Spaniards Promise Safety to Pueblos

The Journal is publishing a biweekly series of history articles to commemorate the settlement of New Mexico by Juan de Oñate in 1598. This one covers September to December of that year.

By Miguel Encinias
For the Journal
After the dedication and blessing on Sept. 8, 1598, of Saint John the Baptist Church, one of the first Christian churches built within the confines of the present-day United States, Juan de Oñate turned back to affairs of state.
The next day he called together the chiefs of the pueblos he had visited for a ceremony affirming fealty to King Phillip II.
Through several interpreters Oñate declared that he had come to the land to bring them the knowledge of God and to live peacefully and safely in their countries.
"You are to be governed justly, and be safe in your possessions, and not be caused any harm," he said.
The chiefs responded that they desired to render obedience to God and to the king.
But not all his Spanish followers offered such obedience.
On Sept. 12, the second desertion of the expedition took place as four soldiers stole some horses and headed south to New Spain.
When the flight was discovered the next morning, the governor sent captains Gaspar de Villagra and Gerónimo Marquez with three soldiers in pursuit.
Traveling lightly, they caught up with the fugitives in the area of Santa Barbara, Mexico. Two of them were captured and beheaded, in accordance with the laws of the time, while the other two vanished into the wilderness.
At the same time, back in San Juan, there was a flurry of activity as the friars started to disperse to their various assignments.
Because the Pueblo Indians were not nomadic, the Indians were not brought to reducciones (assembly camps) for evangelization. Instead, the friars went to the pueblos where prospective neophytes were already assembled.
On Sept. 15, Vicente de Zaldívar, the sargento mayor, left San Juan to try to round up the "woolly cows" of the eastern plains. Father Francisco de San Miguel, the oldest among the friars, went with him as far as Pecos, his assigned mission. Five friars also were sent to their parishes.
Late in the afternoon of their arrival at Pecos, a chieftain brought to Zaldívar a young Indian man who spoke Spanish.
The young man identified himself as Jusepe Gutierrez and said he had been a servant to Capt. Antonio Gutierrez de Humaña, who led an illegal expedition that had explored the area in 1593. The entire group had disappeared without a trace.
Gutierrez was the only survivor of the tiny troop led by Capt. Francisco Leyva de Bonilla, which broke up after Gutierrez killed Leyva.
Zaldívar left Pecos and headed out into the eastern plains in search of the famously large herds of black, woolly cattle.
His men built a corral, intending to capture some of the herd and drive the beasts back to San Juan.
Little did they know what they were up against.
After several tries, at the cost of some horses that were gored to death, the group failed to get any of the stubborn bison into the corral. Even the calves, when lassoed, were uncontrollable. They would flail themselves to death.
All the group got for its efforts was some hides and a sumptious feast of buffalo meat. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the dreams of a fortune in beef waiting to be herded were dashed.
On Oct. 16, while Zaldívar was returning from the buffalo hunt, Oñate also left San Juan to inspect the salt beds near the Manzano Mountains.
While there, he decided to head west to look for the South Sea (the Pacific Ocean).
He sent word to his nephew, Juan de Zaldívar, to catch up with him at Zuñi as soon as Vicente de Zaldívar returned from the hunt.
On his way to meet up with his uncle, Juan de Zaldívar stopped at Acoma Pueblo. It was Dec. 1, 1598.
The account of what happened next was documented by Villagra who later would compose an epic poem about Oñate's expedition.
Zaldívar stopped at Acoma intending to trade for provisions for the expected long journey.
Late in the afternoon, he sent Marquez up the penol (rock) to see what he could get from the Acomas. The next morning some Indians brought down a few tortillas and a small quantity of corn.
Zaldívar asked them for some flour in trade for the hatchets and other articles he had already sent up with Marquez, but they told him to go to a place about two leagues away from the pueblo. There he would find plenty of water and flour.
But nothing materialized.
His soldiers urged him to go back to the pueblo and take the provisions by force, but Zaldívar said he wanted to assure the Acomas that he would not harm them in any way.
That night he made plans to go up the following day with 18 men.
NEXT: Tragedy begins.

Miguel Encinias is an Albuquerque historian. His novel, "Two Lives for Oñate," was published this year by the University of New Mexico Press.