Spanish Bluff Red River Expedition Cache — Bowie County

Spanish Bluff is a landmark about six miles northeast of New Boston on the Texas side of the Red River. In 1806 President Jefferson's Red River expedition was blocked by a Spanish army commanded by Francisco Viana and forced to abort its exploration of the Southwest. Thomas Freeman and Dr. Peter Custis followed the Red River and reached Spanish Bluff, almost due north of New Boston, before Spanish soldiers turned them back. The 100-foot bluff was a well-known Red River landmark and Caddo Nanatsoho village site. Entrada folklore imagines survey instruments, trade goods, and specie hurriedly buried when expeditions retreated. Coordinates mark Spanish Bluff northeast of New Boston at 33°31' N, 94°24' W.