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

22. Tales Too Tall

253 22 Tales Too Tall From his signed report and from four witnesses who returned with the friar I cannot help but inform your majesty that this conquest is becoming a fairy tale. Marquis of Montesclaros1 At virtually the same time the Mexico City theologians were deciding against him,Don Juan de Oñate’s power was enhanced considerably when King Philip appointed him adelantado of the provinces of New Mexico. Philip declared: “You shall have the power to exercise this office in all the cases and matters pertaining thereto,in the same manner as is done by my adelantados in the kingdoms of Castile and in the Indies.”2 This appointment came as a result of efforts by Don Juan’s brother, Don Alonso de Oñate, who had been in Spain since early 1600 bombarding the king with petitions in Don Juan’s favor.3 After making a presentation on Don Juan’s behalf to the viceroy and Audiencia in Mexico City, Vicente de Zaldívar also arrived in Spain during late 1602. He brought glowing reports of the situation in New Mexico and pleas for financial help to secure 300 fully equipped men so Don Juan could continue his exploration and colonization efforts.4 254 T a l e s T o o T a l l At the same time,revelations of the conditions in New Mexico and of the numerous charges that had been launched against Don Juan, Vicente, and other officers reached the king. Principal among these reports was a lengthy discussion of Oñate’s situation by Monterrey. The viceroy had made an exhaustive study of the discoveries by Cabeza de Vaca, Friar Marcos, Coronado, Chamuscado, Espejo, and others. While he accepted the loyalist argument that things in New Mexico were not as bad as the San Gabriel mutineers had said, he concluded: “From what I have learned here, I am not able to convince myself that this discovery by Don Juan has shed any valuable light on the information we already possessed about those plains.”5 Monterrey was instructed to learn the truth about the accusations made against Oñate. “If he found Don Juan guilty and matters in such a state that it would be undesirable to leave him in charge, the viceroy should assume responsibility for the expedition in order to preserve what has been discovered and to continue the conversion of the Indians.”6 In Spain, Don Alonso worked to secure royal assistance for a new expedition in his brother’s continuing effort to discover the South Sea. Don Juan hoped to establish there a seaport from which his colony could be supplied rather than having to continue to use the long land route from Mexico City.The Council of the Indies,and thereupon the king,did agree to Don Alonso’s request for supplying Don Juan with musketeers, shipwrights , and navigational pilots to explore for a supply port on the coast of the yet-undiscovered South Sea.7 Don Alonso learned, however, that he would have to pay for provisioning the ship’s transportation from Spain to America.8 The records do not indicate whether this hitch was overcome. But from Don Juan’s letter of appreciation to the viceroy, it appears that this help did reach Oñate and that it provided support for a new South Sea venture.9 Grave doubts had been raised about the entire plan for New Mexico colonization. But even as the king and his high officials were debating New Mexico’s fate, Don Juan was still engaged in the activities of discovery as he struggled to hold his disrupted colony together. The problems of conquest emerged once again with the pueblo of Taos, where the first of a long series of puebloan rebellions occurred (figure 22.1). The records speak only briefly of this event,but in 1603 Don Juan evidently conducted a punitive attack on the pueblo.We know this only because of accusations that he threw a young chief to his death from the roof of a Taos pueblo.10 255 T a l e s T o o T a l l During the spring of 1604, Oñate launched a peace mission to other pueblos through Frays Francisco de Velasco, Juan de Escalona, and Francisco de Escobar. Under the escort of Captain Gerónimo Márquez and a small group of soldiers, the friars went...