Safely ensconced in their fortress home, their city in the sky, the people of Acoma Pueblo have time to plot. Oñate climbs the narrow stairs, but the opportune moment to kill him slips away. His nephew and his entourage are not so lucky. When they ascend the stairway in the cleft, they are captured and thrown from the cliffs.
The Spanish plan a reprisal. Acoma must be made an example of, or all the pueblos may be emboldened. A priest explains: peace was the principal end for which war was ordained.
The battle takes three days. In the end the mesa is breached. Viewed from afar, Acoma is a lit city on a hill, burning for all to see. For the only time in history, invaders rise from below, take the stairs, burn the town, and kill or capture everyone.
The captives are put on trial in Pueblo Santo Domingo. That also takes three days. All of Acoma is deemed guilty.
- Children under twelve will be given to the priests and nuns.
- All between the ages of 12 and 25 will serve 20 years in servitude.
- The elderly are sent to the Great Plains.
Oñate adds a final touch.
- The males who are over twenty-five years of age, I sentence to have one foot cut off and to twenty years of personal servitude.
The sentence is applied to at least 24 men.
References
Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá, M.E. 1610. Historia de la Nueva México.
Lummis, C.F. 1929. The Spanish Pioneers and the California Missions. A.C. McClurg & Co.
My daughter was the physician in residence at Acoma Pueblo for a year following her residency at UNM. We recently had a selfie taken with Deb Haaland, a quite well known Puebloan and very likely to be the next governor of New Mexico.
“Children under 12 will be given to the priests and nuns” …….and so on ….including chopping off feet and essentially slavery…..