Taos County, New Mexico
The Pueblo Of Taos
The first European to see the great communal houses which render Taos
famous, was Francisco de Barrio-Nuevo, one of Coronado's captains. While
the headquarters of the expedition were established at Tihuex, in the Rio
Grande Valley near the present Bernalillo, this intrepid explorer was
directed to march to the north in order to investigate and report as to
the country and its inhabitants. At that time Cia was the limit of the
geographical knowledge of the Spaniards. But Barrio-Nuevo quickly passed
that point, reached Jemez and discovered the sulphur springs, and then
crossed to the Rio Grande and proceeded up its valley, and finally came to
the largest town in that section of the country, which was called Braba,
and was situated on both sides of a stream, and is so well described that it is immediately identified with
Taos. The Spaniards called it Valladolid from some fancied resemblance to
the Spanish city of that name; but in future history we hear no mention of
that attempted change, and the town of the twin pyramids is always called
the pueblo of Taos.
After Coronado's time, the intermediate expeditions did not reach as far
north as this remote pueblo; but when actual colonization came, under
Onate, in 1598, that energetic leader, within three days after the
decision to make the permanent settlement and capital at San Gabriel, on
July 12th, started to visit the northerly towns of his dominion, of which
he must have heard marvelous accounts, and before July 20th had explored
all the vicinity of Picuris and Taos and returned to his headquarters at
the mouth of the Chama.
A few weeks later, when the Franciscan comisario, Fr. Martinez, divided
New Mexico into seven districts for missionary purposes, Taos and Picuris,
with all the northern country, were made into one district, and Fr.
Francisco de Zamora assigned as its missionary. He commenced his work
energetically, though with many drawbacks, of which an entire ignorance of
the language was perhaps the greatest, and one of the first churches built
in the new province was at the pueblo of Taos. In the report of Fr.
Benavides, written in 1629, he states that at this pueblo there were then
a church and a convento and that the number of baptized Indians
was not less than 2,500; which certainly speaks well for the persistent
labors of the Franciscan priest.
That this acceptance of Christianity was often only skin-deep, seems to be
too evident from the fact that notwithstanding this gratifying number of
baptisms, within two years thereafter the Indians of Taos killed their
missionary, who was then Pedro de Miranda. The most circumstantial account
that we have of this unfortunate event, is that the government furnished
two soldiers, named Luis Pacheco and Juan de Estrada, as a guard for the
protection of the missionary; that on the morning of December 21, 1631,
they came into the kitchen of the convento to warm themselves, as it was
very cold, and found the priest engaged in prayer; that they were followed
by a crowd of Indians, who for some reason had become incensed against the
Spaniards, and who killed the soldiers and afterwards the priest.
When the Pueblo Revolution of 1680 broke forth, the missionary in charge
was Fr. Antonio de Mora, who had been in service in New Mexico for nine
years and who was assisted by Juan de la Pedroza, a Franciscan lay
brother, who had a still longer term of service to his credit. Though Taos
was the most remote pueblo towards the north, yet the arrangements for the
uprising were so perfect that all the Indians were in revolt on the
morning of August 10th, and both of the Franciscans soon joined the noble
army of martyrs. Nearly every Spaniard living in the valley was slain, as
will be stated hereafter.
Little change took place in the Mission Church through all the years of
its existence. Another church was built at the Mexican town of Fernandez,
only three miles away, and often one clergyman had charge of the entire
religious work, both for the whites and the Indians. The Pueblo church was
very massively constructed and had two towers in front. No prophet arose
to foretell its strange destruction. Fernandez had become quite a
commercial center, and around its plaza were the stores of traders who had
become rich largely from the traffic in furs and skins. In 1846 rumors
arrived of the approach over the great eastern plain of an American army
under General Kearny; and later the news came that the invaders had
occupied Santa Fe and taken charge of the government. The selection of
Charles Bent, a resident of Taos, well known by all, as the new governor,
naturally created an increased local interest, but the sentiment of the
people was still opposed to the domination of the Anglo-Americans and the
leaders in the revolutionary movement to destroy them had little
difficulty in enlisting the aid of the Indians of the pueblo of Taos. At
all events, while the leadership was in and around Santa Fe, the actual
uprising centered in Taos, resulting in the killing of Governor Bent and
other friends of the new government in Fernandez, and of all the American
residents at the Arroyo Hondo.
Unwittingly the revolutionists were ringing the knell of the old Mission
Church at the pueblo, and it is with this that we are specially concerned.
The news of the revolt and the death of the governor
created great excitement in Santa Fe and called for instant action on the
part of the little American army and those sympathizing with it. The
situation was critical. Very few troops were in Santa Fe; Kearny had
marched toward California and Doniphan to Chihuahua, so that the number
remaining in the Territory was very small, and they were scattered at
Albuquerque, Las Vegas, and other distant points. News came that a large
Mexican and Indian force was approaching from the north. Delay meant
destruction, and Colonel Price, who was in command, determined to march
immediately with such troops as he could muster, at the same time sending
to Albuquerque for reënforcements. All the force that could be gathered
amounted to 320 men, including Captain Angney's Missouri battalion and a
volunteer company composed of nearly all the Americans in the city, under
command of Colonel Ceran St. Vrain, who happened to be in Santa Fe at the
time. In this company were Manuel Chares, Nicolas Pino, and a few other
prominent New Mexicans, who stood by the new government and offered their
services.
The first conflict took place at La Canada, where General Tafoya was
killed, and the Mexicans and Indians retreated to Embudo. Here they made
another stand in a narrow cation, but were forced to abandon it and again
to retreat, many of the Mexicans returning to their homes. This time the
remainder concentrated at the pueblo of Taos, with headquarters in the
mission church, within whose massive walls they fortified themselves
against attack.
Meanwhile the Americans had been reënforced by Captain Burgwin's company
of cavalry, which had hastened up from Albuquerque and arrived at the town
of Taos in the afternoon, and immediately marched to the pueblo.
The American troops were worn out with fatigue and exposure, and in most
urgent need of rest; but their intrepid commander, desiring to give his
opponents no more time to strengthen their works, and full of zeal and
energy, if not of prudence, determined to commence an immediate attack.
The two great buildings at this pueblo are well known from descriptions
and engravings. Between these great buildings, each of which can
accommodate a multitude of men, runs the clear water of the Taos Creek;
and to the west of the northerly building stood the old church, with walls
of adobe from three to seven and a half feet in thickness. The church was
turned into a fortification, and was the point where the insurgents
concentrated their strength; and against this Colonel Price directed his
principal attack. The six-pounder and the howitzer were brought into
position without delay, under the command of Lieutenant Dyer, and opened a
fire on the thick adobe walls. But cannon balls made little impression on
the massive banks of earth, in which they imbedded themselves without
doing damage; and after a fire of two hours, the battery was withdrawn,
and the troops allowed to return to the town of Taos for their much-needed
rest.
Early the next morning, the troops advanced again to the pueblo, but found
those within equally prepared.
The story of the attack and capture of this place is so interesting, both
on account of the meeting here of old and new systems of warfare--of
modern artillery with an aboriginal stronghold--and because the church was
one of the oldest of the Spanish Missions, that it seems best to insert
the official report as presented by Colonel Price. Nothing could show more
plainly how superior strong earthworks are to many more ambitious
structures of defense, or more forcibly display the courage and heroism of
those who took part in the battle. Colonel Price writes:
"Posting the dragoons under Captain Burgwin about 260 yards from the
western flank of the church I ordered the mounted men under Captains St.
Vrain and Slack to a position on the opposite side of the town, whence
they could discover and intercept any fugitives who might attempt to
escape. The residue of the troops took ground about three hundred yards
from the north wall. Here, too, Lieutenant Dyer established himself with
the six-pounder and two howitzers, while Lieutenant Hassendaubel remained
with Captain Burgwin, in command of two howitzers. By this arrangement a
cross-fire was obtained, sweeping the front and eastern flank of the
church. All these arrangements being made, the batteries opened upon the
town at nine o'clock. At eleven o'clock, finding it impossible to breach
the walls of the church with the six-pounder and howitzers, I determined
to storm the building. At a signal, Captain Burgwin, at the head of his
own company and
that of Captain McMillin, charged the western flank of the church, while
Captain Angney and Captain Barber charged the northern wall. As soon as
the troops above mentioned had established themselves under the western
wall of the church, axes were used in the attempt to breach it, and a
temporary ladder having been made, the roof was fired. About this time,
Captain Burgwin, at the head of a small party, left the cover afforded by
the flank of the church, and penetrating into the corral in front of that
building, endeavored to force the door. In this exposed situation, Captain
Burgwin received a severe wound, which deprived me of his valuable
services, and of which he died on the 7th instant. In the meantime, small
holes had been cut in the western wall, and shells were thrown in by hand,
doing good execution. The enemy, during all of this time, kept up a
destructive fire upon our troops. About half-past three o'clock, the six-
pounder was run up within sixty yards of the church, and after ten rounds,
one of the holes which had been cut with the axes was widened into a
practicable breach. The storming party now entered and took possession of
the church without opposition. The interior was filled with dense smoke,
but for which circumstance our storming party would have suffered great
loss. A few of the enemy were seen in the gallery, where an open door
admitted the air, but they retired without firing agun. . .
"The number of the enemy at the battle of Pueblo de Taos was between six
and seven hundred, and
of those one hundred and fifty were killed, wounded not known. Our own
loss was seven killed and forty-five wounded; many of the wounded have
since died."
Thus, not by lapse of time and gradual dissolution, but amid the
fierceness of armed conflict and with hundreds of cannon balls embedded in
its walls, this ancient Mission, the northerly outpost of the
Christianizing efforts of the intrepid followers of St. Francis fell into
ruin. Two-thirds of a century has since passed, but its walls were so
massive and so strongly constructed that its remains stand almost
exactly as they were left at the close of the battle, its solitary tower
standing in picturesque grandeur against the clear horizon, a source of
unceasing interest to the traveler and the favorite subject of every
artist.
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© Karen Mitchell