B the Spanish Frontier in Colorado and New Mexico, 1540-1821
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f BLM LIBRARY \V SC-324A,BL0G.50 DENVER FEDERAL CENTER p. 0. BOX 25047 DENVER, CO 80225*0047 A FORGOTTEN KINGDOM The Spanish Frontier in Colorado and New Mexico 1540-1821 By Frederic J. Athearn Bureau of Land Management Colorado State Office Denver, Colorado \ 1989 >~1 'I *% *' '-' • , - TT-> -. f r. - - . COPIES OF THIS DOCUMENT ARE AVAILABLE FROM: Colorado State Office Bureau of Land Management 2850 Youngfield Street Lakewood, Colorado 80215 Illustration Credits: Unless otherwise noted, all illustrations are adapted from: John L. Kessell. Kiua, Cross, and Crown (Washington: National Park Service, 1979). THIS DOCUMENT IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND MAY BE QUOTED. IF PORTIONS OF THE WORK ARE USED, PLEASE CREDIT THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT AND / OR THE AUTHOR. Designed and Typeset By: Leigh Wellborn Series Production: Frederic J. Athearn BmUHMH^BEBHi This work is dedicated to the memories of John Francis Bannon, S.J. and France V. Scholes in FOREWORD This volume represents a bridge between Colorado's pre-historic past and the time of Anglo-American settlement in our state. Few people realize that hundreds of years before the discovery of gold in Colorado during 1859, a highly developed civilization had explored and settled the area now known as New Mexico and Colorado. Spanish conquistadores roamed the plains in the mid- 1500s. They came here permanently in 1598 and founded the second oldest city in North America. This long cultural heritage was overshadowed when Colorado [and New Mexico] became part of the United States during the mid- 1800s. I am pleased to present a new volume in our Cultural Resources Series that is somewhat unique. It is neither prehistory nor pure western history. It reveals an aspect of our past that is sometimes overlooked and forgotten. I hope that both the professional community and general public will enjoy this work. Tom Walker Acting State Director Colorado ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many contributed to the publication of this volume. John F. Bannon S.J. and France V. Scholes, both now deceased, supported this research from the earliest stages. Professor Joe B. Frantz, directed my dissertation from which this document is derived. These three men were vital in assuring that my work was properly researched and they all provided important criticism. I thank them for their time and efforts. Also significant in this project was the help of Dr. Myra Ellen Jenkins, former director of the State Archives of New Mexico. She and her staff made the use of New Mexico's records much easier and assisted in researching this project. Dr. Eleanor B. Adams, of the University of New Mexico, was also an important contributor. She provided advise and she guided this author to little known resources. Gary McVicker, Colorado State Office, Bureau of Land Management, suggested that this manuscipt could be used to fill a gap between our pre-history and "Anglo" history. This idea was excellent because it provides ethnic balance in the Bureau of Land Management's series of cultural resource overviews. Dave Strunk, also of the Colorado State Office, helped greatly by allowing me time to rewrite and prepare this volume. Any errors of fact or omission are strictly mine. I hope this historical narrative will be of value to both the general public and to professional readers. Frederic J. Athearn Denver, Colorado October,1989 vn TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I New Mexico, 1536-1680 1 Chapter II The Reconquest of New Mexico, 1692-1704 7 Chapter III New Mexico after Vargas, 1704-1714 19 Chapter IV New Mexico's Time of Troubles, 1710-1723 27 Chapter V Rumors of the French in New Mexico, 1723-1737 37 Chapter VI The Church in Frontier New Mexico 47 Chapter VII Indians, Traders and Trouble, 1735-1750 55 Chapter VIII New Mexico's Renaissance, 1749-1761 63 Chapter IX Visitors and Changes in New Mexico, 1760-1772 71 Chapter X New Mexico's Last Years of Freedom 81 Chapter XI New Mexico, 1776-1821 89 Bibliographic Essay 93 Bibliography 95 IX The Northern Frontier Chapter I New Mexico, 1536-1680 New Mexico was, from the first, a land of disappoint- the rest of the group. Fray Marcos never heard from ment. Spaniards came to this hostile and barren terrain El Moro again. Indian tales later indicated that Estevan, in the hope that the phenomenon of the Aztecs could a black, so fascinated Indian women that he was killed be repeated. The stories and legends coming from the by jealous native men. Fray Marcos pushed on. He area to the north fired the imaginations of the crown. marched up the Sonora Valley into southern Arizona However, Spain was not to find another Mexico in the and then into the area of what was called "Cibola." northern reaches. Rather she would discover death, Marcos had, by now, heard of Estevan's demise. starvation, rebellion, and finally entrapment in a place Undaunted, he pushed on to "Cibola." He described she soon had no desire to be. the place only from a distance. However, he stated that it larger than it Legends regarding riches were in large part responsible was Mexico City and that was for Spanish interest. Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca "shimmering". He said the houses were of stone, with terraces flat roofs. that returned in the 1530s to Mexico City, so recently looted and He also noted he was told by Spain, with rumors of riches northward. He had not that Cibola was the smallest of the seven cities. Marcos seen these places but he had heard from "reliable returned to Mexico City and filed his report. It was Marcos' stories that natives" that there were cities of great wealth to the caused Viceroy Mendoza to agree north and west. He also reported that "cows" with to a full scale expedition. shaggy hair were on the plains. These were, of course, Marcos got to Arizona. This can be told from his buffalo. geographic descriptions, but what he saw is another There was truth in Cabeza's stories. The explorer matter. Most likely, Fray Marcos did see the pueblos claimed that he had vaguely heard of Seven Cities of of Zuni from a distance. They were in no way cities Gold where citizens dined on solid gold platters, the of gold but, in the shimmering summer heat they may have so. 2 streets were paved in gold and the lowliest resident was appeared covered with riches. There were equally persistent The Spanish government was interested in the potential rumors of a civilization far to the south. This was, of of what was then generally called 'the north' [el norte]. course, the Inca civilization, which fellow Spaniards were After the successes of Mexico and Peru, Spain felt that in the process of looting by the middle 1530s. l northern New Spain was ready to be added to the empire. the basis of both Marcos de Niza's and If Cabeza de Vaca stirred the interest of officials at On Mexico City, the exploits of Fray Marcos de Niza were Cabeza de Vaca's reports, Mendoza organized a major expedition into lands. of even more thrilling. While Cabeza de Vaca was the northern For one the only interesting to Viceroy Mendoza, more information was times the crown, upon Mendoza's strong urging, gave needed. In 1537 the Bishop of Mexico, Juan de limited aid to an expedition. Zumarraga, brought to the viceroy's attention a priest The Coronado excursion of 1540-1542 was the first named Marcos de Niza. Fray Marcos was an expe- officially authorized attempt to conquer the north. This rienced traveller in "America" and, based on his enterprise consisted of Francisco Vasquez de Coro- knowledge, he was permitted to go. In 1538 he was nado, Governor of Nueva Galicia, 230 Spanish soldiers given orders by the viceroy to move north and find and 800 Indians who flanked them. Three women also out what was there. For this trip the Moorish slave, went along. Coordinated with this overland expedition, Estevan, was borrowed from Dorantes, a companion Hernando de Alarcon proceeded by sea, up the coast of Cabeza de Vaca's. It was not until 1539 that Marcos of Mexico, to the mouth of the Colorado River where and his little group moved from Culiacan. Near the River his fleet was supposed to rendezvous with Coronado. Mayo, Estevan decided he wanted to go on faster than This meeting never took place. Coronado marched north and ultimately into the Rio lands. They returned to Zuni from which point Espejo Grande valley where he found pueblos of relatively high went to Pecos and then on to New Spain. Reports were civilization. He found Indians who could weave, were filed and information that the expedition had gained potters and farmers, and who had a well-organized stirred some interest at Mexico City. government and religious system. However, there was Earlier stories were still prevalent and the tales of mines no silver or gold, nor were there seven golden cities. from the Espejo-Beltran expedition aroused the Coronado and his men suffered through a very rough imagination of younger men, those who had forgotten winter of 1540-1541 and, in doing so, demanded so much about Coronado's eye-opening excursion into the of the pueblos that they rebelled. region. Winter was unbearable as the natives harrased the By the late 1500s, the Spanish government was under Spanish, while the elements did their best to finish off considerable pressure from the Church. Since there the expedition. The spring of 1541 found Coronado on were large numbers of sedentary Indians in the Rio his way across the plains of Colorado seeking Quivira.