August 1680: REVOLT! — The Whole Countryside Was At War
“If you choose the white cross there will be no war. But you must all leave the country. If you choose the red cross, we will kill all the rest of you.”
Guest post by Rick Schwertfeger, Captain, Frontier Partisans Southern Command, Austin, Texas — Part 3 of 3
Despite his bitter energy and desire for revenge, Popé engaged another profoundly useful characteristic: patience. From 1675 through the end of the decade, he embarked on a methodical, cautious, secret process of building alliances pueblo by pueblo, organizing a conspiracy with one goal: holy war! Based in the Taos kiva, Popé communed with the war god, and took counsel from “three spirits of the underworld, Caudi, Tilini, and Tleume.” And an aged, giant mulatto from Mexico named Diego de Santiago became “a guiding figure of the revolt.”
Popé quietly found allies: Catiti in Santo Domingo; the Tiwa Tupatu in Picuris; Jaca in Taos. They avoided “anyone who showed sympathy towards Christianity, or was inclined towards peace with Spaniards.” While they developed the conspiracy, Spanish colonists in isolated, walled and guarded haciendas became tense and uneasy. Their lives had become ones of “droughts, discouragement, Apache raids, hunger, and living with the sullen mood of the” natives. Around the Spanish capital of Santa Fe, “the fields were dry, crops were stunted, colonists were grim.” The town had become “seedy, shabby and run-down.” Just 10 soldiers defended the capital. Throughout the colony, the small number of soldiers meant “no Spaniard could feel safe in New Mexico.”
Popé picked August 13, 1680, as the day to attack. Despite strict secrecy, word leaked out via some who had ties to the Spanish. One, Governor Nicholas Bua of the San Juan pueblo — suspected of spying for the Spanish — was stoned to death in a cornfield.” And Pope moved the date of attack to August 10.
That day, the world of the Spanish exploded. At Tesuque, war-painted natives murdered the priest at his altar. They set fire to the church and destroyed all the Christian holy images. Priests in San Ildefonso and Nambe were murdered. The church in San Juan was burned. Haciendas were attacked, the Spanish occupants murdered, frequently entire families. Armed Indians marauded, burning churches, murdering priests in Pecos, Taos, Santa Clara, San Cristobal, Picuris, San Marcos, Santo Domingo.
The Indians of the western pueblos were highly motivated to free themselves from the Spanish. This account of the Hopi attack in Oraibi has been preserved:
The leaders were disguised in kachina masks, including the Warrior kachina. The sound of a screech owl made at dawn signaled ATTACK! Hopi men rushed to the church; Chavayo killed the guard. Some fought other Spanish troops while a few smashed holes in the roof of the priests’ quarters. Haneeya dropped through the ceiling, slaying friars Jose de Espeleta and Agustin de Santa Maria.
The church was demolished down to its last stone. The bells and vessels were sealed in a cave, along with the swords and armor of the dead soldiers. The sheep and cattle were divided among the people. And the spears of the soldiers were given to the Hopi “One Horn” secret society. It is said that the Hopi One Horn priests at Oraibi still have them. Region-wide, it was the same at the other Hopi villages.
At Santa Fe over one thousand retreated behind the locked gates of the Plaza. After weapons were distributed to able males, defenders equaled 150 men and soldiers. Nothing happened until August 12th, when over five hundred Indians in war paint camped outside town. With many wearing liberated Spanish armor and carrying Spanish spears, they set siege to Santa Fe.
Spanish-speaking Indian Juan agreed to negotiate with Governor Otermin. Juan held out two crosses, one white, one red.
“If you choose the white, there will be no war, but you must all leave the country. If you choose the red, we will kill all the rest of you.”
Otermin refused to choose, and offered full pardons to the warriors. After conferring with his allies, Juan returned with more terms. Otermin refused.
The Indians attacked immediately. After an all-day battle, the Spanish set fire to the cornfields, driving the attackers into the foothills. But a thousand Tewa reinforcements arrived at dusk. And by morning 2500 surrounded the town. On August 16th the Indians attacked again, succeeding in occupying most of the town but for the gated plaza and surrounding buildings. After another day of fighting, the Indians set fire to the church and buildings on the plaza.
“The whole town became a torch.”
Amazingly, on August 18, a desperate Spanish counter-attack caused the Indians to break and run. But the city lay in ruins. Assessing the situation, Otermin, after killing 47 prisoners, led a retreat down the Rio Grande of the surviving, staggering Spaniards. They moved through a mostly abandoned country; and reached El Paso del Norte in October. 1,946 “walking dead” crossed the river. “The Pueblo folk had hurled the Spanish out of New Mexico. After 82 years of occupation, the colony was dead.”
In 1681 an expedition of reconquest was mounted. It failed. Otermin determined that “a reconquest of New Mexico with anything less than a major army would be impossible.” Other invasions failed in the 1680s. Don Diego de Vargas ultimately accomplished the reconquest at the end of 1692.
Historian Marc Simmons notes that the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 “was the first successful battle for independence fought against a European colonial power in what was to become the United States.” And, culturally, the Pueblo people survived as non-Mexicanized Indians. To this day they are “Indians, speak original languages, perform ceremonies the Spanish failed to stamp out, and produce traditional crafts. The effects of the events of 1680 are with us yet.”
Reference: Robert Silverberg, “The Pueblo Revolt,” 1970
© Rick Schwertfeger [email protected] April, 2024