Memories of horsemen riding across vast sun-kissed plains, under the crisp garb of a catchy soundtrack and an adventure to live. Memories of yesterday that marked a childhood and a dream of being a brave cowboy tracking through untamed wilderness.

It goes without saying that when we talk about the harsh and distant West, those mythical films that we enjoyed as a family on summer afternoons come to mind: “Rio Bravo”, “Stagecoach”, “They Died With Their Boots On”, “For a Fistful of Dollars”, “High Noon”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “The Searchers” or “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon”. Films with which we grew up, which became legendary and blazed a trail, as they showed public opinion the difficult birth of the American people. All very idyllic and mythologized, where the good guys were the cavalrymen and the bad guys were the angry natives defending the land of their ancestors. A scene sold on marketing, advertising and fantasy.

We were the first ones

But we must never forget, and this should be engraved in the memory of the Spanish people, that when the first American settlers dared to enter those vast plains, thousands of rude Spaniards, many years before, had built churches, towns, and cities. Yes, all this territory of the American West (actually the North for the Spanish, as it was all the unexplored territory north of New Spain, today’s Mexico) was discovered and charted by the Spanish. And that doesn’t come out in the movies.

And it was the Dragones de Cuera (Leather Dregoons) of New Spain, from the late 16th century until 1821, who were in charge of combing vast areas of hostile territory before the US Cavalry trampled on rights and hearts. From the presidios (those Spanish adobe forts with artillery towers) they explored and dominated hills, valleys, plains, and deserts, trading and exchanging beads with Navajos, Chiricauhuas, Mescaleros, Comanches, and Apaches before anyone else. Naturally, there was no shortage of armed confrontation and fights, especially over cattle rustling, which was common in those times.

It should be noted that the northern frontier of the Viceroyalty of New Spain stretched from Florida to California, a line of more than 3,000 km. The incursions of those Indian tribes forced the construction of presidios. Famous were those of Tucson, Santa Fe, San Francisco, and San Antonio de Béjar (where the Alamo fort was located).

Presidio soldiers

The missionaries were certainly the first to settle in those parts, far from the frontier, with the task of evangelizing, teaching, and healing the natives. Then came the soldiers and the rest of the Spanish settlers who built up the oldest towns in North America. But they were too few for so much territory, too few.

And in that hostile, vast and unfamiliar territory, the Dragones de Cuera, or presidio soldiers, rode horses with skill and fought fiercely, proving, irrefutably, the stuff they were made of. Feared by the Indians, the dragoons formed an elite cavalry corps and got their name from the long waistcoats they wore, made of up to seven layers of leather, which offered excellent protection against the Indians’ rudimentary weapons.

Apart from the regulation uniform, the dragoons were equipped with a short sword (very useful in close combat), a shotgun, two pistols, a cavalry lance, and a shield (oval adarga or circular buckler) bearing the quarters of Castille. They also proudly carried the flags with the Castilian quarters or even the cross of San Andrés.

Entry into the dragoons was voluntary and was signed for a period of 10 years. From 1773 to 1781, 50% of the dragoons were Spanish soldiers (from the mainland or creoles). Thirty-seven per cent were mestizos or mulattos and the remaining 13 per cent indigenous (there were Walloon and Irish officers among their ranks). In each presidio, there was a company, i.e. a captain, a lieutenant, an ensign, a sergeant, two corporals, a chaplain, and forty soldiers, plus several Indian trackers from the allied tribes.

Riding the frontier

On that enormous frontier of the Spanish Empire, these magnificent horsemen faced, in small skirmishes, parties of horse-stealing Indians, where the most important thing was skill and speed. Thus, taking enormous importance the horse, each dragoon had 6 horses and a mule to carry out his mission well and reach unsuspected places.

The dragoons were highly specialized and qualified troops, who were responsible for guarding the frontier. In 1780, 1495 dragoons were counted, but the usual number was 600 from coast to coast, ready for anything. A few horsemen for a frontier of thousands of miles. An empire to defend and the honour always intact.

Battles like that of the presidio of San Agustín de Tucson (Arizona) in which a few horsemen faced off against more than 300 Apaches. An unequal battle in which the Indians fled after several days of fierce fighting. Or the attack on the large detachment of Comanches near the town of Antón Chico, achieving a great victory that, in addition to being celebrated, gave rise to a theatrical composition entitled “The Comanches”, which was very popular on the frontier in the 18th and part of the 19th century.

Of course, there were defeats, most notably that of Pedro Villasur and his forty-five dragoons, who succumbed to hundreds of Pawnee warriors in Nebraska. When the captain died, a circle was formed around his body and there those brave men died, fighting to their last breath. A scene worthy of a movie. Would anyone dare?

Legendary heroes

And that was the last serious defeat of the dragoons. Characters such as Bernardo de Gálvez who apparently served in the dragoons together with Lope de Cuéllar against the Apaches, Juan Bautista Anza, Pedro Allande y Saabedra or Carlos Fernández gave courage to the Dragones de Cuera. Seasoned horsemen fought bravely under the flag of the empire. They defended that distant land and, under their watch, not an inch of ground was lost. Moments to research, to write, and to continue to nurture this exciting part of our history.

And the always charged shouting: “Santiago! For Spain!” According to A. Villegas González, “the magic-men of the indigenous tribes said in whispers that the totem Santiago of the Dragones was very powerful… that it was better to run and hide when the Spaniards called for him because they would not rest until blood dripped from their swords”.

At the end of the 18th century, dragoons began to fall into disuse due to the improvement of weapons. Thus, lighter units were created, such as the Flying Company, the Texas Hussars, the Nueva Vizcaya Hunters, and the Catalan Volunteers Infantry Companies. A living history of Spain.

The black legend has done and is doing a lot of damage. Statues of Columbus are being taken down in the USA for genocide and the role of the 7th Cavalry, which wiped out the natives in their entirety, is being whitewashed. Today the Indian population in America is testimonial but the bad guys, or invisible as seen in Hollywood movies, are the Spaniards.

The Spanish Wild West

But let’s be clear about one thing, regardless of whoever it may concern, that the first horsemen to enter the American Wild West, who made pacts or confrontations with the Indians (without exterminating them), who contemplated untamed landscapes and explored incredible plains, were Spaniards, Dragoons of Leather. Because a large part of the USA was, a few years ago, part of the Spanish empire and that still stings more than one.

It seems unbelievable that, as little as we Spaniards were, we scattered around the world in that way. It is something to be proud of. It is a pity that it sells so little and so badly.

I illustrate this article with the imposing painting by Augusto Ferrer Dalmau (Dragón de Cuera) and thank A. Villegas, Hugo A. Cañete, José A. Cantarero and Rafael Rodrigo Fernández for their articles and research. To find out more, I recommend reading these authors.