THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL, COLONEL HENRY INMAN [well read books .txt] 📗
- Author: COLONEL HENRY INMAN
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To Escape Toward The Mountains, Or In the Direction Of
San Fernando. The Residue Of The Troops Took Ground About
Three Hundred yards From The North Wall. Here, Too,
Lieutenant Dyer Established himself With The Six-Pounder
And Two Howitzers, While Lieutenant Hassendaubel, Of Major
Clark'S Battalion, Light Artillery, Remained with Captain
Burgwin, In command Of Two Howitzers. By This Arrangement
A Cross-Fire Was Obtained, Sweeping The Front And Eastern
Flank Of The Church. All These Arrangements Being Made,
The Batteries Opened upon The Town At Nine O'Clock A.M.
At Eleven O'Clock, Finding It Impossible To Breach The
Walls Of The Church With The Six-Pounder And Howitzers,
I Determined to Storm The Building. At A Signal, Captain
Burgwin, At The Head Of His Own Company And That Of Captain
Mcmillin, Charged the Western Flank Of The Church, While
Captain Aubrey, Infantry Battalion, And Captain Barber And
Lieutenant Boon, Second Missouri Mounted volunteers, Charged
The Northern Wall. As Soon As The Troops Above Mentioned
Had Established themselves Under The Western Wall Of The
Church, Axes Were Used in the Attempt To Breach It, And A
Temporary Ladder Having Been Made, The Roof Was Fired.
About This Time, Captain Burgwin, At The Head Of A Small
Party, Left The Cover Afforded by The Flank Of The Church,
And Penetrating Into The Corral In front Of That Building,
Endeavoured to Force The Door. In this Exposed situation,
Captain Burgwin Received a Severe Wound, Which Deprived me
Of His Valuable Services, And Of Which He Died on The
7Th Instant. Lieutenants Mcilvaine, First United states
Dragoons, And Royall And Lackland, Second Regiment
Volunteers, Accompanied captain Burgwin Into The Corral,
But The Attempt On The Church Door Proved fruitless, And
They Were Compelled to Retire Behind The Wall. In the
Meantime, Small Holes Had Been Cut In the Western Wall, And
Shells Were Thrown In by Hand, Doing Good Execution.
The Six-Pounder Was Now Brought Around By Lieutenant Wilson,
Who, At The Distance Of Two Hundred yards, Poured a Heavy
Fire Of Grape Into The Town. The Enemy, During all Of
This Time, Kept Up A Destructive Fire Upon Our Troops.
About Half-Past Three O'Clock, The Six-Pounder Was Run Up
Within Sixty Yards Of The Church, And After Ten Rounds,
One Of The Holes Which Had Been Cut With The Axes Was
Widened into A Practicable Breach. The Storming Party,
Among Whom Were Lieutenant Dyer, Of The Ordnance, And
Lieutenant Wilson And Taylor, First Dragoons, Entered and
Took Possession Of The Church Without Opposition.
The Interior Was Filled with Dense Smoke, But For Which
Circumstance Our Storming Party Would Have Suffered great
Loss. A Few Of The Enemy Were Seen In the Gallery,
Where An Open Door Admitted the Air, But They Retired
Without Firing a Gun. The Troops Left To Support The
Battery On The North Side Were Now Ordered to Charge On
That Side.
"The Enemy Then Abandoned the Western Part Of The Town.
Many Took Refuge In the Large Houses On The East, While
Others Endeavoured to Escape Toward The Mountains.
These Latter Were Pursued by The Mounted men Under Captains
Slack And St. Vrain, Who Killed fifty-One Of Them, Only Two
Or Three Men Escaping. It Was Now Night, And Our Troops
Were Quietly Quartered in the House Which The Enemy Had
Abandoned. On The Next Morning The Enemy Sued for Peace,
And Thinking The Severe Loss They Had Sustained would Prove
A Salutary Lesson, I Granted their Supplication, On The
Condition That They Should Deliver Up To Me Tomas, One Of
Their Principal Men, Who Had Instigated and Been Actively
Engaged in the Murder Of Governor Bent And Others.
The Number Of The Enemy At The Battle Of Pueblo De Taos
Was Between Six And Seven Hundred, And Of These One Hundred
And Fifty Were Killed, Wounded not Known. Our Own Loss Was
Seven Killed and Forty-Five Wounded; Many Of The Wounded
Have Since Died."
The Capture Of The Taos Pueblo Practically Ended the Main
Attempt To Expel The Americans From The Territory.
Governor Montoya, Who Was A Very Influential Man In the
Conspiracy And Styled himself The "Santa Ana Of The North,"
Was Tried by Court-Martial, Convicted, And Executed on
February 7Th, In the Presence Of The Army. Fourteen Others
Were Tried for Participating In the Murder Of Governor Bent
And The Others Who Were Killed on The 19Th Of January, And
Were Convicted and Executed. Thus, Fifteen In all Were
Hung, Being an Equal Number To Those Murdered at Taos, The
Arroyo Hondo, And Rio Colorado. Of These, Eight Were
Mexicans And Seven Were Pueblo Indians. Several More Were
Sentenced to Be Hung For Treason, But The President Very
Properly Pardoned them, On The Ground That Treason Against
The United states Was Not A Crime Of Which A Mexican
Citizen Could Be Found Guilty, While His Country Was
Actually At War With The United states.
There Are Several Thrilling, As Well As Laughable, Incidents Connected
With The Taos Massacre, And The Succeeding Trial Of The Insurrectionists;
In Regard To Which I Shall Quote Freely From _Wah-To-Yah_, Whose
Author, Mr. Lewis H. Garrard, Accompanied colonel St. Vrain Across
The Plains In 1846, And Was Present At The Trial And Execution Of
The Convicted participants.
One Fitzgerald, Who Was A Private In captain Burgwin'S Company Of
Dragoons, In the Fight At The Pueblo De Taos, Killed three Mexicans
With His Own Hand, And Performed heroic Work With The Bombs That Were
Thrown Into That Strong Indian Fortress. He Was A Man Of Good Feeling,
But His Brother Having Been Killed, Or Rather Murdered by Salazar,
While A Prisoner In the Texan Expedition Against Santa Fe, He Swore
Vengeance, And Entered the Service With The Hope Of Accomplishing It.
The Day Following The Fight At The Pueblo, He Walked up To The
Alcalde, And Deliberately Shot Him Down. For This Act He Was Confined
To Await A Trial For Murder.
One Raw Night, Complaining Of Cold To His Guard, Wood Was Brought,
Which He Piled up In the Middle Of The Room. Then Mounting That,
And Succeeding In breaking Through The Roof, He Noiselessly Crept
To The Eaves, Below Which A Sentinel, Wrapped in a Heavy Cloak, Paced
To And Fro, To Prevent His Escape. He Watched until The Guard'S Back
Was Turned, Then Swung Himself From The Wall, And With As Much Ease
As Possible, Walked to A Mess-Fire, Where His Friends In waiting
Supplied him With A Pistol And Clothing. When Day Broke, The Town
Of Fernandez Lay Far Beneath Him In the Valley, And Two Days After
He Was Safe In our Camp.
Many A Hand-To-Hand Encounter Ensued during The Fight At Taos,
One Of Which Was By Colonel Ceran St. Vrain, Whom I Knew Intimately;
A Grand Old Gentleman, Now Sleeping Peacefully In the Quaint Little
Graveyard At Mora, New Mexico, Where He Resided for Many Years.
The Gallant Colonel, While Riding along, Noticed an Indian With Whom
He Was Well Acquainted lying Stretched out On The Ground As If Dead.
Confident That This Particular Red devil Had Been Especially Prominent
In The Hellish Acts Of The Massacre, The Colonel Dismounted from
His Pony To Satisfy Himself Whether The Savage Was Really Dead Or
Only Shamming. He Was Far From Being a Corpse, For The Colonel Had
Scarcely Reached the Spot, When The Indian Jumped to His Feet And
Attempted to Run A Long, Steel-Pointed lance Through The Officer'S
Shoulder. Colonel St. Vrain Was A Large, Powerfully Built Man;
So Was The Indian, I Have Been Told. As Each Of The Struggling
Combatants Endeavoured to Get The Better Of The Other, With The
Savage Having a Little The Advantage, Perhaps, It Appears That
"Uncle Dick" Wooton, Who Was In the Chase After The Rebels, Happened
To Arrive On The Scene, And Hitting The Indian A Terrific Blow On
The Head With His Axe, Settled the Question As To His Being a Corpse.
Court For The Trial Of The Insurrectionists Assembled at Nine O'Clock.
On Entering The Room, Judges Beaubien And Houghton Were Occupying
Their Official Positions. After Many Dry Preliminaries, Six Prisoners
Were Brought In--Ill-Favoured, Half-Scared, Sullen Fellows; And The
Jury Of Mexicans And Americans Having Been Empanelled, The Trial
Commenced. It Certainly Did Appear To Be A Great Assumption On 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 American Soldiery
Guarded the Halls. It Was A Strange Mixture Of Violence And Justice--
A Middle Ground Between The Martial And Common Law.
After An Absence Of A Few Minutes, The Jury Returned with A Verdict
Of "Guilty In the First Degree"--Five For Murder, One For Treason.
Treason, Indeed! What Did The Poor Devil Know About His New
Allegiance? But So It Was; And As The Jail Was Overstocked with
Others Awaiting Trial, It Was Deemed expedient To Hasten The Execution,
And The Culprits Were Sentenced to Be Hung On The Following Friday--
Hangman'S Day.
Court Was Daily In session; Five More Indians And Four Mexicans
Were Sentenced to Be Hung On The 30Th Of April. In the Court Room,
On The Occasion Of The Trial Of These Nine Prisoners, Were Senora Bent
The Late Governor'S Wife, And Senora Boggs, Giving Their Evidence In
Regard To The Massacre, Of Which They Were Eye-Witnesses. Mrs. Bent
Was Quite Handsome; A Few Years Previously She Must Have Been A
Beautiful Woman. The Wife Of The Renowned kit Carson Also Was In
Attendance. Her Style Of Beauty Was Of The Haughty, Heart-Breaking
Kind--Such As Would Lead A Man, With A Glance Of The Eye, To Risk
His Life For One Smile.
The Court Room Was A Small, Oblong Apartment, Dimly Lighted by Two
Narrow Windows; A Thin Railing Keeping The Bystanders From Contact
With The Functionaries. The Prisoners Faced the Judges, And The
Three Witnesses--Senoras Bent, Boggs, And Carson--Were Close To Them
On A Bench By The Wall. When Mrs. Bent Gave Her Testimony, The Eyes
Of The Culprits Were Fixed sternly Upon Her; When She Pointed out
The Indian Who Had Killed the Governor, Not A Muscle Of The Chief'S
Face Twitched or Betrayed agitation, Though He Was Aware Her Evidence
Settled his Death Warrant; He Sat With Lips Gently Closed, Eyes
Earnestly Fixed on Her, Without A Show Of Malice Or Hatred--A Spectacle
Of Indian Fortitude, And Of The Severe Mastery To Which The Emotions
Can Be Subjected.
Among The Jurors Was A Trapper Named baptiste Brown, A Frenchman,
As Were The Majority Of The Trappers In the Early Days Of The Border.
He Was An Exceptionally Kind-Hearted man When He First Came To The
Mountains, And Seriously Inclined to Regard The Indians With That
Mistaken Sentimentality Characterizing The Average New England
Philanthropist, Who Has Never Seen The Untutored savage On His Native
Heath. His Ideas, However, Underwent A Marked change As The Years
Rolled on And He Became More Familiar With The Attributes Of The
Noble Red man. He Was With Kit Carson In the Blackfeet Country
Many Years Before The Taos Massacre, When His Convictions Were Thus
Modified, And It Was From The Famous Frontiersman Himself I Learned
The Story Of Baptiste'S Conversion.
It Was Late One Night In their Camp On One Of The Many Creeks In the
Blackfoot Region, Where They Had Been Established for Several Weeks,
And Baptiste Was On Duty, Guarding Their Meat And Furs From The
Incursions Of A Too Inquisitive Grizzly That Had Been Prowling around,
And The Impertinent Investigations Of The Wolves. His Attention Was
Attracted to Something High Up In a Neighbouring Tree, That Seemed
Restless, Changing Its Position Constantly Like An Animal Of Prey.
The Frenchman Drew A Bead Upon It, And There Came Tumbling Down At His
Feet A Dead Savage, With His War-Paint And Other Indian Paraphernalia
Adorning His Body. Baptiste Was Terribly Hurt Over The Circumstance
Of Having Killed an Indian, And It Grieved him For A Long Time.
One Day, A Month After The Incident, He Was Riding alone Far Away
From Our Party, And Out Of Sound Of Their Rifles As Well, When A Band
Of Blackfeet Discovered him And Started for His Scalp. He Had No
Possible Chance For Escape Except By The Endurance Of His Horse;
So A Race For Life Began. He Experienced no Trouble In keeping Out
Of The Way Of Their Arrows--The Indians Had No Guns Then--And Hoped
To Make Camp Before They Could Possibly Wear Out His Horse. Just As
He Was Congratulating Himself On His Luck, Right In front Of Him
There
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