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17. Pacification of Acoma
- University Press of Colorado
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193 17 Pacification of Acoma Such as this, I surmise Was the picture Juan de Oñate made, As noble as Mars, for battle arrayed As wise as Jupiter, in peace . . . Ravage and burn and cut and scar, The marks he left will perish not. Villagrá1 The defeat of the Spaniards at Acoma presented the ominous threat that the pueblo villages might unite in a general insurrection against their Spanish intruders. With the loss of so many men, Oñate’s fighting strength was precariously low,at fewer than 120 men.2 The sense of immediate danger increased when the compliant Indians of San Juan reported a rumor that Indians from other villages were preparing to attack. Oñate posted men to defend the entrances to San Juan’s central plaza, while the wives of officers were sent to the pueblo rooftops as sentinels. The best remedy against such an uprising, Oñate concluded, would be bloody vengeance for Juan de Zaldívar’s defeat. His Basque pride and reputation as a conquistador—and perhaps the lives of every Spaniard in New Mexico as well, he felt—demanded it. Acoma, the unassailable “fortress in the sky,” must somehow be conquered and the Indian rebels punished—severely. 194 P a c i f i c a t i o n o f a c o m a To Oñate, there was no question that the Acoma defeat must be avenged and quickly. He concluded that he was on solid legal ground to exert the punishment. His decision to act was supported, to his thinking, by the rationale that because the Acomans had taken the vow of loyalty prior to their uprising, they were traitors to the Spanish Crown. Still, Oñate realized that revenge must be achieved under Spanish law and in accommodation with the church. The friars were agreeable. When consulted, they found sufficient moral argument to support punitive action. A written statement signed by Fray Alonso Martínez concocted a convenient logic that argued “as the purpose of war is to establish peace, then it is even justifiable to exterminate and destroy those who stand in the way of that peace.”3 This was accompanied by his plea for the protection of the innocent souls who had done no wrong and the avoidance of bloodshed and death to the extent possible.4 But while the priests gave their support to the reprisal against the Acomans, they were hardly prepared for the ruthlessness of the battle to follow and the ensuing punishment of the Acomans. Oñate’s first move was to initiate a military strike against the Acoma pueblo. He appointed Vicente de Zaldívar, now twenty-one years of age, lieutenant governor of New Mexico province and elevated him in rank to captain general. As such, he was honored with the task of leading seventy soldiers against the seemingly impregnable fortress to avenge his brother’s death. Oñate’s instructions to Vicente were: If the Indians are entrenched and should have assembled many people and you think there is danger of losing your army in trying to storm the pueblo, you will refrain from doing so, for there would be less harm in postponing the punishment for the time being than in risking the people with you and those left here for the protection of the church of God, its ministers, and me. In this matter you must exercise the utmost care and foresight. If the people should have deserted the pueblo, you will burn it to the ground and destroy it . . . If God should be so merciful as to grant us victory, you will arrest all of the people, young and old, without sparing anyone. Inasmuch as we have declared war on them without quarter, you will punish all those of fighting age as you deem best, as a warning to everyone in this kingdom. All of those you execute you will expose to public view at the places you think most suitable, as a salutary example.5 [3.144.243.184] Project MUSE (2024-04-18 00:06 GMT) 195 P a c i f i c a t i o n o f a c o m a Special preparations were made. Equipment for the horses—bridles, reins,bits,stirrups,packsaddles,harnesses,buckles,and eyelets—was carefully tended; the heavy steel breastplates for the horses were burnished and shined. Harquebuses were oiled and their springs tried, gunpowder sifted and dried in the...