A Concise History of New Mexico I I a Concise History of New Mexico 4
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
;l;: \yt ''B2-JS Class Book GopyrightN". CPPyRlGHT DEPOSIT. A Concise History of New Mexico i I A Concise History of New Mexico 4 hf BRADFORD PRINCE, LL.D. President of the Historical Society of New Mexico: Hon. Member of the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society: Hon. Member of the Missouri Historical Society; of the Kansas Historical Society; of the Wisconsin Historical Society; Cor. Member of the Texas Historical Society, Sec, &c. THE TORCH PRESS CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA 1912 \ COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY L. BRADFORD PRINCE ,%V^ L> THE TORCH PRESS ^ CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA :X CI.A328090 CONTENTS Preface 8 CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The Capitol at Santa Fe . Frontispiece c^ KuiNS OF Church at Cuara 24 Ruins of Church at Tabira (Gran Quivira) 26 Part of Church at Tabira (Gran Quivira) 27 Stone Lions of Cochiti — Ground Plan . 31 Stone Lions op Cochiti 33 Pueblo Indian Idols 37 Pueblo Indian Idols 39 Pueblo Indian Idols 41 Pueblo Indian Idols 43 Pueblo Indian Dance 49 Oldest House in Santa Fe (before altered) 103 The Governor's Palace, Santa Fe 122 The Plaza, Santa Fe .... 149 Ground Plan of Old Fort Marcy, Santa Fe 181 Ballot at First State Election, 1850 189 The Ben Hur Room in Palace 201 Signing the Enabling Act 239 Pens which Signed Enabling Act 241 U. S. Indian School, Santa Fe 2.59 First Page of Statehood Enabling Act 267 ; PKEFACE After the publication of the Historical Sketches of New Mex- ico in 1883, and especially after the burning of the plates of that book at Kansas City, two pieces of historical work were con- stantly pressed upon me : First, the writing of an enlarged and revised History of New Mexico, which should include all of the important matter which has been made available since 1883 ; and second, the preparation of a condensed volume which would con- tain the essential facts in comparatively small space, so as to be available for the general reader and for use in the schools of New Mexico. For the first of these purposes, a large amount of material, much of it from original sources and the statements of eye wit- nesses as to recent events, was accumulated ; but the opportunity for putting it in proper form never presented itself, and the publication of the admirable histories by Colonel Twitchell and Hon. B. M. Read has now made such a work unnecessary. The new State, as well as the distinguished authors, is to be congrat- ulated on the successful completion of these works, and on the amount of valuable and interesting information thus presented to the New INTexican people. The condensation and revision of the matter in the Historical Sketches, in order to accomplish the second work above referred to, was done to quite an extent over twenty years ago, but was interrupted by other matters that required exclusive attention and about ten years since was almost completed, but again was laid aside to meet other engagements. Meantime, the acquisition by the New Mexico Historical Society of rare literary treasures, and especially of the remarkable original documents which it had the good fortune to secure, gave an opportunity for correction ; 12 HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO and revision that had been impossible before : so that I do not regret the long delay in accomplishing the design. The end of the territorial era by the acquisition of statehood seemed to present the proper opportunity for the completion of tliis work; and the recent requirements of law relative to the teaching of New Mexican history in the public schools has caused a wide-spread request for immediate action. The result is the little volume now presented. It aims to be simply what its name implies, a "concise" History of New Mexico. Many a time in its preparation, when some subject of peculiar importance, or as to which there has been some controversy, has been involved, the temptation has been great to go into details which could scarcely fail to be inter- been resisted in order not esting ; but that temptation has always to exceed the prescribed brevity of treatment. The one idea that has been uppermost is, that, whatever is omitted, the facts that are stated shall he ahsolutely accurate so that at any rate no false impressions may be given nor current mistakes perpetuated. If I have succeeded in this I shall be fully content. But as nothing human is infallible, I will welcome any suggestions of future correction ; and be glad to make them useful in perfecting editions. L. Bradford Prince Santa Fe, August 15, 1912 CHAPTER I New Mexico in General — Name, Boundaries, Population, Capital NAME The name of New Mexico is the oldest in the United States except that of Florida. The latter, as is well-known, was given to the peninsula by Ponce de Leon on his discovery of its shores in 1512 ; some con- sider it was so named on account of the discovery being made on Easter Day, called by the Spaniards '"Pascua Florida;" and others, that it M^as to designate it as the "Land of Flowers," its exuberant beauty in that respect being very striking on the bright spring day when the sight of its vegetation gladdened the eyes of the Spanish explorers. The name of New Mexico first appears in the narrative of Antonio de Espejo, in 1583. having been given to the fifteen provinces which he discovered on his expedition, as we are told by the historian Gonzales de Mendoza, "because it is similar in ' many things to the other Mexico already discovered. ' The nar- rative of Espejo 's exploration reached Europe and was published in Madrid in 1586, and was found to be of such interest that it was speedily translated into French by Luc de la Porte, and printed in Paris but one year later, and also appeared in Italian and English ; so that the description of the newly found region in the interior of North America was soon known to all the world. The name. New Mexico, immediately' received the ratifi- cation of universal adoption, and was continuously applied to all the portions of the continent north of Old Mexico, for hun- dreds of years. 14 HISTORY OP NPJW MEXICO BOUNDARIES The boundaries and dimensions of New Mexico, from the first, were very indefinite. On the west it reached to the South Sea, as the Pacific Ocean was then called, and on the north there was no claimant to prevent its extension to the Arctic regions. On the south, it began where the northern provinces of Mexico — New Galicia and New Biscay — ended, but with no established boundary ; and on the east, for over a century, it divided the country with Florida, which occupied all the region commencing at the Atlantic and extending westward beyond the Mississippi. After settlements were made along the Mississippi, and the valley of that river became known as Louisiana, there were three divisions in the midst of the continent, instead of two, Louisiana coming between Florida and New Mexico ; and after another in- terval, the Pacific coast separated itself and was distinguished as California. The changes can be traced better by maps printed from time to time, than from any documents. On Samson's map, dated 1656, of Le Nouvcau Mcxigue et la Flonde, New Mexico extends north indefinitely, and is bounded on the east by Canada or New France, and by Florida; being separated from the latter by an imaginary range of mountains, represented as running north and south about 200 miles west of the Mississippi, which is called on this map, "Rio de Espiritu Santo." In the opposite direction New Mexico extends west to the South Sea and the Gulf of California, here named "Mar Vermeio." Forty-three years later, on Sauerman's map of North Amer- ica, published at Bremen, in 1699, Nouveau Mexique extends from the Gulf of California (Mer Rouge) to the Mississippi at that river. On (Grand Fleuve INIeschasipi) ; Florida ending this map, Santa Fe is represented as by far the most prominent place on the continent, if we can judge by the size of type in which its name appears. A few years after, De I'lsle's map, called Carte de Mexique ct de la Floride, published in 1703, continues to represent New Mex- ico and Florida as dividing the width of the continent between ' NEW MEXICO IN GENERAL 15 them; but the dividing line is pushed much farther westward than by Sauerman, as it runs up the Rio Grande and an easterly branch, possibly intended for the Pecos. These three maps, printed before the existence of Louisiana, show how entirely indefinite the eastern boundary was ; in fact, the whole interior of the continent was occupied solely by In- dians, so that any claims to ownership were purely theoretical. Passing on more than half a century, we find a radical change made by the introduction of Louisiana. This is shown on Bonne's map of New Spain, published at Paris in 1771, where Florida occupies the eastern division, Louisiana includes the whole Mississippi Valley on both sides of the river, and New Mexico takes the remainder of the continent to the Pacific. The division line between New Mexico and Louisiana runs north- westerly from a point on the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Sabine. It is noticeable that at that time, the Rio Grande is ' ' called the ' Riviere du Nord ou de Nouveau Mexique. The English maps of Eman Bowen, published before the mid- dle of the 18th century, show this same three-fold division.