TWO OVERLOOKED BUT RELATED ABUSES IN TEJANO AND MANITO HISTORY - PART ONE

By

Richard G. Santos richardgsantos@yahoo.com

My private collection of printed copies of The Congressional Record published by the U. S. House of Representatives and U. S. Senate in the mid 1800s (1836 1880s) contains a treasure trove of information of historical, genealogical and political importance. The collection includes Texas rebels seeking annexation to the United States BEFORE the April 21, 1836 Battle at San Jacinto and rejection of the request due to the fact the rebellion was still on-going and Texas Independence from Mexico had not been achieved. The greater part of the collection however, deals with the residents of New Mexico and Arizona seeking U. S. Government confirmation of their individual Manito and Native American pueblo Spanish and Mexican land grants. Apart from individual and family land grants, the actas de fundacion of specific townships list the heads of families who founded villages thus giving historians, sociologists and genealogists priceless data dating from the 1700s to the 1880s. All this information was submitted by the land owners (referred to as claimants) to William Pelham, U. S. Surveyor for the Territory of New Mexico who in turn submitted his finding to the U. S. Congress for official confirmation of titles based on documentation, interrogations and depositions. Congress published all documentation in the Congressional Record. It is within these land title related documents that two supposedly unrelated events in El Paso, Texas and Taos, New Mexico take new life as documented instances of political, social, military and land grabbing abuses.

In 1836 when Texas gained its independence from Mexico, it claimed the Rio Grande as its western boundary. Mexico immediately objected as the Nueces River has been the boundary between Texas and Tamaulipas while the San Antonio and Medina Rivers had been the boundary between

Texas and Coahuila. Meanwhile, North Central and West Texas has been part of New Mexico since the 1500s. So Texas claim to the Rio Grande as its western boundary was historically, geographically and politically false. However, in mid 1845 it became apparent that Texas would soon be annexed to the United States. Therefore in June 1845 President Polk dispatched General Taylor to Texas with 3,500 men. They camped at Corpus Christi Bay east of the Nueces River. Meanwhile, in November 1845, Polk sent secret envoy John Sidell to Mexico City to offer 25 to 30 million dollars for Texas, California and the New Mexico Territory that included present day Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The Mexican Government refused to consider or negotiate the offer. In turn Mexico stated that annexation of Texas by the United States would be considered an act of war.

On December 29, 1845, Texas was annexed by the United States and everyone on both sides of the Rio Grande anxiously and nervously expected war between the two nations. In April 1846 General Taylor sent a detachment of troops along the Texas Gulf coast from Corpus Christi to the mouth of the Rio Grande. On April 25, they encountered a Mexican patrol and the first battle of the U. S. Mexican War occurred. Less than three weeks later, on May 11, 1846, the U. S. declared war on Mexico. On July 7 Mexico declared war on the United States.

General Stephen W. Kearney was appointed head of the U. S. Army of the West and with 1,700 men ordered to invade New Mexico. Kearny and the troops under his command entered New Mexico on August 4, 1846. New Mexican Governor Manuel Armijo assembled a force and prepared to battle the invading U. S. Troops. However, on August 14 Armijo fled to Mexico City thus abdicating New Mexico without a shot being fired. Kearney then appointed Carlos Bent civilian Governor of New Mexico and Colonel Sterling Price Military Governor. Kearney dispatched Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan to El Paso in preparation for the invasion of Chihuahua. Kearny himself proceeded to California. Not all New Mexicans were content with Armijos surrender. On December 25, 1846, Col. Doniphans 850 man force met a Mexican unit of some 1,100 men at Brazitos south of Las Cruces, New Mexico along the Camkino real de Adentro. Although the exact battle site is still in question, it is known to have occurred on the land grant of Juan Antonio Garcia who had received el Brazito (del Rio Grande) in 1805. The U. S. troops won the battle and continued to El Paso taking the city on December 27. The troops were quartered at the municipal building(s) on the main plaza. Being a cold December, the troops lost no time in using the paper documents on file to

build fires and for whatever purpose. Many documents were simply thrown out onto the streets littering the area around the main plaza.

Captain Waldo, a medical doctor with the U. S. troops informed Judge Juan Jose Sanchez of the destruction of the documents. Sanchez and a group of citizens went to the municipal buildings where they found the burned and littered public documents and gathered all they could. The destruction of the documents was later verified by depositions of former soldiers Samuel G. Bean and James A. Lucas. El Paso resident Jose Jacques also testified to the effect. All depositions regarding the destruction of the Spanish and Mexican land grants and many other public documents were revealed in Land Claim Number 32 of Hugh Stephenson and others, filed with the U. S. Surveyor General in Santa Fe, New Mexico on August 6, 1856. The entire document being an abstract of title dating to the original grant of El Brazito to Juan Antonio Garcia in 1805 was published in the Congressional Record. Since the heirs of Garcia (who were extensive identified) had sold two thirds of the grant to Stephenson and the documents destroyed by the U. S. troops, it was imperative for Congress to review the right of title and decide on its merit.

The deliberate destruction of Spanish and Mexican land titles rightfully caused an uproar among the New Mexicans. The seed of rebellion had been sowed in El Paso and the effect would soon be felt in Taos, Santa Fe and elsewhere. The Taos New Mexico Uprising by Manitos and Native Americans, also called the Taos Massacre will constitute Part Two of this series.

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Zavala County Sentinel . June 14 15, 2012

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