Don Luis Enriquez de Guzman, Count de Alvadeliste.
XXI. Viceroy of New Spain.
1649–1654.
The Audiencia ruled in New Spain until the 3d of July, 1650, the period of the Conde de Alvadeliste's arrival in the capital. This nobleman had been, in fact, appointed by the king immediately upon the transfer of the Conde de Salvatierra to Peru; but inasmuch as he could not immediately cross the Atlantic, the bishop of Yucatan had been directed to assume his functions ad interim. Alvadeliste, a man of amiable character and gentle manners, soon won the good opinion of the Spanish colonists and creoles. But if he was to experience but little trouble from his countrymen and their descendants, he was not to escape a vexatious outbreak among the northern Indians, who had remained quiet for so long that it was supposed they were finally and successfully subjected to the Spanish yoke.
The viceroy had not been long installed when he received news of a rebellion against the Spaniards by the Tarahumares, who inhabited portions of Chihuahua and Sinaloa, and who hitherto yielded implicitly to the gentle and persuasive voice of the evangelical teachers dwelling among them. The portion of this tribe inhabiting Sinaloa, commenced the assault, but the immediate cause of the rebellion is not known. We are not aware whether they experienced a severe local government at the hands of the Spaniards, whether they were tired of the presence of the children of the Peninsula, or whether they feared that the priestly rule was only another means of subjecting them more easily to the crown of Castile. Perhaps all these causes influenced the rebellion. Already in 1648, the chief of the nation had compromised three other tribes in the meditated outbreak; but, lacking the concerted action of the Tepehuanes and other bands, upon whose aid they confidently counted, they resolved to attack, alone, the village of San Francisco de Borja, whose garrison and village they slaughtered and burned. San Francisco was the settlement which supplied the local missions with provisions, and its loss was consequently irreparable to that portion of the country.
As soon as the chief judge of Parral heard of this sanguinary onslaught he hastily gathered the neighboring farmers, herdsmen, and merchants, and hastened into the wilderness against the insurgents, who fled when they had destroyed the great depot of the Spaniards. The troops, hardy as they were on these distant frontiers, were not calculated for the rough warfare of woodsmen, and after some insignificant and unsuccessful skirmishes with the marauders, the new levies retired hastily to their homes.
Fajardo, governor of Nueva Biscaya, soon heard of the rebellion and of the ineffectual efforts to suppress it. He was satisfied that no time was to be lost in crushing the rebellion, and, accordingly marched with Juan Barraza, to the seat of war with an adequate force. The Indians had meanwhile left their villages and betaken themselves to the mountains, woods and fastnesses. Fajardo immediately burned their abandoned habitations and desolated their cultivated fields; and when the Indians, who were now satisfied of their impotence, demanded peace, he granted it on condition that the four insurgent chiefs of the rebellion should be surrendered for punishment. The natives, in reply, brought him the head of one of their leaders, together with his wife and child; soon after another head was delivered to him, and, in a few days, the other two leaders surrendered.
This, for a while, calmed the country; but in order to confirm the peace and friendship which seemed to be now tolerably well established, a mission was founded in the valley of Papigochi, in which the chief population of the Tarahumares resided. The reverend Jesuit, Father Bendin, was charged with the duty of establishing this benignant government of the church, and in a short time it appeared that he had succeeded in civilizing the Indians and in converting them to the Christian faith. There were, nevertheless, discontented men among the tribes, whose incautious acts occasionally gave warning of the animosity which still lingered in the breasts of the Indians. The most prudent of the Spaniards warned the governor of Nueva Biscaya to beware a sudden or personal attack. But this personage treated the advice with contempt, and felt certain that the country was substantially pacified. Nevertheless, whilst things wore this aspect of seeming calm, three chiefs or caciques, who had embraced the Catholic faith, prepared the elements for a new rebellion, and, on the 5th of June, 1649, at daybreak, they attacked the dwelling of the missionaries, set fire to its combustible materials, and surrounding the blazing house in numbers, awaited the moment when the unsuspecting inmates attempted to escape. The venerable Bendin and his companions were quickly aroused, but no sooner did they rush from the flames than they were cruelly slain by the Indians. The church was then sacked. The valuables were secured and carried off by the murderous robbers, but all the images and religious emblems were sacrilegiously destroyed before the Indians fled to the country.
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Fajardo once more despatched Juan Barraza, with three hundred Spanish soldiers and some Indians against the rebel Tarahumares. But the tribe had, in its intercourse with the foreigners, acquired some little knowledge of the art of war and consequently did not await the expected attack in the open or level fields, where the Spanish cavalry could act powerfully against them. They retired, accordingly, to a rocky pass, flanked by two streams, which they fortified, at all points, with stone walls and other formidable impediments. Here they rested in security until the Spanish forces approached them; nor did they, even then abandon their defensive warfare. Barraza, finding the Indians thus skilfully entrenched behind barriers and ready to repel his attack, was unable, after numerous efforts, to dislodge them from their position. Indeed, he appears to have suffered serious losses in his vain assaults; so that, instead of routing the natives entirely, he found it necessary to withdraw his troops who were greatly weakened by losses, whilst the daring insurgents continually received auxiliary reinforcements. In this untoward state of affairs, Barraza resolved to make his escape, during the night, from such dangerous quarters, and, ordering his Indian allies to light the usual watch-fires, and keep up the ordinary bustle of a camp, he silently but gradually withdrew all his Spanish and native forces, so that at daybreak the Tarahumares found the country cleared of their foes.
As soon as Fajardo heard of the forced retreat of Barraza he determined to take the management of the campaign in his own hands. But his military efforts were as unsuccessful as those of his unfortunate captain. The rainy season came on before he could make a successful lodgement in the heart of the enemy's country, and his march was impeded by floods which destroyed the roads and rendered the streams impassable. Accordingly he retired to Parral, where he received orders from the viceroy to establish a garrison in Papigochi.