Came Men on Horses: The Conquistador Expeditions of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and Don Juan de Oñate

4. “We Ask and Require”

57 4 “We Ask and Require” They [the Hopi Indians] had received word that Cibola had been overrun by the most ferocious people who rode animals that ate people. Castañeda1 Coronado’s precise route beyond Chichilticale has never been resolved with certainty. It is clearly determined, however, that he marched north to the Zuni settlements on the Zuni River in present New Mexico just across its border with Arizona. A direct route thereto would have taken the expedition along the east side of the border through Apache Pass, past the Peloncillo Mountain range and the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, past the site of present Eagar and St. Johns, Arizona, and across the Little Colorado River to the known location of Cibola on the Zuni River. A participant in the march, writing from Cibola at about the same time as Coronado, described the perils of the journey: “[Vázquez de Coronado] reached this provincia on Wednesday, the seventh of this past July [1540], with the whole troop he took from the valley of Culiacán (highest praise to Our Lord), except one Spaniard who died of hunger 58 “ W e A s k A n d R e q u i R e ” four days’ journey from here and some Blacks and Indians who also died of hunger and thirst.”2 Coronado describes an equally harrowing journey, as in his account describing the deaths of some of his Indian allies, a Spaniard named Espinosa ,and two Moors.That same account also records the loss of horses:“We lost more horses in this last unsettled region than we had farther back.”3 Along with their hunger, disillusionment had been mounting steadily among Coronado’s party as they struggled through the harsh, sunbaked countryside that spoke scant of wealth or other reward. Still, for all those who had dreamed of a city with streets of gold, the sighting of this first pueblo city was even more disheartening: “When they saw the first pueblo, which was Cibola, such were the curses that some of them hurled at fray Marcos that may God not allow them to reach [his] ears.”4 Just beyond the crossing of the Zuni River at the present New Mexico border,the Cibola expedition caught its first glimpse of the fabled city,the Indian name of which was Hawikuh. Pedro de Castañeda described it as “a small pueblo crowded together and spilling down a cliff.”He wrote: “It is a pueblo with three and four upper stories and with up to two hundred fighting men.The houses are small and not very roomy . . . A single patio serves a neighborhood.”5 Juan Jaramillo observed that “the houses have flat roofs, and the walls are made of stone and mud.”6 The Relación del Suceso noted that “in many places the pueblos present defensive walls formed by the buildings.”7 Captain García López de Cárdenas, now maestre de campo, was ordered to scout ahead with fifteen horsemen.While doing so,he encountered four natives walking near a lake. Presenting them with a cross, he told them through sign that his party came peacefully in the name of the king to defend and aid them. The Indians responded in friendly fashion, assuring the Spaniards that when they arrived at the village they would be provided with food. This was a critical matter, for at this point in the march both the men and their animals were famished. Coronado took two of the Cibolan Indians hostage and sent the other two, along with a Sonora Indian who spoke their language, back to their village. They carried instructions for the inhabitants to tell the leaders that the Spaniards were coming “on behalf of His Majesty to bring them to his obedience and so that they might know God.”8 The people were to remain quietly inside their homes when the Spaniards arrived, and they would be done no harm. 59 “ W e A s k A n d R e q u i R e ” Coronado next dispatched Cárdenas to scout out the trail ahead to look for a place where the Indians might launch an ambush. Such a spot was found and occupied. That night the Indians came to the place, afterward known as “Bad Pass”near the present Arizona–New Mexico border, to attack the Spaniards.The Indians soon retreated to their village. When notified...