History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII, Part 18

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Oak, Henry Lebbeus, 1844-1905
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: San Francisco : The History Company
Number of Pages: 890

USA > Arizona > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 18
USA > New Mexico > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 18

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24 The two authorities do not agree abont the termination of the battle. Villagrá implies that it lasted three days, when Chumpo and his 600 survivors surrendered, after which the town was burned. The Ytin. seems to say that the fight lasted from the evening (prob. a misprint for morning) of the 22d to the evening of the 23d, when the foe surrendered; but the Span. did not occupy the pueblo till the 24th, when the surviving inhabitants made fur- ther resistance in their estufas and minas; whereupon 'hizose la matanza y castigo de los mas dellos, a fuego y sangre; y de todo punto se asoló y quemó el pueblo.' Ouate, Cop. Carta, 309, says Acoma had about 3,000 Indians 'a! qual en castigo de su maldad y traicion .... y para escarmiento á los demas, lo asolé y abrasé todo.' The description of Acoma, with its plateau divided by a ravine into two parts, does not agree with the present pueblo site, and adIs to our doubt about the identity. It agrees much better with El Moro, or Inscription Rock; but the distance of 6 1. E. from the head of Zuni Cr. in the Ytinerario, as well as the distances given in earlier narratives, seem to make this identification difficult. There may be a similar cliff farther east than El Moro and farther north than Acoma.

HIST, ARIZ. AND N. MEX. 10

CHAPTER VIII.

EIGHTY YEARS OF NEW MEXICAN ANNALS. 1599-1679.

À FRAGMENTARY RECORD -- OÑATE'S LETTER-REENFORCEMENT-VICEROY'S REPORT-A CONTROVERSY AT SAN JUAN-EXPEDITION TO QUIVIRA, 1601 -DESERTION OF COLONISTS AND FRIARS-ZALDÍVAR IN MEXICO AND SPAIN -RESULTS-OÑATE'S EXPEDITION TO THE SOUTH SEA, 1604 5-A NEW GOVERNOR, 1608-FOUNDING OF SANTA FÉ, 1605-16-PADRE ZÁRATE DE SALMERON-A CUSTODIA, 1621-NEW MISSIONARIES, 1628-9-GOVERNORS ZOTYLO AND SILVA-BENAVIDES' REPORT-LIST OF GOVERNORS, 1640-80 -EASTERN ENTRADAS-PADRE POSADAS' REPORT-INDIAN TROUBLES- PADRES KILLED-MURDER OF GOVERNOR ROSAS, 1642-CONTROVERSY AND DISASTER-PEÑALOSA'S RULE AND FICTITIOUS TRIP TO QUIVIRA, 1662-APACHE RAIDS-AYETA'S APPEALS-AID THAT CAME TOO LATE.

THE history of this province, from the fall of Acoma in 1599 to the great revolt of 1680, can never be made complete, for lack of data. The home archives were destroyed in the revolt, and we must depend on such fragments as found their way out into the world before that outbreak. I can do no more than simply bring together in this chapter more of these fragments than have ever been presented before. There were several writers of the period-notably Salmeron, Benavides, and Posadas-who might have left a satisfactory record, at least in the aggregate; but unfortunately the past and future had more charms for them than the present, and New Mexico less than the half- mythic regions beyond.

On the 2d of March, 1599, the governor wrote to the viceroy an outline record of what he had accomplished, painting in bright colors the land he had conquered, .

( 146 )

147

NEWS SENT TO MEXICO.

and sending samples of its products. The western region since known as Arizona was most highly praised by him in respect of fertility and mineral promise; but perhaps the idea of South Sea glories in that direction was prominent in his mind. What he wanted was an increase of force with which to win for Spain the rich realms that must lie just beyond; and the couleur de rose of his epistle, so far as New Mexico was concerned, was intended for effect on the viceroy and king, since ultimate success began to seem dependent on an in- crease of resources.1 Captains Villagrá, Farfan, and Pinero were sent to Mexico to carry this letter and make personal explanations; while at the same time, with an escort under Alférez Casas, padres Mar- tinez, Salazar, and Vergara went south to obtain a reënforcement of friars. Both missions were mod- erately successful. Salazar died on the journey, Martinez was retained in Mexico, but Padre Juan de Escalona as comisario was sent to the north with Ver- gara and six or eight friars not named. Casas also returned with the 71 men who, as will be remem- bered, had been provided for to complete Oñate's force of 200 in 1598.2 The viceroy wrote to the king, who by a cédula of May 31, 1600, ordered him to render all possible support and encouragement to the New Mexican enterprise. It is possible that some addi- tional reënforcement was sent in consequence of this order, but there is no positive evidence to that effect.3

1 Oñate, Cop. de Carta, 302-15. Five hundred men would not be too many to send to such a country, where he is sure to gain for his Majesty ‘ nuevos mundos pacíficos, mayores que el buen Marqués le dió.' He alludes to his past mis- fortunes, and most earnestly entreats that aid be not withheld now when success is almost within his grasp. He wishes his daughter Mariquita to come to N. Mex.

2 See p. 123, this volume.

" Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., i. 671-3, is the best authority on movements of the friars; see also Vetancur, Chron., 95; Aparicio, Conventos, 282. On the sending of the 71 men under Casas at Juan Guerra's expense-to inspect which force Juan Gordejnela was appointed Oct. 1, 1599-see N. Mex., Mem., 197-8; Id., Discurso, 38-9.

In May 1600, before the date of the cédula of May 31st (which is copied in N. Mex., Doc. Hist., MS., 492-4), we have two petitions of Don Alonso de Oñate in Madrid in behalf of Don Juan, directed to the king and council, in which he demands a ratification of the original contract with Velasco, on the

148

EIGHTY YEARS OF NEW MEXICAN ANNALS.

After the lesson taught at Acoma, the natives were not likely to attempt further resistance; and Oñate in his capital at San Juan was left in undisputed posses- sion of New Mexico. The colonists were well content with the country as a home, and the friars as a field of missionary labor. Don Juan was also satisfied in a sense with his achievement; that is, as a basis for other and greater ones. True, the pueblo province was but a small affair in the conquistador's eyes; it did not once occur to him that it was in itself his final possession, the goal of all his efforts, the best the north had to offer; but it would serve as a convenient base of supplies for further conquests, and its posses- sion would give weight to his demands for aid from the king. At present his force of little more than 100 men was insufficient for the realization of his schemes; and for some two years he contented him- self with preparations, with the search for mines, and with minor explorations of regions near at hand, re- specting which no record remains. The reënforce- nient of soldiers and friars may be supposed to have arrived early in 1600, but possibly later.

Trouble was soon developed between the two oppos- ing elements in the Spanish camp. The colonists favored the most conciliatory measures toward the natives, and the encouragement of agriculture and stock-raising with a view to permanent residence; they were in favor of letting well enough alone. Oñate on the other hand, with such of the soldiers as had not brought their families, thought mainly of holding the natives in subjection, of reducing new pueblos, of collecting the largest possible amount of food and clothing, and of preparing for new entradas. The friars regarded the conversion of gentiles as the

ground that the modifications introduced by Monterey were accepted only by Don Cristóbal, who had no such authority from his brother. He asks that the title of adelantado, now fully earned, be given at once; and he wishes that other orders as well as the Franciscans be allowed a share in the spiritual conquest. Pacheco, Doc., xv. 316-22. The immediate result, as we have seen, was merely a royal order of encouragement, the main issues being held in abeyanze. More of this in 1602.

149

OÑATE GOES TO QUIVIRA.

great object of the occupation, and were disposed to think the military element desirable or useful only as a protection to the missions. Of course the governor had his way, and how bitter became the quarrel will presently appear. It was unfortunate for the country, especially as no golden empire was ever found in the north-at least not by Spanish conquerors.

In June 1601, the general was ready for active operations. Accompanied by padres Velasco and Ver- gara, and guided by the Mexican survivor of Humaña's band, he left San Juan with 80 men and marched north-eastward over the plains.4 The route in general terms, no details being known, was similar to that of Coronado in 1541, for 200 leagues in a winding course to an estimated latitude of 39° or 40°. Probably the northern trend is greatly exaggerated.5 The Span- iards had a battle with the Escanjaques, and killed a thousand of them on the Matanza plain, scene of Humaña's defeat. The battle was caused by Padre Velasco's efforts to prevent the Escanjaques from destroying the property of the Quiviras who had fled from their towns at the approach of the Spaniards

+ On Oñate's exped. to Quivira, see N. Mex., Mem., 198-8, 209-25; Id., Dis- curso, 53-8; Salmeron, Rel., 26-30; Niel, Apunt., 91-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., i. 671-3; Purchas his Pilgrimes, iv. 1565-6; Posadas, Noticias, 216-17; Davis' Span. Conq., 273-5; Prince's Hist. Sk., 165-6. Salmeron and most other authorities give the date erroneously as 1599; and S. speaks of a fight on May 8th. Posadas says O. marched from Sta Fe in 1606; and Salmeron, followed by Davis, calls the place Villa de N. Mexico. The viceroy says half the SO men were not gente de servicio, and were of no use. Don Diego de Peñalosa, as we shall see later in this chapter, fitted the narrative of this exped. to a fictitious one of his own in 1662 for use in France.

5 Posadas, a good authority, says that O. went nearly 300 l. east in search of the ocean, reaching the country of the Aijados s. of Quivira and w. of the Tejas. The natives guided him to Quivira, but knew nothing of the ocean. Tribaldo, in Purchas-also quoted in a fragment, chap. 22-6, of a MS. history, vaguely accredited to Otermin in 1680, in N. Mex., Doc. Hist., iii. 1145-7, of no apparent value-says they went to the River of the North and to the great lake of Conibas (which figures in mythic geog. of the northern region), on the bank of which was seen 'afarre off a city 7 1. long and above 2 1. broad,' the market-place being so strongly fortified that the Span. dared not attack. Salmeron says the way was winding, 200 1. N. E. to a fertile land of fruits; the natives saying that a shorter way was N. by Taos and the land of Capt. Quivira. The viceroy says it was estimated by able men at over 40° and about 300 1. from either ocean. O. went N. E., while Coronado had gone N. w.(!) 39° or 40°. N. Mex., Mem. See Hist. North Mex. St., i. 383. Details concern the history of Texas more than that of N. Mex.

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EIGHTY YEARS OF NEW MEXICAN ANNALS.

and their allies. Large villages were seen, and ad- vance parties claimed to have found utensils of gold, which was said to be plentiful in the country of the Aijados not far away; and a native captive sent south is said to have caused a sensation in Mexico and Spain by his skill in detecting the presence of gold. It is not quite clear that Quivira was actually visited, but ambassadors from that people-also called Tindanes- were met, who wished to join the Spaniards in a raid on the gold country. Oñate, however, deemed it unwise to go on with so small a force, or perhaps was forced to turn back by the clamors of his men. He returned to San Juan probably in October.6

Back at the pueblos Oñate found New Mexico almost deserted. Colonists and friars with few excep- tions had gone south to Santa Bárbara, on the plea of absolute destitution, leaving them only a choice between death and desertion. Padre Escalona, who remained with Alférez Casas to await the governor's return, explained the situation in a letter to the comisario general, dated October 1st, and carried south by the fugitives. In this letter he stated that Oñate and his captains had sacked the towns, taking the whole reserve store of six years' crops saved by the natives, as was their custom for a possible year of famine. He had not allowed any community planting for the support of the garrison; the season had been one of drought; and the Indians were forced to live on wild seeds. Fortunately, several settlers had planted and irrigated corn-fields on their own account, thus saving the colony from starvation. Therefore they decided to retire to Nueva Vizcaya, report to the viceroy, and await orders whether to settle in the south or return with a new outfit to New Mexico. The friars went with them at their earnest request and the order of the padre comisario, who deemed it his

6 Davis' narrative of O.'s exped. ends abruptly with the arrival at Quivira, the author not finding the rest of Salmeron's relation, which he calls O.'s diary,

151

DESERTION OF THE FRIARS.

own duty to remain at the risk of his life, but who begged for a speedy decision. There were said to be good spots for settlement in Nueva Vizcaya, he wrote, but it seemed a pity to abandon New Mexico after such efforts, expense, and something of success.7

Don Juan, returning from an unsuccessful tour, with much discontent in his own ranks, was naturally furious on learning the state of affairs at San Juan. Finding men to testify against their absent comrades, he at once began legal proceedings against the so- called traitors, condemned some of them to death, pre- pared reports to the viceroy and king to offset those of the friars, who now and later reiterated their charges, and sent Vicente de Zaldívar to carry his reports to Mexico and Spain, to arrest and send back the recalcitrant colonists, and to urge the importance of completing the conquest. A little later Padre Escalona wrote to his provincial that he and Padre Velasco, Oñate's cousin, were resolved to quit the country; that they were of no use as missionaries, serving merely as chaplains to the raiders; that the governor's charges were false; and that no real pro- gress could be hoped for until the king should take the government from Oñate's hands.8

Zaldívar seems to have forced the colonists to re- turn, acting with great cruelty, if the friars may be credited. Early in 1602 he appeared before the au- diencia in Mexico to urge the importance of continu- ing the conquest from New Mexico as a base. The expediente of papers presented by him related wholly to past achievements, and has been one of our main authorities for the two preceding chapters.9 The

7 Escalona, Carta de Relacion 1601, in Torquemada, i. 673-4. Written at S. Gabriel. The retiring padres included San Miguel and Zamora of the origi- nal party; and Lope Izquierdo and Gaston de Peralta, presumably, of the new. Velasco and Vergara were with Oñate; the others, Rosas, Lugo, Cor- chado, Claros, and San Buenaventura are not named, but may be supposed to have gone to Sta B. and returned later. The last appears again in N. Mex. 8 Torquemada, i. 675-7. P. San Miguel wrote from Sta B. on Feb. 2, 1602, protesting still more bitterly against O.'s tyranny, falsehood, and general un- fitness for his position.

' In Pacheco, Doc., xvi. See p. 118 of this vol.

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EIGHTY YEARS OF NEW MEXICAN ANNALS.

quarrel with friars and settlers did not figure at all in these proceedings; and the documents bearing on that matter are not extant. The fiscal in May threw cold water on the scheme by an opinion that the encour- agement to spend money was much less, now that the country's poverty was known, than formerly when New Mexico was reputed rich.

From Mexico Zaldívar went to Spain to lay the matter before the king. The viceroy also wrote the king a long letter, giving an outline of Oñate's enter- prise from the beginning. Respecting the merits of the recent controversy, he and the audiencia had not been able to decide from the various memorials of in- terested and prejudiced parties on both sides, all of which documents had been forwarded to Spain; but it is clear that he was not friendly to Oñate. He strongly urged that his amendments to the original contract should be enforced, and that Don Juan's ex- travagant demands, especially that of independence from the audiencia, should not be granted. While the new province had been overpraised, yet it had many attractions in the way of climate, soil, products, and docile inhabitants; and it should not be abandoned. The number of settlers should be increased to at least 100, to live in one or two small villas so as to protect the padres and not annoy the Indians. The natives might be 'encommended' as tribute-payers among the settlers by the governor and comisario acting together. This report includes a somewhat extended, and in comparison with other documents of the time sensible, view of the Northern Mystery ; and the writer, after exploding many of the absurd theories of northern wonders, and showing that there was small hope of finding great and wealthy kingdoms for conquests, ad- mits that further exploration toward Anian and Labra- dor is desirable, and thinks that if the king is willing to pay the cost it might be well to furnish a force of 100 men and six officers for a year and a half. Oñate might properly be put in command and re-

153

EFFORTS IN SPAIN AND MEXICO.

quired to help support the men; but he would have no claim whatever to authority over the regions dis- covered. The animus of this report is evident, though the wisdom of many of the views expressed cannot be questioned.10

Such records as are extant fail to show exactly the results of Zaldívar's efforts in his uncle's behalf.11 Calle tells us that Oñate was made adelantado by cédula of February 7, 1602, the title being extended to his son. We have also a cédula of July 8th, con- firming the hidalguía, or nobility, originally conferred on conquistadores to Oñate's associates, and overruling some of the modifications introduced by Monterey. 1 Salmeron states that the king authorized the raising of 1,000 men if Zaldívar could raise half of them for the northern conquest, but on Zaldívar's failure noth- ing was accomplished.13 The truth would seem to be, though the evidence is meagre, that while Oñate was confirmed in his office and prerogatives so far as New Mexico was concerned, receiving some aid from the king, with reinforcements of colonists and mission- aries, he had not the means himself, nor could he in-

10 N. Mex., Discurso, 38-66; not dated, but evidently of 1602, correspond- ing to Z.'s departure for Spain.

11 Fernandez Duro, Don Diego de Peña losa, 145, cites a MS. Relacion diri- gida al Rey Nro Sr. de la expedicion y pacificacion del Nuevo Méjico, por D. Vicente de Zaldivar, as cited by Barcia and Beristain; and also the following MSS. which I have not seen: Noticias del N. Méjico por el P. Rodrigo Vivero; Diario de las exped. al N. Méjico por El Capitan D. Fernando Rivera; Hist. de la introd. del Evangelio desde el Parral hasta el N. Mej. por Fr. Juan Espinosa; Relacion de lo que habian visto y oido de la tierra adentro de Mex. los religiosos misioneros franciscanos. Por D. Fran. Nieto de Silva, gob. del N. Méj .; and Diario de la entrada en el N. Méj., dirigido a los prelados de su orden, por Fr. Pedro Salmeron. None have dates; and some prob. never existed; but the last is mentioned also in Vetancur, Chron., 118, and apparently belongs to 1604.

12 Calle, Not., 103; Pino, Expos., 35-6; Id., Not., 2-3; Davis' Span. Conq., 264-5. The audiencia acquiesced in this order by act of June 20, 1604, on Zaldívar's return to Mex. It appears that O.'s original demand for the gov- ernorship, etc., for four lives instead of two was not finally granted; and as we shall see, he did not transmit it even to his son.

13 ' Como no cumplió, porque no pudo, tampoco el rey.' Salmeron, Rel., 28; Davis' Span. Conq., 276. Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 229, tells us that O. took the country without resistance, asked for more men, who were sent with permis- sion for the discontented to return, as they did, abusing a country that had yielded no treasure.

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EIGHTY YEARS OF NEW MEXICAN ANNALS.

duce the government to furnish men and supplies for northern conquests on a scale commensurate with his ambitious views. Zaldívar returned from Spain in or before 1604, and perhaps to New Mexico.

Though he had failed in his north-eastern expedi- tion, there remained the Mar del Sur, which Oñate was determined to reach; and as soon as he had re- covered from the troubles just recorded, having most of his original 200 men reunited at San Juan, with possibly a small reënforcement brought by Zaldívar, the governor started on October 7, 1604, for the west with thirty men, accompanied by padres Francisco Escobar and San Buenaventura, the former the new comisario.14 Visiting the Zuñi province "more thickly settled by hares and rabbits than by Indians," where the chief town of the six is now called Cíbola, or in the native tongue Havico, or Ha Huico, the explorers went on to the five Moqui towns with their 450 houses and people clad in cotton. Ten leagues to the west- ward they crossed a river flowing from the south-east to the north-west, named Rio Colorado from the color of its water, and said to flow into the sea of Califor- nia after a turn to the west, and a course of 200 leagues through a country of pines. This was the stream still known as the Colorado Chiquito, and it is not unlikely that this was the origin of the name Colorado applied later to the main river. The place of crossing was named San José, and farther west, or south-west, they crossed two other rivers flowing south and south-east, and named San Antonio and Sacra- mento-really branches of the Rio Verde in the region north of Prescott, near where Espejo had been

14 According to Torquemada, i. 678, Padre Velasco was comisario after Escalona and before Escobar. Both the E.'s died in N. Mex. Id., iii. 598. Vetaucur, Chron., 95-6, as well as Torquemada, says that Escobar brought 6 friars, though his statement about the date is confusing. Among Escobar's party were perhaps PP. Pedro Salmeron and Pedro Carrascal, the latter being later guardian in Mex. and dying in 1622. Id., Menol., 92. Escalona died at Sto Domingo in 1607. P. Cristobal Quiñones, skilled in the language of the Queres, estab. church, convent, and hospital at S. Felipe, where he died in 1609. P. Vergara of the original band died in Mex. 1646.

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OÑATE IN ARIZONA.

twenty-three years before.15 It was a fertile, attract- ive country, whose people wore little crosses hanging from the hair on the forehead, and were therefore called Cruzados. 16

The Cruzados said the sea was 20 days or 100 leagues distant, and was reached by going in two days to a small river flowing into a larger one, which itself flowed into the sea. And indeed, fifteen leagues brought them to the small stream, named San Andrés, where the tierra caliente began to produce the pita- haya; and twenty-four leagues down its course the general came to the large stream, and named it Rio Grande de Buena Esperanza; that is, he followed the Santa María, or Bill Williams fork, down to its junc- tion with the Colorado. The explorers seem to have had no idea that there was any connection between this great river of Good Hope and the one they had named Rio Colorado; but they knew it was the one long ago named Rio del Tizon farther down; indeed, one of the men had been with Vizcaino in the gulf, and said this was the stream for which his commander had searched.17

For some distance above and below the junction lived the Amacava nation, or Mojaves.18 Captain Marquez went up the river a short distance; then the

15 One version reads, 'from this stream [the Col. Chiquito] they went w., crossing a piny range 8 1. wide, at whose southern base runs the river S. Antonio; it is 17 1. from S. José, which is the Colorado, runs N. to s. through a mountain region, has little water but much good fish. From this river it is a tierra templada. 5 1. w. is Rio Sacramento, like the S. Ant. in water and fish, rising 11 I. farther w., runs N. W. to s. E. at foot of lofty sierras, where the Span. got good metals.' The other speaks of the S. Antonio as being '17 1. from the Colorado, here called S. José.'

16 It was afterwards learned, so say the chroniclers, that a Franciscan had visited this people before, and taught them the efficacy of the cross in mak- ing friends, not only of God, but of white and bearded men who might one day appear.

17 This is not the place to go into details of Cal. geography as represented or thought to be represented by the Indians. The ocean was near, in all directions from w. to N. E., the brazo de mar extending round to Florida; Aztec was still spoken, and gold bracelets were worn at Lake Copala; and the island with giant queen was not wanting. Information here obtained had considerable influence indirectly on the Northern Mystery from this time.

18 The form in the 18th century as occurring in Cal. annals was Amajava, which later became Mojave. Possibly in this narrative it should also be Amajava, the 'c' being a misprint.

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History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII, Part 18

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Oak, Henry Lebbeus, 1844-1905 Publication date: 1889 Publisher: San Francisco : The History Company Number of Pages: 890

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Oak, Henry Lebbeus, 1844-1905
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: San Francisco : The History Company
Number of Pages: 890