The Pueblo Revolt

I. Introduction

A) on August 10, 1680 the Pueblo Indians revolted

- all of the Northern tribes of the Pueblos but one (The Piros - never

told) and their Apache neighbors combined, defeated the Spanish and

drove them out of New Mexico as far as El Paso

- the Spanish stayed evicted until 1692

- when Don Diego de Cargas Zapata Lujan Ponce de Leon recaptured New

Mexico for Spain

B) Why did they revolt?

- what circumstances set off revolt?

- what grievances & goals did the Indians have?

C) How did they revolt?

- how did these many diverse tribes - previously divided- manage to win?

( precedents = failure)

- who led them and why were they effective?

II. The Events

1) revolt planned far in advance

- all the ceremonial leaders of each tribe ( except the Tanos) involved

- they passed a knotted cord from village to village

- # of knots left indicated # of days left until revolt

- 1 group of ceremonial leaders, however, were not supportive

- the leaders of the Tano Pueblo turned over 2 of these runners to

Spain & the plot was revealed

- this a few days before scheduled revolt

- so revolt came early

- Indians had to react before governor Antonio de Olermin could

react - so rose up

2) the revolt began in the North with Taos - Aug 10

- Indians slaughtered priests & soldiers near their homes

- then descended on Santa Fe

- Indians asked Spanish to leave and return Indian slaves

- Spanish refused to surrender

- Aug 15 -21 Siege of Santa Fe

- the Spanish fought hard and eventually broke the siege

- but decided to retreat - Aug 21 - Indians pulled out

- The Retreat was successful - the Indians did not attack

- Spain fell back to Isleta Indians - who aided them

- joined with Spain from other regions led by Alonso Garcia

- fell back to El Paso

- 21 missionaries killed

- some estimate about 400 civilians & soldiers lost

- The Indians sacked Santa Fe

III. Why the Revolt? circumstances leading up to

- environmental tensions - 1667 - 72 = drought & crop failures

- declining eco base

- greater completion for resources

- increase in Navajo & Apache raids

- for Indians - there was a resurgence of "idolatry"

- most likely as a reaction to the stress

- for Spanish a period of crackdown on "idolatry"

- drought pulled church - state officials together

- 1675 Governor Juan Francisco de Trevino

- rounded up 48 religious leaders from various villages

- had them whipped and do hard labor

- hanged 3 - 4th hanged self

- the leadership of the rebellion came out of those whipped in 1675

- el Pope of San Juan Pueblo

- Catiti - Santo Domingo Pueblo

( the two major leaders)

- initially these leaders planned to just issue ultimatum to stop desecration of their religion

- but as more leaders joined the revolt - goal widened

- newer leaders were bi -lingual - closest to Spanish

- mixed blood Indians: Domingo Naranjo, Nicholas Jonva &

Domingo Romero

- they wanted Spanish out

- leaders met in secret - after mid in village leaders homes

- came to village on feast day of village saint

- secrecy - Pope killed brother in law, excluded women

- planned the uprising for week before supply's came

- knew Spanish low on ammo etc.

- Taos Pueblo = the hot bed

- slaughter not the goal, eviction was the goal

- offer peacefully 1st - then kill if most

- if goals had been warlike, would have killed retreating Spanish

- did not

- Sum: immediate circumstances that set off events

- whipping & crack down on Pueblo religion

- but does this alone explain the revolt?

- are there other factors?

Indians had other grievances not tied to direct circumstances

1) Spanish military protection = failing

- in decade before the revolt - 5 soldiers at each frontier post

- raids increase

2) Angry with Spanish for their participation in Indian slave trading

3) labor system - Indians working to pay taxes

- crops levied against in bad times

- furthermore -competing for resources in harsh time

- 400 settlers were killed & 21 missionaries

- if main motive were religion, would have spared civilians

(beyond soldiers that is)

Sum: So Pueblo's had a series of grievances: religion, politics, economic

that contributed to desire to revolt

- but that still doesn't explain the revolt

- real ? is "How did they manage to pull it off

- the grievances existed for a long time

- and the Pueblo were not unified

IV. Precedents—earlier attempts had failed:

- 1650 - under Ugarte y de la Concha

- some Indian sorcerers circulated idea of revolt

- got sporadic acceptance - failed

- 7- 8 leaders = hanged

- a few years later - 2nd attempt

- some ceremonial leaders circulated deerskins

- had pictures of rebellion on them

- again - no universal acceptance

- plan shelved

Problem:

- Pueblo villages = too divided , local autonomy

- no mechanism of social control over all tribes

- need a source of unity

- a system of centralized leadership

- which needed a sanction: a way of compelling the desired behavior

- How & why did leadership arise at this time

- that could overcome all of these problems

V. Leadership, Pueblo Society & the Revolt

- Edward Spicer in C of C argues

"The leadership had been created by the Spanish themselves in their

attempt to discipline the group of ceremonial officials." (pg. 163)

- i.e. the circumstances created by the Spanish created the leadership nesc

for the revolt

- more to it than that

- the structure was there - in latent form

- Although each Pueblo worshipped a different deity

- all had similar governmental structure

- has divinely ordained authority structures

- clan owned land (matrilineal - west & central; patrilineal in East)

- religion centered on agriculture - esp. corn

- thus clan head = religious head - top authority

- war captains under him

- war leaders trained rigorously

- total fasts (food & water)

- plunging into icy cold rivers in winter

- to be a captain one had to undergo

- flogging while tied to a tree

- sitting naked in the sun on ant hill all day

- discipline = way of life

- these Indians did not focus on warriors

- but they were available & disciplined

- at least locally

- tribally - there was no bonding together for defense

- but there was for agriculture

What, then, gets them together this time?

- a nativistic vision: nativism = anthropological theory

- when a society reaches a given level of stress

- it must either find a way to adjust

- or it will disintegrate

- if the situation is severe enough a prophet may often arise with a divine

message:

- and offer the society a way out of its present stress through specific actions

- these often have a divine promise of a new world (often this is the restoration of the old world before contact—often accomplished thru divine intervention)

- and a sanction for those who don’t get on board

In the case of the Pueblo

- Pope acted as the nativistic leader

- he claimed he had a message from a God

- Poheyemo - common unifying link

- all Pueblos believed in Him (tho by different names)

- was God of sun and nature

- Poheyemo's message

- rise up and throw off Spanish

- destroy Catholic relics of towns

- purify selves with yucca soup and ritual bathing (to wash off

baptism)

- Po's sanction: he would destroy all who did not join

- Po's promise - And the days of the ancients would return

- Po promised prosperity to Pueblo peoples

- destruction to hated enemy

- the message came from a Kiva in Taos

-Taos = most rigid, severe, conservative Pueblo

- had history of bad relations with Spain

- It was there that Pope received his instructions

- According to Indians, the man who brought this message to Pope

- large, dark, & yellow eyed

- feared by all Indians

- Spanish dismissed this as myth

- these Indians who talked of him = shot for mockery

Historian Fray Angellico Chavez thinks he really existed

- there was a family, the "Naranjo" of Santa Clara Valley

- popped up in records of a controversy in 1766 in Santa Fe

- Chavez investigated: decided he was this servant of Po'

- Indians believed he was sent by Montezuma

- the Naranjo family:

- descended from an unknown Black man & Indian woman

- Negro = slave who had been freed if he'd go serve with Onate in New

World

- he watched Onate's livestock during the investigation

- there had been family history of stirring up Indian trouble

- he was also of mixed race class

- and in contact with other mixed race families

- who provided most radical thrust of movement

- b/c they hated caste system of Spanish that kept them from rising higher in the colonial bureaucracy

- some of these men were ritual leaders in their Pueblos

- the brightest Indians

- closest to Spanish culture

- had most to gain from an overthrow

Did Naranjo exist?

- perhaps = can't say for sure

- there is a record of Naranjo family

- whether he is the real leader of the revolt = uncertain

In any case:

- nativistic movement fizzled

- unity quickly dissolved

- in order to keep momentum

- promises mad e by the Gods must be kept

- in this case prosperity did not follow rebellion

- drought & famine did

- the people = disillusioned with the vision

- fell into traditional patterns of strife as early as 1682

SUM: The Legacy of Revolt

- 12 years of freedom from Spanish rule

- severe depopulation of Indians

1) due to battle deaths

2) and relocation - many Indians fled

- feared Reconquest or retribution

- went to live with Navajos & Apaches

- many towns deserted when Spanish reentered

3) Revolution = upheaval & destruction of lands

- captured Indians in RC & sold them into slavery