This lecture is constantly being revised….
Scott Fritz, Ph.D.
Western New Mexico University
Revised on April 7, 2015 at 7:40 a.m.
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
AND THE SOUTHWEST
DURING THE MEXICAN ERA
1821-1848
Mexican Independence

War of Mexican Independence 1810-1821
  Force
Spain out of Mexico
  No fighting in New Mexico

Mexico patterned on the United States
Began September
16, 1810
Ended August 24,
1821
Father Miguel
Hidalgo
Jose Maria Morelos
  Mexican
Constitution of 1824
  General Congress, Mexico City

New Mexico: Territory of Mexico
  Representative
in General Congress
  Governor elected  Ex: Jose Antonio Vizcarra
1822
Vizcarra first
recorded Chaco
Canyon during
campaign against
Navajo.
Economic Developments in the
Mexican Era
Mexican Independence Ended
Spanish Mercantilism
Mercantilism ended in 1821, opened up
trade with the United States 1821
  Examples of liberalized trade:

  Santa
Fe Trade
  Hide and Tallow Trade (California)
  Land sales in Texas and New Mexico

Lets look at the Santa Fe Trade
Mercantilism existed
during the Spanish
period. It was when
the “mother
country” (i.e. Spain)
sold manufactured
goods and the
colonies produced
raw resources.
Outside nations like
the United States
were not allowed to
trade. Hence, all
immigration from the
U.S. into New
Mexico was
prohibited. This was
why Zebulon
Montgomery Pike
was arrested by the
Spanish in 1807.
Santa Fe Trade
begins 1821: William Becknell
•
•
William Becknell “Father of the Santa Fe Trade
Indian trader from Arrow Rock, Missouri
•
•
•
Organized second trip in 1822, using wagons
•
•
•
Heard about Mexican Independence
Arrived Santa Fe with mule train, sold goods in Santa
Fe in September
Sold textiles in Santa Fe from wagon for old Spanish
bullion
Made a 500% profit
Began Santa Fe Trade
General Characteristics of the
Santa Fe Trade
•
•
International trade between U.S. and Mexico
Exchange New England textiles for Spanish
and Mexican bullion
•
•
Textiles, ironware, guns, etc.
Santa Fe merchants outcompeted merchants
from Mexico City
•
Goods shipped by Ohio and Missouri rivers to
Santa Fe Trail
•
•
Water Transportation cheaper than land
transportation (Santa Fe Trail, 600 miles)
Goods coming from Mexico City, 2,000 mile land
journey
Santa Fe Trail

From Westport, Missouri to Santa Fe

Mountain Route
Travel up Arkansas River, to Bent’s Fort, crossed into Mexico
(i.e. south side of river)
  Over Raton Pass to the customs house in Santa Fe



Cimarron Cutoff, quicker but less water
Trade along Santa Fe Trail increased in 1830s

Over half of goods entering

Chihuahua Trail and Jornada del Muertos
  U.S.
military surveyed the Santa Fe Trail and
negotiated treaties with Plains Indians and
relied on Jesse Chisholm as translator
  Josiah Gregg, 1830s and 1840s

Commerce of the Prairies (published in 1844)

Recounts trade, describes N. Mexico, provided map that the
U.S. Army would use to invade New Mexico in 1846
Jedehiah Smith killed by
Comanche in 1831 on
the Santa Fe Trail
Chisholm = born in
Tennessee in 1805 to
Cherokee and Scottish
parents, developed
trading posts on the
Great Plains and the
Chisholm Trail
Hispanics and the Santa Fe Trade

Rico families invested in the Santa Fe Trade
  Armijo
and Chavez families
  Wool sales during the late colonial period
allowed them profits to purchase U.S. goods
Rico families became very wealthy during
Mexican Era
  Good example: Manuel Armijo, governor of
New Mexico during the 1830s and 1840s

Hide and Tallow Trade in California

Hide and Tallow Trade: Mexico’s trade liberalization
opened trade with U.S.
  New
England ships sailed around S. America
  Traded manufactured goods for Hide and Tallow in San
Diego, Monterrey and other ports
  Ship Captains sold tallow and hide to factories in New
England

Richard Henry Dana s Two Years Before the Mast
  Published
in 1840
  Like Gregg’s Commerce of the Prairies, the book brought
knowledge of N. Mexico (i.e. California) to U.S.
  Led
to Mexican-American War
Anglo Settlement of Texas

Mexico ended mercantilism =
allowed Anglos from U.S. to buy
land, from Stephen F. Austin
  Cotton

farmers bring slaves
By 1830s, more Anglos than
Hispanics in East Texas, Mexico
bands further immigration –
angers Texans
Anglo Beaver Trappers:
James Ohio Pattie

Mexican Independence opened up the Southwest to
fur trappers also
  Purchased
license from Mexican government, other
trapped illegally

The Pattie Brothers trapped along the Gila River,
including James Ohio Pattie, 1820s
  Continued


into Sonora
Significance First U.S. citizen to explore
extensively the Southwest
Other Trappers:
  James
Kirker
  John (“James”) Johnson (Travels to Mexico with James
Glenn and James Ohio Pattie in 1827)
Parties of fur
trappers visited
Pueblos (particularly
the Hopi) 1820s,
traded for food
Trappers attempted
to steal food from
Hopi in 1834,
resisted by Hopi 
trappers shot twenty
Hopi
Other Anglo Trappers/Adventurers:
James Kirker (1793-1852)






Born in Ireland, immigrated to New York,
fought in War of 1812
Moved to St. Louis in 1821, engaged in
grocery business
Joined William Henry Ashley’s Rocky
Mountain Fur Co. as an employee who
trapped for the company
Entered New New Mexico to trap beaver
after 1821
Transported copper from Santa Rita del
Cobre to Chihuahua
Died in California
Mexico sells lands to foreigners in
New Mexico
Like in Texas, Mexico sold land in New Mexico
  Southern Colorado (San Luis Valley)

  Conejos
Carlos Beaubien was a French-Canadian
trapper and became a Mexican citizen. Himself
and Guadalupe Miranda (secretary to Gov. M.
Armijo) invested in the Beaubien-Miranda Grant
Grant, 1833
  Sangre de Cristo Land Grant, 1843
  “Beaubien-Miranda Land Grant (1.7 million acres)
  Lucien B. Maxwell purchases property 1843 – later
called Maxwell Land Grant
  Promised to develop land and colonize it, i.e. sell it to
settlers

Shows how Mexico opened itself up to foreign (U.S.)
investment
Political and Military Developments
during the Mexican Era
Mexican Constitution of 1836
•
•
•
Civil War in Mexico =Centralists vs.
Federalists
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
centralizes the Mexican government
with this constitution
Began implementing his Departmental
Plan in 1835
•
•
•
•
Zacatecas revolted
California revolted
Texas revolted
Departmental plan became part of the
new, conservative Constitution of 1836
Constitution of 1824: The
Territory… shall appoint
one full representative and
one supernumerary, who
shall be entitled to a voice
in all matters. The election
of Representatives for the
Territories shall be
regulated by a special law.
Texas Independence, 1836
Anglos (with Tejano allies) declared
independence from Mexico City, due to loss
of representation (i.e. the Mexican
Constitution of 1836
  The Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto

  Texas
–
Texas claims Rio Grande River as border, not the Nueces
River
–
–
–
given its independence
This is to claim more land, particularly New Mexico
Texas ends its claims in New Mexico in 1850
New Mexico declares independence from Mexico City
–
New Mexico Revolt of 1837
Texas an
independent
nation until
U.S. annexed it
in 1845
Annexation of
Texas to U.S.
begins Mexican
War in 1846
New Mexico Revolt of 1837



Sometimes called the Chimayo Rebellion
Many causes, including:
  Poverty in New Mexico (in the context of the Panic of 1837)
  Isolation and drought created dissatisfaction
Major cause: Departmental Plan



Led by Genizaro Indian Jose Gonzales



Santa Ana appoints Albino Pérez governor of New Mexico in 1835
which New Mexicans hated
Santa Ana ordered Pérez to raise taxes
Capture Pérez, decapitated, kicked head on plaza in Santa Fe
Genizaro rebels control Santa Fe for 4 months
Santa Fe Traders provide money to Manuel Armijo, who
captures Gonzales and becomes governor once again
Santa Fe Expedition, 1841





Texas becomes an independent nation in 1836 (to 1845)
Reasons for invasion
  Texas claims the Rio Grande as its border with Mexico
  Takeover the customs house in Santa Fe, to help Texas economy
Governor Manuel Armijo met expedition and forced them back to Texas
Second Santa Fe Expedition: Led by Jacob Snively to attack Santa Fe
traders, which Texas claimed was traveling through N. Texas illegally
  Killed Antonio Chavez, a New Mexican trader on the Santa Fe Trail.
  Philip St. George Cooke is ordered to remove Texas forces out of
New Mexico to restore peace along the trail
Significance: Show how Mexico did not have control of New Mexico


Civil War in Mexico prevents Mexican Army from removing Texas
New Mexico increasingly on a east-west axis (i.e. U.S. sphere of influence.)
Indian Raids in the Mexican Era
Apache raids increase
Navajo, Ute, and Apache raid for food
  Historical Context:

  Comanche
expansion on Southern Plains forced Apache
westward into Northern Sonora, starting in late 1700s,
continued into 1800s
  Spanish government in 1700s had built series of forts
and paid Apache off (rationing system)

Mexico could not control Apache
  Mexico
could not afford to pay off Apache
  Mexico in a state of civil war, could not subdue

Apache populations increased, raids the most intense
Apache Raids: from the Indian
perspective







Chiricahua and Western Apache – loose political structure
Matrilineal Clans divided into Gotah = family cluster (regional
areas)
Headwomen responsible for declaring when a raid was to occur
Considered invitation for men to volunteer
Men taught by elder man as to proper behavior before the raid
was to begin, travel for days
Shaman (with diyah = supernatural power of Usen) led the party:
1. Horse Power; 2. Running Power
Apache James Kaywaykla: “…never did we take all the herds…
we took care to leave enough horses so that the Mexicans could
raise more for us.” (Shadows at Dawn, 150)
Sometimes took captives: women and children incorporated into
clans; men held hostage for exchange of goods or killed
Mexican government relied on
scalp hunters




Mexican Army looses battle against Apache
  Governor of Chihuahua Jose Mariano Monteverde lost an 1832
battle with the Apache on Gila River
  Apache chiefs Mangus Coloradas and Pisago Cabezon victorious
Mexican government turned to buying scalps
  Mexican government pay $50 per male scalp
  Less money for female and child’s scalps
Beaver been trapped-out, turned to killing Apache and selling
scalpes, including James Kirker and John Johnson
Example: James Kirker attacked over 148 Apache near Janos,
Chihuahua mostly women and children, 1837,

Sold scalps to Sonora Governor Jose Maria Elias Gonzalez
Johnson Massacre




John (“James”) Johnson returns to New Mexico 1830s to scalp
Apache and sell to Mexican government
In April 22, 1837, Johnson invited Chiricahua Apache to a feast in
Animas Mts. (some sources say at Santa Rita del Cobre)
  Sign treaty to end raids on mule trains taking copper to
Chihuahua
Johnson fires cannon of glass, nails and chain
Killed peaceful Apache


Chief Juan Jose Compa and wives of Mangus Coloradas
Apache retaliate, and kill some inhabitance of Santa Rita del
Cobre
Case Study: Mangus Coloradas red
sleeves
Chiricahua, born west of Silver City, Santa Lucia Springs
  Became leader in 1814
  Apprenticed as a dikohe (warrior); learned under a
shaman – was large individual
  Raided Mexican settlements (i.e. Santa Rita del Cobre)
  Favorite camping sight, Santa Lucia Springs
  After Johnson Massacre, in which his wives were killed
  Mangus attack Santa Rita
  Continued raiding, including Santa Rita del Cobre
supply trains

Society in New Mexico during the
Mexican Era
Rico Class Becomes Wealthier
in the Mexican Era
Sheep Ranching and Partido Contracts
  Sold sheep in California
  Invested profits into the Santa Fe Trade
  Sent sons for education in St. Louis
  Controlled business and politics: Governor Manuel Armijo
  Examples of Rico families

  Chavez
Family (Rio Arriba area)
  Armijo Family (Rio Abajo area)

Intermarried with each other: Armijo family: Manuel
Armijo son of Vicente Ferrer Armijo and María Bárbara
Chávez
La Tules: A Famous Business Woman

La Tules = Maria Gertrudis (“Tules”) Barceló
  b.
1800, probably in Sonora (or France)
  1821, moved to New Mexico and married into a rico
family

Gambling salon, Ortiz Mts., miners

Fined in 1825, moved to Santa Fe
Opened gambling hall and hotel in Santa Fe
  Patrons = Mexican officials, ricos, Santa Fe Traders
  Reputation for loose morals  possible affair with
governor Manuel Armijo

La Tules: Continued…
Died in 1852
  Left will = $10,000 and several houses
  Significance 
  Women under Spanish/Mexican law could own
property

  Women
in U.S. could not own property
  English common law of “coverture”
  Women’s

identity and property “covered” by husband
Explains why Hispanic last names often hyphenated
Antonio Jose Martinez
Lived: Spanish, Mexican, and early U.S. periods
  Born in Abiquiu 1793 – Genizaro town
  Entered priesthood, studied in Durango, Mexico, 1810s
  Moved to Taos, and brought first printing press
  Served in state legislature, 1831- 1836, was a liberal
who opposed Santa Ana
  Opposed Albino Perez

Resisted Charles Bent, who bought
land in Taos area
  Sermon
celebrating Father Miguel Hidalgo, believed to
have incited the Chimayo rebels
  Martinez (Rico), supported Armijo
Armijo ordered the execution of José Gonzales, but not
before saying: "Father Martinez, hear this genizaro's
confession so that he may be shot five times”.
Mexican-American War,
1846-1848
Mexican American War: What
was It?

From 1846-1848
  To

force Mexico to sell California
Ports and trade with China
  Feared

Britain or Russia might take Calif.
Two Years Before the Mast
  Good
harbors, excellent ranching lands
  Dilapidated presidios, under-funded military
  U.S. victorious:
  U.S. purchased California
  Acquired New Mexico to build railroads to Pacific Ocean
  Significance: Brought New Mexico into the United States
Manifest Destiny: Justification for
War
Newspaper editor John L. O’ Sullivan
  God ordained U.S. to spread to Pacific
Ocean
  Cited 13 colonies of England whose
land ostensibly stretched to the Pacific
  To extend representative government
over a population lacking democracy
  Bring economic development, progress,
etc.

President James K. Polk
Democrat, wins 1844 election
  Ran on platform of westward expansion
  Seeks to add lands for benefit of southern cotton
growers
  Annexed Texas in 1845
  Resolved boundary dispute in Oregon territory with
Great Britain

Slidell Mission
Louisiana senator and diplomat to
Mexico
  President Polk orders him to Mexico City
to seek the purchase of California in
1846
  Mexico refused to sell California
  Polk orders U.S. army into the Nueces
Strip

The War Began
U.S. claimed Rio Grande as border, not
Nueces River
  President James K. Polk ordered army into
the Nueces Strip
  Mexican troops already stationed there

  Killed

several U.S. soldiers
Polk addressed Congress
  “U.S.
soldiers were killed by Mexican troops
on U.S. soil.”

Abraham Lincoln’s “Spot Resolution”
  Where

exactly were those U.S. troops killed?
Polk given Declaration of War
Transcendentalist
philosopher Henry David
Thoreau imprisoned for not
paying taxes in protest of
the Mexican War
Early Battle Sequences
Winfield Scott initiated naval
blockade
  Zachary Taylor led U.S. troops in the
Nueces Strip

  Continued

into Coahuila
Stephen Watts Kearny
  “Army
of the West”
  Followed Santa Fe Trail
  Used
maps in Josiah Gregg’s Commerce of
the Prairies
Kearny was followed
by Santa Fe Traders
Peaceful Occupation of New
Mexico?

Governor Manuel Armijo: Attempted to
defend New Mexico at Apache Pass
  New
Mexico militiamen and Pueblo Indian
  Retreated, U.S. too strong

Armijo might have met secretly with
captain Philip St. George Cooke and
merchant Alexander Magoffin
  Might
have bribed Armijo
Armijo liquidated his assets and retreated
south into Chihuahua
  Kearny entered Santa Fe peacefully

U.S. army officials
borrowed money from
La Tules
Indians at the beginning of Mexican
American War in 1846
General Stephen Watts Kearny found that
the Pueblos wanted to ally with U.S. in
order to wage war against the Navajo
  Mangus Coloradas met with General
Kearny and pledge allegiance with U.S.,
but Kearny said no
  U.S. made treaties with Utes

Alexander Doniphan’s Missouri
Volunteers



Alexander Doniphan s Missouri Volunteers
Battlefield 30 miles south of today s Las
Cruces
Doniphan encountered Mexican Army sent
north from El Paso del Norte




Defeated army at the Battle of Brazito on
Dec. 25, 1846
Occupied El Paso del Norte without
resistance
Continued to Chihuahua, fought Mexican
army Battle of Sacramento, won
Continued into Coahuila
Joined forces with Gen. John Wool
  Occupied region, until took boats back to U.S.

Kearny orders Alexander Doniphan and his
Missouri volunteers into Navajo land to make
peace treaty, signed by chiefs Zarcilla Largo
and Narbona, raids continued because tribe
did not have unified government
Cooke s Mormon
Battalion (1846)
Philip St. George Cooke
  Mormon Battalion

  Brigham
Young led Mormons to Utah (i.e. Mexico)
  Why participate in Mexican War?
  Need
money
  Reconnoiter State of Deseret
Kearny followed
  Significance:

  Led
to first wagon road to California (Cooke s Wagon
Road)
  Cooke s Peak in Grant County
Battles in California

John Fremont foments Bear Flag Revolt
  Fremont
and Anglo settlers declare independence from
Mexico, June 1846
  Bear Flag Republic  Siege of Los Angeles,
September 1846

Stephen Watts Kearney s Army of the West
  Remember:
St. George Philip Cooke s Mormon
Battalion surveyed the military wagon road to
California, and Kearney followed

Battle of San Pascual, December 1846
  Fall
of San Diego to the U.S.
Taos Uprising, 1847


U.S. occupied Santa Fe
Mexicans attack U.S. forces in Santa Fe
  Rancho
de Taos (Mexican Pablo Montoya)
  Taos Pueblo(Indian Thomas Romero)

Indians use arrows to kill Governor
Alexander Bent
  Scalped
in front of his family
  Women and children unharmed



Five hundred Mexicans and Pueblos attack
Anglos in Rio Hondo and Mora
Colonel Sterling Price with Ceran St. Vrain
quash revolt, laid siege to Taos Pueblo
Several more battles, like Battle of Las
Vegas, before rebellion was ended
Church in Taos Pueblo in which the
rebels were held up in. The U.S.
army bombarded it with cannons.
Today the Taos Pueblo keeps it as it
is, destroyed, with crosses of the
defenders who were killed in 1847,
as a testimony to the history.
U.S. Occupation of Mexico City
General Winfield Scott captured Veracruz, March
1847
  Marched inland
  Approached city from the South
  Fighting in the city, including the Battle of Chapultepec

  Cadets
tried to defend, gave their lives, immortalized as
Los Niños Heroes
  U.S. push Mexican forces into city

General Santa Anna fled from the capital, released
30,000 prisoners, fighting continued, but U.S.
eventually took over
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848


U.S. invaded Mexico City, war ended in September
1847 and treaty signed
U.S. Purchases Mexican Acquisition for $15,000,000
  New
Mexico, Arizona, and California
  Colorado, Utah, and Nevada




Pay debts owed to U.S. citizens by Mexico
Protect property and civil rights of Mexican nationals
living under U.S. rule
U.S. to police its border and compulsory arbitration oif
future disputes
Significance: Begins the U.S. Era in Southwest History
Conclusion
Mexican Independence
  Santa Fe Trade
  Genizaros
  Chimayo Rebellion
  Texas Invasion
  Mexican American War
