Soldado de Cuera - Tucson, AZ
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leadhiker
N 32° 13.358 W 110° 58.457
12S E 502423 N 3565113
Sculpture is located in the southwest corner of, what is now called, El Presidio Plaza. El Presidio Plaza is between West Alameda Street and West Pennington Street.
Waymark Code: WM8X8F
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 05/25/2010
Views: 14
Soldado de Cuera (Leather Coated Soldier)
The soldado de cuera was in fact named for his leather armor. The cuera was a heavy, knee-length, sleeveless coat. It consisted of several layers of well-cured buckskin which were bound together at the edges with a strong seam and secured to the body by encircling straps. For protection, and in addition to the leather jacket, the presidial soldier carried a shield.
For offensive weapons, soldados de cuera, were armed with a smoothbore musket called an escopeta of .69 caliber, two pistols of the same caliber, a short sword, similar in design to a European hunting sword, called an espada ancha, a dagger or puñal , and a lance or lanza. Since cuera dragoons primarily fought as mounted troops, the lance was their principle weapon of choice. The reliance on the lance was reinforced by inadequate supplies of powder on the frontier for firearms.
Soldados de Cuera manning frontier presidios were a unique branch of the Spanish colonial armed forces, distinct from Spain’s regular soldiers. They were distinguished from Spanish regulars not only in having been born and reared in the frontier provinces and thus adapted to harsh conditions but also in having their own regulations. Reglamentos of both 1729 and 1772 were distinct from those ordenanzas governing the regular army. Presidial soldiers were more heavily armed and equipped than the regular army. In addition to standard weapons of Spanish regulars (musket, pistols, and saber), soldados de cuera carried a lance, a shield, and a heavy coat of leather armor. The reglamento of 1729 specified that each presidial trooper was to have six horses and one mule at his disposal. The ordinary Spanish dragoon only had two horses available to him.
Soldados de cuera as individuals came from a variety of backgrounds. Many were mestizos, or mixed European and Indian. Some were mulato. Others were criollos, or Españoles born in America, and some were peninsulares or gachupines or Spanish from the Iberian Peninsula.
Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Soldado de Cuera
Figure Type: Human
Artist Name or use 'Unknown' if not known: Buck McCain
Date created or placed or use 'Unknown' if not known: 1987
Materials used: Bronze
Location: El Presidio Plaza, Tucson, AZ
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