Page 31 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

ofvillagesforthefewloyalIndianallies. Thevillage of Ysleta (named for Isleta, a few miles south of Albu- querque) was established for the Tigua Indians and Socorro (for the like-named town 75 miles south of Albuquerque) for the Piros.60
The temporary defeat of the Spanish at the hands of the combined pueblos probably affected relations be- tween the Apaches and the Spaniards. In 1682 the Apaches commenced raiding northern Mexico, and the following year, the Spanish launched successful counter-campaigns against them from their base at El Paso del Norte.
ThefollowingyeardeVargasledanexpeditionnorth from El Paso del Norte to reestablish Santa Fe as the heart of the Spanish empire in the Southwest. The force of less than 200 men, of which only 60 were Spanish soldiers, the balance made up of Indian allies, servants, and friars, left El Paso del Norte in August 1692. Near Santa Fe de Vargas established a rear base and with 40 soldiers, 50 Indians, and 3 friars he ad- vanced to the former capital. Before dawn on Septem- ber 13, Vargas and his men surrounded the present-day Governor’s mansion and demanded the Indians’ surrender. Upon their refusal, he prepared for an assault, but at sunup again called for the natives to yield peaceably and promised clemency. The In- dians demanded that he approach alone and remove his helmet so they could verify with whom they were communicating. De Vargas did so and then calmly withdrew and ate his breakfast. Late that afternoon, those who argued for peace prevailed, the gates were opened, and the Indians came out unarmed to talk with de Vargas.
In this same manner, promising forgiveness and protection in return for their apologies and promises of allegiance to the King, he succeeded in bringing pueblo after pueblo back into the Spanish fold. The entire campaign was accomplished without firing a shot or losing a life. By December 20, de Vargas and
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his small troop were back in El Paso del Norte. Santa Fe would remain the core of northern Spanish control until the United States Army of the West ousted the Mexican governor and military in 1846. In the meantime, however, the Apaches and the Plains Indians had successfully adapted to using captured Spanish horses. Although dangerous as foot soldiers, the Indians became vastly more effective with their
increased mobility.
Prior to 1700, the Apaches had been satisfied with
minor raids against the pueblos and presidios. During the eighteenth century, they exploded in a wave of terrorism that nearly drove the Spanish from the fron- tier, and the missions, including Santa Fe, became islands of fear in a desert sea largely controlled by the Indians.65
Early in the second decade of the 1700s, New Mexico Governor Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollon and an escort of soldiers pursued an Apache raiding party that had stolen some of his horses. Before the adventure was over, he had lost his hat and the lives of seven of the accompanying soldiers and bequeathed his name to the-rugged mountains of southwestern New Mexico,
In 1683, under the new Governor, Domingo Jironza Petriz de Crusate, the Spanish operated extensively in southwestern New Mexico and, from their installation at El Paso del Norte, began extending a cordon of presidios that eventually arched from the Rio Grande to Tucson. From these installations,
the Spaniards would later launch several simultaneous attacks from diverse directions and attempt to encircle the
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Apaches. This seldom worked
Nearly the entire Southwest had become a no-man’s
land as a result of seemingly endless cycles of Indian raids and Spanish punitive countermeasures. The Apaches continued to escalate their offenses, and by 1686 it appeared that the whole area might return to their control. However, General Jacobo Ugarte, by order of the Viceroy, introduced some radical changes in Spanish Indian policy, and it was during the period between 1687 and 1711 that Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino pushed civilization northward into what would later become the Gadsden Purchase territory. As a result of his efforts, cultivation and prosperity flourished at isolated locations.
Under Kino’s plan, the Indians were to be compelled
to make treaties by force of arms and then be brought
under further control by making them settle near the
presidios and become dependent on the Spanish for
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their needs.
easier and less costly to subsidize the Apaches directly than to let them extract their own tribute and then organize punitive expeditions. Even so, in the fall of 1691, Spanish Governor Don Diego Jose de Vargas Zapata Lujan Ponce de Leon y Contreras (usually known as Diego de Vargas), and the commander at Janos led their combined forces north against the Gila Apaches. The expedition was of limited success be- cause, although they captured a number of women and children along the Gila River, they did little damage to the Apaches otherwise.
effectively.
Obviously, Spain had decided it was
Chapter 1
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