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In 1690, Diego de Vargas Zapata Lujan Ponce de Leon was appointed Governor of
New Mexico. When he assumed office at El Paso del Norte the following year, his
assignment for the reconquest of New Mexico consisted of two parts. He was to first
make a preliminary entry to determine the condition of the province, and obtain
the surrender of the rebellious pueblos, peacefully, if possible, but by force if
necessary. When this was accomplished, he was to recolonize New Mexico's abandoned
settlements and reestablish the destroyed missions.
Diego de Vargas and a contingent of less than fifty soldiers, accompanied by
three friars, left El Paso on August 17, 1692, and began an uneventful expedition
north along the Rio Grande. In early September, de Vargas arrived at Santa Fe, where
he found the old Spanish capital fortified and its inhabitants defiant. De Vargas,
however, utilizing a masterful mix of diplomacy and a not so subtle threat of a
siege, soon obtained their surrender. On September 14, 1692, de Vargas proclaimed
a formal act of possession, and by the end of 1692, most of New Mexico's Pueblos
had been officially restored to the Spanish empire without a shot being fired or
any blood shed. This is the peaceful reconquest which is observed annually in September
at the famous Fiesta de Santa Fe.
The second portion of the reconquest was far from peaceful. In 1693, de Vargas
returned to El Paso, and by October, was on his way back with seventy families,
eighteen Franciscan friars, and a number of Tlaxlacan allies to begin the recolonization
of New Mexico. But by this time, the Pueblos had experienced second thoughts, and
when the colonists arrived at Santa Fe in December, they found the city once again
fortified.
For two weeks, the Spanish colonists camped outside the city while de Vargas
attempted to persuade the Indians to surrender. Finally, a decision was reached
to take Santa Fe by force, which was accomplished after a fierce battle which lasted
two days. Afterwards, seventy Pueblo defenders were executed and several hundred
captured men, women, and children sentenced to ten years servitude. The peaceful
reconquest was over. During this time, a few of the Pueblos remained true to the
promise of peace they had made to de Vargas in 1692. But most of them continued
to resist, and by the summer of 1696, the situation deteriorated into a general
rebellion which is often called the Second Pueblo Revolt. For the next several years
New Mexico suffered terribly from almost continual warfare. Many pueblos were abandoned
and their population dispersed as their inhabitants sought refuge in the mountains
and among the Navajo and Apache. But the Pueblos had weakened by several years of
warfare and were unable to resist effectively. Soon, more Spanish families arrived
in Santa Fe, the missions were reestablished, Spanish settlements grew, and the
Pueblos repopulated. By the close of the seventeenth century, a new era of New Mexico
history could begin.
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