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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES
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EX LIBRIS
ROBERT ERNEST COWAN
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.
LEGGAT BROTHERS,
CHAMBERS STREET, NEW YORK.
RAMSEY, MILLETT & HUDSON, KANSAS CITY 1883
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by L. BRADFORD PRINCE,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C
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Electrotyped and Printed by Ramsey, Millett & Hudson, Kansas City, Mo.
F796 P93h cup. 1
DEDICATION.
TO THE
PEOPLE OF NEW MEXICO,
Three-fold in origin and language, but now one in nationality, in purpose, and in destiny ;
TO THE PUEBLOS,
Still representing in unchanged form the aboriginal civilization which built the cities and established the systems of government and social life which astonished the European discoverers nearly four centuries ago ;
TO THE MEXICANS,
Who, in generosity, hospitality, and chivalric feeling, are worthy sons of the Conquistadores, who, with undaunted courage and match - less gallantry, carried the cross of Christianity and the flag of Spain to the ends of the earth ;
TO THE AMERICANS,
Whose energy and enterprise are bringing all the appliances of modern science and invention to develop the almost limitless resources which nature has bestowed upon us ;
To ALL, AS NEW MEXICANS,
Now unitedly engaged in advancing the prosperity, and working for the magnificent future of the Territory, of which the author is proud to be a citizen,-these sketches of part of its earlier history are respectfully dedicated.
256713
JAN 1 6 1937
COWAN LIBRARY, 1936
JTW
CONTENTS.
PREFACE
PAGE.
CHAPTER I-INTRODUCTORY
7
II-THE PUEBLO ABORIGINES 20
11
III-THE JOURNEY OF CABEZA DE BACA 40
IV-THE EXPEDITION OF MARCOS DE NIZA 96 V-THE EXPEDITION OF CORONADO. 116
VI-THE MISSION OF FRIAR RUIZ 149
VII-THE EXPEDITION OF ESPEJO. 153
VIII-THE COLONIZATION BY OÑATE. 161
IX-1600 TO 1680 167
X-THE EXPEDITION OF SALDIVAR 176
XI-THE QUIVIRA EXPEDITION OF PEÑALOSA 179
XII-THE REVOLUTION OF 1680 190
XIII-THE PUEBLO GOVERNMENT 1680-1695. 197
XIV-THE RECONQEUST BY VARGAS 206 XV-THE 18TH CENTURY. 221
XVI-1800 TO 1846. 228 XVII-PIKE'S EXPEDITION. 246 XVIII-THE SANTA FÉ TRAIL 266
XIX-THE INSURRECTION OF 1837 285
XX-THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION 290
XXI-THE REVOLT OF 1847 313
PREFACE.
THE present volume has been prepared in order to meet, to some extent, the felt want of some book con- taining, as far as practicable, in a connected form, the historical items relative to New Mexico, heretofore scattered, and often unobtainable, or only preserved in the memory of persons fast growing old.
I have called it "HISTORICAL SKETCHES," instead of "A History of New Mexico," because it is not possi- ble at this time to write a satisfactory continuous ac- count of the history of the Territory. The most of the records prior to 1680 were burned in the Pueblo Rebellion; many of those of more recent date were sold for waste- paper, and so lost or destroyed, in the days of Governor Pile; and the remainder are unpub- lished, and generally unavailable, at present, for the purposes of the historian. It is to be hoped that be- fore many more years pass, a sufficient appropriation will be made by the Government for the classification and arrangement of all the existing archives, and the publication of such documents as may have historic value.
It had been hoped that records of interest relating to New Mexico might be preserved in the archives at Guadalajara, as all the territory north of Zacatecas was subject to the audiencia of that city; but the offi- cial investigations made by Hon. John W. Foster, the
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PREFACE
American Minister, in the year 1873, destroyed any expectations from that quarter; as it appeared that, even if documents of that character had previously been in existence, they were destroyed by the great conflagration of 1859.
In the preparation of this volume the following books (among others) have been consulted: Relation of Cabeza de Vaca, Buckingham Smith; Relation of Friar Marcos de Niza, Hakluyt; Letters of Coronado, Hakluyt; Castañeda's Relation of Coronado's Expedi- tion, Ternaux -Compans; Relation of Juan Jaramillo; Histories of the Conquest of Mexico, by Bernal Diaz, Antonio de Solis, and Prescott; Histories of Mexico, by Clavigero, Mayer, and Frost; W. W. H. Davis' "Spanish Conquest of New Mexico" and "El Gringo;" Gemeli Careri's Travels in New Spain; Humboldt's New Spain ; Peñalosa's Quivira Expedition, Shea ; Bonnycastle's Spanish America; Pike's Expedition ; Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies; Marcy's Prairie Traveller ; Kendall's Santa Fé Expedition ; Ruxton's Mexico and the Rocky Mountains; Meline's Two Thousand Miles on Horseback; Explorations in Texas, New Mexico, etc., Bartlett; Mexico, New Mexico, and California, Branz Mayer; Reports of Operations in 1846-7, Emory, Abert, Cooke, and Johnston; Abert's Examination of New Mexico; Hughes' Doniphan Ex- pedition ; Campaign with Doniphan, Edwards; Con- quest of New Mexico, Cooke; Reconnaissances in New Mexico, Johnston, Smith, etc .; Simpson's Navajo Ex- pedition ; Sitgreaves' Zuñi Expedition ; Heap's Central Route to the Pacific; Hayes' Santa Fé Trail; Inman's
9
PREFACE.
Trail Sketches ; Anderson's Silver Country ; Peters' Life of Kit Carson; Cozzens' Marvelous Country; Re- ports of Wheeler, Powell, Jackson, Stevenson, etc .; New Mexican Blue Book, Ritch; Bancroft's Native Races ; North Americans of Antiquity, Short; Mor- gan's Homes of American Aborigines ; Putnam's Ar- chæology of Pueblos, etc.
I beg to tender my acknowledgments to Sergeant Francisco de la Peña, who was in the Mexican Mili- tary Service as early as 1832; Hon. Levi J. Keithley, member of the First Territorial Legislature (1847) ; Hon. Gabriel Lucero, Hon. Samuel Ellison, Capt. J. M. Sena y Baca, Henry O'Neill, Esq., Hon. Amadc Chavez, and others, for information of value relative to the more recent history of the Territory.
SANTA FÉ, June, 1883.
L. B. P.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
T HE history of New Mexico may be divided into three epochs-the Aboriginal or Pueblo, the Span- ish, and the American.
The aborigines had no written records, and conse- quently what is known of their history is f: om tradition or the relation of such Europeans as came in contact with them. Several times before the final conquest and occupation of the country by the Spaniards, travellers or explorers traversed the country; sometimes by acci- dent, as in the case of Cabeza de Vaca; sometimes bent on conquest, as with Coronado; sometimes as mission- aries, as with Friar Ruiz; sometimes to spy out the land for others, as with Marcos de Niza. Each of these, in the narrative of what he saw and did, has given us a brief glimpse of the country as it existed just at that time; and this is all we have from which to gain a knowledge of the history, condition, and customs of the people during long periods. These narratives are of great interest, as they afford us life-like views of a unique form of civilization, existing almost isolated, in the midst of encircling deserts and nomadic trib s. But the absence of chronicles from native sources makes it impossible to give a connected and continuous history of that time. We have isolated glimpses, and nothing more. As the Wandering Jew is said in the legend to visit the same locality at intervals of 500 years, and to find on each occasion a new people and altered customs, .
12
INTRODUCTORY.
without having any knowledge of intervening events or the causes of such changes,-so the brief views into the interior of New Mexico presented by the early nar- ratives (separated sometimes by nearly half a century) reveal changes for which, with no knowledge of the occurrences between, we cannot account. Thus, when Coronado marched through New Mexico, Tiguex and Cicuvé were the two most important cities in the val- ley of the Rio Grande; but forty years later, when Es- pejo travelled over the same ground, it is impossible to distinguish them either by description or by name. In the days of Coronado, of Oñate, and of Peñalosa, much was heard of Quivira as the great city of transcendent riches and glory across the eastern plains; but during the 200 years which have since passed its name is not mentioned.
All, then, that can be done in the way of a history of the earlier epoch is to bring together what we know from various sources of the origin and life of the Pueblo aborigines, and then to present, one by one, the brief glimpses that we have of the country from the observa- tions of those who from time to time penetrated to its interior. The earliest of these is Cabeza de Vaca, the first European who ever stood on New Mexican soil. While his visit was unpremeditated and involuntary, yet the story of his long journey across the continent, of its strange adventures, its dangers and privations, can never lose its interest; and in New Mexican history his name will always have the leading place. Fortu- nately, he has left us a full narration, made to the king on his return to Spain. Then comes the expedition of Marcos de Niza, the record of which, written by himself, is so extravagant and exaggerated that it might thereby lose in interest if his had not been the first journey made for purposes of exploration, the first coming across the western desert, and the first which brought any European in sight of one of the great cities of the
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INTRODUCTORY.
Pueblos. This was immediately followed by the cele- brated march of Coronado, who with an army not only traversed the whole of New Mexico, but even crossed the Great Plains to the valley of the Mississippi. Of all the expeditions this was the most important, as it oc- cupied a sufficient time for a full examination of the country ; and it is matter for congratulation that we have so perfect a narrative of it as that.of Castañeda, supplemented by the letters of Coronado himself, and the relation of Captain Jaramillo.
Forty years pass, and then we have the brief account of a journey of another kind, not undertaken for glory or conquest, save the glory of God and the conquest of souls-the missionary effort of Friar Ruiz and his com- panions, in 1581. That led to the expedition of Espejo, for the rescue of the monks; and the wide extent of country which he traversed -- from El Paso to Zuñi- gives us a brief vision of many places rendered familiar in Coronado's day. Passing less-important travellers, we next come to the colonization of the Rio Grande valley by Oñate, and the establishment of a regular Spanish government in the Province; with the build- ing of churches and the rapid spread of Christianity.
Then ensues a long period of which the records were probably nearly all destroyed at the time of the Pueblo Revolution, though some may yet be recovered in Mex- ico or Spain; and in 1662 we have the romantic and brilliant expedition of Peñalosa across the Great Plains again to the city of Quivira, which might have brought great results had he been permitted to carry out his programme of conquest and colonization. Throughout this period we find the natives being gradually reduced to more and more severe bondage, until in 1680 they at last rose in successful revolt, and drove the Spaniards from the country. From the history of this contest and their subsequent action, we learn that their long servi- tude had made them cruel and revengeful, and had un-
14
INTRODUCTORY.
fitted them for self-government; as the years of their supremacy mark a period of jealousy and conflict, and that in which they suffered greater diminution in num- bers than ever before. Then comes the protracted con- test for new supremacy by the Spaniards, ending at last in 1696 by the final subjugation of the natives and paci- fication of the Province. After this follows a period during which no events of great interest occurred-gen- eration following generation in an existence almost en- tirely isolated from the world, and the monotony of life varied by little save almost continual warfare with one or another Indian tribe which desolated the borders. Whatever there is of interest in the succeeding century is hidden among the remaining archives at Santa Fé, or lost with those which were so needlessly destroyed. But nothing occurred sufficiently important to cause a ripple on the surface of the general history of the world, or even of Mexico. The people lived happy, peaceful, tranquil lives, except when aroused by Indian troubles; they improved their surroundings and amassed property and wealth, and were less troubled by the fierce conflicts which shook the world during that period than any other civilized people. The revolution in Mexico made a change in government, and aroused the sentiment of independence among the people; but New Mexico was too remote to be a scene of conflict, and quietly passed from being the dependency of a kingdom to its position as part of a republic. Meanwhile the overland trade with the United States had commenced, and the Santa Fé Trail was the route which made the capital of the Territory the great distributing point for merchandise in northern Mexico. The revolutionary spirit which for so long a time prevented stability in government in the Mexican Republic affected New Mexico as well as other sections; and the year 1837 saw an insurrection which resulted in the killing of the Governor and other high officials, and the proclamation of a Pueblo Indian
15
INTRODUCTORY.
as Provisional Governor, soon followed by a counter- movement which executed Gonzales and brought Ar- mijo into power.
Less than ten years after, the American "Army of the West," under General Kearney, entered Santa Fé, New Mexico was proclaimed American territory, and a provisional government established. The "Taos insur- rection," in which Gov. Bent and a number of others were killed, followed; but this was speedily suppressed, and the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo finally ceded the Territory to the United States. Of late years, with more perfect protection from Indians, the introduction of railroads, telegraphs, and other modern inventions, a rapid increase in population, and a general development of her unequalled natural resources, New Mexico is making rapid strides in progress and swiftly fitting herself to be a rich and influential State in the Amer- ican Republic.
This is an epitome of the history of New Mexico. Under the peculiar circumstances it is not possible to arrange a continuous narrative, and all that is attempted in the chapters to follow is to present the various scenes in the historic drama as truthfully as may be. In pre- senting the substance of the narrations of the early expeditions, the spirit of the old chronicles has been retained as far as possible, although it might be strongly tinged by exaggeration, as in the case of Marcos de Niza; for the reason that only by that means can we properly appreciate the influence which those reports had on the actions of others. One thing has to be specially borne in mind in judging either of the grade of civilization which the Pueblo Indians had attained, or the dangers and difficulties encountered by the early adventurers, and the courage and endurance necessary in surmounting them-and that is, that many of the events narrated occurred nearly three and a half centuries ago; that the whole world has made vast
16
INTRODUCTORY.
strides in progress since that time, and that systems of various kinds which to-day may seem crude were then fully equal to the average civilization of the world; while a journey, which, with our geographical knowl- edge and rapid conveyance, appears but a holiday trip, was then a plunge into an unknown wilderness, requir- ing enterprise and fearlessness of the highest type. It is difficult for persons in our generation to realize the circumstances under which the various expeditions and explorations connected with New Mexico were made during the sixteenth, and indeed the seventeenth century. We have been so accustomed to the general geographical contour of the American continent from our earliest youth, we know so well the distance from ocean to ocean, and from the gulf to the Arctic region, that it seems difficult to remember that the intrepid explorers who penetrated to the north, after the fall of the Montezumas, had no idea at all of the extent of the main-land, and were never sure, as they ascended a mountain, but that its summit would bring to view the South Sea to the west, the North Sea or Atlantic to the east, or the great Arctic Ocean toward the Pole. Yet we know that Columbus thought he had reached the East Indies when he first discovered land in the western hemisphere, and that after all his voyages he died with no idea of the true distance to that goal; that Hudson ascended the river which bears his name, supposing it to be a strait leading to the China Sea, and that the Chesapeake was explored in a similar belief; that Cali- fornia was for long years represented on all maps as an island apart from the American continent, and that the narrowness of the land between the oceans at Darien, and even in Mexico, naturally gave rise to the idea that the terra firma was of no great width at any point, and the great seas of the earth nowhere very far apart. The universality of this opinion among all nations is illustrated by the fact that the early charters of the
17
INTRODUCTORY.
English colonies extend their limits westward to the South Sea, with no knowledge as to whether it might be a 100 or a 1,000 miles distant, but in a belief that would have been shocked if any one had suggested that it was giving them an area 2,500 miles in length.
The explorer of those days was travelling entirely in the dark. Nothing in more modern times has been similar to, or can again resemble, the uncertainty and romance of those early expeditions. For the recent ex- plorers of Africa, for example, had a perfect knowledge of the shape of the exterior of the continent, and knew exactly what tribes lived on each shore, and what rivers emptied into each ocean. All that was left as a terra incognita was a certain area in the center, and that of known length and breadth. But the early explorers of America literally knew nothing of the land they entered. It was absolutely virgin soil. They might find impass- able mountains or enormous lakes; they might have to traverse almost interminable deserts, or discover rivers whose width would forbid their crossing; they might chance upon gigantic volcanoes, or find themselves on the shore of the ultimate ocean. And as to inhabitants and products they were equally ignorant.
We are sometimes induced to smile at the marvelous stories related by some of the older explorers, at their still more extravagant expectations, and the credulity with which everything (however exaggerated or unnat- ural) relating to the new continent was believed. But we must remember that it was a day of real marvels, and that nothing could well be imagined more extraor- dinary and unexpected than those things which had already been discovered as realities. An entire new world had been opened to the enterprise, the curiosity, the cupidity, and the benevolence of mankind. It is as if to-day a ready mode of access to the moon were discovered, and the first adventurers to the lunar re- gions had returned laden with diamonds, and bearing
18
INTRODUCTORY.
tidings of riches and wonders far beyond the wildest imagination of former generations. Just so the early explorers had returned to the Eastward, telling of the marvels of the new Indies; of the luxuriant vegetation, the vast extent, the untold riches, the silver and the gold, of the western continent. As one adventurous explorer followed another, new discoveries were con- stantly made; each apparently exceeding its prede- cessor in importance, in riches, and in glory. Ameri- cus Vespucius landed on the main-land of the south, and the Cabots and Verrazani skirted the shores of the northern parts of the continent. Then Cortez discov- ered and conquered the great empire of the Montezu- mas, and Pizarro subdued the rich dominion of the Incas. The wealth of these two fallen kingdoms was a marvel, as the accumulated treasures of generations fell into the hands of the conquerors as it were in a moment.
After such discoveries, what might not be expected ? When the realities already known so far surpassed all former extravagance of imagination, why might not the future bring forth things even more surprising ? Why might not kingdoms be found as far transcending Mex- ico and Peru as those kingdoms exceeded the barbarism and poverty of the savage inhabitants of some of the first-discovered islands ? There was nothing impossible in this, nor illogical in the anticipation; and this should be borne in mind in reading of the later expedi- tions into the interior of the continent, of the readiness with which stories of marvelous riches and stores of gold and precious stones were credited, and of the eager- ness with which men braved danger and hardship in the venturesome expeditions of that day.
And another element is not to be overlooked, and that is the religious one. In many hearts this was a strong, impelling principle. Here were unknown hea- then nations to be brought to the knowledge of the
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INTRODUCTORY.
faith ; here were untold thousands of souls to be saved. In this view it was the old spirit of the Crusaders that was aroused. As men left their homes, abandoned their property, deserted their families and friends, and en- countered every form of difficulty and danger to rescue the tomb of the Lord from the dominion of the unbe- lievers; so, a little later, others imbued with the same martyr spirit were ready to venture all and suffer even death to carry a knowledge of Christianity to heathen tribes.
With these facts in our minds, we can better under- stand how it was that, within twenty years after the fall of Montezuma, Castilian enterprise and prowess had penetrated more than 1,500 miles to the north, over mountain and desert, to the Land of the Seven Cities, and how, later on, they travelled hundreds of miles further into the interior, in search of new lands to conquer, new riches to acquire, and new tribes to christianize.
CHAPTER II.
THE PUEBLO ABORIGINES.
T HIE origin of the aboriginal inhabitants of New Mexico as found by Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado, and the other early travellers and explorers, and as existing to-day in the persons of the Pueblo Indians, is involved in such obscurity that nothing certain can be positively asserted of it. We have, in the description given by the first Europeans who penetrated the country, the pictures of populous communities, occupying the val- ley of the Rio Grande and its branches, and extending westward as far as Zuñi and Moqui, entirely different in character from the nomadic tribes of the plains, but so analogous to each other as to show a common origin and early history. Their villages were alike in all im- portant respects, in the material, the height and pe- culiar terrace form of the houses, in the smallness of the rooms and the presence of estufas, in the methods of ingress and of defense. Their dress was similar, their customs identical, their agricultural products the same, their pottery uniform in general design and orna- mentation. In all these respects they were unlike the tribes which surrounded them, and more similar to the civilized people of Mexico than to any who dwelt nearer. This is not the place to trace out all the feat- ures of resemblance, although the subject is one so interesting and inviting that it is difficult to forego its discussion ; but suffice it to say that everything in analogy, as well as in tradition, points to the truth of the words of Baron von Humboldt, where he says : " Everything in these countries appears to announce traces of the cultivation of the ancient Mexicans. We
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THE PUEBLO ABORIGINES.
are informed, even by Indian traditions, that twenty leagues north from the Moqui, near the mouth of the Rio Zaguananæ, the banks of the Nabajoa were the first abode of the Aztecs after their departure from Aztlan. On considering the civilization which exists on several points of the north-west coast of America, in the Moqui, and on the banks of the Gila, we are tempted to believe (and I venture to repeat it here) that at the period of the migration of the Toultecs, the Acolhues, and the Aztecs, several tribes separated from the great mass of the people to establish themselves in these northern regions."
Without going into any details of early Mexican history, which would be out of place here, it is well to remember a few leading facts. The Toltecs started on their southern pilgrimage from the old home at Hue- huetlapallan in the far north-west, in the year 1 Tecpatl, which Clavigero considers equivalent to 596 of our era. " In every place to which they came," says that author, " they remained no longer than they liked it, or were easily accommodated with provisions. When they de- termined to make a longer stay they erected houses, and sowed the land with corn, cotton, and other plants, the seeds of which they had carried along with them to supply their necessities. In this wandering manner did they travel, always southward, for the space of 104 years, till they arrived at a place to which they gave the name of Tollantzinco, about fifty miles to the east of that spot where some centuries after was founded the famous city of Mexico." Twenty years later they moved forty miles westward and founded the city of Tol- lan, or Tula, named after their native country, and which continued as their capital. Gondra makes the date of their arrival in Anahuac 648, and the foundation of Tula 670; but for some reason he states the year of their departure from the north as 544, or just a Mexican century (fifty-two years) earlier than the chronology of
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