High Grade Violence in Spanish Colonial and Mexican New Mexico

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It was high grade violence, no two ways about it. The non Pueblo Indians were used to this violence and our ancestors adapted to it with ease. It was not bad in the pre revolt period because our ancestors were the only ones with the horse. Yes, the horse, not a gun, the horse. Once los Indios barbaros got the horse my ancestors had to adapt to the raiding that was the norm for the tribes surrounding/sharing New Mexico. The Navajos, Apaches, Kiowa, Ute and later the Comanche.

On horseback they were a formidable enemy. And the Spanish provided the means for their sucesses at raiding, the horse! The Indios barbaros mentioned had grown accustomed to rading as a means of making a living. In New Mexico they would not give it up until faced with extinction at the hands of the Americans. Prior to the coming of the Americans the Indians would kill the men, older women and young boys during these raids. They would keep younger women and kids as servants in their camps. Killing them if they would become uncooperative.

But my ancestors were no slouches at retalating, with raiding back. They did not need horses, but bodies would do, the captured men to the mines of Mexico and the young and women as servants in New Mexican households. Nothing was wasted by New Mexicans. Men were a commodity just like the rest. The Indians might not want Hispano men, but New Mexicans knew how to get rid of Indian men, the mines at Santa Rita in the interior needed labor.

This was the pattern in New Mexico until the Americans arrived. Eventually they put a stop to it. But left to their own devices the Indians would still be at it. Driving them to extinction or near extinction was the solution that the Americans had used in the East. It was a tried and true method.