Colonists' Fate Lies With Spain

By Miguel Encinias
For the Journal
The departure of discontented settlers from San Gabriel left the male population at the young colony at a dangerously low level.
This was compounded by the fact that a small party of soldiers under the leadership of Capt. Geronimo Marquez had left for Mexico City to present the loyalists' side of the story several days before the band of deserters began heading south.
And Father Juan de Escalona resigned his post as commissary, the top religious post, taking lonely residence at Santo Domingo Pueblo as a simple missionary.
Juan de Oñate's colony was as vulnerable as it could get, but there is no record of any threat from the neighboring pueblos. The population was, however, demoralized, with the only hope resting on whatever help Capt. Vicente de Zaldivar could get from the Audiencia in Mexico City.
Zaldivar, who was sent to capture the fleeing colonists, arrived too late at the northern mining outpost of Santa Barbara to apprehend them, so he went on to Mexico City as instructed.
At the Audiencia, he presented Oñate's proposal to furnish 100 men if that body could persuade the king of Spain to contribute 300 more for the pacification of Quivira. The Audiencia turned him down, recommending that the province be maintained primarily for the benefit of the natives already baptized. This was a turning point in policy, which did not bode well for Oñate.
Following the governor's instructions, Zaldivar embarked for Spain to continue his plea for help.
Oñate's brother, Alonso, was already there on behalf of the expedition to intercede with the Council of the Indies or directly with the king for meaningful reinforcements.
He won a hollow victory when King Phillip III, in a cedula (decree) signed July 8, 1602, ruled that the original contract negotiated between Viceroy Luis de Velasco and Juan de Oñate be restored. In matters not covered in the contract, such as reinforcements, however, the king directed that they be left to the current viceroy.
In a meeting with the Council, Zaldivar made basically the same request he had made before the Audiencia, then waited for an audience with the king, which took place some time later.
On May 17, 1603, the Council reported to the king recommending a grant of 40 men with skills, such as shipwrights and pilots. The king directed the Casa de Contratación in Seville to provide the men, including musketeers and ship's carpenters.
Unfortunately, Zaldivar had already left for America, and nothing came of his efforts.
Back in New Spain, a group of theologians consulted by the viceroy expressed the opinion that the deserters from New Mexico were not precisely soldiers in that a state of war did not exist at the time of the desertion and that many of them were accompanied by families; therefore Oñate had no jurisdiction over them.
The colony settled into a state of lethargy, waiting for its fate to be decided by forces too remote to influence.
In early 1604, Oñate took a small contingent with him to pay a visit to Acoma. Details of the visit are lacking, but silence in such a matter at least indicates that nothing adverse happened.
NEXT: Last hope, the South Sea.

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