USA > New Mexico > Historical sketches of New Mexico : from the earliest records to the American occupation > Part 13
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FROM 1600 To 1680.
people, preached with such success that he alone baptized no less than 6,566 Indians at that pueblo, besides extending his ministrations to the neighboring pueblos of Zia and Santa Ana, and accomplishing the pacification of Acoma, which until that time had re- fused to hold any friendly intercourse with the Spaniards.
But as time passed and the colonists became stronger, the priests resorted to other means than by pious ex- ample and persuasion to bring converts to the Christian faith. Men whose zeal far outran their discretion took part in the work, and the spirit of persecution then dominant in Europe began to exert its baneful in- fluence among the peaceful and kind-hearted natives of New Mexico. Many of these were naturally attached to the religion of their fathers, in which generation after generation of the people had been educated, and which had become almost a part of their nature. They were evidently a religious people, as Espejo found images and altars in almos every house The estufas werc the scenes of their more public ceremonies, and they had priests whom they revered as having special intercourse with the Higher Power. Religious rites were of frequent observance among them, and the " cachina," their favorite dance, had a connection with supernatural things. The great object of their worship undoubtedly was the sun, and around it, according to their crude and superstitious creed, were various lesser powers, which ruled over special subjects, and were the objects of a kind of adoration, and certainly of fear. But while thus far from the truth, their religion was intended to make them better and nobler, and did not call for human sacrifices or the perpetration of any kind of outrage or cruelty. When Christianity was intro- duced as a religion of benevolence and of blessing, as by Cabeza de Vaca, who taught a few of the essentials of the faith, ministered to the sick, and blessed the skins brought by the people among whom he sojourned ; or
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FROM 1600 To 1680.
by the first Friars, who sought by good counsel and holy lives to conciliate and win the hearts of the natives-it gained their affection as well as their respect; but after- wards the " zeal without knowledge" of the ecclesias- tical rulers led to unfortunate results They endeavored to convert by force, instead of by love and persuasion. The ancient rites were prohibited under severe penalties, the old images were torn down, sacred places destroyed, estufas closed, and the "cachinas" and all similar semi- religious ceremonies and festivities forbidden. They were compelled to an outward compliance with the rules and participation in the rites of the Roman Church. They had to attend its services, to submit to baptism, to support its priests, and subject themselves to its authority, whether they really understood and believed its teaching or not. The Inquisition was introduced, and soon became the dominant power in the territory, forcing even the highest civil officers to do its bidding, or subjecting them to removal, disgrace, and pun- ishment, if they dared to exercise independence in their action, or attempted to interfere with the arbitrary and often cruel edicts of its imperious representatives. A conspicuous instance of this is found in the removal of two successive Governors (Mendizaval and Peñalosa) by its influence in 1660 and 1664.
The Spaniards who came at first as friends and were eager to have the good-will and assistance of the in- telligent natives, soon began to claim superiority and to insist on the performance of services which originally were mere evidences of hospitality and kindness. Little by little they assumed greater power and control over the Indians, until in the course of years they had subjected a large portion of them to servitude little differing from actual slavery. The Spanish courts assumed jurisdic- tion over the whole territory, and imposed severe punishment on the Indians for the violation of any of their laws- civil or ecclesiastical; introducing an
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FROM 1600 TO 1680.
entirely new criminal system, unknown and certainly undesired by the natives. For slight infractions of edicts of which they were often ignorant, men and women were whipped or condemned to be sold into slavery; the latter punishment being encouraged, be- cause it provided the labor of which the Spaniards stood in need. The introduction of mining, and its rapid extension all over the territory, aggravated their hard- ships ; for the labor, which was exceedingly dangerous, as well as toilsome, was performed almost entirely by Indians forced to work under the direction of unfeeling task-masters. Under all these circumstances the kind- hearted and peace-loving Pueblos, who had lived for generations an easy life of independence and happiness, until the coming of these strangers from the south, naturally changed in their feelings from welcome and hospitality to an intense hatred and a determination to repel the intruders whenever an opportunity should present itself. It was not to be supposed that the stronger communities, populous and well governed, should succumb without a struggle to the tyranny of the new-comers.
The middle of the seventeenth century was filled with a succession of conflicts and revolts, arising from these circumstances. Many of these were local and swiftly suppressed ; frequently being betrayed before really commenced, and requiring no particular notice here. In 1640 a special exercise of religious persecution in the whipping, imprisonment, and hanging of forty natives, because they would not be converted from their old faith, aroused the Indians to revolt ; but only to be reduced to more complete subjection. Very shortly afterwards the Jemez nation took up arms, and obtained the promise of assistance from their old enemies, the Apaches, but were unsuccessful; and the Spanish Gov- ernor, Gen. Arguello, punished them by the imprison- ment of twenty-nine of their leading chiefs. A more
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FROM 1600 To 1680.
important attempt was made in 1650, when the whole Tegua nation, including the pueblos of Jemez, Cochiti, San Felipe, Sandia, Alameda, and Isleta, united in a project to kill or drive away the entire Spanish popula- tion, and especially the priests ; the Apaches being also implicated, as the new danger of foreign domination seemed to heal for the time the old enmity between the industrious inhabitants of the pueblos and the nomadic tribes which had been accustomed to subsist on the stolen products of their labors. The plan was to make a simultaneous attack on the Spanish settlements on the evening of Holy Thursday, when the people would be at church and unsuspicious of danger ; and it bid fair to be successful, but for its untimely discovery, and the energetic measures of Gov. Concha, who arrested and imprisoned the leaders, of whom nine were subsequently hung, and the remainder sold into slavery. While Gen. Villanueva was Governor, the Piros Pueblos rose and killed a number of Spaniards, but were in turn over- powered; and soon after, the Pueblos of the Salt Lake country in the south-east, under Estevan Clemente, their Governor, organized a general revolt, which how- ever was discovered in advance and its execution pre- vented. These unsuccessful attempts however taught the Indians that the only hope of success was in united action by all of the native nations ; and preparations for this were quietly discussed and arranged through a con- siderable series of years, at the time of the annual festivals, when the people of the different pueblos were brought together. Once it seemed as if the time for the rising had come-the people of Taos taking the lead in the work-but through the refusal of the distant Moqui Indians to unite in the revolt, it was for a time aban- doned. The Spaniards, however, were kept in a condi- tion of constant fear, as it was impossible to know at what time a formidable rising and general massacre might take place.
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FROM 1600 TO 1680.
The bitter feeling of the natives was heightened by a singular transaction in 1675. According to the super- stitious ideas of the day, Friar Andres Duran, Superior of the great Franciscan Monastery at San Yldefonso, to- gether with some of his relations, believed themselves to be bewitched, and accused the Tegua nation of being guilty of causing the affliction. Such an attack by the emissaries of Satan on the very head of the missionary organization of the territory was a serious matter, and the Governor, Don Juan Francisco Frecencio, organized a special tribunal, consisting of Francisco Javier, the the Civil and Military Secretary, and Luis de Quintana, as judges, with Diego Lopez as interpreter, to inves- tigate the charge. The result was the conviction of forty-seven Indians, of whom forty-three were whipped and enslaved, and the remainder hung; the executions being distributed between Jemez, Nambé, and San Felipe, in order to be a warning to future wrong-doers. This action naturally incensed the Teguas to the high- est degree. Seventy of them, led by Popé, a San Juan Indian, who had begun to be prominent for his enter- prise and wisdom, marched to Santa Fé to endeavor to ransom the prisoners; and a conspiracy was formed to assassinate the Governor, but nothing was accomplished at the time. Meanwhile the cruelty of the slavery in the mines increased, the religious persecution con- tinued, and everything united to drive the natives into the great revolt which occurred in 1680.
During the period from 1600 to 1680 a considerable number of Governors ruled in New Mexico, the ap- pointments being made by the Viceroy of New Spain. Unfortunately, in consequence of the destruction of the records at the time of the Pueblo Revolution, no perfect statement even of their names can be made. In the year 1600 Don Pedro de Peralta was appointed Governor, apparently superseding Oñate, who only the year be- fore had led the expedition to Quivira. But it is evi-
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dent that Oñate was soon restored, for the Quiviran delegation in 1606 was received by him; in 1611 he made his second exploration to the eastward, and as late as 1618 we are told that the expedition of Don Vicente de Saldivar, of which more will be said pres- ently, was undertaken "by order of his uncle, the Adelantado Don Juan de Oñate." The celebrated Moro, or Inscription Rock, near Zuñi. bears on its surface the memorial of a Governor who otherwise might have re- mained unknown, in the following words : "Bartolome Narrso, Governor and Captain-General of the Provinces of New Mexico, passed by this place on his return from the Pueblo of Zuñi, on the 29th of July, 1620, having put them at peace, etc." How long this Narrso con- tinued to govern we do not know; but it is evident from some old documents that in 1640 General Arguello was Governor, and General Concha in 1650. One of the oldest of the archives, dated 1683, mentions Enrique de Abela y Pacheco, as having governed the province in 1656. He must have been followed soon after by Ber- nardo Lopez de Mendizaval, as the latter had time enough before 1660 to render himself obnoxious to the Inquisition, whose complaint was sufficiently influen- tial to effect his removal in that year. The Count of Peñalosa, a more full account of whom we will soon pre- sent in connection with his expedition to Quivira, was appointed Governor in 1660, but did not arrive till late in the spring of 1661. He also had the misfortune to come in collision with the Inquisition, whose chief of- ficial was assuming such dictatorial powers that Peña- losa finally felt compelled to arrest him and hold him as a prisoner for a week in the Palace; for which the Inquisition repaid him with interest a short time after, causing him to be deprived of his office and suffer a long imprisonment and enormous fine. Soon after General Villanueva was Governor, and in 1675 Don Juan Francisco Frecenio was appointed. Altogether,
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FROM 1600 TO 1680.
between 1640 and 1680, fourteen persons exercised the gubernatorial authority, but the above names are all that are certainly known, except that of Antonio Oter- min, who was Governor at the time of the breaking out of the Pueblo rebellion in 1680.
During this period various expeditions were under- taken from time to time with a view to the exploration of the country, or the extension of the knowledge of Christianity among the natives. To two of these (that of Saldivar in 1618, and that of Peñalosa in 1662) sepa- rate chapters will be devoted, on account of the quaint- ness of the record of the former, and the important his- toric interest of the latter. At one time (the exact date not being preserved) two Franciscans, Father Pedro Or- tega, Guardian of Santa Fé, and Father Alonzo Yanis, advanced 100 leagues into the Apache country, and then went 50 leagues east, and 50 north, reaching finally a very large river, which they called San Francisco; but their Apache guides were afraid to proceed any further, and the zealous priests returned. Another expedition eastward from Santa Fé was that of the Missionary Fathers Juan de Salas and Diego Lopez, to the Xumana nation. Benavides, who narrates the miraculous con- version of this tribe, fixes the locality of this people as follows: "Setting out from the city of Santa Fé, the center of New Mexico, and passing through the Apache nation of the Vaqueros (Buffalo-hunters), you come to the Xumana nation, whose conversion was so miracu- lous that it is just to relate how it was." Nothing else worthy of special mention has come down to us in the meagre chronicles of that period. Everything was slowly but surely drifting toward a great revolt by the ill-treated Pueblos. After giving narratives of the ex- peditions of Saldivar and Peñalosa, we will see how formidable that revolt was when it actually occurred.
CHAPTER X.
THE EXPEDITION OF SALDIVAR.
In 1618 an expedition, of which a brief account has come down to us, was made by Vicente de Saldivar, Maestre de Campo, and nephew of Don Juan de Oñate, with forty-seven men. He was accompanied, as usual on such expeditions, by an ecclesiastic, not only for the spiritual welfare of the men and the conversion of such natives as it might be possible to bring under Christian influences, but also as a kind of historian of the expedi- tion. Nothing was really accomplished, on account of the fears aroused by the stories of a nation of giants soon to be encountered if the expedition proceeded far- ther, and it is impossible to tell the exact direction taken on the march. The Rio de Buena Esperanza, or Del Tison, has generally been considered to be the Gila, but much difficulty often arises from the same name being applied by different narrators to various rivers or cities, or sometimes by distinct rivers reached by dif- ferent travellers being supposed by them to be parts of the same, and so miscalled by the same name. In one narrative the Colorado of the West near the Grand Cañon is called "Tison," and the description of the giants is similar to what was said of a tribe on that river. This theory that the Colorado is intended is the more plausible on account of the word "Moq," which would evidently mean the land of the Moquis. The narrative of this expedition is so brief, and at the same time so quaint and characteristic of the times, that we give a translation in full,-
" In the year 1618 the Maestre de Campo Vicente de Saldivar set forth on a journey of discovery, with forty-
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seven well appointed soldiers, accompanied by the Padre Friar Lazaro Ximenes, of the order of our Seraphic Padre San Francisco, and passing through these same populated and civilized nations to the end of Moq, and journeying through those unpeopled countries fifteen more days, they arrived at the Rio de Buena Esperanza (Goodhope River), or Tison River, in which place they found themselves in latitude thirty six and one-half degrees; and journeying up for two days towards the north with a very good guide who offered to conduct them, they arrived at a little village, and asking infor- mation of the country in the interior, they told such great things of it as those in the west on the coasts of the South Sea and California had told them, and as had been described to us by those in the east at the Quivira, which greatly encouraged all to continue their journey ; but as among other things they told them that in the country beyond they would find a gigantic and terrible people, so enormous and wonderful that one of our men on horseback was small in comparison, and who shot exceedingly large arrows, it appeared to Sal- divar that he could not raise sufficient force to encounter such a multitude of barbarians, and so he deter- mined to return, fearing some misfortune such as was experienced by Captain Humaña and others; and although Friar Lazaro and the greater part of the sol- diers opposed this determination they could not prevail, and although twenty-five of them begged permission to enter and explore the land, the Maestre de Campo was not willing to permit it, fearing they would all be lost ; but commanded that they should go no further, but turn about; and while this determination was being carried into effect and the baggage being packed, the earth at that point exhibited great feeling and sorrow by a terrific and frightful earthquake, which appeared to play even with the most massive mountains, throwing to the ground the laden animals as well as the men, without leaving
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anything in its place, thus manifesting in a mysterious manner, by this earthquake, the cowardice of heart of those who turned back from the gates of that fertile, rich, and extensive country, which is so good that it is generally believed that all that to this time, has been conquered and colonized under the name of America is dull in comparison with what is contained in this new part of the New World, which is menaced by conquest by the French who are bounded by it, and by the English and Dutch who desire it so greatly, although neither the one nor the other can obtain it, because they do not understand the art of conquest, which is reserved to the valor and discretion of our nation and the Portuguese, although ours did not then dare to go to see it even to be undeceived. They say that Padre Lazaro then ex- claimed in a loud voice with indescribable grief, 'Oh Spaniards, what sorrow the earth feels at our lack of courage, and we do not feel it ourselves !' "
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CHAPTER XI.
THE EXPEDITION OF PEÑALOSA TO QUIVIRA.
THE expedition of Don Diego de Peñalosa, though comparatively little known, was certainly the most ambitious, as it came near being the most important in results, of all the expeditions of the Spaniards of New Mexico in the period which succeeded the conquest. By both birth and experience he was just the man calcu- lated to organize and lead in adventurous exploits, which promised rich results in honor, or power, or gold. In a document apparently drawn up by himself, published by Margry, and reproduced in Shea's "Peñalosa," it is stated that Pedro Arias de Avila, first governor of Terra Firma, was his great-great-grandfather ; Diego de Ocampo, admiral of the South Sea, and Pedro de Valdivia, who, at his own cost, conquered the Kingdom of Chile, were his great-grandfathers ; the Commander Diego de Peñalosa, his grandfather, held many important offices, both civil and military, in Peru ; his father, Don Alonzo, was governor of the provinces of Arequipa and Aricaxa, etc., and a knight of Calatrava ; and he himself had been Alcalde and Justicia Mayor of La Paz, Governor of Omasuyos, Alcalde of Cuzco, and finally Provincial Alcalde of the city of La Paz and its five dependent prov- inces, which last office cost him 50,000 crowns.
A quarrel with the brother of the Viceroy of Peru led him to leave that country for Spain ; but misfortune attended the journey, for he was wrecked in the Pacific, losing 40,000 crowns, and saving only his pearls and precious stones ; and then concluding to visit his uncle, the Bishop of Nicaragua, he was again wrecked and with difficulty reached the cathedral city of that ecclesiastic,
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in an impoverished condition. The Bishop, however, provided him with everything suitable to his wealth and rank, and thus equipped he proceeded to Mexico, where the Viceroy of New Spain, the Duke of Albuquerque, received him with great favor, appointed him to various important offices, and so loaded him with honors that he abandoned the design of proceeding to the mother country. This favor at the vice-regal court continued not only during the whole official term of Albuquerque, but under his successor Juan de Leiva y de la Cerda, Marquis and Count de Baños, who appointed him in 1660 Governor of New Mexico, in place of Don Bernardo Lopez Mendizaval, who had been com- plained of by the officials of the Inquisition.
Proceeding to his new dominion by easy stages, stop- ping two months at Zacatecas and one at Parral, he ar- rived at Santa Fé in the early summer of 1661, and by his energy and tact soon quieted the troubles that had arisen under his predecessor; and after a vigorous cam- paign against the marauding Apaches, defeated that restive tribe, and forced them to keep the peace. Seek- ing to extend the area of Spanish authority, and always fond of adventure and fearless of danger, he then pro- ceeded to organize an expedition to penetrate the coun- try to the north-east, of which nothing definite was known, save the rumors and traditions of cities of great extent, splendor, and riches, and the exaggerated reports brought by the early explorers, who had endeavored, unsuccessfully, to solve entirely the problem of the un- known land beyond the plain. One hundred and twenty years had passed since Coronado had set out on a simi- lar quest, and over half a century since the last expe- dition, under Oñate; and the vague traditions of what they saw only served to stimulate the curiosity and the ambition of the new generation of Spaniards.
In this project he was encouraged by the adulation of Friar Nicolas de Freytas, Guardian of the ancient
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convent of San Yldefonso (the first established in New Mexico), who exclaims, in writing of the unsuccessful exploits of Vicente de Saldivar: "But I believe and hold as undoubted, that as our good God and Lord re- served the conquest of the Terra. Firma for the illus- trious Pedro Arias de Avila; and that of Peru for the most fortunate Francisco Pizarro; and that of Chile for the celebrated Pedro Gutierrez de Valdivia; and that of the South Sea for the famous Don Diego de Ocampo; and that of Mexico for the renowned Hernando Cortez; so he keeps this for the excellent Don Diego Dionisio de Peñalosa, who-as great-grandson of the three greatest knights (De Avila, Valdivia, and Ocampo), and best soldiers of the five just named, and husband of the granddaughter of the ever-victorious Marquis of the Valley, Cortez-appears to reproduce the valor of those noble heroes."
Throughout the winter the preparations proceeded with energy, enlisting the interest and support of the most important people of New Mexico; and finally the expedition commenced its march from the Capital, on the 6th of March, 1662. Seldom has Santa Fé seen a more brilliant spectacle. Eighty Spaniards formed the nucleus of the force; all equipped in the best style of the times-and under the immediate command of Don
Miguel de Noriega, who had for his lieutenant Tomé Dominguez de Mendoza; and as sergeant - majors, Fer- nando Duran y Chavez and Juan Lucero Godoy. With them were no less than 1,000 native Indian in- fantry, armed with bows and arrows; and the whole provided with full camp equipage-including 800 horses, 300 mules, 36 wagons and carts containing provisions and munitions of war, and 6 small cannon. There was also, apparently for the comfort of the Com- mander-in-chief, a large carriage, a litter, and two hand- chairs; the whole forming a brilliant array, as it started full of ambition and high hopes on its long journey in
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search of the Quivira, and the rich kingdoms of the East.
Accompanying Peñalosa as chaplains to himself and the army, and as missionaries to the heathen who should be found, were the two Franciscan Fathers, Friar Miguel de Guevara, Guardian of the Convent of Santa Fé, and Friar Nicolas de Freytas above mentioned, Guardian of the Convent of San Yldefonso. The latter was the historian of the expedition, and has left us a most graphic account thereof, the only difficulty being that like many other narratives of that time, especially when written with a view to bring honors to the con- querors, or induce new expeditions to follow, the writer indulges so freely in superlatives and exaggerations that it is difficult to distinguish the exact facts.
He tells us that the army marched for three full months in an easterly direction, over beautiful and fer- tile plains, so level that no mountain or hill was ever seen, and covered with immense herds of buffaloes, or cows of Cibola, which increased in number as they pro- ceeded. They crossed many very beautiful rivers and found fine meadow-lands and springs, as well as forests and abundance of fruit-trees of various kinds, including delicious plums and mulberries. Grape-vines abounded bearing great clusters of luscious fruit, even ex- ceeding that of Spain in flavor, and there was an in- finity of strawberries. Indeed, the great prairies trav- ersed are described as a kind of earthly paradise, of which the narrator says that neither in all the Indies of Peru and New Spain, nor in Europe, have any other such been seen, so pleasant and delightful; and that on the expedition were men from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and all with one voice declared that they had never seen so fertile, pleasant, and agreeable a country as that.
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