THE PUEBLO LOVE AND WAR
The Pueblo Love and War
Zaida Cisneros
El Paso Community College
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Abstract
It is rare to hear of a group of people forced into the destruction of their culture, native religion,
and language and overcome all. War only leaves death, sorrow, and pain, especially the war
between the Pueblo and the Spaniards. The Pueblo Nation has made this possible and this
literature review will examine the great people of the Pueblo and the bitterness war caused them.
These courageous people hold their reliance in time of great desperation. Love for their culture,
language and native religion gave them all the power they needed to withstand and persevere.
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The Pueblo People are descendants of the original natives in North America. They were
peaceful people living in harmony with the earth, with the animals and with each other long
before the European Inquisition of 1100-1200 (Sando 21). The Pueblo could have been lived life
without any struggle but because of the overzealous of the Europeans they were put to the test of
war. These people had no written history; theirs was an oral system of maintaining the records of
ages (Sando 21). They had a well-organized system of self-government. From 1598 the
conquering of their land by the Spaniards devastated the Pueblo people and during this the
Spaniards tried to strip the Pueblo nation from the very culture that made them who they were
and failed to do so (Simmons 3). Even though many were killed they endured and cultivated
their culture, native religion, and languages. Today the Pueblo still live on.
The Pueblo hoped to have perfection in their society and harmony with their
environment. The Pueblo traveled and moved, often chasing better food sources (Sando 22). The
Pueblo prospered. They were good builders and lived harmoniously in their culture. They lived
and flourished over an area covering vast parts of the Southwest, including Colorado, northwest
New Mexico, as well as northeast and east central Arizona. There were no floods or tornados
(Sando 22). It is well known that enslavement of Indians was a common practice among
Spaniards in New Mexico in the seventeenth century (Daughters 1). In 1958 not far from the
future El Paso, Onate performed the ceremony of claiming New Mexico for Spain. As the royal
official recorded every word of the rite, Onate stated: “In the name of God and King Philip II,
Onate formally took possession “once, twice, and thrice” of the province, “including the
mountains, rivers, valleys, meadows, pastures, and waters.” He then progressed to say, “On
behalf of his king, the governor also claimed “all the other lands, pueblos, cities, towns, castles,
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fortified and unfortified houses.” If that wasn’t enough, he kept speaking; he claimed all mineral
wealth, pastures, fisheries, and any other natural resources (Simmons 2).
In 1598, not far from the future El Paso Onate performed the ceremony of claiming New
Mexico for Spain. As the royal official recorded every word of the rite, Onate stated: In the name
of God and King Philip II, Onate formally took possession “once, twice, and thrice” of the
province, “including the mountains, rivers, valleys, meadows, pastures, and waters.” “On behalf
of his king, the governor also claimed “all the other lands, pueblos, cities, towns, castles,
fortified and unfortified houses.” If that wasn’t enough he kept speaking, he claimed all mineral
wealth, pastures, fisheries, and any other natural resources (Simmons 2).
They were placed into controlled communities as a captive labor source for the Spanish
and became their slaves. Refusal to convert to Christianity resulted in deadly repercussions.
Onate put down a revolt of Acoma Pueblo by killing and enslaving hundreds of the Indians and
sentencing 24 men to have their right foot cut off. “The Acoma Massacre” would instill fear of
the Spanish in the region for many years to come. Yet the Pueblo never conformed to the level
the Spanish conquerors required or wanted (Kessel 16). In 1675, Governor Juan Francisco
Trevino ordered the arrest of forty-seven Pueblo medicine men and accused them of practicing
“sorcery”. Four medicine men were sentenced to death by hanging in the plaza of Santa Fe. The
remaining men, the holiest men of the pueblos—received public whippings and were sentenced
to prison (Simmons 96). When the news reached the Pueblo leaders, they moved in force to
Santa Fe, where the prisoners were held. Because a large number of Spanish soldiers were away
fighting the Apache, Governor Trevino was forced to accede to the Pueblo demand for the
release of the prisoners. Among those released was an Indian of the San Juan Pueblo, also called
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“Ohkay by the Pueblo” Indian name “Popé”. Popé was a medicine doctor of the Tewa pueblo of
San Juan, who would become a central figure in the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 (Simmons 97).
The Spanish were caught by surprise with the successful Pueblo Revolt of 1680, which is
considered “the greatest Setback that natives ever inflicted on European expansion in North
America.” After three generations of oppression, in the spring of 1680, the Pueblo Indians rose
up to overthrow the Spanish and take back what was theirs. Popé’s promised that, once the
Spanish were killed or expelled, the ancient Pueblo gods would reward them with health and
prosperity (Simmons 97-130). Popé’s plan was to kill the Spanish in their area and then advance
to Santa Fe to kill the remaining Spanish there. Popé dispatched runners to all the Pueblos
carrying knotted deer skin strips. With the dawn of each morning the Pueblo leadership was to
untie one knot until the last signaling to them the rise against the Spaniards in unison. On the
night of August 10, 1680, Indians in more than two dozen pueblos simultaneously attacked the
Spanish authorities, each one attacking the Spaniards in the town they lived in. By the time the
revolt succeeded, Indian fighters had killed more than 400 Spanish soldiers and civilians,
including two–thirds of the Catholic priests in the region. The Pueblo Nations had won their right
to be themselves once again (Simmons 97-130).
After the war, the Indian leaders restored their own religious institutions and set up a
government that lasted until 1692. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 re-established Indian
independence in the pueblos for more than a decade. Even after Spaniards domination was reimposed it forced the imperial authorities to recognize religious tolerance (Simmons 178-182)
Resilience, is the word best describing The Pueblo Indians when succumbed to such
violation of their people. They were forcefully made to bend, and as hard as the Spaniards tried,
they could not break them. All that The Pueblo endured was for the LOVE of their culture,
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native religion, and languages, and without love there is nothing. There is so much to be learned
from The Pueblo Nation, so I challenge you to learn more about each and every of the 19 Indian
Pueblos in New Mexico. Every “one” of these nations, Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna,
Nambe, Picuris, Pojoaque, Sandia, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, San Juan, Santa Ana, Santa Clara,
Santo Domingo, Taos, Tesuque, Zia, and Zuni, has something to teach every one of us. The
Pueblo Nation gifts many things like poetry, pottery, and culture.
Taos Pueblo Indian poem on how Nature heals
April 13, 2013 by thelemniscat
“My help is in the mountain
Where I take myself to heal
The earthly wounds
That people give to me.
I find a rock with sun on it
And a stream where the water runs gentle
And the trees which one by one give me company.
So must I stay for a long time
Until I have grown from the rock
And the stream is running through me
And I cannot tell myself from one tall tree.
Then I know that nothing touches me
Nor makes me run away.
My help is in the mountain
That I take away with me.
Earth cure me. Earth receive my woe.
Rock strengthen me. Rock receive my weakness.
Rain wash my sadness away. Rain receive my doubt.
Sun make sweet my song. Sun receive the anger from my heart.”
(Animism, Panempathy and Human Healing – Michael W. Fox)
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References
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history); PROPAGANDA, Anti-Spanish; Acoma Indians; CONQUERORS;
DISMEMBERMENT; ONATE, Juan de, 1549?-1624 “So What’s Truth got To do With
It?.” New Mexico Historical Review 86.3 (2011): 377-384. Bibliography of Native North
Americans. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.
De Marco, Barbara, and Jerry R. Craddock. “Letter to the Viceroy, dated 19 June 1693, from the
Franciscan Procurador General, Fray Francisco de Ayeta.”unpublished ms.
De Marco, Barbara. “Voices from the Archives, Part 1: Testimony of the Pueblo Indians in the
1680
De Marco, Barbara. “Voices from the Archives, Part 2: Ayeta’s 1693 Letter to the Viceroy.”
Romance Philology, vol. 53, no. 2, Spring 2000, pp. 449-508
Escalante, Fray Velez de. Letter of the Father Fray Silvestre Velez de Escalante Written on the
2d of April, in the Year 1778. Ramona, California: 1983
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Vargas, New Mexico, 1691-93. Albuquerque: 1992
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Kessell, John L., Rick Hendricks, and Meredith D. Dodge, editors. To the Royal Crown
Restored: The Journals of Don Diego de Vargas, New Mexico, 1692-94. Albuquerque;
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