USA > Arizona > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 25
USA > New Mexico > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 25
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In the spring of 1696 the missionaries, who had the best opportunities for knowing the real sentiments of the natives, found the indications so alarming in various quarters that the custodio on March 7th made known to Vargas in writing the imminent danger of a revolt, the defenceless condition of the missions, the risks taken by the padres, and the incalculable damage that must result from a new disaster like that of 1680. He concluded by begging for a guard of soldiers for each mission. Two other petitions of like tenor were written on the 13th and 22d, and from different directions came reports that the Indians had already committed outrages in the new temples; but the gov- ernor, believing that the natives had submitted in good faith, and that the complaints and fears had no better foundation than idle rumor, either would not or could not furnish the desired escoltas. He per- mitted the friars, if they were afraid, to retire to Santa
37 Vargas, Acusacion del Cabildo de Sta Fé contra el ex-gobernador, in Arch. Sta Fé, MS .; followed by Davis, Span. Conq., 412-13. The padre cronista who prepared the printed Arch. N. Mex. rather strangely says nothing of this famine.
216
RECONQUEST BY DON DIEGO DE VARGAS.
Fé, as some of them did. In his report of March 28th to the viceroy he not only stated that all was quiet, and the danger imaginary, but used language which the padres regarded as an imputation of cow- ardice. Their pride was touched, and they returned to their stations quietly to await the crisis. It came on the 4th of June, when the Taos, Picuries, Tehuas, Queres of Santo Domingo and Cochití, and the Jemes rose, killed five missionaries and 21 other Spaniards, in most cases immediately abandoning their pueblos and fleeing to the mountains.38
The governor started on the 7th for a tour among the deserted towns, and "saw to regret what he ought to have believed to remedy." Pecos, Tesuque, San Felipe, Santa Ana, and Cia had remained faithful, but the Acomas, Zuñis, and Moquis had aided the rebels, or at least were sheltering the fugitives, and were said to be planning new attacks. The chief of Santo Domingo, a leading spirit in the revolt, was captured and shot on the 14th; and several revolu- tionary agents were also put to death at Pecos, with the governor's consent. On the 23d of July, a body of rebels was attacked and 10 of the number killed.39
38 Arch. N. Mex., 168-71, and several records in the Arch. Sta Fé, MS., including the gov.'s report of July 27th. In the Acusacion already referred to, followed by Davis, the no. of killed is given as 34 instead of 21, and the famine is given as one of the chief causes of the revolt; that is, the Ind. took advantage of the enfeebled and scattered condition of the Span.
The padres killed were Arbizu of S. Cristóbal, Carbonel of Taos, Corvera of S. Ildefonso, Moreno of Nambe, and Casanes of Jemes. Corvera and Moreno were shut up in a cell at S. Ildefonso, and burned with the convent. P. Cisneros of Cochiti had a narrow escape. P. Navarro of S. Juan succeeded in escaping to La Cañada with the sacred vessels, etc. Acc. to Espinosa, Cron. Seráf., 260-86, P. Casañes at Jemes had foreseen his fate, and asked the Ind. to let him die at the foot of a certain cross. Summoned to attend a sick person, he was led into an ambush of Apaches, who killed him with clubs and stones at the chosen spot. He was the first martyr of the Querétaro col- lege, and Espinosa gives an account of his life, including his miraculous transportation by an angel on mule-back to visit unknown Texan tribes. Capt Lázaro Mizquía, with Alf. José Dominguez and 12 soldiers, escaped from Taos and reached Sta Fé in 9 days after in a sorry condition. Gregg, Com. Prairies, i. 128, dates this revolt in '98.
39 July 27th the cabildo asked for an escort for a bearer of despatches to El Paso and Mex., to ask the viceroy for aid. V. replied that he was expect- ing 200 cattle to arrive shortly. On Sept. 24th the viceroy replied to V.'s letter of July 27th, promising aid and his influence in obtaining rewards from the king. Arch. Sta Fé, MS.
217
REVOLT OF 1696.
At the beginning of August an expedition was made to Cia, with a view to operate either against the A.comas or Jemes; but Don Diego was recalled to the capital to distribute 200 cattle, which now arrived from the south.40 On the 8th he marched for Acoma, and attacked that pueblo on the 15th, capturing five natives, one of them the chief, but failing to reach the peñol summit. Then he released the chief and re- sorted to persuasion, without success, finally shooting the captives, ravaging the corn-fields, and retiring. 41 Subsequently, Adjutant Juan Ruiz was sent against the Jemes. In September Don Diego attacked the Taos in a cañon not far from their town, and after several skirmishes they surrendered on the 8th of October, returning to live in the pueblo. The Picuríes and the Tehuas of San Juan feigned a desire for peace in order to save their crops; but Vargas discovered their plans, and attacked them on October 26th, captur- ing 84 of their women and children, to be distributed as servants among the soldiers on his return to the capi- tal, early in November. There were other campaigns, productive of but slight results, as it was difficult to find any considerable number of the rebels together. On the 24th of November, the date of the governor's report to the viceroy, all had been reduced to nominal submission except those of Acoma and the west, Pujuaque, Cuyamanque, and Santa Clara, with per- haps Santo Domingo and Cochití. Yet many of the pueblos contained but a few families each. The rest of the population was scattered in the mountains, among the gentile tribes, or in the western pueblos.42 The surviving Querétaro Franciscans left the country in 1696. A few officials of the year are named in a note. 43
40 Arch Sta Fé, MS.
41 Padres Juan de Mata and Diego Chavarría, new names, are mentioned as chaplains of this expedition.
42 Arch. N. Mex., 171-4; gov.'s report of Nov. 24th, in Arch. Sta Fé, MS. The alcalde of La Cañada in an inspection found at S. Ildefonso 17 men and 36 women and children; at Jacona 10 and 19; at Nambe 4 and 10. Davis says that 'during the rebellion more than 2,000 Ind. perished in the moun- tains, while as many more deserted their villages and joined the wild tribes.'
13 Espinosa, Crón. Apostól., 92, 284-6; Escudero, Not. Son., 43-7. Capt.
218
RECONQUEST BY DON DIEGO DE VARGAS.
The governor's term of five years expired in 1696, and Pedro Rodriguez Cubero had been appointed by the king to succeed him. Vargas had asked for re- appointment, but though the king was favorably dis- posed, the application came too late. Overruling Don Diego's objections, the viceroy sustained Cubero, who came to New Mexico and took possession of the office on the 2d of July, 1697." The king approved when after long delay the matter reached him in 1699, but at the same time he thanked Vargas for his services, gave him the choice of titles between marqués and conde, and granted a reappointment, to take effect on the expiration of Cubero's term in 1702, or sooner if the office should become vacant.45 In the same cédula was approved all that the viceroy had done in connection with the reconquest; and it was ordered that the presidial force of Santa Fe should be raised to 100 men, the Parral force retiring ; that the force at El Paso should not be reduced, as had been pro- posed; 46 and that additional families should be sent, not from Nueva Vizcaya, but from Mexico.
Meanwhile Vargas was involved in serious troubles ; and indeed, at the date of being thus highly honored by the king he had been two years in the Santa Fé prison. There had been more or less misunderstand- ing between him and the cabildo from the first. En-
Fern. Duran de Chavez was alcalde mayor of S. Felipe and the 'puesto de Es- pañoles de Bernalillo;' Capt. Roque Madrid, lieut .- gen. of cavalry and alcalde mayor of 'la villa nueva de los Mexicanos de Sta Cruz (de la Cañada);' Do- mingo de la Barreda, sec. de gobierno y guerra; Capt. Alonso Rael de Agui- lar, lieut .- gov. and capt .- gen. in place of Granillo. The cabildo of Sta Fé was Alcalde Lorenzo de Madrid, Fran. Romero de Pedraja, Lázaro de Mizquia, Diego Montoya, José García Jurado; clerk, Capt. Lucero de Godoy. Arch. Sta Fé, MS.
" This date from a royal cédula of Jan. 26th, approving the viceroy's act, as it preceded the reappointment which it had been intended to grant to V., and V. therefore had no right to object. N. Mex. Cédulas, MS., 28-9. Acc. to Arch. N. Mex., 174, the date was July 4th. Cubero's accession had been made known in the viceroy's letter of April 18, 1698.
45 June 15, 1699, in N. Mex. Cedulas, MS., 29-33. I find no foundation for Davis' statement that Vargas was removed from office in consequence of complaint from the cabildo. These complaints and charges were of later date.
40 In March 1699, Don Antonio de Valverde y Cosío, later gov., was ap- pointed capt. of the El Paso presidio. Id., 34.
219
CHARGES AGAINST VARGAS.
joying the confidence of the viceroy, he had been given entire control of the expedition, and attending in per- son or through his agents to all details financial as well as military, he had ignored and offended the colony officials. Moreover, there had been much dis- satisfaction, as we have seen, at his policy in depriving the settlers of their Indian slaves by restoring these captives to their pueblos as a means of gaining the good-will of the natives. Cubero had a commission as juez de residencia, and though Vargas is under- stood to have passed the ordeal successfully, he gave up his office unwillingly and made of his successor a bitter foe; and the cabildo, with the additional incen- tive of gaining favor with the new ruler, renewed the quarrel in earnest.
Formal charges were presented before the governor, whose authority to consider them was very doubtful. The ex-governor was accused of having embezzled large sums of money furnished him for the recruiting and support of the colonists; of having provoked, by shooting the Tanos captives at Santa Fé, and by other oppressive acts, all the hostilities of 1694-6; of having caused, by his mismanagement and failure to properly distribute the small remaining portion of the food supply, which had been paid for by the king but sold by Vargas in the south for his own profit, the deadly famine of 1695-6; and of having driven away by his oppression the families likely to testify against him in his residencia. Juan Paez Hurtado was also involved in the accusations, as Vargas' accomplice, and as prin- cipal in other serious charges.47 Cubero gratified his
47 The charges in detail are recited in the original documents, still pre- served, though not complete, in the Arch. Sta Fe. The accusation of the cabildo is not dated, but was apparently written in Oct. 1697. Oct. 20, 1697, Gov. C. orders Capt. Granillo at El Paso to arrest Paez Hurtado and send him to Sta Fé. At the same time Capt. Ant. Valverde, Alf. Martin Uriosto, and Adj. Félix Martinez were exiled from N. Mex., probably in connection with the same affair. Hurtado was accused of having defrauded the colonists of half the allowance by the crown, of collecting $100 each for 38 settlers who did not come; of hiring vicious persons for $4 or $6 each to personate colo- nists, for each of whom he collected $100, subsequently filling their places in part with negro and mixed-breed tramps; of collecting the $100 several times
220
RECONQUEST BY DON DIEGO DE VARGAS.
personal enmity and that of the cabildo by treating Vargas in a most harsh and unjust manner. He was fined 4,000 pesos for costs of the suit, all his property was confiscated, and he was kept in prison for nearly three years. Few even of his own family were al- lowed to see him, and every precaution was taken to prevent the sending of any written communication to Mexico or Spain. Padre Vargas, the custodian, vis- ited Mexico and obtained an order for the prisoner's release under bonds to defend himself before the vice- roy; but Don Diego refused to accept liberty on such conditions, claiming that to give bonds would be de- grading to a man of his rank and services, especially in view of the king's recent orders in his favor. At last came an order for his release without conditions, and he started for Mexico in July 1700. Here the charges against him are said to have been fully inves- tigated by royal order; at any rate, he was exonerated from all blame, and his reappointment as governor, as we shall see, remained valid. As we have no original records in the case except the partisan charges, it would perhaps be going too far to declare Don Diego en- tirely innocent; the cabildo, however, later retracted its accusations, attributing all the blame to Cubero; and the chronicler, a Franciscan who can hardly be suspected of prejudice in Vargas' favor, states- doubt- less reflecting the views of his order-that Don Diego, while somewhat over-enthusiastic, disposed to promise more than he could perform, and to ignore in his re- ports many of the difficulties and dangers in New Mexico, never gave the Spaniards any just cause of enmity, but rather merited their love as a protector.48
of one person under different names; of stealing a box containing $7,000; of aiding Gov. V. in his rascalities, etc. All his property was confiscated, but the arresting officers seem not to have found him, at least not at first. H. was later gov. ad. int.
48 Arch. N. Mex., 174-7. The cabildo, hearing of V.'s reappointment on Dec. 16, 1700, petitioned the king against permitting him to return and avenge himself; but the king, by a cédula of Oct. 10, 1701, ordered an investi- gation; and the cabildo soon began to make excuses, etc. Davis in his list, like Meline, Prince, and others, names several viceroys of Mex. as governors of N. Mex .! Viceroy Mendoza, conde de Galve, figures in 1694-5 and in 1722.
221
RULE OF GOVERNOR CUBERO.
Of Cubero's rule, within and beyond the limits of this chapter, there is little to be said. Father Vargas resigning the office of custodio was succeeded by padres Diego de Chavarría, Juan Muñoz de Castro, and Antonio Guerra. A document of May 1697 indicates that the number of settlers, heads of families, in the province, including new-comers, was 313. This did not include the soldiers; and the total of so-called Spanish population was probably not less than 1,500.49 Early in the same year Santa Cruz de Galisteo was resettled with Tanos; and later the rebel Queres of Cieneguilla, Santo Domingo, and Cochití formed a new pueblo four leagues north of Acoma, on the stream called Cubero.50 In July 1698, it was decided in a junta de hacienda at Mexico that the New Mexican colonists must in future depend on their own exertions, since the aid then furnished would be the last; yet this regulation was not strictly enforced, as agricultural implements at least were afterward supplied. In
July 1699, the governor Cubero made a tour in the west. On the 4th the new pueblo of the Queres sub- mitted, being named San José de la Laguna; two days later Acoma, now called San Pedro instead of San Estévan, renewed its allegiance; and on the 12th La Purísima de Zuñi, formerly Asuncion and later Guadalupe, followed the example of its eastern neigh- bors.51
The Moquis, noting the submission of other nations, and dreading war more than they feared or loved Christians, sent ambassadors in May 1700 to treat with the governor, professing their readiness to rebuild churches and receive missionaries. At the same time
49 Arch. Sta Fé, MS. Distrib. on May Ist of a large quantity of cloth and live-stock, including 600 cows, 260 bulls, 3,300 sheep and rams, 2,200 goats; some of which, however, had been left at El Paso. On Dec. 10th Gov. C. orders the auth. of El Paso to permit no maize or other grain to be carried out of the province, as there had been a failure of crops.
be Named for the gov., probably; and this may be the origin of the name Covero still applied to a pueblo in that vicinity.
$1 Niel, Apunt., 108-9, says that Moqui was also visited at this time. A doc. in the Arch. Sta Fe, MS., shows that during the gov.'s absence the friends of Vargas made an effort to cause a disturbance and make V. gov. No details.
222
RECONQUEST BY DON DIEGO DE VARGAS.
Espeleta, chief of Oraibe, sent for Padre Juan Garai- coechea to come and baptize children. The friar set out at once with Alcalde José Lopez Naranjo,52 and went to Aguatuvi, where he baptized 73 young Mo- quis. On account of a pretended rumor that the messengers to Santa Fé had been killed, he was not permitted to visit Oraibe or the other pueblos at this time; but Espeleta promised to notify him soon when they were ready for another visit, Garaicoechea re- turning to Zuñi and reporting to the governor on June 9th.53 In October the Moquis were again heard from, when Espeleta came in person to Santa Fé with 20 companions, and with somewhat modified views. He now proposed a simple treaty of peace, his nation, like Spain, to retain its own religion! Cubero could offer peace only on condition of conversion to Chris- tianity. Then the Moqui chief proposed as an ulti- matum that the padres should visit one pueblo each year for six years to baptize, but postponed perma- nent residence till the end of that period. This scheme was likewise rejected, and Espeleta went home for further deliberation.54
There were in those days fears of French invasion. Padre Niel tells us that among the captives whom the Navajos were accustomed to bring to New Mexico each year for Christian ransom, he rescued two little French girls. In 1698 the French had almost annihi- lated a Navajo force of 4,000 men; and in 1700 the Apaches reported that a town of the Jumanas had been destroyed by the same foe. Toward the Span- iards the Navajos were friendly down to 1700, but in
52 P. Antonio Miranda is also named as his companion in Fernandez Duro, Noticias, 137.
53 In the Moqui, Noticias, MS., 669, it is stated that the other Moquis, angry that Aguatuvi had received the padres, came and attacked the pueblo, killed all the men, and carried off all the women and children, leaving the place for many years deserted. I think this must be an error.
54 Arch. N. Mex., 177-9; Moqui, Noticias, MS., 664-70. P. Garaicoechea was in charge of Zuni and P. Miranda of Acoma and Laguna. In June 1700 one Miguel Gutierrez was sentenced to be shot and his head stuck on a pole, to show the Jicarillas and other gentile nations that they must not harbor fugitive Span. Arch. Sta Fé, MS.
223
NAVAJOS AND APACHES.
that year they committed some depredations, and the governor started on an expedition against them, mak- ing peace, however, with the Navajo chief at Taos. There was also a campaign against the Faraon Apaches, but of it we know only that nothing was accomplished. This same year there was trouble at Pecos, resulting from the execution by Don Felipe, the chief, of five rebels in the war of 1596. There was an attempt to raise a revolt against that chief, but the ringleaders were imprisoned at Santa Fé until they escaped and joined the Jicarilla Apaches. The pueblo became divided into two factions, which often came to blows, until at last, Don Felipe's party hav- ing the best of it, the other asked permission to live at Pujuaque. It is not recorded that the change was actually made.
CHAPTER XI. FIRST HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 1701-1750.
PERMANENT SUBMISSION~CUBERO'S RULE-REVOLT AT ZUÑI-RULE AND DEATH OF GOVERNOR VARGAS-FOUNDING OF ALBURQUERQUE- MOQUIS AND APACHES-MARQUES DE LA PEÑUELA-NAVAJO WAR-REFOUND- ING OF ISLETA-RULE OF FLORES-THE YUTAS-GOVERNOR MARTINEZ -THE COMANCHES-A CONTROVERSY-VALVERDE IN COMMAND-EN- TRADA TO THE NORTH-BUSTAMANTE'S RULE-SMUGGLING-FRENCH ENCROACHMENTS-PADRES VERSUS BISHOP-CRUZAT GOVERNOR-OLA- VIDE'S RULE-MENDOZA-FRENCHMEN-CONVERTS FROM MOQUI-Gov- ERNORS CODALLOS AND CACHUPIN - MOQUI - JESUITS DEFEATED- NAVAJO MISSIONS-A QUARREL- STATISTICS-LIST OF GOVERNORS TO 1846.
THE submission of New Mexico in the last years of the seventeenth century may be regarded as perma- nent; the natives were now too few and weak, and the Spanish power too firmly established, for any general movement of revolt. Petty local troubles or rumors of troubles in the different pueblos were of not infrequent occurrence, some of which will be noted in these pages, as will occasional raids of the gentile tribes. These, with the succession of gover- nors, now and then a political controversy, periodical renewals of efforts to make Christians of the Moquis, a few reports of mission progress or decadence, some not very important expeditions out into the plains or mountains, feeble revivals of the old interest in mys- terious regions of the north, rare intercourse with the Texan establishments, fears of French and Eng- lish encroachment-make up the annals of the eigh- teenth century. The archive record is meagre and fragmentary, yet in respect of local and personal de-
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225
MOQUI AFFAIRS.
tails much too bulky to be fully utilized within the scope of my work. From 1700 New Mexico settled down into that monotonously uneventful career of inert and non-progressive existence, which sooner or later is to be noted in the history of every Hispano- American province. The necessity of extreme con- densation may not, therefore, prove an unmixed evil.
The Moqui chief did not decide to accept the Span- iards' terms ; and it appears that the people of Aguatuvi were even punished for past kindness shown to visit- ing friars. Governor Cubero therefore marched in 1701 to the province, killing a few Moquis and cap- turing many ; but it was deemed good policy to release the captives, and Cubero returned without having accomplished anything, unless to make the natives more obstinate in their apostasy, as the not impartial Vargas declared later.1 In the spring of 1702 there were alarming rumors from various quarters, resting largely on statements of Apaches, who seem in these times to have been willing witnesses against the town Indians. Cubero made a tour among the pueblos to investigate and administer warnings, but he found slight ground for alarm. It appeared, however, that the Moquis, or perhaps Tehua fugitives in the Moqui towns, were trying to incite the Zuñis and others to revolt; and it was decided to send Captain Juan de Uribarri with a force to make investigations, and to leave Captain Medina and nineteen men as a garrison at Zuñi.2 This was probably done, but, all being
1 Arch. N. Mex., 179; Moqui, Not., MS., 669. In Arch. Sta Fé, MS., is a petition of the cabildo to Gov. C. when about to start on this exped., ask- ing him not to go, referring to the affair of '99, and expressing fears that in his absence Vargas' friends would succeed in creating a revolt; or perhaps would go to El Paso en masse to represent that by C.'s harsh treatment they had been forced to flee. In Heytin's Cosmog., 1701-2, is a mention of N. Mex. and its supposed boundaries in 1701.
2 Full record of investigations, etc., in Feb .- Mar. 1702, an orig. MS. of 74 p. in the Pinart collection. P. Ant. Guerra is named as custodio; P. Martin Hurtado took part in the councils; also Adj. José Dominguez. Uri- barri was capt. of the Sta Fé company. Among the measures ordered was the transfer of the Sta Clara Ind. to S. Ildefonso, where lands confiscated from former rebels were assigned them.
HIST. ARIZ. AND N. MEX. 15
226
FIRST HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
quiet, the escolta was soon reduced. The remaining soldiers behaved badly, and three Spanish exiles from Santa Fé much worse, treating the Indians harshly, and living publicly with native women. The padre complained; the governor failed to provide any rem- edy; and on March 4, 1703, the Indians killed the three Spaniards, Valdés, Palomino, and Lucero, flee- ing, some to the peñol, others to Moqui. The soldiers seen to have run away. Padre Garaicoechea was not molested, and wrote that only seven Indians were concerned in the affair; but evidently in his mission- ary zeal and sympathy for the natives he underrated the danger. The governor, justifying his course by the viceroy's orders to use gentle means, sent Captain Madrid to bring away the friar, and Zuñi, like the Moqui towns, was left to the aborigines.3
In August 1703, Cubero, learning that Vargas- whose exoneration and reappointment have been re- corded-was on the way to succeed him, and fearing retaliation for past acts, though as a matter of fact Vargas brought no authority to investigate his acts, left the country without waiting to meet his rival. He claimed to have retired by permission of the vice- roy; it was said he feigned an Indian campaign as an excuse for quitting the capital; and his successor charged that he ran away for fear of the natives, whose hatred he had excited. Cubero was appointed governor of Maracaibo and given other honors, but died in Mexico in 1704. Don Diego, now marqués de la Nava de Brazinas, assumed the office of governor and captain-general at Santa Fé, on November 10, 1703.4 He was urged by Padre Garaicoechea to re-
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