation and coordination with New Mexico leadership. He reinforces popular sentiment to view any incursions by foreigners to be treated as hostile aggression. All of this matters because when the Santa Fe Expedition launches later in June, rather than encountering sympathetic New Mexicans eager to defect from Mexican rule, the Texans found a population already alerted by proclamations and official warnings, conditioned to regard them as armed invaders rather than traders. Local authorities denied them supplies, civilians avoided contact, and intelligence about their movements flowed steadily to Mexican officials.

As the expedition weakened from hunger, exposure, and internal disorder, Mexican and New Mexican forces shadowed and encircled it without engaging in battle, making resistance futile.

An unrecorded broadside that fits nicely in context with Streeter items 962, 962.1 and 963 that tell of the sighting and capture of the Expedition, and notice of their arrival as prisoners at Villa del Paso.

Condition: Deckled edges, with staining at lower left corner, possibly dampstaining. Flattened folds.

Include Thumbnail(s)