Villasur Expedition

The Villasur expedition of 1720 was a Spanish military expedition intended to check the growing French presence on the Great Plains of central North America. Led by Lieutenant-General Pedro de Villasur, the expedition was overwhelmed in an attack by far more numerous Pawnee and Otoe.

In the first part of the 18th century, French explorers and fur traders began to enter the plains west of the Missouri River. In 1714, Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont became the first European to reach the Platte River. Spain, which had claimed "ownership" of the Great Plains since the Coronado expedition of the 16th century, worried about the expansion of French influence in the region. In 1718, the War of the Quadruple Alliance broke out between France and Spain.

The governor of the Spanish colony of Nuevo México, based in Santa Fe, directed Villasur to capture French traders on the plains. Spanish authorities hoped to gather intelligence about French ambitions in the region. Villasur left Santa Fe on June 16, 1720, leading an expedition that included about 40 soldiers, 60-70 Pueblo scouts, a priest, and a Spanish trader, and approximately 12 Apache guides. Jose Naranjo, the leading scout and explorer, was of African-Hopi parentage. A war captain for the Spanish Indian auxiliaries, by 1714 Naranjo had already explored the Platte River region three times.

The expedition made its way northeast through present-day Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska. In August, they made contact with the Pawnee and Otoe along the Platte and Loup rivers. Using Francisco Sistaca, a Pawnee held as a slave (and renamed) by the Spanish, Villasur made several attempts to negotiate with Indians in the area. On August 13, Sistaca disappeared from camp. Nervous about the possibility of attack and the increasing number and belligerence of the Pawnee and Otoe, Villasur camped that night just south of the Loup/Platte confluence, near what is now Columbus, Nebraska.

The following morning (August 14), a large Pawnee and Oto force (possibly aided by French traders) attacked the Spanish camp. They quickly killed Villasur, 34 of his soldiers, Naranjo and 10 other Pueblo scouts after a brief battle. The survivors returned to Santa Fe on September 6. The expedition, which had journeyed farther to the north and east than any other Spanish military expedition, marked the end of Spanish influence on the central Great Plains.