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Marcelino
Baca
Native Mexicans
generally did not directly involve themselves in the fur trade as trappers
or hunters, at least not until towards the end of the era. Marcelino Baca was
one of the few natives of the colony of
New Mexico
to become a trapper. During
his years in the fur trade he came to be known as “the best trapper and
hunter in the mountains and ever first in the fight.” (Ruxton, 1849).
Baca was born in Taos
about 1808. He probably
learned trapping by accompanying one or more of the companies of American
trappers based out of Taos or
Santa Fe
during the 1820’s. At that
time Spanish and then Mexican officials were extremely suspicious of any
foreign ventures. Mexican officials
harassed in every way possible foreigners (generally meaning United States
citizens) including confiscation of trade goods, furs and skins, and
imprisonment. Americans could
only operate out of
Taos and Santa Fe
if they took Mexican citizenship and joined the Catholic Church.
Marrying a local woman was also helpful.
During this period Marcelino Baca probably also spent time working
a gold placer mine south of
Santa Fe
with his father.
Marcelino Baca
probably began his trapping career in 1832 or 1833.
By 1835 he was a member of Jim Bridger’s American Fur Company
brigade trapping around the
Upper Missouri River
region. He remained with
Bridger’s brigade, at least through the winter of 1837-38.
In February of
1837, while Bridger’s brigade was settled into “Winter Quarters” on
the
Yellowstone
River, the men had a close escape from a large party of Blackfoot Indians.
Osborne Russell and a small mounted party
had gone out one day to hunt buffalo.
They were attacked by about 80 Blackfoot from ambush, fortunately
getting away with only one lost rifle and a man with a broken arm.
Over the next several days the trappers skirmished several times
with small numbers of Indians. On
February 22, Bridger with a small party went out to reconnoiter.
He returned about mid-day with the news that the prairie was alive
with Indians. The brigade
immediately set to making a breastwork around the encampment. That
night there was a brilliant display of aurora borealis in the sky.
Nothing happened for the next several days, while the Indians
positioned themselves closer to the encampment.
On the 24th, Baca was sent out to reconnoiter.
In climbing a bluff he was shot in the “heel” by an Indian.
In order to escape, Baca made a 50 foot jump down the bluff, and
then skidded down a snow-slide the rest of the way to the bottom.
About an hour later the main body of Indians appeared on the river
ice and approached to within 400 yards of the trapper’s fortified
encampment. The chief came
forward alone and signed that the Indians would not fight but would return
to their village, which they did. There
was much speculation amongst the trappers as to why the Indians didn’t
attack, especially as they vastly outnumbered the trappers with an
estimated 1,100 warriors. The
trappers finally decided that the aurora borealis seen a few nights
earlier was taken by the Indians to be a bad medicine.
Near the end of
1838, Baca was taken captive by Pawnee Indians with the intent of
torturing and killing him. Before
the festive event could take place, the chief’s daughter fell in love
with Baca and begged her father to spare his life.
The girl’s wish was granted and Baca was released.
Baca married the girl and together they started a family.
The eldest son was born along the South Platte River
near the present day location of
Denver
in 1839. The second son was
born at
Fort Laramie (Fort William) in 1841. Their
only daughter was born at Hardscrabble (about 30 miles up the
Arkansas River
from present day Pueblo) in 1846. The daughter would
eventually marry the son of Charles Autobees, another Mountain Man.
After the birth of their third child, Baca took his family to Taos
where he had the children baptized and at the same time had his marriage
formalized in the Catholic Church.
In the early
1840’s Baca joined other trappers living and working in the El
Pueblo and Hardscrabble areas. While
here, he undoubtedly was acquainted with Calvin
T. Briggs. Starting in
about 1847-48 both Hardscrabble and El Pueblo went into decline, and Baca
moved to the
Greenhorn River Valley
where he took up ranching and farming.
He raised cattle, and grew corn, wheat, beans and watermelons, both
for his own family and for trade with Indians.
After Indians killed some of Baca’s cattle and destroyed his
crops in 1852, Baca relocated several times along the Arkansas River, but continuing with ranching and agriculture.
On December 24, 1854, Ute Indians massacred seventeen men then
living in the adobe walls at El Pueblo, a fate which Baca and his family
would have shared earlier that same day except that when the Indians paid
a visit to the ranch, an old man staying with Baca vehemently objected to allowing the
Indians entrance. Denied, the
Indians drove off all of the cattle and horses that were not corralled.
The following month, Ute Indians returned and killed Baca’s
brother near El Pueblo. Baca
moved his family back to
New Mexico
(now part of the
United States) to the frontier
village
of Rio
Colorado
(present day
Red River). He lived here until the
outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted with the New Mexico
Volunteers. He was killed
during a battle with invading Texans at
Valverde,
New Mexico on
February 21, 1862
.
For more
information about Marcelino Baca see:
Russell,
Osborne. Journal
of a Trapper (1834-1843), Edited by Aubrey L Haines,
published 1955 by University of Nebraska Press.
191 Pages. The diary of
events recorded by Osborne Russell from the time he began his adventures
in the mountains, till moving as an emigrant to Oregon in 1843.
The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West, Vol.
3, edited
by LeRoy R Hafen, published 1965 by the Arthur H Clark Company. With
chapters on Marcelino Baca, James Baird, James Baker, Henry A Boller,
Michael Bourdon, John J Burroughs, Richard Campbell, Joseph Dickson,
William Doughty, Joe Doyle, John Thomas Evans, Jacob Fowler, Henry Fraeb,
Isaac Graham, James A Hamilton, William Laidlaw, Antoine and Abraham
Ledoux, Stephen Louis Lee, Jacob Primer Leese, William Morrison, Henry
Naile, Peter Skene Ogden, Pierre Chrysologue Pambrun, Daniel T Potts,
Rufus B Sage, Marcellin St. Vrain, Thomas L Sarpy, George Semmes Simpson,
William Tharp, Tavid Thompson, Phillip F Thompson, Courtney Meade Walker,
Seth E Ward, Caleb Wilkins, Dick Wootton.
Ruxton,
George Frederick. Life
in the Far West: Edited by LeRoy Hafen,
published by University
of
Oklahoma
Press. This novel by Englishman George Frederick Ruxton first appeared in
serial format in 1848 and was based in part on Ruxton's travels through
Taos, Santa Fe, Bent's Fort, and along the Santa Fe Trail.
Descriptions of the mountain man's rifle in this novel may have provided
the origin of the myth associating mountain men with Hawkins Rifles.
Ruxton's factual account of his travels in Adventures in Mexico and the
Rocky Mountains, first published in 1847, is distinguished by it's
excellent and accurate descriptions of clothing, weapons and
equipment.
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