When Beaver Skins Were Money 
II.—Charles Bent, Captain of Santa Fe Trains and Gov- 
ernor of New Mexico—His Tragic Death 
—The Fight at Arroyo Hondo 
By GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL 
C HARLES BENT was a close rival to his 
brother William in the esteem of his fel¬ 
low traders and the trappers and Indians 
of the Arkansas. He seems from the first, how¬ 
ever, to have taken the most active part in the 
Santa Fe trade of the company, leaving the In¬ 
dian trade to the other partners. Among the 
traders and teamsters of the Santa Fe caravans 
he was as much liked as William Bent was 
among the trappers and Indians; indeed, in 1832 
and again in 1833 he was elected captain of the 
caravan and conducted it safely to Santa Fe. 
These “caravans” of Missouri traders were rich¬ 
ly laden for those days. The outfit of 1832 
brought back from New Mexico $100,000 in 
specie and $90,000 in other property, including 
large numbers of Mexican mules. In 1833 the 
caravan with Bent as' captain assembled at Dia¬ 
mond Grove on the Missouri frontier. There 
were 184 men with ninety-three large wagons 
loaded with goods. They brought back $100,000 
in money and much other property. 
Charles Bent married a Mexican woman and 
made his home at San Fernando*, a small town 
in the valley of Taos. He was popular among 
his Mexican and Pueblo neighbors until he was 
appointed governor of the territory by General 
Kearny, who marched into New Mexico with his 
little army in the fall. Having put Governor 
Bent and his civil government in control of af¬ 
fairs, the general left a few troops in and about 
Santa Fe, and with the rest of his forces march¬ 
ed for California. Hardly had he gone when 
rumors of a revolt of the Mexican and Indian 
population against American rule began to be 
heard, and late in December evidence of such 
a plot was unearthed. These events are set 
forth in the following letter from Governor Bent 
to the Secretary of State: 
but little ground to hope that it will be perma¬ 
nent. 
On the 17th inst. I received information from 
a Mexican friendly to our Government that a 
conspiracy was on foot among the native Mexi¬ 
cans, having for its object the expulsion of the 
United States troops and the civil authorities 
from the territory. I immediately brought into 
requisition every means in my power to ascer¬ 
tain who were the movers in the rebellion, and 
have succeeded in securing seven of the second¬ 
ary conspirators. The military and civil officers 
are now both in pursuit *of the two leaders and 
prime movers of the rebellion; but as several 
days have elapsed, I am apprehensive that they 
will have made their escape from the territory. 
So far as I am informed this conspiracy is 
confined to the four northern counties of the 
territory, and the men considered as leaders in 
the affair cannot be said to be men of much 
standing. 
After obtaining the necessary information to 
designate and secure the persons of the partici¬ 
pators in the conspiracy, I thought it advisable 
to turn them over to the military authorities in 
order that these persons might be dealt with 
more summarily and expeditiously than they 
could have been by the civil authorities. 
The occurrence of this conspiracy at this early 
period of the occupation of the territory will, I 
think, conclusively convince our Government of 
the necessity of maintaining here, for several 
years to come, an efficient military force. 
***** 
C. Bent. 
Hon. James Buchanan, 
Secretary of State of the United States. 
Santa Fe, N. M., Dec. 26, 1846. — Sir: I have 
been informed indirectly that Col. A. W. Doni¬ 
phan, who, in October last, marched with his 
regiment against the Navajo Indians, has made 
treaty of peace with them. Not having been offi¬ 
cially notified of this treaty, I am not able to 
state the terms upon which it has been con¬ 
cluded ; but, so far as I am able to learn, I have 
♦This name is spelled in various ways, even by Mex- 
icans. 
Having taken measures for the arrest of the 
leaders of the conspiracy, Governor Bent set out 
from- Santa Fe early in January for a few days’ 
visit to his family at San Fernando, near the 
pueblo of Taos, inhabited by civilized Pueblo 
Indians. Three Pueblo thieves had been arrested 
and locked up in the calcibozo at San Fernando 
some time before Governor Bent’s arrival. On 
the 19th of January a mob of Pueblos entered 
the town and attempted to force the American 
sheriff, Lee, to give up these three prisoners. 
Lee. being helpless to resist the Indians’ de¬ 
mands, was on the point of releasing his prison¬ 
ers when the prefect of the town, Vigil, a Mexi¬ 
can who had taken office under the American 
Government, appeared among the Indians, and 
calling out to them in a fury that they were all 
thieves and scoundrels, ordered Lee to hold the 
three prisoners. Enraged at the prefect’s harsh 
words, the Pueblos rushed upon him, killed him, 
cut his body into small pieces, and then, being 
joined by a number of Mexicans, set out to kill 
every American in the settlement. 
Governor Bent’s house was the first they 
visited. He was still in bed when roused by 
his wife on the approach of the mob, and he 
at once sprang up and ran to a window, through 
which he called to a Mexican neighbor to help 
him get through into his house and conceal him. 
The Mexican refused his aid and replied that 
he must die. Seeing that all ways of escape 
were blocked, the governor quietly left the win¬ 
dow and returned to his family. “He withdrew 
into his room,” writes Mr. Dunn, “and the In¬ 
dians began tearing up the roof. With all the 
calmness of a noble soul he stood awaiting his 
doom. His wife brought him his pistols and 
told him to fight, to avenge himself, even if he 
must die. The Indians were exposed to his aim, 
but he replied: ‘No; I will not kill any one of 
them; for the sake of you, my wife, and you, 
my children. At present my death is all these 
people wish.’ As the savages poured into the 
room he appealed to their manhood and honor, 
but in vain. They laughed at his plea. They 
told him they were about to kill every Ameri¬ 
can in New Mexico and would begin with him. 
An arrow followed the word, another and an¬ 
other, but the mode was not swift enough. One, 
more impatient, sent a bullet through his heart. 
As he fell, Tomas, a chief, stepped forward, 
snatched one of his pistols, and shot him in the 
face. They took his scalp, stretched it on a 
board with brass nails, and carried it through 
the streets in triumph.” 
Garrard, who was at Taos in the days imme¬ 
diately following the massacre, tells of Governor 
Bent’s death in the following words: 
“While here in Fernandez (San Fernandez) 
with his family he was one morning early 
aroused from sleep by the populace, who, with 
the aid of the Pueblos de Taos, were collected 
in front of his dwelling, striving to gain admit¬ 
tance. While they were effecting an entrance 
he, with an axe, cut through an adobe wall into 
another house. The wife of the occupant, a 
clever, though thriftless Canadian, heard him, 
and with all her strength rendered him assist¬ 
ance, though she was a Mexican. He retreated 
to a room, but seeing no way of escaping from 
the infuriated assailants who fired upon him 
through a window, he spoke to his weeping wife 
and trembling children clinging to him with all 
the tenacity of love and despair, and taking 
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