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Show 60 LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY THE of any taxes, while they, in secret, matured the plans for rebellion. The people in the northern part of the department were the most active in their opposition, and the leaders had the promise of large assistance from the Pueblo Indians of Taos and the upper portion of the valley of the Rio Grande in the neighborhood of Santa Cruz de la Canada.*4 The conspiracy had thus been brewing for some time, but there were no indications of violence or demonstrations until, on account of some trifling misdemeanor, an alcalde of Taos was imprisoned by the prefect of the northern district, Don Ramon Abreu. It is said that this order was made by authority of the governor, Perez. This act brought matters to a crisis; the alealde was released by a mob and the Pueblo Indians and other malcontents flew to arms. The revolutionary movement began about the first of August, 1837, and extended through several of the northern pueblos, and differed from all previous outbreaks of these Indians in that it had the countenance and support of the disaffected portion of the Mexican population which had been secretly plotting under the leader- ship of Armijo, Ortiz, and Pino. The insurgents established head- quarters at the village of Santa Cruz, twenty-five miles north of Santa Fé. Here an immense rabble soon gathered, among them the *8 Gregg, Josiah, Commerce of the Prairies, i, p. 129: ernor, Col. Albino Perez, was ‘‘A new govthen sent from the charge ernors, affect system they w Hees, bo of this isolated Department ; which was not City of Mexico, very agreeab to take le to the ple as they had previously been ruled chiefly by native govhile the new form of governm ent was a novelty and did not the pecuniary interests of the people, it was acquies ced in, but it was rt of the new organization, to introduce 4 o people were wholly unacquainted; and seceelaah “ity Miah a tariff than a real in this ay A DE € Pueblo Indian for his conqueror,’’ 8 ibid, p. 129, ‘‘has never entirely Subsided, yet no Fanti outbreak till 1837, When they joined the Mexican insurgents in another obs “i oo Some time before tragic everts took place, it was them that a new racethese was about to appear from the east, I heard this spoken of several months Siibat oe of the insurrection had been seriously agitated. It 18 i at the Pueblos built their hopes upon the America eo as yet to have no knowled ge of the Texans, In fact,ns, as they they have yy appeared to look upon foreigners as a superior people, to whom they * i 1€ ead before i em from the Spanish yoke. f their discontent é and grievances. The truth is, the Pueb- ays been ripe for insurrection. ionary chief Hidalgo’s army It is was made ) The immediate cause of the present outbreak 12 » had its origin among the Hispano-Mexican population.’’ REVOLUTION OF 1837-8 61 principal warriors of all the northern pueblos, the most prominent being from Taos, San Juan, San Yldefonso, Santa Clara, Jacona, Pojoaque, Cuyamungué, and Nambé. On the 3d, at a meeting held for the purpose, a plan of government and a declara tion of principles were adopted, which were published to the people. This plan was as follows: “Viva, God and the nation, and the faith of Jesus Christ; for the principal points which we defend are the followi ng: ‘ ‘Ist. To be with God and the nation, and the faith of Jesus hrist. “2d. To defend our country until we spill every drop of blood in order to obtain the victory we have in view. “3d. Not to admit the departmental ‘plan.’ ‘4th. Not to admit any tax. “Sth. Not to admit the disorder desired by those who are attempting to procure it. God and the nation. ‘““HNCAMPMENT. “Santa Cruz de la Cafiada, August 3d, 1837.”’ When the authorities at Santa Fé were advised of these proceedings they were filled with great alarm and at once steps were taken to quell the insurrection. The governor called upon the alcaldes to assemble the militia, but few of them, however, showed sition to muster. Perez only succeeded in assembling about one hundred and fifty men, including a number from the pueblo of Santo Domingo, at the head of which from Santa Fé, on the 7th of August, at La Cafiada. The government’s to meet the enemy forces encamped any dispoa force of of warriors he marched assembled that night at Pojoaque, about eighteen miles from the capital, and on the day following met the enemy in ambush near La Cafiada, when the gov- ernor’s troops deserted him, and the governor and about twenty-five trusted friends made their escape toward Santa Fé as best they ‘ould, arriving there about three o’clock the same afternoon. Perez remained in the capital until about ten o’clock that night, when he left for the fio Abajo, accompanied by a few trusted followers. When the Indians had put the troops to flight, and saw that the day Was their own, they sent instructions to all the Indian villages to the South through which the fugitives would be compelled to pass, to apprehend and put them to death. On the night of his departure the governor and party slept at the Alamo, and on the following day his retreat to the south was prevented by some of the Indians |