Santa Clara Lands

Indies law was clear: natives had a right to enough land to feed themselves. In 1568, Gastón de Peralta set the allotment at 500 varas in all directions from a settlement. As the new viceroy of New Spain, he ruled the measurement was made from the location of the local church and that no grant could be within 1000 "varas of cloth and silk measure distant." That is, 500 varas within the pueblo and 500 outside.

In 1687, the Consejo de Indias realized many settlers were encroaching native land. It had Charles II increase the minimum to 600 varas measured from "the last boundaries and houses" for "sowing lands." Further, estancias for cattle were to be a minimum 1100 varas away. Viceroys were given the right to increase those clearances if necessary.

Charles Cutter said, pueblos became proficient in enforcing a league from the church as the legal minimum. In 1700, Pedro Cubero granted Mateo Trujillo land west of the Río Grande between Santa Clara and San Ildefonso. There was a dispute over the outer boundary because the pueblo hadn’t planted during the drought, and Trujillo had claimed it was available. As a result, the governor, Felipe Cherpe, and the war captain, Juan, said:

"They had only 2,200 varas of land on which they were planting, the land being theirs and they always planted it, as was shown by an irrigation ditch which was on the tract, and they not having in any other direction any place they could plant, there remaining for Trujillo, from the Indians’ boundaries of the table-land, about three hundred varas."

The differences between varas and the league that Juan Páez Hurtado measured were relatively small, given the accuracy of measuring instruments. A vara was just under 33", so 500 varas was a little less than 16,500'. 600 varas was less than 19,800'. A league was roughly 18,228'.

Cattle were the primary problem. Fences didn’t exist. Only human supervision could keep them from abandoning dry range for more succulent crops. In 1718, settlers near San Juan were chided for "for allowing their cattle to trespass upon the lands of the Indians" by Páez. In 1732, Gervasio Cruzat y Góngora admonished settlers in Santa Cruz "to take better care of their stock and guard the same."

Santa Clara had a different problem in 1715 when Francisco Xavier Romero, José Vasquez, and Santiago Romero stole a steer belonging to a pueblo member, Lucas de Azenbua. They confessed, but said they only did it because their families were hungry, and, "since the natives never took good care of the stock, there was little harm in killing a few cows." They were found guilty by Juan Flores Mogollón, but Felix Martínez granted Romero land in the Cañada de Santa Clara the following year.

Santa Clara protested vehemently in 1724 when Juan Tafoya and his brother Antonio requested all the land west of the pueblo to the "high mountain range," and everything from "a high, wooded black hill" on the north to a line west of "the little table-land of San Ildefonso." That included the canyon that carried what is now called Santa Clara creek.

The pueblo pointed out that cultivating lands in that area would "result in grave injury" because there wasn’t enough water in the stream to water their fields. Tafoya received the grant from Juan de Bustamante after "Cristóbal Tafoya, who was present as the representative of the two grantees, his sons, stated that they did not want the tract for agricultural purposes, but only to build corrals and keep their cattle and horses there."

Settlers in 1727 complained the Tafoyas were keeping them "out of the common pasture lands in the Cañada de Santa Clara." When Bustamante ordered the father and two sons to present their title to the alcalde, Antonio said he would go to Santa Fé to see the governor. When he failed to appear, he was arrested.

Antonio next asked for a copy of the petition to prepare his answer. Ralph Twitchell noted, "here, the proceedings abruptly ended." It’s less likely they had influence with Bustamante, than they did with whoever was managing the archives when this grant was disputed again.

Notes:
Athearn, Frederic J. A Forgotten Kingdom, 1989; quotation from Romero case.

Charles II. Royal cédula, 6 June 1687, translated by Frederic Hall in The Laws of Mexico, 1885, as "Upon the Fundo Legal of the So-called Indians - The Ancient Mode of Measuring It, and the Increase of a Hundred Varas above the Five Hundred of the Primitive Ordinance, issued by Antonio Ortiz de Otalora, secretary of the Council of the Indies;" quotations from regulation.

Cutter, Charles R. The Legal Culture of Northern New Spain, 1700-1810, 1995.

Twitchell, Ralph Emerson. Spanish Archives of New Mexico, 1914; volume 1 has San Ildefonso, Twitchell, and Santa Clara-Tafoya quotations; volume 2 has quotations from 1718 San Juan case.

Graphics: United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey map. Española Quadrangle, New Mexico, 15 minute series (topographic) 1953; location of Santa Clara pueblo settlement has moved slightly since 1724.

Frontier Expeditions: Juan Páez Hurtado

Faraón Apache were raiding areas east of the Sangre de Cristo in the summer of 1715. They came to fairs at Pecos, and preyed on the Jicarilla Apache to their north.

The governor, Juan Flores Mogollón, and his advisors debated much of the summer. Gerónimo Ye, lieutenant governor of Taos, recommended they attack in mid-August while the Apache bands were harvesting their crops. Once they buried their shelled corn, they would leave for the buffalo plains, not to return to their rancherías until planting time in May.

The Spaniards did not listen. According to Elizabeth John, they harvested their own corn in September, and couldn’t believe a crop planted in May would be ripe by August.

Juan Páez Hurtado led the expedition that left in September. They traveled for two weeks, but never saw a Faraón. Páez concluded someone from Pecos must have warned them. Gerónimo had cautioned Flores against including that group in his plans, since the two groups had intermarried.

John noted it still was an important expedition because it was the first time a governor had included non-Christianized Indians among the auxiliaries. Unfortunately, she noted, "failing contact with the enemy, the Jicarilla and Cuartelejos had no chance to show their mettle and ample reason to grow disgusted with Spanish management of the effort."

Páez reviewed the troops in Picurís on August 30. The roster indicated he took 239 horses and 34 mules for 36 soldiers and 21 settlers. The soldiers averaged 4.6 horses, militia from Albuquerque and Santa Fé 5.8, and men from La Cañada 2.3. Men from the last were the ones who were more likely to bring mules as well as horses, although two capitánes from Santa Fé brought 11 animals. Mounts for the 149 auxiliaries weren’t recorded.

Below is the list of men associated with Santa Cruz, along with some from Santa Fé and Albuquerque for comparison. Note especially the differences in numbers of horses each commanded.

Presidio Officers (9 in complete list, named by rank)
Madrid, Roque. Maestro de Campo, left behind with flux.

Domínguez, Jose. Adjutant-general, fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.

Santisteban, Salvador de. Sublieutenant, detached, fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses.

Luján, Pedro. Capitán de Campaña, fully armed with 4 horses.

Rael de Aguilar, Alonso. Capitán de Campaña, fully armed and provisioned, with 5 horses.

Rael de Aguilar, Eusebio. Royal ensign, fully armed and munitioned with 3 horses and 1 mule.

Presidio Soldiers (28 in complete list, named in alphabetical order)
Baca, Bernabe. In place of Juan José de Archuleta, who was unprepared; fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.

Córdoba, Simón de. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.

Durán, Miguel, Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses; warned for abusing members of Galisteo pueblo in 1708.

García de Noriega, Alonso. Corporal, fully armed and provisioned with 7 horses; named in complaint of abuse in 1708, not punished.

Griego, José. Fully armed and provisioned, with 5 horses.

Jirón, Dimas.

Lobato, Blas. Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses.

López, Antonio. Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses.

Luján, Juan. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned with 5 horses.

Martínez, Juan de Dios Sandoval. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.

Ribera, Juan Felipe de.

Rodríguez, Lorenzo. Corporal, fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses; named in complaint of 1708 for obeying abusive orders from Miguel Durán.

Romero de Pedraza, Domingo. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.

Sánchez, Juan. Fully armed and provisioned with 4 horses.

Silva, Manuel de. Fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses.

Tafoya, Antonio. Corporal, fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses.

Trujillo, Domingo. Fully armed and provisioned with 5 horses.

Settlers from La Canada (complete list, alphabetized)
Apodaca, Juan Antonio. Fully armed with 1 horse and 1 mule.

Archuleta, Diego. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 4 horses.

Baca, Simón. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned with 1 horse and 2 mules.

Candelaría, Juan de. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 4 horses.

Griego, Lorenzo. Fully armed, lacked jacket with 2 horses. Rejected because he was not ready. Son-in-law of Cristóbal de la Serna.

López, Juan. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned, with 2 horses and 2 mules.

López, Luis. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 2 mares, 1 horse, and 1 mule.

Luján, José. Fully armed and lacking provisions, with 2 horses and 3 mules.

Márquez, Diego. Fully armed, with 1 mare and 2 mules.

Martín, Antonio. For his father, Diego Martín; full armed and provisioned, lacking leather jacket with 3 horses.

Martín, Francisco. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket and sword, with 2 horses.

Rodarte, Cristóbal. Fully armed, lacking leather jacket, with 2 horses and 2 mules.

Settlers from Santa Fe (7 in complete list, alphabetized)
Armijo, Bisente de. Fully Armed and provisioned with 11 horses.

Griego, Nicolás. Who volunteers, fully armed and provisioned with 2 horses and 1 mule.

L’Archevêque, Jean de. Capitán, fully armed and provisioned with 6 horses and 5 mules; he takes an armed personal servant.

Settlers from Albuquerque (3 in complete list, alphabetized)
García, Luis. Capitán, fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned with 10 horses and 1 mule.

Ulibarrí, Antonio de. Capitán, fully armed, lacking leather jacket, provisioned, with 6 horses.

Auxiliaries (Complete list has 8 pueblos; 3 had guns)
Santa Clara, 12.

San Juan, 17, for three having hidden, remained behind. The alcalde mayor will have to give account of them.

Notes: The Faraón also were called Chipaynes, Lemitas, and Sejines.

Presidio soldiers from Santa Cruz were those whose surnames appear at some time in a Santa Cruz land or marriage record. Valverde also took roll on August 28 in Santa Fé. Among those who were on that list but not on the one for August 30 were: Alejo Gutíerrez, Antonio de Herrera, Joachim Sánchez, Ensign Cristóbal de Torres, and Francisco Trujillo from the presidio.

The August 30 roster does not include Ambrosio Fresqui or Bartolomé Sánchez, although their names appeared in the journal of the expedition. José López Naranjo was listed with the pueblo contingent as capitán.

Names have been standardized. Details on disciplinary incident appeared in the post for 26 May 2015.

John, Elizabeth A. H. Storms Brewed in Other Men’s Worlds, 1996 edition.

Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935; contains rosters for August 28 and August 30.

Militia Duty

Nuevo México was less reliant on its civilian militia between 1714 and 1733 than it had been in years immediately after the Reconquest. Military requirements changed from assaults on established settlements that defied colonial authority to defenses against raids by highly mobile native bands.

The one had required massive forces for short periods in discrete locations. Expeditions to the frontiers took men away for weeks in summer and fall. People dependent on their crops to eat could not afford that time.

When Juan Páez Hurtado led an expedition against the Faraón Apache in 1715, he took 21 settlers with 36 soldiers and 149 auxiliaries. Everyone, military and civilian, reported fully armed with horses or mules. It took more than two weeks during harvest season, August 30 to September 14, to reach their destination, and probably less time to return.

The following year, Félix Martínez prepared a campaign against the Moqui. He apparently had trouble raising troops to go so far west. He offered pardons to any Español or Pueblo man under sentence if he enlisted. Only three took his offer: Antonio López, Marcos Montoya, and Felix Martines. In addition, he took ten men from San Juan and four from Santa Clara.

Three years later, in 1719, Antonio Valverde led an expedition against the Utes and Comanches that included 60 men from the presidio with "45 settlers and volunteers." In addition there were "30 natives of [torn out] prepared for war with their arms."

They left Taos on September 20, at the end of harvest season, and agreed to return a month later, on October 22. Again, they probably didn’t take as long getting home, though they took a different route.

The changed attitude towards service was reflected in the lack of supplies the volunteers brought. Valverde had to provide them with ammunition and leather jackets. He also contributed 75 horses and mules. They must have come from a poorer segment of society that did those who rode with Páez.

Pedro Villasur led troops on a search for the French in 1720. He took 42 men from the presidio with 60 auxiliaries from the pueblos. Except for the priest, the others were all retired military men or civilian capitánes: José López Naranjo of Santa Cruz, Cristóbal de la Serna of Embudo, and Jean l’Archevêque of Santa Fé.

They left Santa Fé on June 16, and were ambushed two months later, on August 13^th or 14^th. The dead included 31 from the presidio, at least 11 from the pueblos, and all the non-presidio men.

Each expedition took twice as long as the previous one, growing from a one way trip of two weeks to one for a month to one for two months. Apart from the increasing time commitments, established men may have felt different loyalties to a leader of the Reconquest like Diego de Vargas, who was tasked with protecting them, and to one of the later political appointees who obeyed orders governed by Spain’s fractious relations with France. Participation in the one was ennobling. Involvement with the other was not.

The rank of capitán was still prestigious, but bivouacs were not. Santa Cruz diligencias matrimoniales in these years indicated the capitánes were all fathers of participants or witnesses, not grooms. All but one were alive before the Reconquest when military valor was expected. The post-Reconquest generation hadn’t assumed that role.

At the same time settlers were less inclined to join military campaigns, men in the presidios were withdrawing into their private world. They began to see civilians as little more than elevated servants to be given the most distasteful tasks like sentry duty.

There was probably no great turnover in forces, and in the years after the Reconquest, many have been local recruits. Veterans had found ways to supplement their income. They could afford to marry and dabble in real estate. Their sons enlisted. They and their daughters married others whose fathers were soldiers.

Before 1720, most of the soldiers who married women in Santa Cruz were widowers and their second wives were related to local capitánes or other military men. Felipe Pacheco married the daughter of Capitán Sebastían Martín, Bernardo Fernández married Sebastían niece, and Melchor de Herrera married the widow of Matías Martín. He was the son of Sebastían’s cousin Domingo Martín Serrano and Josefa de Herrera.

The other widowers who married in Santa Cruz were Roque de Madrid and Juan Trujillo, who married Roque’s granddaughter. María Madrid’s mother was Antonia de la Serna, Cristobal’s niece.

Joaquin de Anaya was a widower who married Domingo Martín Serrano’s daughter. There’s no indication he was in the presidio. The two soldiers who witnessed his marriage probably knew his deceased father, Sargento Mayor Francisco de Anaya.

Antonio García de Perea was a soldier, but not a widower when he married the daughter of the one-time alférez of Chama. Diego Gonzales was dead when two soldiers confirmed their right to marry.

After the Villasur disaster, few presidio men married women in Santa Cruz. Julian Madrid, the son of Roque, married the daughter of one of Sebastían Martín’s nephews. Antonio de Armenta married a soldier’s widow.

Two men who married local women were sons of soldiers who had acquired land in Santa Cruz. Pablo Manuel Trujillo, the son of Capitán Baltasar Trujillo, married the daughter of Capitán Diego Márquez. Antonio de Santisteban, the son of Ayudante Salvador de Santisteban, married Francisca Fernández Valerio, whose father was probably somehow related through Bernardo Fernández’s first wife, an unknown Valerio.

In ten years, from 1720 to 1730, there were only four alliances between Santa Cruz and the presidio. It was clear that settlers in the north were beginning to want a professional soldiery, and the men in the presidio were becoming a self-sufficient community thirty miles away.

Notes:
Athearn, Frederic J. A Forgotten Kingdom, 1978; has details on Martínez campaign against the Moqui.

Chávez, Angélico. New Mexico Roots, Ltd, 1982, contains the diligencias matrimoniales.

_____. Origins of New Mexico Families, 1992 revised edition.

Páez Hurtado, Juan. Lists of soldiers, settlers, and Pueblo auxiliaries, in Thomas.

Thomas, Alfred B. After Coronado, 1935; also contains details on Villasur expedition.

Valverde y Cosío, Antonio. Diary of the campaign against the Ute and Comanche, 1719, reprinted by Thomas.


Capitánes named in diligencias matrimoniales between 1714 and 1730
Alive at time of 1680 revolt. Dates of birth at left were calculated from ages and may be inaccurate: the ages may be guesses, and the calculations may be off a year since no months are given.

         Juan de Archuleta, deceased in 1714, father of groom
         José López Naranjo, father of groom
         Cristóbal de la Serna, father of bride
1631 Luís Martín, deceased in 1716, father of groom, bride
1668 Cristóbal de Torres, father of bride
1668 José Trujillo, father of bride, groom
1670 Baltasar Trujillo, father of groom
1671 Sebastían Martín, father of bride
1671 Miguel Tenorio de Alba, witness, married
1672 Ignacio de Roybal, notary
1674 Diego de Medina, deceased in 1717, father of bride, groom

Alive at time of Reconquest
1681 Diego Márquez, father of bride

Santa Cruz Militia Rosters

The identities of many who served in these years from Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Juan are lost. No roster survives from Roque de Madrid’s 1705 campaign against the Navajo. The man who chronicled the campaign, Antonio Álvarez Castrillón, mentioned few in the company. He did, however, remark the skills of Juan Roque Gutíerrez, the campaign captain who guided the horses through "the middle of a forest so thick and close that the animals got stuck."

There’s no published roster for Juan de Ulibarrí’s expedition the next year to El Cuartelejo. He says he received an "enlistment list" that included 28 from the presidio, 12 from the militia, and 100 auxiliaries. He added men went he stopped at Picurís.

Ulibarrí is the only one who signed his report. In it he mentions Sargento Bartolomé Sánchez, who found a ford across a swollen stream. Later he sends Ensign Ambrosia Fresqui and Capitán José López Naranjo to find water. Ulibarrí also names Francisco de Valdés and Jean l’Archevêque.

Castrillón’s report was signed by nine men, besides himself and Madrid. Six had ties to Santa Cruz: José Domínguez de Mendoza, Cristóbal de la Serna, Juan Roque Gutíerrez, Miguel de Herrera, José López Naranjo, and Mateo Trujillo. The first two were capitánes whose families had lived in the Río Abajo before the Revolt.

The second two were soldiers from the presidio. Gutíerrez had married the daughter of a capitán, Luis Martín, in 1690. Herrera was raised in La Cañada. Both were the sons of soldiers. Trujillo had come north as a soldier, then claimed land. On this expedition he was a squadron leader.

The other signatories included two who were part of the presidio and later assigned to Santa Cruz as alcaldes: Cristóbal de Arellano and Tomás López Holguín. Martín García was also part of the presidio. He’s the one who would be exiled in 1710 for abusing native workers at Galisteo.

As for the auxiliaries, Madrid noted sixteen joined them from Tesuque, when they were en route to Picurís, and forty came there from Taos. In addition he mentioned Pamuje, a Tewa speaker, and Dirucaca from Jémez as men who gave him conflicting advice on a route. When he wanted to distract the Navajo while he positioned men to attack, he sent Naranjo and the governor of Zia. Their seconds were Juan Griego from San Juan and another war captain.

The other capitánes, militia men and auxiliaries were anonymous. Only one was killed, "and he was an Indian."

Notes:
Castrillón, Antonio Álvarez. Campaign journal for Roque Madrid’s campaign against the Navajo, republished in Hendricks.

Hendricks, Rick and John P. Wilson. The Navajos in 1705, 1996; biographies of men mentioned in journal.

Ulibarrí, Juan de. Diary of expedition to El Cuartelejo, 1706, in Alfred B. Thomas, After Coronado, 1935.

Pueblo War Rituals

Santa Clara and San Juan gained two thing by cooperating with the governors’ requests for auxiliaries. When they reported Navajo incursions, they could summon larger forces than they could mount alone. More importantly, they could continue traditional military practices while appearing to submit.

When they mustered for the Spanish, they were with their own war captains. Within campaigns, they were commanded by pueblo leaders. In 1706, it was Domingo Romero Yaguaque of Tesuque who served as capitán mayor de la guerra. In 1708, Romero and Felipe of Pecos served Juan de Ulibarrí.

Scouts were almost always from the pueblos. Diego de Vargas used José López Naranjo as his lead against the Faraón in the Sandías in 1704. Roque de Madrid used him when they chased the Navajo west the follow year. Ulibarrí used the scout with Jean de l’Archevêque when they ventured onto the plains in 1706. In 1713, Naranjo was capitán mayor against the Navajo.

Warriors continued using their traditional methods. During the 1705 campaign, they scalped the Navajo men. Antonio Álvarez Castrillón said, there were:

"many more deaths that the Indian allies will have carried out among the women and chusma over the distance they covered on top of the mesa. This is their custom, and no matter how much I reproach them, they neither take heed nor pay attention unless Spaniards are present."

Post-battle rituals were maintained, at least until 1712 when José Chacón banned them. Then they continued surreptitiously.

He reported the pueblos: "keep the scalps taken from their enemies, the unfaithful enemies whom they kill in battle, bring them and dance publicly." He speculated on what happened later in the kivas where "they invoke the devil, and in his company and with his advice and suggestion they exhort one thousand errors."

What actually happened in the kivas was probably more subtle that the witchcraft imagined by Juan de la Peña, the Franciscan custodio in 1709, or by Chacón in 1712. The governors only knew they asked pueblo alcaldes to bring specified numbers of men. They had no idea if particular warriors were selected because they were the most experienced or were initiates who needed to prove themselves.

They certainly had no idea if there were any kinship or other special relationships between the men. Commanders only recorded the numbers from each pueblo on the muster rolls, not names. Sometimes, all that survives in documents is the total number of auxiliaries, or a mere acknowledgment they were present.

In 1706, Juan Álvarez estimated there were about 210 "Christian persons, large and small" at Santa Clara and 340 at San Juan. If one assumes 30% of the male population was the right age, and only 40% of the population was male after the battles of the Reconquest, there would still have been 25 available men at the one and 40 at the other. In 1704, Santa Clara’s quota, including war captains, was five, and San Juan’s six.

Commanders knew pueblo warriors painted themselves and wore feathers when they went into battle. Soldiers and settlers camped separately from auxiliaries. They had no idea what occurred before battles when men from different pueblos prepared themselves.

Cuervo believed the auxiliaries were "satisfied with the useful spoils of war." He didn’t recognize traditional male roles, social groups, and status hierarchies were being reinforced by opportunities to continue doing what ought to be done - punishing those who had harmed the pueblos - at a time when his regime might have been undermining traditional leaders by overseeing the elections of internal governors and appointing outside alcaldes.

Notes:
Álvarez, Juan [Fray]. Declaration, 12 January 1706, in Bandelier; population numbers.

Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, 1889.

Bandelier, Adolph F. A. and Fanny R. Bandelier. Historical Documents Relating to New Mexico, Nueva Vizcaya, and Approaches Thereto, to 1773, volume 3, 1937, translated and edited by Charles Wilson Hackett.

Castrillón, Antonio Álvarez. Campaign journal for Roque Madrid’s campaign against the Navajo, republished in Rick Hendricks and John P. Wilson, The Navajos in 1705, 1996; chusma were non-combatants.

Jones, Oakah L. Pueblo Warriors and Spanish Conquest, 1966; quotation on scalps from Chacón. Chacón described "the pueblos," did not specify which ones.

Rael de Aguilar, Alonso. Certification, 10 January 1706, in Bandalier; quotation from Cuervo.