New Mexico,
Was among the earlier of the interior portions of
North America visited by the Spaniards.
Those adventurous spirits explored portions of it about 100 years before the Pilgrims landed on the shores of New
England.
Cabeza De Vaca (q. v.) with the remnant of
Narvaez's expedition, penetrated
New Mexico before 1537, and made a report of the country to the viceroy of
Mexico.
In 1539
Marco de Nica visited the country, and so did
Coronado (q. v.) the next year, and a glowing account of it was given by Castaneda, the historian of the expedition.
Others followed, and about 1581
Augustin Ruyz, a Franciscan missionary, entered the country and was killed by the natives.
Don Antonio Espejo, with a force, went there soon afterwards (1595-99) to protect missions, and the viceroy of
Mexico sent his representative to take formal possession of the country in the name of
Spain, and to establish missions, settlements, and forts there.
The pueblo, or village, Indians were readily made converts by the missionaries.
Many successful stations were established, and mines were opened and worked, but the enslavement of the Indians by the Spaniards caused discontent and insecurity.
Finally the Indians drove out their oppressors (1680), and recovered the whole country as far south as El Paso del Norte.
The
Spaniards regained possession of the country in 1698, and the province remained a part of
Mexico until 1846, when its capital (
Santa Fe) was captured by United States troops under
Gen. Stephen W. Kearny (q. v.), who soon conquered the whole territory.
In 1848
New Mexico
[
390]
was ceded to the
United States by treaty; and by act of Congress, Sept. 9, 1850, a territorial government was organized there.
The region south of the
Gila was obtained by purchase in 1853, and was annexed to
New Mexico by Congress, Aug. 4, 1854.
The territory then contained the whole of
Arizona and a portion of
Colorado and
Nevada.
Attempts have been made to create
New Mexico a State, but without success.
Its capital is
Santa Fe on the
Santa Fe River, about 20 miles above its confluence with the
Rio Grande, population in 1890, 153,593, in 1900, 195,310.
Secretary Floyd sent
Colonel Loring, of
North Carolina, and
Colonel Crittenden, of
Kentucky, into
New Mexico, about a year before the
Civil War broke out, to influence the patriotism of the 1,200 United States troops stationed there.
They did not succeed; and, exciting the indignation of these troops by their propositions, they were compelled to flee from their wrath in July, 1861.
At
Fort Fillmore, near the
Texas border, they found the officers in sympathy with them.
Maj. Isaac Lynde, of
Vermont, their commander, professed to be loyal, but in July, while leading about 500 of his troops towards the village of
Mesilla, he fell in with a few Texan Confederates, and, after a light skirmish, fell back to the fort.
He was ordered by his superiors to take his command to
Albuquerque.
His soldiers were allowed to drink whiskey freely on the way, and when they had gone 10 miles on the road a large portion of them were intoxicated.
Then, as if by previous arrangement, a large force of Texans appeared.
The sober soldiers wanted to fight, but
Lynde, either treacherously or through cowardice, ordered them to surrender.
His commissary,
Captain Plummer, handed over to the leader of the
Confederates $17,000 in government drafts.
Thus, at one sweep, nearly one-half of the government troops of
New Mexico were lost to its service.
Late in 1861,
Gen. Edward R. S. Canby (q. v.) was appointed to the command of the military department of New Mexico.
Civil war was then kindling in that region Around him the loyal people of the
Territory gathered; and his regular troops, New Mexican levies, and volunteers gave him sufficient force to meet any Confederates which might be sent against him He fought them at
Valverde, and was discomfited; but there were soon such accessions to his ranks that he drove the
Confederates over the mountains into
Texas.
See
Cabeza De Vaca (
The journey through New Mexico);
United States,
New Mexico, in vol.
IX.
Governors
[A list of the governors ruling in
New Mexico previous to 1846, with notes, may be found in
Historical sketches of New Mexico, by
L. Bradford Prince.
A list of names only, in
The annual statistician and economist,
L. P. McCarty, 1889, and elsewhere.]
