Former Director on Mark With Book --Villasur Massacre

Soon after arriving in Columbus in 1980, I was fortunate enough to work for a few weeks with the retiring Library Director, W. (Win) O. Jacobsen. Of the many valuable things I learned from him, I remain grateful that he showed me a book the library owned that is of particular interest to Columbus. The book is entitled, “Indian Skin Paintings from the American Southwest” by Gotterfied Hotz. Mr. Jacobson was worried that I would not understand the significance of the book because of its deceptive title and I might eventually throw it away.

In Lucerne, Switzerland, shortly after World War II, the author of the book, a scholar of American Indian history, learned of two wall-size skin painting that depict battles between the Indians and the Spaniards. These paintings were owned by a Swiss family—the Segessers-- who were collateral descendents of a Jesuit missionary who had worked with the Indians of Mexico and the American Southwest in the latter part of the 1700’s.
As the story about the skin paintings unfolds, the reader learns that Father Philipp Segesser had somehow acquired the two painting and had sent them back to Switzerland as what we would now consider, “Souvenirs”.

The painting Hotz entitled “Segesser II” depicts a massacre of a contingent of Spanish soldiers and their Indian guides in a forested area between two rivers. Upon further research, Hotz learned that in the spring of 1720, an expeditionary force consisting of 45 Spanish soldiers, 2 civilians, a priest, and abut sixty Pueblo Indians had been sent north from Santa Fe to root out any French fur trappers/traders in the northern territories—including modern-day Nebraska—claimed by Spain. Lieutenant Governor Pedro de Villasur, the expedition’s leader saw little evidence of Indians or Frenchmen until his group descended from the bluffs into the Platte River basin. The massacre of this expeditionary force by Pawnee and Oto Indians occurred on August 13, 1720. Twelve of the Spanish soldiers and some of the Indians escaped and make their way back to Santa Fe.

In further research, Holtz learned that a military inquiry was held in Santa Fe to gather more information from the surviving soldiers. A painting on three buffalo hides was commissioned to illustrate how nearly one-third of Spain’s provincial army had been wiped out. After the 1726 inquiry, the painting vanished, not to be recognized for its historical significance for over 200 years.

Hotz’s book also records a part of a diary that had been kept by one of the Spanish soldiers who had survived and returned to Santa Fe. He had left his diary behind in turmoil of the battle. The diary had remained intact and was traded by the Indians until it reached the hands of a Frenchman. The diary was discovered at a flee market in Paris around 1900. Using a 1921 translated version of the diary and the massacre painting, Hotz’s determined that the Villasur Massacre had occurred at the confluence of the Platte and Loup Rivers—just south and east of Columbus.

Persons interested in Columbus history may wish to visit the library to view a photograph copy of a reproduction of the skin painting. This large mural-type photograph hangs in the east wing of the first floor of the library. The Villasur Massacre is mentioned in Martha M. Turner’s Our Own History: Columbus, Nebraska 1541-1860” (1936) and in Margaret Curry’s “History of Platte County, Nebraska” (1958). The March, 2005 issue of “NEBRASKAland Magazine” features the Villasur Massacre.

Recent donations to the Library Foundation include those in honor of Ruth Warner from Mr. and Mrs. Julian Meyer, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gangel, Mrs. R.W. Saalfeld, Mr. and Mrs. Phil Hockenberger, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Kumpf, Dr. and Mrs. Ervin Heiser and Mrs. J.Jay Haffee. A memorial in honor of Vincent Mausbach was presented by Shirley Kallweit, and Lucille Ellison presented a memorial in memory of Beverly Schroeder.