Brief History of New Mexico New Mexico History Part I
Scientists say that our universe was created 12
billion years ago. Our solar system has about 5 billion more years
to live before our sun turns into a white dwarf star releasing a
huge burst of energy that will vaporize all of our planets. This
current history in a jiffy lasts only about 12,000 years. It was
then that the first Americans arrived in America via a land bridge
of ice from Siberia to Alaska. That is one story but it may be just
that, a story.
It seems more likely that those ancient people
arrived in fishing boats. A land bridge may not have existed at all,
and if there were such an ice bridge what reason would those people
have to trek across it under extremely hostile conditions. Visiting
Alaska's glaciers today leaves a particularity strong impression
that no one in their right mind would try to cross the glaciers
without modern climbing gear and supplies. Even today, Eskimos rely
on kayaks as much as they do on dog sleds to get around. Snow
mobiles are much preferred over dog teams when crossing the snow and
ice.
However they arrived, they were successful because
of the abundant game animals on the new continent. The new people
traveled in small family groups following the game herds all the way
to the tip of South America. They flourished and occupied every
niche in the Americas. About 5,000 years ago, the Indians changed
their way of surviving through the introduction of agriculture,
borrowing the maize plant from their relatives in Mexico. Raising
maize and other foods, brought a change in their culture. They
became more community based along tribal lines. This change also
made possible the development of new skills, farming, weaving,
pottery making, and medicine.
Some tribes were less confined to the farming model
than others. Several tribes arose: The Mogollon Culture, the Anasazi
Culture, the Apache Nation, The Navaho, The Comanche, The Zuni, The
Utes, and some generalized associations like the Plains Indians, and
Pueblo Indians. Each group of these people were suited to their
particular area: Some were better at building irrigation systems,
some at building cities, and others at hunting. They had organized
societies that functioned efficiently.
Then, the Spanish Explorers arrived. In 1539 Marcos
de Niza arrived in the New Mexico ara which would become Arizona.
The Spanish, searching for gold, actually entered the present state
of New Mexico at Hawikuh near the Arizona state line. That took
place in 1540, and the leader of that group of about 1,000 was
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. The Indians didn't particularly like
Coronado or his men and several battle were fought over a period of
time. Coronado wondered all the way to Kansas and after losing many
men went back to Mexico. Some of his group stayed behind but were
killed by the Indians.
In 1851 Fray Agustin Rodriquez with soldiers entered
New Mexico from Mexico, and they too wondered around the plains,
mountains and deserts. Fray Agustin Rodriquez returned to Mexico the
same year. A few men he left behind to convert the Indians were soon
dead. Other Spanish explorers gave exploring a try as well.
The first bona fide settlement of New Mexico by the
Spanish came in 1598 when Juan de Onate of Zacatecas lead soldiers
and their families eventually to San Gabriel where the first Spanish
settlement was made. Onate also engaged in battle with the Indians.
He was relieved of duty and replaced by Pedro de Peralta who had the
title of Governor. More Spanish colonists arrived increasing their
number in New Mexico. Their settlements grew as did the spread of
their religion.
By the mid-1600's a migration of warrior Apaches
arrived in New Mexico form the east. These Apaches rode horses and
were hardened from many battles with White invaders. The Apaches
pushed out the Spanish settlers at will.
In 1680 the Pueblo Indians tribes in the north,
under several Tribal names, united and waged war against the
Spanish. The Indians in a series of battles, (called massacres by
the Spanish, proving that definitions depend on what side one is on)
pushed all of the Spanish settlers and soldiers out of New Mexico.
Two years of Indian rule resulted, but the alliance of different
tribes, Apaches and Pueblos began to fight for control of the new
nation. They self-destructed. By 1691 Captain Diego de Vargas Zapata
Lujan Ponce de Leon y Contreras took his army into New Mexico and
marched all the way to Santa Fe. He continued to apply the pressure
until every last remnant of resistance was eliminated in 1696.
De Vargas was taking names, and doing some serious
damage to the Indian tribes. A land grant system was established to
give settlers ownership of the land. This encouraged new Spanish
settlers to come to New Mexico. There was a catch. The land grant
system extended to the Indians who occupied lands that the Whites
from the east wanted to settle. The Spanish knew early on that a
threat to them existed from the White Europeans who were growing in
numbers.
Peace did not come with the Spanish re-establishing
control over New Mexico. Indian tribes fought each other, and fought
the Spanish. Many Indians were displaced. Many children were born of
both Spanish and Indian blood. This created a new class of people
called Genizaro--of mixed blood and mixed tribes, outcasts, orphans,
child slaves, displaced outcasts and criminals. New Mexico was in
turmoil, and then in 1821, Mexico declared independence from Spain.
Part II
Since Mexico became an independent nation, New
Mexico became part of Mexico. Independence may have come at the
wrong time for Mexico. Without the presence of Spain, the
territories held by Mexico north of the river were insecure. It was
one thing to declare war on Mexico, but quite another to declared
war on Mexico and Spain. The protection provided by Spain was gone.
Mexico was anything but stable following
independence. The army was not particularly loyal to the elected
Presidents of Mexico. Presidents were overthrown, authority was
weak, not even being able to enforce various decrees sent by
messengers to the territory of New Mexico. In fact, the governors of
New Mexico operated in a more secure political environment than they
did in Mexico. Mexico had no spare time or resources to devote to
New Mexico when they were fighting for political survival day-to-day
in the south.
In New Mexico a new class of rulers arose: They were
Native born New Mexicans who formed bonds with family power and
alliance to each other and to New Mexico in general rather than to
Mexico. They began to experiment with elections, but the real power
lay within the powerful families. They also welcomed commerce from
the "outsiders" mainly with the Europeans from the eastern parts of
America. This meant increased numbers of the outsiders entered New
Mexico Territory, some to trade, some traveling through to
California, some to stay and marry and raise families. This would
have never been allowed under Spanish rule. Outsiders didn't live
very long under the Spanish.
The Anglo flood began. Once started, nothing could
stop it. It was a good thing for every one as merchant became
wealthy trading good between Mexico, California and Missouri
markets. Santa Fe became the capital of trade in the territories and
a became a melting pot of French, Anglo, Canadian, Mexican, Spanish
and Indian people. The influence Mexico had over New Mexico was
weakened, because most citizens were loyal to New Mexico, not to
Mexico.
The army in New Mexico were all volunteers and
unpaid. In 1846 President James Polk declared that war existed
between Mexico and the United States. A general named Stephen Kearny
marched into Santa Fe with his army and simply proclaimed it to be
United States property. There was no army to stop him from complete
control. Kearny appointed a Governor, the Secretary of Territory, a
Marshall, A Treasurer, and other Territorial Officials. That was
that.
Kearny set up a code of law for the territory based
on a mix of Spanish and American codes. He set up forts for
defending the new possession of New Mexico. In 1847, even though
little resistance to his authority existed, a group of Taos Indians
and Mexicans launched a small war. The revolt was quickly put down
and many of those involved were executed.
In 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
officially made the new territory a part of the United States. The
population could chose which citizenship they cared to maintain,
either as a citizen of Mexico or a citizen of the United States.
This arrangement appears strange to some, but the heavy influence of
Mexico in New Mexico made this action seem reasonable. In 1853 the
United States made the Gadsden Purchase. New Mexico also gave up
claim to the territory of Arizona. The boundaries of New Mexico have
not changed since.
Part III
Perhaps the final "old-west" history of new Mexico took
place between 1853 and 1912. This was a period of the taming of New
Mexico. There were an occasional flare-up between its people but it
was generally a time of consolidation and growth. Stage coach lines
were established from El Paso north to Raton. An east-west line
began near Zuni New Mexico to Santa Fe, meeting up with the
north-south stage coach line. Major stage stops were in the villages
of Zuni, Gallup, Fort Wingate, San Mateo, Cabezon, Isidro, Pena
Blanca, Santa Fe, San Jose, San Miguel, Tecolate, Las Vegas, Fort
Union, Rayado, Clifton House and Raton in the north. These were the
stage stops in the south. Alamo, El Paso, Mescilla, Las Cruces, Dona
Ana, Aleman, Fray Cristobal, Lemitar, Socorro, Tome, Albuquerque,
and Bernalillo. There were many other stops, including most of the
Forts and way stations. They included the villages of Carrizozo,
White Oaks, Lincoln, Ancho, Nogal and Roswell.
This period saw the building of railroads. It was also a time of the Civil War, and
The Lincoln County War. The "war" in Lincoln County hardly amounted
to a war in the normal use of the term, but newspapers and writers
enjoyed building it up into a "war". This era saw dam construction, cattle ranching expand, small farms
sold to larger farmers, mines attracting venture capital, and a
general expansion of the economy. The population increased and times
were mostly good.
There were constant court battles over land
ownership. Some of that exists even today. Under Spanish rules land
was given to people as land grants. In many cases it was impossible
to determine where these lands actually were located since they
depended on landmarks like the "big oak tree" and "the flat rock" by
the stream to define land boundaries.
Some villages today have not been surveyed accurately. Old fenced
lines still serve as property boundaries, being re-build over the
years and handed down from generation to generation. Nogal, New
Mexico is one such village where a few years ago a parcel of land
was surveyed, and the results proved the fences in question were
entirely in the wrong place. The involved land owners said, "Okay,
no problem," and left the old fences in place where they had
existed for years.
©2005
By C. W. Barnum
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By C. W. Barnum