Lost party reunited with other Spaniards

The Journal is publishing a series of history articles to commemorate the settlement of New Mexico by Juan de Oñate in 1598. This one covers the period in the 1530s in which Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca completes his odyssey.

By Miguel Encinias
For the Journal
Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, Captain Castillo, Andres Dorantes and his slave Estevan were the only known survivors remaining from an expedition to settle Florida led by Panfilo de Narvaez in the late 1520s.
After spending time on an island in Galveston Bay as slaves, free traders and healers, the four began a trek that would take them through the heart of Texas and northern Mexico. It is disputed whether the four made it as far north as New Mexico, but some sources have placed them near Carlsbad.
By the early 1530s, however, they definitely had made it to northern Mexico, where they reported crossing a great river, the Rio Grande, possibly somewhere south of Juarez.
As the four Spaniards and a throng of Indians walked toward the sunset and crossed some more mountains, they found the natives to be more and more prosperous and friendly. These probably were Pima farming people.
These people had heard about the Spaniards from southern tribes they traded with and provided large escorts that would not leave Cabeza de Vaca and his companions until they had released them into the hands of another friendly group.
These natives also told Cabeza de Vaca about highly populated towns to the north that were composed of large houses.
The Spaniards' fame grew as they continued walking west and south. Many natives still looked upon the haggard foursome as gods.
Deep in Pima territory the voyagers came upon a community on the Sonora River, which greeted them with a gift of more than 600 deer hearts.
Further on, the group had to wait 15 days before it could cross the swollen Yaqui River. One day during the wait, Castillo noticed that a native was wearing around his neck a buckle from a sword belt. He asked where it came from, and several of the natives spoke of bearded men who had come with horses and lances.
As the group continued southward near the gulf coast, they heard more and more about the bearded men.
Finally, some Indian scouts with Cabeza de Vaca's group reported sighting bearded men on horses. They were seen leading some Indians off in chains.
Cabeza de Vaca immediately took Estevan and a group of natives to search for the horsemen. Dorantes and Castillo remained with the escort party.
When Cabeza de Vaca's group overtook the slave raiders, the Spaniards were dumbfounded at the sight of a nude, bearded white man.
Cabeza de Vaca asked to see their leader.
Captain Diego Alcaraz, after recovering from his astonishment at this stranger's story, told Cabeza de Vaca that he had not had much luck capturing Indians and that he and his men were out of food.
When told of the other two Spaniards and the multitude of Indians accompanying them, Alcaraz asked Cabeza de Vaca to get some food from them. Soon about 600 natives showed up with vast quantities.
Once his hunger had been appeased, Alcaraz tried to take some of the escorts as slaves, but Cabeza de Vaca would not let him.
Though Cabeza de Vaca and his companions were now in the hands of Spaniards, the native escorts did not want to leave until they came upon another group of natives that could take their place.
Cabeza de Vaca thanked them, but pleaded with them to return home. They finally agreed, and the four wayfarers left with their own countrymen.
This was during March 1536, and Cabeza de Vaca's great odyssey was finally coming to an end, eight years and nine months after it had started at the Spanish port of San Lucar.
The four survivors were going home by way of the Spanish outpost of Culiacán, where Melchor Diaz, the alcalde, wept as he rushed out to meet them. At first after rejoining Spanish civilization the wanderers could not wear clothing nor sleep anywhere but on the bare floor.
At Compostela, further south, Gov. Nuño de Guzman welcomed them very graciously, but that did not prevent Cabeza de Vaca from later reporting about the governor's slaving activities.
On July 24, 1536, the men arrived in Mexico City to a clamorous welcome, Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza receiving Cabeza de Vaca and his companions with open arms.
The next March, Cabeza de Vaca debarked from Vera Cruz to Spain. Although he had known only misery and hunger during his trek, he repeated stories he had heard about the Cities of Cibola, seven cities of gold that lay further north of his route. In Spain, Cabeza de Vaca was appointed governor of the new Río Plata province, but was deposed and deported by a rival. He later was granted a post in Africa.
Castillo also traveled to Spain but soon returned to New Spain, where he married a wealthy widow.
Dorantes remained in New Spain and also married a rich widow.
Estevan, who was Dorantes' slave, was traded to the viceroy for land and became part of his entourage. The Morrocan was instrumental in fueling gold fever in Mexico City by spinning for the viceroy's court tales of the cities of gold he said lay waiting to be taken in the north country. Estevan later would serve as guide for an expedition that made it as far as Hawikuh, a pueblo near Zuni Pueblo.
NEXT: Cities of Gold

Miguel Encinias is an Albuquerque historian. His novel "Two Lives for Oñate" is scheduled for publication by the University of New Mexico.