In the first part of the 18th century, French explorers and fur traders began to enter the plains west of the Missouri River, which they claimed as Louisiana.

[3] Antonio Valverde y Cosío, governor of the Spanish colony of Nuevo México based in Santa Fe, ordered Villasur to capture French traders on the plains.

Villasur camped that night just south of the Loup–Platte confluence near present-day Columbus, Nebraska, nervous about the possibility of attack and the increasing number and belligerence of the Pawnee and Otoe Indians.

[7] The Pawnees and Otoes attacked at dawn on August 14, shooting with muskets and unleashing flights of arrows, then charging into combat clad only in body paint, headbands, moccasins, and short leggings.

In a brief battle, they killed 36 Spaniards, including Villasur and Naranjo, 10 Pueblo scouts,[8] and Jean L'Archevêque, a Frenchman who had been brought as an interpreter.