Hard History: The Many Trials of Don Juan de Onate

Don Juan de Oñate was a man of La Frontera-- the frontier. Determined to bring the laws of the Spanish Crown to new territories, he wound up being condemned to exile by those same laws. He was the author both of glowing accounts of his own successes as well as some of the very testimony used to convict him after accusations of mistreatment of his fellow colonists and torture of the indigenous people of Acoma.

We examine Oñate from his expedition north from El Paso del Norte to his audacious claim of success in converting 33 Pueblos and tribes to the King's rule.
We trace his arduous journey to California, his conquest of the New Mexican territory, and the stringent trials he encountered as governor.

But that's not the whole story - we also unpack his enduring-- and conflicting-- legacies. We also explore recent-- and heated conflicts-- in Albuquerque, Alcalde, and Espanola around memorials to Oñate, conflicts which risk establishing New Mexico's newest, and worst tradition: Shooting incidents over the removal of statues.

From the heated debates surrounding his statues to the indelible impact on New Mexico, we leave no stone unturned. Prepare to challenge perceptions and unveil truths about this divisive historical figure.

Trigger Warning: Although we generally keep it PG at the Enchantment Chronicles, this episode does refer to executions and the mutilation and enslavement of indigenous people, as well as a describing some battle scenes. 

Transcript

Johnny: 0:10

Welcome to the Enchantment Chronicles with the Men of Enchantment. Today, we're going to talk about Don Juan De Oñate Drew.

Drew: 0:20

Yeah, he's been in the news recently. As New Mexico risks establishing a new and terrible tradition. We had a protest turn violent for the second time around one of its statues In Albuquerque a few years ago. A statue that was put up in 2004 in front of the Albuquerque Museum was being protested and then some protestors made an attempt to actually tear it down and an altercation ensued and one of the counter protesters, after challenging them physically, it wound up shooting someone, who thankfully didn't die, and in this case, a statue that originally was erected in 1998 at Alcalde, just north of Espanola, was not being re erected in front of the Espanola Courthouse and there were protestors celebrating that, and again some violence ensued and counter protesters shot and again, thankfully did not kill anyone.

Johnny: 1:32

So that's kind of where we are With that. We thought it would be good to talk about Oñate To begin with.

Drew: 1:39

He was our first governor, so that's why there was this spate of statues being erected around 1998. That was the 400th anniversary of the Oñate expedition, which was not the first expedition Spanish expedition into New Mexico, but he had been selected as our first governor.

Johnny: 1:59

Oñate was born in 1550 to a noble family, the Oñates, son of Cristobal de Oñate, and he was born down in New Spain amongst the people of what in Zacatecas.

Drew: 2:16

Yeah, in Zacatecas His father was actually a Basque who had come to New Spain and there there was continued sort of indigenous resistance by groups of the Spanish people labeled that Chichimecas, I'm not sure. It's not clear that they were in fact one people or so on. But he was born at an interesting time. Shortly before around the time he was born, the last Nuevas were passed in 1542 and those were laws passed, agreed to by the King of Spain, King Charles of Spain, that would end the hereditary encomienda. In other words, if you became a noble, yeah, you could sort of treat the indigenous people as your serfs, but that would not pass on to your sons.

Drew: 3:17

Now it was pushed by a man who became a priest, bartolome de las Casas. His father had sailed with Columbus and he inherited a plantation on Hispaniola. But de las Casas was horrified by the treatment of the Indians there and returned to Spain, pushed the Vatican to first recognize that the indigenous people were in fact human beings and there was actually a trial about this and that they had souls, and from there was successful in passing the laws that the last Nuevas, that ended the hereditary encomienda system. So that was the end of the inherited servitude in the Spanish Empire. Officially On the frontier, things would be a little more controversial, but that's where Oniate is born at this changing time in Spain. So he gets himself appointed to become the first governor in 1595, largely because he agreed to fund the expedition himself, and a few years later he starts out for the territory that's been awarded to him right.

Johnny: 4:29

That's right. So he essentially bought his way to the governorship. Is that what? It is yeah, so that was in 1595. But it took a few years for him to get his stuff together and recruit folks and he eventually made it to El Paso del Norte, which was at that point, I believe, part of Nuevo Mexico. But that was what, early 1598 he makes it to El Paso.

Drew: 5:02

Yes.

Johnny: 5:03

Yeah. So he departed from Santa Barbara in Mexico and he finally gets to El Paso with 560 males, 129 soldiers, lots of women and children and Indian servants who weren't counted, but a bunch of livestock, 7000 livestock, and a few monks, eight friars, eight friars, yeah, and two lay brothers.

Drew: 5:37

And out of those 129 soldiers his eight year old son was apparently given a lieutenant's commission. I don't know if that was a Joe girl, if that was part of, if that was a payroll, but I don't know if his son counted as a child or as a soldier in those 129 soldiers. But he does travel north and extends the Camino Real by several hundred miles as he travels north, the Camino Real, and so he started what in from El Paso.

Johnny: 6:15

He takes off around March, april or so, from El Paso. When he heads north, he crosses the river and at that point he declares he lays claim to the territory of New Mexico and declares that every creature, spiritual and corporal, rational and irrational, from the highest share of to the lowliest ant and the tiniest butterfly, are kingdom, are parts of the kingdom of Spain, so subjects of Spain.

Drew: 6:43

So he's claiming that's interesting Cherubs and subjects and insects, yeah.

Johnny: 6:52

Yeah, why not take it off? Take it all, but he they had headed north. They cross the river and they head north towards what is now north of Las Cruces, and then they pass through the Jornada del Muerto, and where they travel a few days before they pop out near Soccorro.

Drew: 7:13

Yeah, the Jornado is where you kind of have to veer away if you're least of your hauling wagons away from the Rio Grande and and it's called the Hornado del Merto, the journey of the dead man, and later we'll hear about some, some literal dead men from that journey. But in this case they managed to pass through the desert and come north. And he gives a report, the act of obedience and vassalage by the Indians of Santo Domingo. He has to report back to the king. You know what does he find? Does he find gold? Does he find silver? You know what? How many souls has he converted? So in one of his reports he swears that he told representatives of 33 Pueblos and tribes that he had come from the most powerful king on earth, the king of Spain, to bring about the salvation of their souls. And he said quote one could easily see and understand that they were very pleased with the coming of his lordship. And quote so he's. He's certainly giving optimistic reports back to Mexico and to New Spain at the time, and and to the crown.

Johnny: 8:31

And, to be fair, hauling 7000 livestock. That's a pretty big haul for that time it's got. It must have been a site. Site to see.

Drew: 8:44

Yeah, mark Simmons wrote a biography of Onate and he records some. Sometimes that he encourages the group by. You know he dives into a flood on horseback just to show everybody that it can be done and they get the, gets the wagons across the flood. So he's, he's certainly a bold, a bold leader of this expedition. And then he establishes the first and second capitals of New Mexico, right, johnny?

Johnny: 9:19

That's right, yeah, up near Okay Owinge Okay Owinge? Ok, he establishes the first capital, san Juan de los Cuelleros, and that was a capital for a couple years. And later he establishes and, and that was 1598. And later, in 1599, he establishes the second capital. So was it San Gabriel? San Gabriel which was nearby but nobody really knows where, at least what I've read. Nobody really knows what where either are, but although there has been some research within the last 30 years.

Johnny: 10:00

So was this on his way out to California or on the way back into Cal from California?

Drew: 10:09

He camped in 1598. And so he stopped at Acoma first and then at El Morro. But his, his nephew, zaldivar, leads a second group close to Acoma, and there Zaldivar, as his uncle had before, demanded food and, according to the accounts of soldiers named Vivero, may have stolen two turkeys and been killed. There are other accounts, including Tony Hillerman's, that say and they seem to be based on some oral tradition that Zaldivar demanded Acoma women as servants or what have you. But in any event things turn violent and Zaldivar, according to Viagra's later account, actually is killed by Zutacapan. That's not exactly clear. And here I should say that this is based on the Historia de la Nueva Mexico which Viagra writes later, in 1610, and he's imitating Virgil's Aeneid, the Latin story of the founding of Rome. So the first two lines are that of of arms I sing, and of that heroic son, of his wondrous deeds and of his victories won. So he's, he's telling a very sympathetic account of Onate, and in it there's a, there's a brutal battle. But even in in his very sympathetic account, viagra in Cantos 21-23, kind of captures Zudacopan's Acoma perspective. He refers to him as a Lucifer, but he says quote that Zudacopan told his fellow natives tell me, how could there be a greater misfortune, a more terrible disgrace upon all of us than to submit to the slavery and subjugation offered us and be obliged even to feed these strangers? I swear by all the living gods that not a man should remain rather than submit to this tyranny.

Drew: 12:51

And Viagra describes a three hour battle at which Viagra was was not present. We should emphasize this. He's. He's actually with Onate at the time, but he says there's fighting across the Mesa tops, the archbuses spit forth the hidden missiles from their bayer barrels, laying low a number of the foe. But Zudacopan himself struck the brave Zaldavar a terrible blow on the forehead and Zaldavar fell, delivered onto that eternal sleep to which we are all doomed someday. And six, six banyards are the only ones who survive. They jump from the cliffs at some point clearly not from the top of the cliffs, that would. That would be fatal but they jump and manage to escape. We don't know how many acrimons were killed in that battle. But Ognate gets worried. He finds out his uncle's, his nephew's been killed and he resolves to punish the acrimonts.

Drew: 13:51

but he decides to do it according to the law and so he goes before the, the local monks, the Franciscan friars that he brought with him, and asks for them to declare a just war, because the acrimons had willingly, according to Onate, declared their subjugation to the king.

Johnny: 14:13

And so that earlier battle was Zaldavar where he was killed. That was early December of 98, 1598, right so? And then it took them about a month, month and a half, to to get the appropriate declaration of war or whatever was necessary, and then they headed back in late January. Does that sound about right?

Drew: 14:42

Yeah, and, and they're a brutal battle. In the suit, you know, the Acoma Pueblo is, it seems almost impregnable. You know, they've got stones, they've got, they've actually captured some of the breast plates and swords of the previous battle and they can throw stones down. But Onate orders a frontal assault that manages to distract them, while a few of his men sneak up the back way and manage to get to the top of the mace, at which point their firepower becomes overwhelming.

Johnny: 15:23

So, and that that battle was January 22nd of 1599. I believe that's when it started, and there was some at that point, 4,000 people living on the acrimonpoblos and at that battle, at least 1,000 warriors, of whom 500 died, and about 300 men and women and children died. So around 800 to 1,000 people probably died in that, in that assault. Yeah, of those remaining that lived, who were taken prisoners, they were shipped around, some shipped to Mexico City. There were some other penalties that were waged against folks.

Drew: 16:10

Yeah, Onate is the governor, so he's kind of the judge in this case. He's both the participant in the combat and he's passing the sentences. And he sentences all Acoma men and the boys over 12 to face amputation of their right feet and 20 years of servitude, 20 years of slavery. The women and girls were to be sentenced to 20 years of servitude and two Hopi men who happened to have been visiting Acoma because there's trade routes to all of these communities and people have interactions but these Hopi men just happened to be there, so he had their right hands cut off and he sent them back to their pueblos in Arizona so that they could pass warnings to them not to resist the Spanish.

Drew: 17:01

Now, later, david Roberts reports that a historian it's worth mentioning the first three English accounts of Onyates of Acoma Pueblo, I'm sorry don't even mention this massacre and that may be because they just had not been exposed to it or maybe they didn't want to confront that history.

Drew: 17:23

But through the 1930s there's a lot of accounts that just don't mention this part and one recent historian tried to argue that that sentence might not have been carried out, that in fact, a lot of the time the Spanish had this little play where they would sentence natives to very harsh penalties and the priests would beg for their forgiveness and get them out of it.

Drew: 17:50

But Onate himself wrote the said sentence was carried out as decreed in the Pueblo of Santo Domingo and other towns nearby where the Indians whose hands and feet were to be cut off were punished on different days. And according to Lieutenant, former Lieutenant Governor of Acoma, brian Vio, he said based on our oral history, a lot of Acoma elders from 30 years ago would have supported the idea of Onyates sentence having been carried out. But he does go on. There's a lot I can't tell you and I won't and that's kind of par for the course that if you know about the relationships between the Pueblos and the European settlers, the Pueblo tradition definitely began to emphasize privacy and secrecy when dealing with outsiders as a defense against persecution. But that story becomes one of the primary things that's introduced later at his trial. But first he makes it back to California, right, johnny?

Johnny: 19:06

Yeah, so after this battle he kind of Nothing really happens. Well, I'm sure stuff happens, but after this battle he eventually heads back. He tries to make it back to California, or tries to make it to California, does make it to California. He left in 1604. Again, he's leaving in late. I don't know why, but he's leaving in late, the late year, heads back down through the Zuni and the Hopi Pueblos along the Colorado River. He makes it to the Gulf of California in January 1605. Hangs out for a little while, few days, and then he turns right back around and comes back. And he was establishing a route out there for New Spain. I think it was the first one that established that route, january 25th of 1605. And then they turn back around, head back through New Mexico. Where they stop and this Drew is where they stop at El Morro, and he inscribes he had to have been there before.

Johnny: 20:14

Yeah he was, he gets it inscribed, or has it inscribed, on April 16th, 1605, in English, here passed by the Governor General, don Juan de Oñate, from discovery of the South Sea, the 16th of April 1605.

Drew: 20:34

Yep, and that word in Spanish is I'm going to probably abuse it, but at They're describing it as Governor General, but it means the conqueror of New Lab, and so he's giving himself credit for conquering the New Mexican territory at that time and ironically has it stamped onto the rock face right over old Petroglyphs. So he's certainly getting his mark made there. And if you go to El Morro it actually is a very striking sight. It's got inscriptions from US Army expeditions and American settlers, along with thousand year old petred lifts, because it was the only place for I think 60 miles where you could count on there being standing water. The cliff there, the mesa there funnels all the rainfall there into a little pool in space and that is a reliable source of water year round. It was a very important site and, like I say, there is an ancestral Sunni Pueblo on top, but that has been abandoned by the time Odiate comes, so eventually he gets run out of town.

Johnny: 22:01

You know that story, yeah.

Drew: 22:06

Some other settlers flee south. He actually, somewhere in there, headed off to the Cibola. He followed Coronado's footsteps out onto the eastern east of New Mexico. The plains, looking for more fortune because you know we're not New Mexico at that point is not turning out as lucrative in terms of silver and gold as the crown or onyate we're hoping. But some others escaped south and there they describe onyate including a friend's confriar as being so brutal that some of the natives were having to eat tree bark because all their food was being appropriated basically by onyate. And they describe him as giving glowing accounts of the land when it was really poor and living shamefully with women in the colony, of adultery in other words. And they described his that the natives had been reduced to such an extremity that he had seen them eating branches of trees, earth, charcoal and ashes. But most naming was the account of the Acoma brutality and so. So around what?

Johnny: 23:28

1606, he gets called back, Recall to Mexico City based on his conduct and they want to have a hearing. Right around that time he was planning Santa Fe. I want to say it was 1605, 1606. He then heads down south, back to Mexico City where he was tried for various things and he was ultimately convicted of cruelty to natives and colonists and he was just not a great guy.

Drew: 24:08

Yeah, yeah, and you know there's a lot of arguments to be made about historical relativism and there's and there certainly is a history of people trying to portray various other empires as far more brutal than your own. But in this case the Spanish crown themselves banished him from New Mexico permanently and they banished him from Mexico City for four years. So he kind of he goes back to Spain. He was fined 6,000 due cuts in order to pay for the cost of his court case. He does manage to get a job as a mine inspector in Spain in the 1620s, when he was more than 70 years old. He tried to get forgiven and restored his title of governor general of Alam Tado but he dies in 1625.

Drew: 25:04

Meanwhile his loyal follower, Viagra, writes that account in 1610. That gets published oh, it was five years from Mexico City, but it gets published and kind of introduces this very romantic notion of him. So you know, and that notion gets adopted in English. Like I say, the first three English books about the acama don't mention this massacre. An acama we should mention is, along with a couple of Hopi settlements, it's a contender for the oldest continuously inhabited town in what is now the United States, Even though most people don't live there on the mesa top. Most acama live nearby in various towns, but it has been inhabited for probably a thousand years, comfortably a thousand years, I guess, I would say. So they have a rich tradition in history that's been passed down continuously, even though their people were devastated. You said that there were still people living there in 1613, right, Johnny? According to the National Park Service.

Johnny: 26:20

This battle didn't end the city, the battle didn't end the town in the Pueblo. It was still, it's been going for, like you said, over probably a thousand years. At this point, people have been living up there.

Drew: 26:35

Yeah, so you flash forward a few years to 1998, the 400th anniversary of the Onyate Conquest, the first governorship, and the town of Alcalde, north of north of Espanola, establishes an Onyate center and there's a mounted statue of him. But almost immediately an electric saw is used to cut off his right foot from his statue and that has to be replaced at a cost of $10,000. And so, eventually, the Onyate center doesn't turn out to be quite a draw, and so, um, it was eventually pulled down for safekeeping. It was possibly going to be put up at the Espanola Courthouse, and the county commissioners decided to not put it back up, citing safety concerns. And that was when we had that most recent incident, where some people were celebrating the fact that this statue was not being put back up, and it turned violent, actually, between two sets of people, not from the town of Espanola or the county even, and that's where we are today.

Johnny: 28:01

Yeah, it is kind of ironic that the Spanish crown banished him, yet we're putting out statues of him.

Drew: 28:12

Yeah Well, in fairness, the world did shift pretty suddenly. Columbus winds up going to face trial for similar crimes and was convicted as well. So a lot of the people that came out here tended to be very much frontiersmen, and some of them were fleeing persecution and some of them had no compunction about their own treatment of other people. And so you know, when you look at the history of Onyate, you can certainly see that the world was changing around him at that time, and maybe that's why he has such a complicated legacy. Today he's our first governor here in Nuevo Mexico, but he also wanted to be sentenced and tried and convicted for his crimes here.

Johnny: 29:22

Well, we hope you enjoyed this latest episode. Until next time. We will see you again next time.

Drew: 29:36

Thank you.