Those Thieving New Mexicans: There was no one in the world at the time as tough as the Spanish Conquistadors. Those small men from Spain just about conquered all the New World during their day. They would chop off your foot, your right hand or your head, baptize you in your own blood, knowing full well that they had just sent you to Heaven as a full blown Christian. They were almost as bad as modern day Baptists, who will drown you on your way to Heaven. Dont know which is worse or more affective. They pushed their way to the headwaters of the Rio Grande in the southern Colorado mountains and across the lower coastal plains in Texas to their outpost at Nacogdoches. But the population density was much greater in the Rio Grande basin that it ever was in Spanish Texas and the reason was simple. There were many more Indians living in pueblos along the Rio Grande than the nomads of the Texas coastal plain. The Spaniards were at their best when they could subdue concentrated populations of Indians to do their manual labor, build their canals, haciendas, etc. They never were successful among the nomadic tribes. The Spanish laborers that were left after the Conquistadors were gone immediately began to intermarry with the Indians which has a lot to do with their future inter-action with the different Indian tribes, especially the Comanche. These Mestizos never had the backbone of their predecessors which in some ways is an unfair statement because Mexico City very seldom, if ever, sent them any kind of aid, very few soldiers and the arms they had were totally inadequate. By the mid 18th century, the Comanches controlled all of eastern New Mexico and all of western Texas down to and across the Rio Grande River. While the Spanish authorities in Santa Fe and Taos thought they were in control they were really chattels of the Comanches, not the other way around. The only reason the Comanches didnt kill or enslave every one of them was simple: The New Mexicans had access to the trade materiel coming north from Chihuahua that the Comanches wanted so they cut a deal with the New Mexicans. The Comanches told the New Mexicans that they would trade them, horses, cattle and slaves and that the New Mexicans would in turn provide the Comanches with the arms and ammunition they needed or they, the Comanches, would kill every one of them. The New Mexicans capitulated. So, throughout the 150 years that the Comanche controlled their empire, the New Mexicans were the main recipients to all their stolen goods and did so with gratitude. That includes in the latter years tens of thousands of Texas cattle and horses. In 1900, there probably was not a cow or horse herd in New Mexico that did not come from stolen Texas stock. A tad of history in Tidbits from Driftwood. MEK
Posted on: Sat, 07 Jun 2014 15:11:08 +0000