3 62 Reminiscences of 



succeeded in reaching in a most inclement season, 

 largely diminished in force, from suffering and 

 privations of exceptional character. Here he made 

 a sustained stand, being re-enforced by a small force 

 from Chihuahua, but insufficient to sustain an ag- 

 gressive movement. 



Thus was New Mexico relieved from oppression, 

 and the natives, imitating the iconoclasts of the Dark 

 Ages, proceeded in the destruction of all that per- 

 tained to Spanish dominion. All the priests had 

 been killed and all the Catholic churches and crosses 

 erected were levelled to earth. All the manuscripts, 

 documents and records left in the archives of Santa 

 Fe" were burned or cast to the winds, destroying all 

 history of the Spanish rule for nearly a hundred years. 



The mines, which had been worked by the enslaved 

 Indians with such suffering, were covered over and 

 obliterated as much as possible, many of which are 

 still lost. 



More than ten thousand who had been compelled 

 to renounce their religion for the Catholic faith, and 

 had received the sacrament of baptism from a sprink- 

 ling broom of expiation, renounced their hopes of 

 salvation under the cross, and returned to their an- 

 cient forms and superstitions. 



While the Spanish governor held El Paso on the 

 Texas line for a period of two or three years by re- 

 enforcements from Mexico, and made occasional 

 forays up the Rio Grande, little material benefit was 

 gained, and he found it necessary to withdraw to the 

 City of Mexico. This left the Pueblos in full pos- 

 session until the year 1695, when the country was 

 retaken most effectually under General Zapata, with 



