S. BROWN, CO. F, 3RD I, 1859 - SIGNATURE ROCK, BOISE CITY, OK:

S. Brown, Co. F, 3rd I, 1859, Signature Rock, Boise City, Oklahoma. Photograph Peter Faris, 12 June 2006. 

Close-up of signature, S. Brown, Co. F, 3rd I, 1859, Signature Rock, Boise City, Oklahoma. Photograph Peter Faris, 12 June 2006.

Back in 2006 I visited a ranch outside of Boise City in the panhandle of western Oklahoma which has a cliff covered with old inscriptions from the Santa Fe Trail. One that interested me is “S. Brown, Co. F, 3d I, 1859,” which I take to refer to Company F of the 3^rd Infantry Regiment. 

The 3^rd Infantry Regiment was the U. S. Army’s first Regiment, founded in 1784, and is the oldest currently active regiment in the Regular Army. They fought in the Mexican War, after which they were assigned to New Mexico Territory. “From 1856 to 1860 the regiment served in New Mexico where it fought the Navajo Indian tribe.” (Wikipedia)

Fort Defiance, New Mexico Territory (now Arizona). Illustration Seth Eastman, 1873.

The encyclopedic, 475 page compendium of the Navajo wars and fighting by Frank McNitt (1972) provides only a few mentions of the 3rd Infantry Division, with only one mention of Company F (in 1851), and no S. Brown listed. It mentions "Lieutenant Henry B. Schroeder's Company F, Third Infantry" as being part of the garrison of Fort Defiance. (McNitt 1972:199)

Navajo family with loom. Near Old Fort Defiance, New Mexico. Albumen print photograph, 1873, public domain.

The U.S. Army Center of Military History records the following information for the 3rd during 1858. "1858 - Janyary 1 to February 11; scout against Kiowa Indians in neighborhood of Manzana; Company F, March to September; Mormon Expedition into Utah; Companies A, E and R, May 30; engagement with Navajo Indians at Ewell's hay camp near Fort Defiance; detachments of B and G. September, October and November; campaign against Navahos; engagements; September 19 to 24, Canyon de Chelly; Company G; September 25, Laguna Negra, Company B; October 1, Bear Springs, Company B; October 10 Rancho de los Anagones, Company G; November 9 near Fort Defiance, Company F." (U.S. Army Center of Military History) Their record, however, does not mention company F in 1859, it does come up again in 1860 at Fort Defiance.

During this March to September period in 1858, a confrontation accurred which is known as the Mormon Expedition. The Mormon Expedition, also known as the Utah War "or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the U.S. government. The confrontation lasted from May 1857 to July 1858. There were some casualties, most of which were non-Mormon civilians. The was had no notable military battles." (Wikipedia)

So, with the 3rd Infantry Regiment based at Fort Defiance, New Mexico, from 1856 to 1860, how did a member of the 3rd put his name on Signature Rock in Western Oklahoma in 1859. I can only assume that our S. Brown was on his way back to the States when he passed through Oklahoma, headed East on the Santa Fe Trail which passes right by that location. Was he discharged from military service, or was he sent back to deliver dispatches? I shall probably never know, but he has led me on a fascinating journey trying to trace him down.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

U. S. Army Center of Military History, Third Regiment of Military, https://history.army.mil/books/R&H/R&H-3IN.htm, accessed 12 December 2021.

McNitt, Frank, 1972, Navajo Wars: Military Campaigns, Slave Raids, and Reprisals, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque

Wikipedia, 3^rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_U.S._Infantry_Regiment_(The_Old_Guard)#1815_to_1861, accessed 13 December 2021.

Wikipedia, Utah War, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_War, accessed 12 December 2021.

CORONATTO – IS THIS AN AUTHENTIC RECORD OF CORONADO?

Possible Coronado inscription. McGlone, Barker,

and Leonard, 1994, p. 74-1.

Possible Coronado inscription. McGlone, Barker,

and Leonard, 1994, p. 74-1.

In the western Oklahoma panhandle this inscription can be found on a cliff. It purports to record the passage through this area of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado y Lujan on his 1541 expedition searching for the wealthy civilization called Quivira to the east and says “Coronatto, 1541”. If authentic, it is the earliest known historic inscription in North America.

Close-up of the possible Coronado inscription.

McGlone, Barker, and Leonard, 1994, p. 74-1

“It was early fall, the time when the maize plants begin turning brown, 1540. Twenty-two summers had passed since the conqueror Hernán Cortés first stepped ashore on the mainland of Mexico, to trade he said. Now, eighteen hundred miles northwest of that dank tropical coast, a small column of helmeted Spanish soldiers marched across high, semi-arid country through arroyos, chamisa, and piñon to receive homage from the fortress-pueblo of Cicuye.

Even though they numbered not more than twenty, this medieval-looking detachment from the expedition of Gov. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado faithfully represented the conquering forces of Catholic Spain in America. The youthful captain, who wore a coat of mail and rode a horse covered with leather or quilted cotton armor, hailed his earthly Holy Caesarean Catholic Majesty in the same breath as his Heavenly Father.” (Kessell 1979:3)

Coronado's expedition by Frederic Remington.

Map of the route of Coronado's expedition. Wikipedia.

After searching the Llano Estecado of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas his party met a band of Native Americans that he called the Teyas, probably a Caddoan speaking group.

“The Teyas told Coronado that he was going the wrong direction. Quivira lay to the north. After more than thirty days journey, Coronado found a river larger than any he had seen before. This was the Arkansas and the spot where he reached it was probably a few miles east of present day Dodge City, Kansas. The Spaniards and their Indian allies followed the Arkansas northeast for three days and found Quivirans hunting buffalo. Coronado reached Quivira itself after a few more days of traveling. Coronado believed that there were 25 settlements in Quivira. The Quivirans were simple people. Both men and women were nearly naked. Coronado spent twenty-five days among the Quivirans trying to learn of richer kingdoms just over the horizon. He found nothing but straw-thatched villages of up to two hundred houses and fields containing corn, beans, and squash. A copper bell was the only evidence of wealth he discovered. The Quivirans were almost certainly the ancestors of the Wichita people.” (http://en.wikipedia.org )

Quivira, mid-1890s excavation, Archaeology, Nov.-Dec. 2013, p. 10.

Quivira - 1970 excavation, Archaeology, Nov.-Dec. 2013, p. 10.

“In the mid-1890s, the site now known as El Cuartelejo was excavated by two professors from the University of Kansas. They found the lower portion of stone walls that formed the foundation of a pueblo, inside of which were artifacts such as stone and bone tools, ornaments, and pottery sherds, some of which came from the pueblos of the Southwest. In 1970, Tom Witty of the Kansas State Historical Society excavated further, and unearthed the entire pueblo floor, hearths, and postholes. – El Cuartelejo – was a seven-room pueblo – covering about 1,600 square feet.” (Banyasz 2013:10) So, Quivira was not quite up to Coronado’s expectations. It had been built and occupied by Taos Indians in the 1600s in what is now Western Kansas, and was later occupied by a group of Picuris Indians between 1696 and 1706. (Banyasz 2013:10) So, far from the 25 cities wealthy with gold that Coronado expected, it turned out to be a small 7-room pueblo. Quite a disappointment that.

Proposed route marker from Coronado expedition. 

Bill McGlone, Ted Barker, and Phil Leonard, 1994.

Proposed route marker from Coronado expedition. 

Bill McGlone, Ted Barker, and Phil Leonard, 1994.

Some historians claim that Coronado carved the Castilian-style inscription "Coronatto, 1541" on Autograph Rock near Boise City in Cimarron County. They also ascribe a compass-like marking in the area to the same source and believe it to be a route-marker. As I stated above this would, if authentic, be the earliest known historic inscription in North America, but its authenticity is debatable. That leaves the Don Juan de Oñate inscription on Morro rock, Cibola County, New Mexico as probably the earliest known historic inscription since the Oñate inscription is agreed by historians to be genuine. But isn’t this an intriguing possibility?

REFERENCES:

Banyasz, Malin Grunberg

2013    Off The Grid, Archaeology, November/December 2013, Vol. 66, No. 6, p.10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_V%C3%A1squez_de_Coronado

Kessell, John L.

1979    Kiva, Cross, and Crown, the Pecos Indians and New Mexico 1540-1840, National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior, Washington D. C.

McGlone, Bill, Ted Barker, and Phil Leonard

1994    Petroglyphs of Southeast Colorado and the Oklahoma Panhandle, Mithras, Inc., Kamas, UT.

HISPANIC ROCK ART – THE CRUCIFIX:

F.B. Delgado, Signature Rock, Boise City, OK. 

Photo: Peter Faris, June 12,2006.

As we might expect in an area inhabited by a people as religiously devout as the Hispanic residents of the early Southwest, we find many crosses in rock art throughout the region. We must question, however, if they are actually Hispanic crosses or if they might be stars or some other symbols left by Native Americans.

This is definitely pertinent when the example in question is found in the American southwest where Native American and Hispanic cultures coexisted for quite some time. One clue to identifying some of the crosses as Hispanic can be found in the treatment of the ends of the arms of the cross.

Wikipedia

Many of the crosses of Hispanic origin display the form known as the cross pattée (also known as the cross formée), which has arms that are narrow at the center and broader at the ends, an early medieval symbol dating back to at least the 7^th century AD. This form was sometimes used by the Teutonic knights, a crusader military order. (Wikipedia)

The examples pictured are found in the southeast Colorado and western Oklahoma area. The Oklahoma examples are from Signature Rock near Boise City and are with the date 1859 suggesting association with the Santa Fe Trail.

Hispanic crosses, Picketwire Canyon, Colorado.
Photo: Dell Crandall.

The example from Picketwire Canyon in Colorado is from later and was probably created by pastoralists in the area. Indeed, there is still a reputed Penitente morada in that general area.

Wikipedia.

Another possible inspiration would be the Maltese cross although I personally have no examples of this in rock art from this area. The Maltese cross originated in the mid-16^th century (it has been traced back to AD 1567 on coins from the island of Malta) with the Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Knights of Malta.

Crosses, Freezeout Canyon, Baca County, CO.

Photo: Peter Faris, 1996.

I have also included a panel of possibly Native American crosses from southeastern Colorado which seem to considerably predate the Hispanic examples and do not exhibit the enlargement of the ends of the arms seen in the European inspired crosse(s) pattée. These may represent the traditional presentation of four-armed stars and some viewers have interpreted this panel as a Native American representation of a constellation in the night sky.

REFERENCE:

Wikipedia

THE EARLIEST PAINTING IN NORTH AMERICA?

Trampled skull of Bison antiquus with arrow pointing to red painted

zigzag line. httpwww.ou.educasarchsurcountiesharper.htm .

In 1994 a candidate for the title of earliest painting in North America was discovered in northwestern Oklahoma. In 1992, Dick James, a game warden in the Cooper Wildlife Management Area, had shown Oklahoma Archaeological Survey archaeologist Lee Bement a site where large bones (which proved to be bison antiquas) were caving off a sandy bluff near the Beaver River. During that first trip, there were no signs that people had a hand in the deaths of the bison whose bones were eroding from the cliff. However, another trip to the site brought the find of a spear point, left by Folsom hunters more than 10,000 years ago. Since that discovery, a meticulous excavation of the site has uncovered three bison kill episodes.

After the first event of driving the bison into this gully, they took one of the skulls and painted a thunderbolt on it before placing it, nose-first, into the gully where bison from the second drive trampled it. That skull, possibly the oldest painted object ever found in North America, is now on exhibit at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman, OK.

Folsom points from Cooper Site. httpwww.arrowheads.

comindex.phpcomponentcontentarticle400-the-cooper-

site-folsom-bison-hunting-on-the-souther-plains.

Bement subsequently described this discovery in his book Bison Hunting at Cooper Site (1999:37). “I was removing dirt from an articulated leg, the bones of which lay across the eye orbits of a skull. As the forehead of this skull was uncovered, a brilliant red zigzag line was exposed. – The zigzag of red stood in stark contrast to the bleached white skull surface and was visible from all areas of the bone bed. To say that there was an instant of incredulous awe does not quite describe that moment of discovery.”

Analysis of the paint has shown that it contains a majority of iron oxides and hydroxides (Bement 1999:51) which give it an intense red not found in the surrounding soil. Concentrations of these minerals are reported found in sandstones and shales in the area (probably in concretions) which were a possible source for the minerals in the paint.

The circumstances of the Folsom artist selecting a skull from the first bison kill, painting the red, zigzag lightning symbol on it, and placing it in a position in the arroyo prior to the bison drive that became the second kill, strongly indicates that this very early example of art played a role in some ritual thought to affect the success of the subsequent hunt. While not exactly rock art, this discovery can shine light on possible uses of early imagery which would include rock art images and symbols, and in any case it can stake a claim toward being the oldest known painting in North America. Additionally, we have to ask; if this example of paint survived more than 10,000 years should we not assume that some examples of pictographs painted in protected places might not have such great age as well?

References:

Bement, Leland C.
1999     Bison Hunting at Cooper Site, Where Lightning Bolts Drew Thundering Herds, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Goins, Charles Robert, and Danny Goble
2006      Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, Fourth Edition, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

http://www.ou.edu/cas/arch/sur/counties/harper.htm

ROCK ALIGNMENTS IN SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO:

Rock Alignment, Baca County, CO. The middle

rock in this picture is behind the clump

of weeds. Photo: Peter Faris, 1988.

In Baca County, in southeastern Colorado, a very interesting phenomenon is represented by a large number of rock alignments. Straight lines of various sized rocks carefully laid out across the landscape in almost perfect rows, some for considerable distance. The longest that has been reported to me is approximately one-half mile in length. There does not seem to be any discernible pattern to their layout or locations. Some go up hills and down, others up the center of a valley between two hills. These occur over a larger area than just Baca County, Colorado. A few years ago I was told by a rancher from near Boise City, OK, that he had them in that area as well.


A Native American informant reportedly told some investigators that these rock alignments represented escape routes, where members of a threatened tribe could sneak away without leaving any footprints by walking on the rocks like stepping stones. This is patently silly as you would not need to follow footprints to find your quarry if they obligingly had left you a trail of stepping stones to follow, much more durable and easier to see than bread crumbs.

So what is the purpose for these alignments? I truly do not know. As usual these things are “discovered” when they become known to modern science, no matter who knew about them before. Investigators have made much about the fact that they supposedly can only be “seen from above.” Well it is possible that they were made as some sort of spiritual activity, if the labor of creating these lines was an offering to the spirits. That does not fit very well with anything we know about Native American religions. That suggestion does occur to us because it fits well with many of the religious traditions of the dominant western culture. Carved stone saints standing in niches in European cathedrals are fully finished in the back even though no member of the congregation will ever see that back, because God knows whether or not it is complete, and less than complete is thought to be less than satisfactory to God.

We are faced with an unknown here and much serious study will be required to gather more information. Until then, I am open to suggestions.

NOT REALLY ROCK ART – ARBORGLYPHS (TREE RUBBING MARKS):

Grooves worn in the cliff by a tree,

Signature Rock, Boise City, OK,

May 12, 2006. Photo: Peter Faris.

On some occasions you will find wide, smooth abraded areas on a vertical rock surface that looks vaguely reminiscent of the ground-out basin of a bedrock metate, or a wide tool mark. These markings, however, were not always created by people. One natural phenomenon that sometimes produces these markings is rubbing by a tree trunk or limb that has grown in contact with the rock face and is moved by the wind. The most appropriate term for these would be dendroglyphs, from the Greek dendro (tree) but this term has already been applied to symbols carved into the bark of a tree. As a substitute I suggest using the Latin word arbor (tree) so these could be termed arborglyphs. Of course, if you are one of the people who calls the symbols carved into tree bark arborglyphs, then maybe they should be called dendroglyphs. In either case they are markings on the rock that were created by trees.

Grooves worn in the cliff by a tree,

Signature Rock, Boise City, OK,

May 12, 2006. Photo: Peter Faris.

I have seen examples of this phenomenon in a number of places. Although easily spotted while the tree that created them is still alive and in place, they can be much harder to recognize when the tree is gone. I have seen them on a number of surfaces with no sign of a tree within present reach. In one instance the mark was considerably higher on the cliff than the tops of the contemporary trees. A tree had produced the mark on the cliff so long ago that the valley bottom had eroded down a number of feet since that mark had been created. The species of trees that grew in that environment were not tall enough to reach that mark from the present valley bottom. So if you are viewing what looks like a metate or a large, wide tool mark on a cliff or other vertical rock surface, keep this in mind, it just might be a natural phenomenon.