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victory, they started back to Monterrey, where they arrived in March, 1664, six months from the day they set out. The Governor of Nuevo Leon decided that it would be best to send the captives into the interior, where, removed from their own people, they could be more easily civilized. Consequently the Indians were sent under guard to the royal mines of Zacatecas where they were to be settled. 29 There can be little doubt that De la Garza and his men crossed the Rio Grande, for the next year, when a new expedition to the Cacaxtles was undertaken it is definitely stated that these Indians were found twenty-five leagues beyond the Rio Grande on this occasion. It is more than probable that they were in the same vicinity as the year before. Fernando de Azcue crosses the Lower Rio Grande, 1665. But the first expedition to cross the lower Rio Grande of which we have definite record is the one led by Fernando de Azcue in 1665. The Indians along the northern frontier appear to have continued their raids and the Spaniards were equally ready to attack them in their own country with the hope of preventing these incursions and securing captives, which could be sold at a handsome profit in the mining regions of Zacatecas, Chihuahua, and Casas Grandes. According to the Spaniards it became necessary to make an exemplary punishment to check the boldness of the Indians from the unexplored north. The Alcalde il/' ayor of Saltillo, Don Fernando de Azcue, appealed to the Governor of Nuevo Leon for aid. A council of war was held and it was decided that a new joint expedition be organized, which was to set out from Monterrey. Azcue recruited a force of seventy-three men, who were joined by thirty from Monterrey under the command of Juan Cavazos. When the men had all assembled, the expedition set out for the land of the Cacaxtles with eight hundred horses and seventy cargas (cartloads) of flour and other provisions. On the way to the Rio Grande three hundred Bobole Indians, gathered by Nicolas, el carretero, joined the Spanish force. At the head of the Indian allies was placed Ambrosio Cepeda, who knew and understood almost all the languages of the nations of the north . 30 It is of interest to note that this same Ambrosio Cepeda was to be a rival contestant for the appointment to lead the expedition to find the French settlement in T exas in 1687. In that year he addressed a long petition to the
29Genaro Garcia, Doc11me11tos lneditos, XXV, 221-223. 30/bid., 228-229.
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