Feb 04, 2016 - Sale 2404

Sale 2404 - Lot 314

Price Realized: $ 15,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500
(MEXICO.) Family papers of Apache fighter Colonel Joaquin Terrazas of Chihuahua. 59 items (0.2 linear feet) in one box plus one oversized portrait; moderate to heavy dampstaining and wear; Juh letter torn, dampstained, and laminated. Vp, 1874-1913

Additional Details

Colonel Joaquín Terrazas Quezada (1829-1901) was best known for leading the Chihuahua militia in its efforts to suppress Apache raiders. In 1880, he and his troops surrounded the band of Apache leader Victorio, killing all but women and children. A highlight of this collection is a letter to Colonel Terrazas from his son Ignacio dated Chihuahua, relating to the capture of the Apache leader Juh with 37 fatalities, dated Chihuahua, 31 May 1882, which begins: "Querido Papa: Recibimos su apreciable por la que estamos enterados que al fin ataco al indio Ju y que lograron capturar 37 cabezas, vivos y muertos. Tengo demasiado gusto por que salio sin novidad (D.G.) y espero siempre ser."
The collection also includes a 15-page manuscript biography of Colonel Terrazas (apparently by Ignacio Terrazas after 1898) which includes an account of the Victorio campaign on the fourth page: "que fue llamado al servico militar, por la matanza de vecinos del pueblo del Canizal en la Sierra de la Candelaria por la order del Ju dio Victorio. En el mes de Marzo de 1881 marcho Joaquin con fuerzar federales de infanteria y caballaria para el pueblo del Canizal a persiguir los barbaros por la frontera del estado in los Distritos, Bravos, Guerrero, en cuya campaña estebohasta el mes de Decbre el dicho año."
Also included are: a large pencil and wash portrait of Colonel Terrazas, captioned in ink on verso 5 early family photographs 16 letters from Joaquín to Ignacio Terrazas, 1894-97 A letter on the formation of a military club bearing the secretarial signature of Porfirio Diaz, 1899 and many other manuscript letters and documents.