History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII, Part 6

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 6
USA > New Mexico > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 6

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Of the old standard chronicles in Spanish, relating for the most part to the country's earliest annals down to 1700, by far the most important for pur- poses of this volume are Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, bringing the record down to 1608, and Vetancurt, Crónica and Menologio, of 1691; but some valu- able matter is also found in Mendieta, Historia Eclesiástica; Oviedo, Hist. Gen .; Herrera, Hist. Gen .; Gomara, Hist. Ind .; Medina, Chronica: Beaumont, Cron. de Michoacan; Mota Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia; and especially Villaseñor, Theatro, of 1748. Other useful Spanish works of similar nature are Calle, Noticias; Cavo, Tres Siglos; Revilla Gigedo, Carta de 1793; Alegre, Hist. Comp.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AND RÉSUMÉ.

Jesus; Frejes, Hist. Breve; Aparicio, Conventos: Velasco, Not. Sonora; and Escudero, Not. Chihuahua. All the works of this paragraph relate mainly to other regions, but contain more or less original and useful material on our territory.

Collections of manuscript or archive material have been named; but there are equally important collections of original documents in print. Of these, two are especially valuable: Ist, the Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, Mex., 1853-7, 20 vol. in 4 series, of which the S volumes of the 3d and 4th series relate particularly to northern regions, and contain vast quantities of indis- pensable matter on N. Mexico and Arizona, a large portion of the documents being from the Arch. Gen. de Mex. already mentioned; and 21, the Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista, y colonizacion de las posesiones Españolas en America y Oceanía, sacados, en su mayor parte, del Real Archivo de Indias. Madrid, 1864-80, Svo, 35 vol. This collection, from the name of its first editor, I have cited as Pacheco, Col. Doc. Vols. xv., xvi., are of greatest value as containing original records of Oñate's conquest; but vols. ii., iii., iv., and xix. also contain useful documents. Ternaux-Compans, l'oy- ages, Relations et Mémoires Originaux pour servir à l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amerique, Paris, 1837-41, série i. tom. ix .- x., is a collection containing trans- lations of the chief original authorities on the expeditions of Niza and Coro- nado; while the old standard voyage collections, Hakluyt's Voyages, Ramusio, Navigationi, and Purchas his Pilgrimes, contain documents whose value was originally very great, though somewhat impaired now by their appearance elsewhere in better form. See also Florida, Col. Doc .; Navarrete, Col. Viajes; and Burney's Chron. Hist. Voy.

Of the MSS. contained in the collections cited, or existing separately in my Library, each of which is duly noticed in its place in the following chap- ters, there may be named here the following: Otermin, Extractos, 1680-2; A yeta, Memorial, 1676; Vargas, Reconquista, 1692; Id., Campañas de '94; Moqui, Noti- cins: Id., Juntas de Guerra, 1713-15; Id., Providencias, 1779; Hurtado, C'am- paña, 1715; Bustamante, Residencia, 1731; Olavide y Michelena, Autos, 1738-9; Mendoza, Residencia, 1744; Delgado, Relacion de la Sierra Azul, 1743; Id., Noticias del gran Teguayo, 1743; Id., Informe, 1750; Menchero, Declaracion, 1744; Id., Peticion sobre Navajoes, 1749; Id., Informe, 1749; Codallos y Rabal, Reduccion del Navajo, 1745; Id., Testimonio sobre Comanches, 1718; Trigo, In- forme, 1750; Id., Informe, 1754; Güemes y Horcasitas, Medios, 1745; N. Mex., Informe del P. Provincial, 1750; Id., Defensas de Misioneros, 1818; Rodriguez de la Torre, Entrada, 1755; Tamaron, Visita del Obispo, 1760; Lafora, Viaje a Sta Fe, 1766; Sta Fé, Inundaciones de 1767: Crespo, Informe (1776); Escalante, In- forme y Diario, 1775; Idl., Carta de 1776; Anza, Diarios, 1779-80; Morfi, Desórdenes en N. Mex. (1792); Ruiz, Gobierno de Misiones, 1773; Serrano, In- forme, 1761; Ilzarbe, Informe, 1787; Id., Estado de Misiones, 1788; Durango, Informe del Obispo, 1789; Lezaun, Noticias, 1760; Chacon, Informe sobre In- dustrias, 1803.

And among the most important of similar documents in print the follow- ing: Niza, Descubrimiento, 1539; Castañeda, Relacion, 1540-2; Coronado, Rela- cion del Suceso, 1540-2; Jaramillo, Relacion, 1540-2; Espejo, Relacion, 1582; Id., Expediente, 1582; N. Mex., Testimonio, 1582-3; Id., Memorial, 1595-1602; Id., Ytinerario, 1547-9; Id., Traslado de Posesion, 1598; Id., Discurso y Proposi- cion, 1602; Martin, Asiento, 1583; Lomas, Asiento, 1589; Castaño de Sosa, Memoria, 1590; Oñate, Copia de Carta, 1599; Freytas, Relacion, 1661; Domin- guez and Escalante, Diario, 1776; Garcés, Diario, 1776; Melyares, Demostra- ciones, 1822.

Of separately printed books on special topics, incomparably the most note- worthy is Villagra, Hist. N. Mex .; but there may also be mentioned Benavi- des, Memorial and Requeste, 1630-1; Sigüenza y Góngora, Mercurio l'olante, 1693; Crespo, Memorial Ajustado, 1738; Presidios, Reglamento, 1772-3; Pino, Exposicion and Noticias Historicus, 1812; Pike's Acct. of Exped., 1806-7; Coyner's Lost Trappers, 1807-10; Sta Fe, MMess. of President, 1818.

Most of the matter cited relates to the Spanish period. For the Mexican annals the records are not only much less complete, but of a different nature

LATER AUTHORITIES.

in some respects; that is, the narrative has to be eked out with fragments from many sources, which are indicated in my notes, and need not be cata- logued here. Among the chief sources of information, however, may be mentioned the Mexico, Memorias, of the different departments; the U. S. Govt Doc .; various Mexican newspapers; Niles' Register; Arrillaga, Recop., and other collections of laws; fragments from the Arch. Sta Fé, MS .; Barreiro, Ojeada; Abert's Report; San Miguel, Repub. Mex .; Bustamante, Gabinete Mex .; Id., Apuntes; Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies; Kendall's Narr. of the Texan Sta Fé Exped .; Falconer's Notes; Prieto, Rentas; Storrs' Sta Fé Trade: Wil- lard's Inland Trade; Riley's Report; Pattie's Narr .; Wilson's Observ., MS.

Much of what precedes relates mainly to New Mexico, but also in part to Arizona. Standard authorities for the early annals of Arizona proper, or Pimería Alta, include Apostólicos Afanes de la Comp. de Jesus; Sonora, Ma- teriales, MS. (tom. xvi .- ii. of the Arch. Gen., and printed in Doc. Hist. Mex., 3d series, tom. iv. pp. 489-520, 4th series, tom. i. pp. 1-408, which is the most valuable of all, separate titles being given to many documents as mentioned in chap. xv. et seq.); Mange, Historia de la Pimería; Velarde, Descripcion; Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus; Venegas, Noticias de Cal .; Salvatierra, Relaciones; Pinart, Coleccion de Pimería Alta, MS .; Tamaron, Visita, MS .; Arricivita, Crónica Serúfica; Reyes, Noticia.

Thus formidable being the array of original authorities, it becomes necessary to consider the use of them that has been made by modern writers. The first place among such writers belongs without question to W. W. H. Davis, who was U. S. attorney in New Mexico in 1853-5, and whose work was The Span- ish Conquest of New Mexico, by W. W. H. Davis, A. M., member of the ' His- torical Society of Pennsylvania,' and the ' New York Genealogical and Biographi- cal Society,' author of 'El Gringo, or New Mexico and her People,' ' History of the 104th Penn. Regiment,' ' History of the Hart Family,' and ' The Life of General John Lacey.' Doylestown, Pa., 1869, Svo, 425 p., portrait and map. This work is little more than a slightly condensed version or translation from the English, French, and Spanish, of the narratives of successive expeditions, from that of Cabeza de Vaca down nearly to 1700. The author writes in a clear and pleasing style, and has added to his work not only a map, but some useful notes drawn from his own knowledge of the country. His translations from the French are better than those from the Spanish. Down to the end of Coronado's expedition, his work, from the well-known printed narratives, is careful and accurate enough, but after that period irregular and sometimes inexplicably careless. This, however, doubtless results to a large extent from the condition in which he found his originals. His authorities for the later chapters were MSS. of the Arch. Sta Fé, or fragments of a few of the docu- ments that I have cited from the same and other sources. He also obtained from Texas a copy of a portion of what he calls Oñate's journal, perhaps a fragment of Salmeron; and he attaches more importance than they deserve to the works of Frejes and Larenaudière. Mr Davis falls into some radical errors; notwithstanding the title of his book, he really knows very little of the 'conquest' proper, even putting its date seven years too early; and he has the faulty method of not clearly indicating his sources for many points- apparently sometimes with a view of concealing their poverty. Yet the work has received and merits high praise, indicating much intelligence, and con- siderable research under unfavorable circumstances on the part of the writer. His earlier book, El Gringo (N. Y., 1856), contained also much historical information, with a narrative of personal adventure and a description of the country and its people.

There has been but one other formal attempt to write the history of New Mexico, and that has resulted in the work called Historical Sketches of New Mexico from the Earliest Records to the American Occupation, by L. Bradford Prince, President of the Historical Society of New Mexico, Late Chief Justice of New Mexico, etc. Second edition. N. Y. and Kansas City, 1883, 12mo, 330 p. This unpretentious and excellent little work covers the same ground as that of Davis, but continues the story to 1847. So far as the Spanish period is concerned, it is not a work of original research, but for the most part a con-

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AND RÉSUMÉ.

densation of the story as told by Davis, though some of the well-known printed originals are named in the preface; the Peñalosa hoax is accepted as authority for a chapter, and a few of Davis' errors are corrected, while others -like the introduction of several viceroys in the list of governors-are re- peated. The fact that in so small a volume 40 pages are devoted to the wan- derings of Alvar Nuñez in Florida and Texas, and 20 pages to those of Niza in Sonora and Arizona, while six pages suffice for Oñate's conquest, illustrates probably not so much the author's idea of symmetry as the nature of his au- thorities. Indeed, wellnigh all the faults of the book are attributable to the authorities rather than to the author. He gives an excellent introduction, nowhere makes an effort to conceal the paucity of his sources, and writes throughout in an admirable and interesting style. His conclusions always command respect; his narrative of 19th-century annals could hardly be im- proved in matter or manner; and the work as a whole merits higher praise than the preceding remarks might seem to indicate.

In this connection should be noticed the Historical Introduction to studies among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico, Part i., by Ad. F. Bandelier. Bos- ton, IS81, Svo, 33 p. This is an introduction to the Papers of the Archeologi- cal Institute of America, American Series i., and relates mainly to Coronado's expedition, with particular reference to the original pueblo sites, but with notes bearing on later entradas. A continuation, bringing the annals of ex- ploration down to 1605, is promised, but so far as I know has not appeared. Bandelier, a writer of high standing on archæological topics, shows an acquaint- ance with the most important of the original authorities; namely, the Col. Doc. Ined., and the Doc. Hist. Mex .; and within the narrow limits which he has thus far assigned himself in history proper, his work merits nothing but the highest praise. John Gilmary Shea's The Expedition of Don Diego Dio- nisio de Peñalosa, etc., N. Y., 1882, including Freytas, Relacion del descubrimi- ento del pais y ciudad de Quivira echo por D. Diego Dionisio de Peñalosa, and an English translation of the same, Freytas, Relation, etc., merits mention here, by reason of its introductory and supplementary notes, though the main nar- rative relates to a single expedition, and one that in reality was never made. Much more important-though perhaps it should be properly named earlier iu this note as a collection of original material-is the Don Diego de Peñalosa y su descubrimiento del reino de Quirira. Informe presentado á la Real Acade- mit de Historia por el capitan de navío Cesáreo Fernandez Duro, individuo de número. Madrid, 1882, large 8vo, 160 p. Fernandez Duro not only presents the Freytas, Relation, and all other matter given by Shea, but in his comments proving that narration to be a hoax he introduces much original information, including the N. Mex., Discurso y Proposicion; Posudas, Informe; and Lopez, Memorial, entire. He also appends a Noticia de algunas expediciones organiza- das en Nueva España para descubrir los territorios del Norte y señaladamente los reinos de l'isola, Quivira y Teguayo, arranged chronologically from 1523 to 1783; and concludes with a resume of Villagra's history of the conquest. Thus the whole work is one of the most valuable of modern times on our subject. .

Miller s Historical Sketch of Santa Fe formed a part of the Sta Fé Centennial Celebration of 1776, and deserves mention from the fact that the author, David J. Miller, was translator and chief clerk in the U. S. surveyor-general's office, being well acquainted with the archives. Wm G. Ritch, for many years territorial secretary and sometime governor, and president of the Historical Society, has given much attention to the early as well as modern history of the country, as shown in his Aztlan., The History, Resources, and Attractions of New Mexico, 6th ed., Boston, 1SS5; and by the Chronological Annals of New Mexico, at the end of Ritch's Legislative Blue-book of the Territory of New Mex- ico, Sta Fé, ISS7. It may be added that Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies, and Meline, Two Thousand Miles on Horseback, included in their works a sketch of early history; and quite a number of modern books, pamphlets, and news- paper and magazine articles might be named as containing similar and more or less accurate résumés not resulting from actual research. So far as Ari- zona proper is concerned, there are no modern works which merit notice so far as early history is concerned. I should not, however, forget to allude to a

WINSOR'S CRITICAL HISTORY.

large number of valuable antiquarian essays on the location of Cíbola, Tiguex, Chichilticale, etc., containing a considerable amount of geographic and his- toric data. Simpson's Coronado's March is one of the best of these.

Just as these pages go into print, I have received The Narrative and Criti- cal History of America, edited by Justin Winsor, librarian of Harvard Univer- sity, etc. Vol. ii., Boston and N. Y., large 8vo, 640 p., with many maps, portraits, and other illustrations. Volumes i. and iii .- viii. are to be pub- lished later. Mr Winsor's volume covers a considerable part of the field, both geographic and chronologic, that I have treated in this and earlier works of the present series; the author has honored my work by citing it constantly with occasional comments of praise or condemnation, but always in a spirit of fairness; and with his treatment of my researches, on the whole, I am con- tent. Had I occasion to go over the field again with Winsor's work before me, I should find it helpful, cite it often with commendation, and doubtless have occasion to criticise some of its details. The latest writer in the light of new evidence and special research on certain points has and always will have this advantage. This is obviously not the place for a critical estimate of the new work, even if I had the time for such a study as its claims and merits deserve. Mr Winsor as editor employs a corps of authors, who write under their own names; and an effort is made to draw a sharp distinction for the benefit of differ- ent classes of readers between the narrative, critical, and bibliographie portions of the work. This plan has its obvious advantages, and probably its defects as well. Whether Mr Winsor's system of cooperation is or not on the whole supe- rior to my own for the production of a continnous, symmetrical, and accurate historic record of a broad territory, with all its geographic and chronologic complications, it is yet too early to decide. When the work is completed, we may see if all the gaps have been filled. In this volume the editor is also to a great extent the author; he is an expert in bibliography, with exceptional resources; and in the result the bibliographic element predominates in space and in value. Occasionally, if I mistake not, this predominance is somewhat too marked, as where in the case of radically opposing views and arguments on the part of different authorities, the anthor is content to simply note the conflict withont so clear an opinion of his own as a 'critical history ' shonld contain. Sometimes, indeed, the anthor implies a preference for the view that apparently is not supported by the critical notes. As a rule, the various nar- ratives show a high order of literary merit, notable fairness of treatment, and as much unity as could be expected in the productions of different writers. The work is a noble contribution to American history, a monument of con- scientious and laborions research, as well as of great literary skill on the part of editor and authors, and mechanically a magnificent specimen of book- making.

One chapter of Winsor's work demands particular notice here, as being devoted to a subject treated in this volnme. This is chapter vii., p. 473-504, on Early Explorations of New Mexico. By Henry W. Haynes, Archaeological Institute of America. The author has also written on the same subject in the Amer. Antiq. Soc., Proceedings, Oct. 1881, and cites also some writings of Hale and Savage in the same publication on the identity of Cibola, Qnivira, etc., which have not been used by me. Mr Haynes' treatise should be classed with those of Simpson, Davis, Prince, Bandelier, and others, as mentioned in this note. It is a clear statement of the earlier expeditions, with pertinent and jndicions if not very elaborate notes. If it adds nothing important in the way of theory or evidence, it is because Simpson and Davis and the rest had left little to be added either by Haynes or myself. I think the author has not sufficiently considered my argument to the effect that Cabeza de Vaca did not enter New Mexico (p. 474); while agreeing for the most part with his praise of Davis, I cannot accept his conclusion that Davis is 'likely to remain always the leading anthority' on Coronado's route (p. 402), in view of the fact that the author in question has fallen into several radical errors; I know not why . Tiguex should be placed west of the Rio Grande, between Acoma and Qnirex " (p. 485), when the writer seems to favor Bandelier's view; and

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AND RÉSUMÉ.

I deem it not hypercritical to object, in a work of this character, to the use of antiquated forms, confusion of Spanish, Italian, English, and French forms, and the careless use and non-use of accents, as exemplified in the following names: Compostella, Guadalaxara, Pamphilo, Nizza, New Gallicia, Melchior, d'Arellano, d'Alvarado, Roderigo, Garcia, García Lopez de Car- deuas, Cicuyé, and Cibola (for Compostela, Guadalajara, Pánfilo, Niza, Nueva Galicia or New Galicia, Melchor, Arellano or de Arellano, Alvarado, Rodrigo, García, Garcia Lopez de Cárdenas, Cicuye, and Cibola). The author's con- clusions agree for the most part with my own, which is not a radical defect, in my opinion. It is noticeable that the record extends only to Coronado's expedition, or 1542, except that the editor adds a note on the late works of Fernandez Duro and Shea, giving a list of the later expeditions mentioncd by the former, very briefly noting without comment his exposure of the Peñalosa hoax, not noticing my own remarks on the same subject, and rather strangely ignoring the most important work of Villagra. It would naturally be expected that the later explorations, conquest, and settlement of New Mexico should find place in a volume eutitled Spanish Explorations and Settlements in America from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century. Presum- bly, however, this record will be given in another volume; in which case, time of publication permitting, I hope Mr Winsor may find these chapters of mine helpful.

CHAPTER II.

NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.

1539-1540.

THE DISCOVERERS-VICEROY MENDOZA'S PLANS-FRAY MARCOS DE NIZA AND THE NEGRO-JOURNEY TO THE NORTH-WONDERFUL REPORTS OF THE SEVEN CITIES-FATE OF ESTEVANICO, THE FIRST PIONEER OF ARIZONA -FRAY MARCOS IN SIGHT OF CÍBOLA-NEW KINGDOM OF SAN FRANCISCO -- NIZA'S REPORT-DISCUSSION OF THE ROUTE FROM SINALOA TO ZUNI-A NEW FUROR-CORTES AND ULLOA-ALARCON ON THE RIO COLORADO, OR BUENA GUIA-FRANCISCO VASQUEZ DE CORONADO-A GRAND ARMY -DIAZ AND ZALDÍVAR-BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE EXPEDITION-THE SO- NORA SETTLEMENT-MELCHOR DIAZ-FROM SONCRA TO CÍBOLA-THE ROUTE-CHICHILTICALE-MAP-IDENTITY OF CÍBOLA AND ZUNI-CON- QUEST OF GRANADA-THE FRIAR CURSED AND SENT HOME-TOBAR'S EX- PEDITION TO TUSAYAN, OR THE MOQUI PUEBLOS-CARDENAS VISITS THE CANON OF THE COLORADO.

THE glory of discovering this territory must be given to a negro and a Franciscan friar, who crossed the line into Arizona in 1539. So great was the interest taken by Viceroy Mendoza in the statements of Ca- beza de Vaca respecting the populous towns of which he had heard on his way across the continent, that he at once planned an expedition, in 1537, buying the slave Estevanico and obtaining the services of his master Dorantes, as guides; but the project was temporarily abandoned, and no more is heard of Dorantes or Mal- donado, Álvar Nuñez having gone to Europe.1

Late in 1538, however, with a view to exploration and conquest on a grander scale, and under a new pol- icy, so far as treatment of the natives was concerned, it was arranged that Francisco Vasquez de Coronado,

1 Mendoza's letters to the king, 1537-40, in Pacheco, Col. Doc., ii. 206-7; Florida, Col. Doc., 136, 139; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i. tom. ix. p. 287.

(27)

NIZA AND CORONADO IN ARIZONA.

the newly appointed governor of Nueva Galicia, should make a tour of inspection to the northern parts of his province, and there set on foot certain preliminary in- vestigations by the aid of friars and liberated Indian slaves, subsequently devoting himself, should the re- sults prove satisfactory, to the organization of a force for the proposed military expedition. Not much is known of several preparatory tours, intended mainly to inspire confidence in Spanish good faith and reform among the natives of northern Sinaloa;2 but one had a broader scope, and is fully recorded, being the one that involves the discovery of Arizona.

Fray Marcos de Niza, chief of the Franciscan band destined for the northern field, was an Italian, who had come to America in 1531, had gone with Pizarro to Peru in 1532, served in Nicaragua, and come north with Pedro de Alvarado, being a man of prominence in his order, of ardent zeal for all new enterprises, and withal of lively imagination.3 Having received spe- cial instructions from the viceroy through Coronado in November 1538, Fray Marcos set out from San Miguel on the 7th of March, 1539, accompanied by another friar named Onorato, the negro Estevanico, and a band of natives from Culiacan. On the Peta- tlan4 Onorato fell ill, and was left behind; but Niza went on "as the holy spirit did guide" him, always kindly welcomed by the natives, but with no notable occurrence for some 25 or 30 leagues, except that he met Indians from the island where Cortés had been-

2 See Hist. North Mex. St., i. 72-3, note 3, for a few details.

3 For biog., see Vetancurt, Menologio Franciscano, 37 (p. 117-19 of ed. of 1871); Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., 674; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., iii. 499-500; and Figueroa, Becerro General, MS., 41, where Fr. Marcos is said to have been the founder of the Fran. provincia of Lima. In the introd. to Velasco, Hist. Royaume de Quito, as pub. by Ternaux, also preface to Castañeda, Rel., v., he is said to have been the author of several works on the conquest and native races of Quito and Peru. In '40-3 he was provincial of his order in Mexico, though most of the time absent in the north, where he lost his health. He lived later in Jalapa, and died at Mexico in 1558. Niza is the proper Spau. form of his name, that of the town Nice, the Italian form being Nizza. For a portrait-not stated to have been taken from an Arizona photograph of 1539- see Frost's Pict. Hist. Mex., 135.

+ Pueblo de Petatean in the original, as printed; possibly not on the Rio Petatlan (the Sinaloa).

THE NORTHERN REGION.

forado Ruent Guin

1-99

Chichilticale

R. Gila

E.Tizon

La Cruz

R.S.Igr.act

Vacup

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History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII, Part 6

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