BCLL. 30] 



TAOS 



689 



could lay hands, and then proceeded to 

 Santa Fe, where they formed part of the 

 3,000 Pueblos wholaid siege to that town 

 for 5 days, when Gov. Otermin succeeded 

 in beating them off and in beginning his 

 retreat to El Paso. All the Pueblos re- 

 mained independent of the Spaniards 

 until 1692, when Vargas reconquered the 

 province. On his visiting Taos in Octo- 

 ber the Indians ran away, but were in- 

 duced to return, ))rofessing friendship. 

 After several conflicts with the Tevva in 

 the following year (1693), Vargas again 

 visited Taos on July 3, finding it aban- 

 doned, the Indians having taken refuge 

 in a near-l)y canyon, after placing crosses 

 on their property to command for it re- 

 spect from tiie Spaniards. Attempts to 

 negotiate with the natives proving a fail- 

 ure, Vargas sacked their village, taking 

 much corn. Before the close of 1694 



revolt of 1680 the population of Taos was 

 about 2,000. 



Owing to its situation on the northern 

 frontier, Taos became an important trad- 

 ing rendezvous for the surrounding tribes, 

 and its people also experienced several 

 disastrous conflicts with the Ute, and in 

 1766 with the Comanche. To these hos- 

 tilities was doubtless partly due the reduc- 

 tion of the once conijiaratively large pop- 

 ulation to 515 in 1910. See Pueblos. 



In 1847 occurred what is known as 

 the Taos rebellion. Instigated by Mexi- 

 cans, whose ill feeling for the Americans 

 had been aroused by the Mexican war, 

 the Taos warriors, on Jan. 17, attacked 

 and cruelly killed Gov. Charles Bent and 

 other residents of the near-by Mexican 

 settlement of Fernandez de Tads, and, 

 joined by Mexicans, murdered all but 

 one of nine Americans at Turley's mill, 12 



PUEBLO OF TAOS 



peace again reigned, niany of the pueblos 

 were rebuilt, and new missionaries as- 

 signed. But it was not long ere the 

 Pueblos again became restless; on June 4, 

 1696, another uprising of the northern 

 pueblos, including Taos, took place, in 

 which 5 missionaries and 21 other Span- 

 iards were murdered, the Indians again 

 abandoning their villages, seeking pro- 

 tection in mountain strongholds. In 

 September Vargas attacked the Taos in 

 their fortified canyon, and after a siege 

 they were forced to surrender in the fol- 

 lowing month. At the beginning of the 



3456— Bull. 30, pt 2—07 44 



m. above. News of the mas.sacre react- 

 ing Santa Fe, troops were hastened to the 

 place, which they reached Feb. 3, after 

 several skirmishes on the way. The In- 

 dians and Mexicans were fortified in the 

 massive adobe church, which was can- 

 nonaded at close range and its walls at- 

 tacked with axes until its occupants were 

 forced to flee to the near-by j)ueblo and 

 thence toward the mountains. During 

 the fight 150 of the insurgents were killed, 

 about a third of this number in their iit- 

 tempt taescape from the puel)lo. Fifteen 

 others were afterward executed, and one 

 was shot in attempting to escape. The 



