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4: The Arms of God
- University of New Mexico Press
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49 Chapter Four The Arms of God L / The Comisión de Límites departed Mexico City, traveling north, on November 10, 1827. Led by soldier, mathematician, and surveyor Gen. Manuel de Mier y Terán, members included officers Lt. Col. José Batres of the medical corps, Lt. Col. Constantino Tarnava of the corps of engineers , and artillery lieutenant José Sánchez y Tapía, who served as cartographer (and artist), and scientists Raphael Chowell, the mineralogist, and Jean Louis Berlandier, who served as a geoscientist, anthropologist, historian, zoologist, botanist, and artist. The wagons of the commission contained instruments of science to determine latitude, elevation, and direction, and to preserve images and specimens. An escort of cavalry provided protection . The official purpose of the Comisión de Límites was to journey across the Rio Grande to territory that was under contention between the governments of Mexico and the United States. Spanish authorities suspected that American scientific expeditions up the Red, such as that led by American scientist William Dunbar in 1804 (which departed from the Red to the Black and Ouchita Rivers) and James Freeman and Peter Custis in 1806 (which Spanish troops intercepted and turned back), were veiled attempts to reconnoiter the area for American invasion. Open aggression by American filibusters such as James Long in 1819 confirmed Spanish and Mexican fears that Americans would stop at nothing to acquire Texas. Even after the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 settled the boundaries at the Red and Sabine Rivers, American diplomats sought to renegotiate the treaty shortly thereafter , when Mexico gained independence from Spain. Mexican statesmen, Chapter Four 50 justifiably wary of American intentions toward Texas, decided on a combined military and scientific expedition to the region to study, on the one hand, the flora, fauna, geography, and climate of Texas as well as, on the other hand, the varied human elements, such as Indians and Americans residing in Texas and representing a threat toward Mexican sovereignty. Terán, an able soldier and a fine scientist who disliked the American presence in Texas, was a good choice to lead the commission. More questionable was the decision to outfit an exploring expedition with cumbersome wagons, including the general’s own gilded one.1 Foretelling the pattern of the entire trip, the first day on the road a wagon broke a wheel, which necessitated a delay at Cuautitlán. The wagon repaired, they set out again on November 12, only to be halted at Huehuetoca by another wheel breaking on another wagon. Terán, deciding that such slow progress required the contrast of usefulness, ordered Berlandier and Chowell to investigate the works of the Desagüe de Huehuetoca. This canal, built to provide an artificial outlet of the waters of Lakes Zumpango, Cristóbal, and Texcoco, hence to prevent the Valley of Mexico from recurrent flooding, was cut in the limestone base by thousands of workers over the space of several centuries. To the west lay the Cerro de la Bufa, which formed the watershed of waters flowing west and east. Berlandier and the commission journeyed among the headwaters of the Pánuco. Their route was an old, ill-maintained road, El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, that historically connected the capital with the presidios of New Mexico; journeyers followed the road north from Mexico City along the high plateau toward San Luis Potosí and Saltillo. The way north was waterless, save for recurrent dry arroyos, with a few desert plants, cacti and huisaches; the few farmers in the region practiced dry farming of necessity. The path continued to the small town of San Juan del Río, where Berlandier climbed a small mountain, which was bare on top due to lack of moisture rather than elevation. At the base of the mountain were desert plants such as mesquite and tree morning glory (Ipomoea arborescens). The town was named for a tributary of the Tula River. On the road to Querétaro the next day, he found a species of milkweed (Asclepias). Querétaro delighted Berlandier, who enjoyed thinking about its past as a fountain of revolution, its reputation for industry, its many monasteries, and its aqueduct. The path from Querétaro to San Miguel de Allende was through a mountainous desert; small towns lay in the valleys amid peaks soaring to almost eight thousand feet. One valley held the pretty town of San Miguel de Allende. The town had been known [54.173.221.132] Project MUSE (2024-03...