USA > Arizona > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 14
USA > New Mexico > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 14
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Leaving the women and children with the wagons properly guarded at a place called Urraca, Castaño set out on the 27th with the larger part of his force, and on the last day of the month and year arrived at the pueblo, which was situated about half a league from the river, being a large town with buildings of four and five stories-evidently identical with Pecos. The inhabitants were on the roofs in hostile attitude, armed with stones and bows and slings. After a great part of the day had been spent in vain attempts to conciliate them, an attack was made late in the after- noon, and the town was taken after a fight which seems to have been attended with no very serious casualties on either side. Great care was taken to prevent outrages, and to gain the people's confidence; but though they submitted, it was impossible to overcome their suspicion and timidity. During the second night they all left the pueblo and fled. The Spaniards re- mained five or six days, admiring the many-storied houses, the five plazas, the sixteen estufas, the im- mense stores of maize, amounting to 30,000 fanegas, the garments of the men and women, the beautiful pottery, and many other curious things.
104
FRUITLESS PROJECTS.
Having sent back much needed supplies of food to the camp at Urraca, the teniente de gobernador started on the 6th of January, 1591, in quest of new discov- eries. Two days over a mountainous snow-covered country and across a frozen stream brought him to the second pueblo, a small one whose inhabitants were well disposed, and readily submitted to the appointment of governor, alcaldes, and other officials, thus rendering allegiance to the Spanish crown. Four other pueblos, all of the same type, differing only in size, and apparently not far apart or far from the second, were now visited successively, submitting without resistance or serious objection to the required formalities. In each a cross was set up with all pos- sible ceremony and solemnity.17 The seventh pueblo was a large one in another valley two leagues distant, with adobe houses of two and three stories, and in the plaza a large structure half under ground which seemed to serve as a kind of temple. The eighth and ninth pueblos were a day's march up a large river northward; but the tenth, a very large one with buildings from seven to nine stories high, situated five leagues beyond the last, where the inhabitants wore chalchihuites for ornaments, though seen was not entered, because the people were not altogether friendly, and on account of the cold, and lack of forage for the horses, the neces- sary time for conciliation could not now be spared.18 Returning through the snow to the southern towns, Castaño next received the submission of pueblos eleven· and twelve across the river westward, a league apart, and then of number thirteen after recrossing to the eastern bank. The next move was over a snowy route to another valley in two days; and here were found, all in sight of each, four towns of the
17 It would seem that Castaño continued his journey N. w. from Pecos, and reached the Tehua pueblos N. of Sta Fé. The next 3 towns may have been of the same group, or farther up the river, possibly to Picuries; but all is mere conjecture.
18 Though the distance given is too small, this pueblo from its size and de- scription should be Taos in the extreme north.
105
AMONG THE PUEBLOS.
Quereses, the only aboriginal name applied in this narrative, apparently identical with Coronado's Qui- rix, Espejo's Quires, and the later well-known Queres about the junction of the Galisteo and Rio Grande. The eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth pueblos, about a league apart, the first and perhaps the others being also of the Queres nation, graciously submitting to the strangers' god and king, were named respect- ively San Marcos, San Lúcas, and San Cristóbal.19
On the 24th of January, after a heavy fall of snow, the little army started eastward from San Cristóbal with native guides to bring up the rest of the colony, and the wagon-train from Urraca. Passing through pine forests and melting snow to get water for men and horses, they crossed the Rio Salado, or Pecos, on the 26th, and next day reached the camp at Urraca, most opportunely, for the store of food was wellnigh exhausted. Four days later the whole company started on the return; but progress being slow, on account of excessive cold and occasional accidents to the wagons, it was not till February 8th that they left the Pecos, reaching San Cristóbal on the 15th, and San Marcos on the 18th. This town for a time was made a centre of operations. A few days after the return a new pueblo, the twenty-first, two leagues away, was visited and peaceably reduced to Spanish allegiance. In the first days of March Castaño with a small party made a trip apparently to pueblo number one, or Pecos, but possibly to number ten, finding the people recovered from their fears, and ready for the formalities of sub- mission. Next he went by way of a place and stream named Iñigo to the twenty-second pueblo, named Santo Domingo, on a 'rio caudaloso' called also Rio
19 These names are not mentioned in the diary till a little later on the re- turn from the east. There is little probability that these names or that of Sto Domingo, given later, were permanent; nor is it possible to identify them accurately; still there is little doubt that they were in the region of Sta Ana, S. Felipe, and Sto Domingo. Near S. Márcos promising mines were discov- ered. It is somewhat remarkable that saints' names are not applied to the other pueblos.
106
FRUITLESS PROJECTS.
Grande, to which point the main camp was soon trans- ferred.20
In these days was brought to light a plot of certain men to desert their leader, perhaps even to kill him, and to quit the country. Their cause of complaint, if we may credit the perhaps not impartial chronicler, was the kindness shown the natives by the teniente de gobernador, and the consequent lack of opportunities for plunder. All implicated, however, were pardoned by the kind-hearted Castaño at the intercession of all the camp; and the only punishment inflicted was on Alonso Jaimez whose commission to go to Zacatecas for reënforcements was revoked. Permission was even given to such as might desire it to abandon the enter- prise and go home, but none took advantage of the offer. This was about the 11th of March; and in his search for mines Castaño found in the mountains two pueblos, twenty-three and twenty-four, which had been abandoned recently because of Indian wars. No more dates are given; but the final tour of exploration was to the province where the padres were said to have been killed years before. This is the only allusion in the diary to any knowledge on Castaño's part that New Mexico had ever been visited before. In this province there were fourteen pueblos in sight on the river bank, nine of which-numbers twenty-five to thirty-three -- were visited. Most of them were temporarily deserted by the inhabitants, in the fear that the invaders came to avenge the death of the friars; but the rest submitted without resistance. We must suppose that in this last expedition Don Gaspar went from Santo Domingo down the Rio Grande to the province of the Tiguas.21
On his return from this tour, with a few men Cas- taño met Indians who reported the arrival of a new party of Spaniards. A little later he met some of his
20 It seems most likely that this was not the Sto Domingo of later years, but a pueblo farther south, or down the river.
21 There is nothing to show the direction, and that little is confusing, as, for instance, the statement that he went 'up the river' in visiting the towns.
107
CAPTAIN MORLETE'S EXPEDITION.
own men, who said that Captain Juan Morlete 22 had arrived from the south with 50 men. Hoping to learn that reinforcements had been sent to him, though the names were not familiar, the teniente de gobernador hastened to the camp, only to learn that Morlete had come with orders from the king and viceroy for his arrest. He quietly submitted, and here the diary ends abruptly, after Don Gaspar had been put in
shackles. Apparently the whole company returned south with their unfortunate chief. Lomas in 1592 tells us that Morlete was accompanied by Padre Juan Gomez, and arrested Castaño "for having entered the said country without license from Vuestra Señoría." Oñate in 1598 found traces of the wagons, showing the return route to have been down the Rio Grande. Salmeron says of this expedition "and those of Captain Nemorcete and of Humaña I do not write, because they all saw the same things, and one telling suffices"- an unfortunate resolution of the venerable Franciscan, since he probably had at his command information that would have thrown desirable light on all these entradas. Father Niel adds nothing to the statement of his predecessor except in correcting Nemorcete's name to Morlete; and the poet Villagrá supplies no details.23
Of the expedition attributed by Salmeron and other writers to Humaña, as it was an illegal one- contra bando, as the Spaniards put it-no diary could
22 The diary has it Morlote, which may be correct.
23 Lomas, Asiente, 58; N. Mex., Ytinerario, 245; Salmeron, Rel., 11; Niel, Apunt., 88. Villagrá's version, Hist. N. Mex., 36-7, is as follows:
' Y por el de nouenta entró Castaño, Por ser allá teniente mas antiguo, Del Reyno de Leon á quien siguieron Muchos nobles soldados valerosos, Cuio Maese de campo se llamaua Christoual de heredia bien prouado
En cosas de la guerra y de buen tino,
Para correr muy grandes despoblados, A los quales mandó el Virey prendiese El Capitan Morlete, y sin tardarse, Socorrido de mucha soldadesca;
Braba, dispuesta, y bien exercitada,
A todos los prendió, y bolvio del puesto.'
108
FRUITLESS PROJECTS.
have been expected to be written, even had the unfor- tunate adventurers lived to return and report their discoveries. Francisco Leiva Bonilla, a Portuguese, was the veritable chief, and Juan de Humaña one of his companions. The party was sent out on a raid against rebellious Indians by the governor of Nueva Vizcaya at a date not exactly known, but apparently in 1594-6. Captain Bonilla, moved by the current reports of north-eastern wealth, determined to extend his operations to New Mexico and Quivira. The gov- ernor sent Pedro de Cazorla to overtake the party and forbid such an expedition, declaring Bonilla a traitor if he disobeyed; but all in vain, though six of the party refused to follow the leader, and returned. The adventurers' progress to and through New Mexico has no record. They are next heard from far out on the buffalo plains in search of Quivira. Here in a quarrel Humaña killed his chief and assumed command. A little later, when the party had passed through an immense settlement and reached a broad river which was to be crossed on balsas, three Mexican Indians deserted, one of whom, José, survived to tell the tale to Oñate in 1598. Once more we hear of the gold- seekers. Farther toward Quivira, or Tindan, or per- haps returning gold-laden from those fabulous lands, they encamp on the plain at the place since called Matanza. The Indians set fire to the grass, and rush, thousands strong, upon the Spaniards just before dawn. Only Alonso Sanchez and a mulatto girl escape the massacre. Sanchez became a great chief among the natives, and from him comes the story, just how is not very clear, since there is no definite record that he was ever seen later by any white man. When we take into consideration their sources, it is not surprising that the records of Humana's achieve- ments are not very complete.24
24 Villagrá, Hist. N. Mex., 37, 142, is the authority for the first part of this expedition; and he also as an eye-witness speaks of the Ind. deserter José, or Jusepe, at S. Juan. Oñate, Carta de 1599, 303, 309, says that he
109
BONILLA AND HUMAÑA.
was instructed to free the province from traitors by arresting Humana and his men; also that one of H.'s Indians (José) joined his force. Gregg, Com. Prairies, i. 117, seems to have seen a copy of this communication or another containing similar statements at Sta Fé. Niel, Apunt., 89-95, calls Humaña adelantado and governor; says that he killed Capt. Leiva, his bravest officer, and that the Indian José was found by Oñate among the Picuries. Davis, Span. Conq., 260, seems to follow Niel for the most part, without naming that author. He says Humana was killed three days after leaving Quivira, which D., as before stated, persists in identifying with the ruins of that name far sonth of Sta Fé.
CHAPTER VI.
OÑATE'S CONQUEST OF NEW MEXICO.
1595-1598.
A BLANK IN HISTORY FILLED THE VERSIONS OF EARLY WRITERS-NOT IM- PROVED BY MODERN AUTHORS-THE VERITABLE BUT UNKNOWN AUTHOR- ITIES-VILLAGRA'S WORK-AN EPIC HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST-DON JUAN DE OÑATE-HIS CONTRACT OF 1595-ENLISTMENT OF AN ARMY --- CHANGE OF VICEROYS - VEXATIOUS DELAYS - DOCUMENTS FROM THE ARCHIVES CONFIRMING THE POET - PERSECUTIONS - START FOR THE NORTH -IN ZACATECAS- VISITA- AT CAXCO AND SANTA BARBARA- ROYAL ORDER OF SUSPENSION-A YEAR'S DELAY-ORDER TO START IN 1597-ON THE CONCHOS-THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS- LIST OF ONATE'S ASSOCIATES- TO THE RIO DEL NORTE- FORMAL POSSESSION TAKEN IN APRIL 1598-THE DRAMA.
HAVING chronicled in the preceding chapters all the various explorations of New Mexican territory from 1540 to 1596, together with several unsuccessful pro- jects of colonization, I now come to the final success of another similar undertaking, to the actual conquest and occupation of the country accomplished by Don Juan de Oñate for the king of Spain, in 1598-9. While this achievement may properly be regarded as the most important in New Mexican annals, the cor- ner-stone of the historic structure, its record has hitherto been left almost a blank. The early standard writers somewhat unaccountably gave but a brief and generally inaccurate outline of the conquest. Nearly all gave the date as 1595-6, fixing it by that of Oñate's preparations, and greatly underestimating the delays that ensued; and only Mariana, the historian of Spain, seems to have given a correct date. The sum and substance of all these versions, rejecting errors, would
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111
CURRENT VERSIONS.
be hardly more than a statement that in 1595 Oñate undertook the enterprise, and soon with the aid of Franciscan friars succeeded in occupying the province, and even made a tour to the Quivira region in the north-eastern plains.1
That later writers, consulting only a part of these earlier authorities, should not have materially improved the accuracy and completeness of the record is not surprising. They have made a few slight additions from documentary sources; but they have retained for the most part the erroneous dates, and have intro- duced some new errors, the latest and best of them, Davis and Prince, having copied the blunder of some faulty document consulted, and moved the conquest backward to 1591.2 The real and original authorities
1 Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., i. 670 et seq., mentions the confirmations of O.'s contract in 1595 by Viceroy Monterey, the enlistment of men in Mex., and the appointment of a comisario of the Franciscan band; but gives no further details or dates until after N. Mex. was occupied, that is, after 1600. ' Pasaron todos, hasta llegar a las poblaciones que llaman N. Mexico, y allí asentaron Real, y oi Dia permanece, y de la que ha ido sucediendo se dirá en sus lugares.' This is virtually Torquemada's history of the conquest. Men- dieta, Hist. Ecles., 402, writing in 1596, merely notes that the viceroy is now fitting out O.'s expedition. Vetancur, Chronica, 95, notes the contract made by Velasco and confirmed by Monterey, the appointment of friars, as in Tor- quemada, and then says: 'Llegaron con facilidad, y entre los dos rios fundaron una Villa á S. Gabriel dedicada.' Calle, Noticias, 102, after noting the con- tract ratified Sept. 30, 1595, the Franciscans, etc., like the rest, thus records the conquest: 'Llegó al Nuevo Mexico y hizo asiento, tomo possession del por la Magestad Católica del Rey N. Señor, y puso su Real en el pueblo que se intituló San Gabriel cuyo sitio está en 37° de altura al Norte, situado entre dos rios, donde fundaron Convento luego los Religiosos, y hasta el año de 1608 bautizaron 8,000 almas.' Salmeron, Relaciones, 23-4, recording the start in 1596, the names of friars, number of soldiers, etc., tells us, 'dejadas largas historias, que no hacen á mi intento,' that Oñate with over 400 men went 400 miles N., pitched his camp in lat. 37° 30', and went on to make further entradas and explorations. But he adds an account of the Quivira exped., pp. 26 et seq. Niel, Apunt., 89-94, cannot be said to add anything to Salmeron's version, and neither implies that the entrada was delayed more than a few months, in 1596. Ludovicus Tribaldus, in a letter to Richard Hakluyt, printed in Purchas his Pilgrimes, iv. 1565-6 (see also descrip., v. 853-6), and in Laet, Novus Orbis, 314, mentions certain early troubles at Acoma. Alegre, Hist. Comp. J., i. 310-11, mentions the exped. as of 1596. See also Mariana, Hist. España, ii. 527; Morelli, Fast. Nov. Orb., 31; Thesau- rus, Geog., ii. 252-3; Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 225-9; Arlegui, Cron. Zac., 56-7; Aparicio, Conventos, 282; Alcedo, Dicc., iii. 189; Bernardez, Zac., 31-4; Re- villa Gigedo, in Dice. Univ., v. 441, who makes the date 1600.
2 Barreiro, Ojeada, 5, thus records the conquest, writing before 1832: 'Pero lo cierto es que en el año de 1595 con cédula de Felipe segundo dirigida al Virrey de México Zuñiga y Acevedo, conde de Monterey, entro al Nuevo- México Juan de Oñate con los primeros españoles que lo poblaron, trayendo
112
OÑATE'S CONQUEST OF NEW MEXICO.
- a book published in 1610, and documents obtained in modern times from the Spanish archives-are now utilized practically for the first time in writing the history of New Mexico. I say practically, because in the long interval between the writing and final revision of this chapter, a Spanish investigator has given to the public a résumé of the book referred to, and an- other in America has made known his acquaintance with the volumes containing the confirmatory docu- ments.3
The veritable authority for the events presented in this chapter is to be found in the shape of an epic poem, written by Captain Gaspar de Villagrá, one of Oñate's companion conquistadores, and published only eleven years after the occurrence of the events narrated.4
consijo 65 religiosos franciscanos.' Pino, Exposicion, 35-6, of 1812, and Id., Noticias, 2-8, a new ed. of '49, gives the king's cédula of July 8, 1602, in Oñate's favor, which is copied by Davis and others. The latter edition also contains Barreiro's statement and that of Calle as already quoted, and in addition that of Frejes, Hist. Breve., 243, which is to the effect that Espejo having been sent by the viceroy to protect the missions of N. Mex., and some trouble having arisen with adjoining tribes, presidios were needed and Oñate was therefore sent, arriving in 1595! Zamacois, Hist. Méj., v. 206-10, implies that the conquest was effected in 1596-7, and tells us that two years later was founded the 1st city named Monterey. Rivera, Gobernantes de Mex., i. 71-2, gives no exact dates and few details, but he adds a little genuine in- formation about the troubles before N. Mex. was reached. Gregg, Com. of the Prairies, i. 117 et seq., found at Sta Fé a very important document, the memorial of Oñate dated Sept. 21, 1595, which is not known to have been seen since, and of which the author gives a resume. Davis, Span. Conq., 263-78, as I have stated, gives the date as 1591, but adds a note on the confus- ion of dates. He seems to have used a MS. copy of part of Salmeron's work, regarding it as Oñate's diary. He also copies the cédula of 1602 as given by Barreiro, has evidently consulted Gregg, and also cites Larenau- dière (Mexique, 147, who gives the date as 1600, not 1599). See also-none of them containing original or additional material-Prince's Hist. Sk., 161-6; Viagero Univ, xxvii, 144-5; Mayer's Mex. Aztec, i. 174; Meline's 2,000 Miles, 135-6; Domenech's Deserts, 185; Murray's Cath. Ch., 74-6; Nouv. Ann. Voy., cxxxi. 255; Farnham's Mex., 23; Modern Traveller, ii. 71-2; Hinton's Hand- book, 388-9; Müller, Reisen, iii. 188; Magliano's St. Francis, 575-7; Davis' El Gringo, 73.
8 I allude to Fernandez Duro (1882) and Bandelier (1881), whose works are elsewhere noticed. In the same interval, 1877-86, I have also discovered that the book was used in 1619 in a blundering sketch by Córdoba. My sur- prise in this matter has been for 10 years that the Doc. Hist. Mex., the Col. Doc. Ined., and the work of Villagra have not been utilized by historical students.
" Villagrá, Historia de la Nueva Mexico, del Capitan Gaspar de Villagrá. Dirigida al Rey D. Felipe nuestro señor Tercero deste nombre. Ano 1610. Con privilegio, en Alcala, por Luys Martinez Grande. A costa de Baptista Lopez mercader de libros. 16mo, 24, 287 leaves. The preliminary leaves contain a
113
VILLAGRA'S EPIC.
This work, though by no means unknown to bibliog- raphers, is very rare ; and its historic value seems to
quaint wood-cut portrait of the author; the usual certificates of secular license and ecclesiastic approval; dedication to the king; prologue; a series of numer- ous short canciones and sonetos by different writers, full of flattery addressed for the most part to Villagra or Oñate, the longest being by Luis Tribaldos, the same who wrote to Hakluyt on the conquest; and finally a table of con- tents of the 33 cantos which make up the book. The Ist begins as follows: HISTORIA DE LA NUEVA MEXICO. DEL CAPITAN GASPAR DE VILLAGRÁ. Canto Primero. Que declara el argumento de la historia, y sitio de la nueva Mexico, y noticia q della se tuvo, en quanto la antigualla de los Indios, y de la salida y decen- dencia de los verdaderos Mexicanos. Las armas y el varon heroico canto,
El ser, valor, prudencia, y alto esfuerço,
De aquel cuya paciencia no rendida,
Por un mar de disgustos arrojada, A pesar de la inuidia ponçonosa, Los hechos y prohesas va encumbrando.
De aquellos Españoles valerosos,
Que en la Occidental India remontados,
Descubriendo del mundo lo que esconde,
Plus vltra con braueza van diziendo, A fuerça de valor y braços fuertes, En armas y quebrantos tan sufridos, Quanto de tosca pluma celebrados; Suplicoos Christianissimo Filipo, Que pues de nueva Mexico soys fenix, Nuevamente salido y producido, De aquellas viuas llamas y cenizas,
De ardentísima fee, en cuyas brasas,
A vuestro sacro Padre, y señor nuestro,
Todo deshecho y abrasado vimos, Suspendais algun tanto de los hombres (hombros),
El grande y graue peso que os impide,
De aquese inmenso globo que en justicia, Por solo vuestro braço se sustenta, Y prestando gran Rey atento oido, Vereis aqui la fuerça de trabajos, Calumnias y afficciones con que planta, €
El Euangelio santo y Fe de Christo, Aquel Christiano Achiles que quisistes, Que en obra tan heroica se ocupase, Y si por qual que buena suerte alcanço, A teneros Monarca por oiente, Quien duda que con admirable espanto, La redondez del mundo todo escuche, Lo que a tan alto Rey atento tiene, Pues siendo assi de vos fauorecido, No siendo menos escriuir los hechos, Dignos de que la pluma los leuante, Que empréder los q no son menos dignos De que la misma pluma los escriua, HIST. ARIZ. AND N. MEX. 8
114
OÑATE'S CONQUEST OF NEW MEXICO.
have been concealed from the public until 1883. When I had occasion to consult its pages in 1877, I did so
Solo resta que aquellos valerosos, Por quien este cuydado yo he tomado, Alienteu con su gran valor heroico, El atreuido buelo de mi pluma, Porque desta vez pienso que veremos, Yguales las palabras con las obras. Escuchadme gran Rey que soi testigo, De todo quanto aqui señor os digo.
Or, rendering the same in English as literally as possible, with an exact re- production of the measure, and with a remarkably successful effort not to be a better poet than Don Gaspar, we have:
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO. BY CAPTAIN GASPAR DE VILLAGRÁ. First Canto. Which makes known the argument of the history, and the situation of New Mexico, and knowledge had of it from ancient monuments of the Indians, and of the departure and origin of the Mexicans.
Of arms I sing and of the man heroic; The being, valor, prudence, and high effort Of him whose endless, never-tiring patience, Over an ocean of annoyance stretching, Despite the fangs of foul, envenomed envy Brave deeds of prowess ever is achieving; Of those brave men of Spain, conquistadores, Who, in the Western India nobly striving, And searching out all of the world yet hidden, Still onward press their glorious achievements, By their strong arms and deeds of daring valor, In strife of arms and hardships as enduring As, with rude pen, worthy of being honored. And thee I supplicate, most Christian Philip, Since of New Mexico thou art the Phoenix Of late sprung forth and in thy grandeur risen From out the mass of living flame and ashes Of faith most ardent, in whose glowing embers Thy own most holy father and our master We saw inwrapped, devoured by sacred fervor- To move some little time from off thy shoulders The great and heavy weight, that thee oppresses, Of that terrestrial globe which in all justice Is by thine own strong arm alone supported; Aud giving, gracious king, attentive hearing, Thou here wilt see the weight of weary labors, And grievous calumnies with which is planted The holy gospel and the faith of Jesus By that Achilles who by royal order Devotes himself to such heroic service. And if I may by rare access of fortune Have thee, most noble Philip, for a hearer, Who doubts that with a universal impulse The whole wide world will hold its breath to listen To that which holds so great a king's attention?
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