More on New Mexican Slaves/Servants In The Spanish And Mexican Periods

A lot has been written on this subject, most of the writing has been very biased with authors allowing their personal, political and racial views creep into their writings. Add to this the obvious dislike of New Mexicans and the view one comes away with is distorted. Personal likes and dislikes should be left out of "history" books by "historians". Those personal views are best left to articles in magazines and web logs like this one.

Suffice it to say that the slave/servant institution did exist in the period in question in New Mexico. It seems like everyone living in the area was practicing it, New Mexicans, Indians as well as Americans living here at the time.

Some authors would have us believe that New Mexicans were the only ones doing this. That is not the case at all. Taking captives' was another part of warfare during the period. In new Mexico it seems every group, and I mean every group, was taking captives and using them as slaves/servants. The issue is complex and different than the institution of slavery in the southern states of the United States.

The links below are previous posts on here which alluded to captives/slaves/servants;

 http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2008/08/indians-navajos-in-new-mexican.html

http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-became-of-jose-gutierrez-navajo.html

http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2007/03/jose-andres-martn-andele.html

http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2009/09/cautivos-y-cautivas.html

http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2008/01/comanche-raid-on-la-cienega-new-mexico.html

Now an educated guess on my part. I would venture that if your family has roots in New Mexico, that predates the invasion and annexation of the area by the Americans, you have captives in your background. Hispanic New Mexicans and Pueblo Indians would have Native American captives from one or more of the wild tribes who practiced warfare against New Mexico and its Hispanic or Pueblo Indian populations. The wild tribes of the area, Apache, Comanche, Pawnee, Navajo and Ute would have Hispanic and Pueblo Indian captives in their backgrounds.

The taking of captives in warfare predates the Spanish in the area now called New Mexico. The Spanish were also used to taking captives. To the Spanish, in those days, if you were not Spanish and a Catholic you were fair game in war. In all reality the Spanish needed no further reason for the practice. They thought they were saving your soul, and as such it was permissible.