Terrenate

If the walls could talk, oh the tales they would tell,

  about a bastion on the river in high desert Hell.

The adobe slowly melts into the dirt,

  the fort once stood in the empty desert.

Where once stood crosses to honor the dead,

  and too many sad masses had to be said.

For five long years they fought for this land,

  the home of a notorious Apache band.

They boldly set forth, these lancers from Spain,

  only to die in the mud and the rain.

Through rivers they sloshed, over trails they crossed,

  when they measured the cost, four score had been lost.

They were defeated, and then they retreated,

  their progress impeded, they had not succeeded.

They thirsted for water, the river was near,

  they had not the courage to dampen their fear.

In their diaspora, some went to Sonora,

  some to Zamora, it was their Pandora.

The centuries passed, New Spain didn’t last,

  her soldiers out-classed, their grim fate was cast.

I might visit someday, but I’ll never stay,

  there are ghosts so they say, at Terrenate.

LDT 1/22/23

         The Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate (tĕr-ĕn-nä′tĕ) is located in Cochise County on the San Pedro River a mile or so northwest of the ghost town of Fairbank, Arizona. The small garrison was decimated in two major battles and several minor attacks. Terrenate opened in 1776 and was abandoned in 1780. The last commander gave these reasons for its closure:

“The terror instilled in the troops and settlers of the Presidio of Santa Cruz (de Terrenate) that had seen two captains and more than 80 men perish at the hands of the enemies in the open rolling ground at a short distance from the post, and the incessant attacks which they suffered from the numerous bands of Apache, who do not permit cultivation of the crops, who surprise the mule trains carrying effects and supplies, who rob the horse herds and put the troops in the situation of not being able to attend their own defense, making them useless for the defense of the province.”

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