Taos assassinations On the morning of January 19, 1847, the insurrectionists began the revolt in Don Fernando de Taos, present-day
Taos, New Mexico and nearby
Taos Pueblo. They were led by
Pablo Montoya, a
Hispano with Taos Pueblo ancestry, and
Tomás Romero from Taos Pueblo, also known as
Tomasito (Little Thomas). Romero led a Native American force to the house of Governor
Charles Bent, where they broke down the door, shot Bent with arrows, and scalped him in front of his family. After they moved on, Bent was still alive. With his wife Ignacia and children, and the wives of friends
Kit Carson and
Thomas Boggs, the group escaped by digging through the adobe walls of their house into the one next door. When the insurgents discovered the party, they killed Bent, but left the women and children unharmed. The rebel force killed and scalped several other government officials, along with others seen as related to the new U.S. territorial government. Among those killed were Stephen Lee, acting county sheriff; Cornelio Vigil, prefect and probate judge; and J.W. Leal, circuit attorney. "It appeared," wrote Colonel Price, "to be the object of the insurrectionists to put to death every American and every Mexican who had accepted office under the American government."
Arroyo Hondo and Mora massacres The next day a large armed force of approximately 500 Hispanos and Puebloans attacked and laid siege to
Simeon Turley's mill and distillery in
Arroyo Hondo, several miles north of Taos.
Charles Autobees, an employee at the mill, saw the men coming. He rode to
Santa Fe for help from the occupying U.S. forces. Eight to ten
mountain men were left at the mill for defense. After a day-long battle, only two of the mountain men,
John David Albert and
Thomas Tate Tobin, survived. Both escaped separately on foot during the night. The same day Hispano insurgents killed seven or eight American traders who were passing through the village of
Mora on their way to Missouri. At most 16 Americans were killed in both actions on January 20.
U.S. response The U.S. military moved quickly to quash the revolt; Col. Price led more than 300 U.S. troops from Santa Fe to Taos, together with 65 volunteers, including a few New Mexicans, organized by
Ceran St. Vrain, the business partner of the brothers William and Charles Bent. Along the way, the combined forces beat back a force of some 1,500 Hispanos and Puebloans at
Santa Cruz de la Cañada and
Embudo Pass. The insurgents retreated to
Taos Pueblo, where they took refuge in the thick-walled adobe church. During the
ensuing battle, the U.S. breached a wall of the church and directed cannon fire into the interior, inflicting many casualties and killing about 150 rebels. They captured 400 more men after close hand-to-hand fighting. Seven U.S. troops died in the battle. A separate force of U.S. troops campaigned against the rebels in Mora. The
First Battle of Mora, under Captain
Israel R. Hendley, ended in a New Mexican strategic victory and Hendley's death. The Americans attacked again, under Capt.
Jesse I. Morin, in the
Second Battle of Mora and destroyed the village, which ended the Mora campaign of the revolt.
Aftermath The next day, U.S. officials ordered the execution of some of the captives in the plaza in a
drumhead court-martial, including the leader "Montojo"
Pablo Montoya. Price then set up a military court in Taos to try more of the captured insurgents under
civil law. George Bent, Charles' brother, was elected foreman of the jury. The jury included
Lucien Maxwell, a brother-in-law of Beaubien; and several friends of the Bents.
Ceran St. Vrain served as court interpreter. Since the Anglo community in Taos was small, and several men had been killed by the rebels, the jury pool was extremely limited. The court was in session for fifteen days. The jury found 15 men guilty of murder and treason (under the new U.S. rule), and the judges sentenced them to death. An eyewitness,
Lewis Hector Garrard, described the trial and events: It certainly did appear to be a great assumption of the part of the Americans to conquer a country and then arraign the revolting inhabitants for treason. American judges sat on the bench, New Mexicans and Americans filled the jury box, and an American soldiery guarded the halls. Verily, a strange mixture of violence and justice-a strange middle ground between martial and common law. After an absence of a few minutes the jury returned with a verdict, "Guilty in the first degree". Five for murder, one for treason. Treason, indeed! What did the poor devil know about his new allegiance? ... I left the room, sick at heart. Justice! Out upon the word when its distorted meaning is a warrant for murdering those who defended to the last their country and their homes. On April 9, the U.S. forces hanged six of the convicted insurgents in the Taos plaza; all but one were convicted of murder, with the other being hanged of treason. This was the first execution by hanging in the
Taos Valley. Two weeks later, the U.S. forces executed five more. In all, the U.S. hanged at least 28 men in Taos in response to the revolt. A year later, the
United States Secretary of War reviewed the case. He said that the one man hanged for treason, Hipolito "Polo" Salazar, might have been wrongfully convicted. The
Supreme Court of the United States agreed. All other convictions were affirmed.
Further fighting The revolt did not end after the Siege of Taos. New Mexican rebels engaged U.S. forces three more times in the following months. The actions are known as the
Battle of Red River Canyon, the Battle of Las Vegas, and the
Battle of Cienega Creek. After the U.S. forces won each battle, the New Mexicans and Native Americans ended open warfare.
The Red River Canyon affair, or the
Battle of Red River Canyon: on May 26, 1847,
United States Army Major Edmondson, with a
company of two hundred
infantry and
cavalry under
Captains Holaway and Robinson, were marching at almost sunset along the Red (Canadian) River. On this early morning the Americans were attacked by two hundred New Mexican
militia and their Pueblo allies. The ensuing battle resulted in an American retreat to the banks of Cienega Creek. They were able to hold their position until Captain Shepherd's company arrived, "vanquishing the enemy". == See also ==