| the original state magazine
Memorias
Take a look at New Mexico Magazine's timeline of important dates from the state's rambunctious history and see for yourself why New Mexico has a colorful heritage.
January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December
January
January 1, 1881 — Billy the Kid, in a Santa Fe jail, writes the third of six letters to Gov. Lew Wallace, requesting that the statesman visit the outlaw in his cell.
January 2, 1867 — Col. Thomas Means is taken from a Taos jail and lynched. Means was allegedly a habitual bully who terrorized family and neighbors. He was in jail for slashing the face of a local judge.
January 6, 1912 — U.S. President William H. Taft signs proclamation that admits New Mexico into the Union as the 47th state.
January 7, 1598 — Juan de Oñate and 130 men women and children leave northern Mexico and blaze the trail that would become El Camino Real.
January 7, 1874 — Gov. Marsh Giddings offers a reward of $500 for the arrest of five New Mexico men accused of murdering four men the month before. The murders began six years of lawlessness called the Lincoln County War.
January 10, 1880 — Believed to be the day Billy the Kid killed Joe Grant in a Fort Sumner saloon.
January 11, 1892 —The U.S. Senate confirms five judges to the Private Land Claims Court created to adjudicate New Mexico land grants issued by Spain and Mexico and assumed by the U.S. government through the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
January 12, 1889 —J. Francisco Chavez and Albert Fountain, leaders of the New Mexico Senate and House of Representatives, receive death threats and are given 36 hours to leave Santa Fe. Threats imply the existence of a "death committee."
January 14, 1869 —The "Santa Fe New Mexican" reports a young attorney, Tom Catron, was confirmed as the New Mexico Attorney General. A Confederate veteran, Catron became the first of two U.S. Senators for New Mexico in 1912.
January 17, 1852 — Some cry scandal when Gertrudes Barcelo, aka La Doña Tules, reportedly is buried beneath Santa Fe's La Parroquia Church (now rebuilt as the St. Francis Cathedral) on this day. Tules operated a popular gambling saloon/bordello near Santa Fe's Burro Alley at the time.
January 18, 1948 — The "Santa Fe New Mexican," operating since 1849, proudly announces that daily circulation has reached an all-time high of 9,000 copies.
January 18, 1855 — Newly arrived Surveyor-General William Pelham asks New Mexicans to submit land grant documents given by Spain and Mexico. The United States agreed to honor grants, but deceptive individuals caused misgivings about the process.
January 19, 1847 — The first appointed territorial governor of New Mexico, Charles Bent, was murdered and scalped in front of his Taos home while his terrified family watched during the Taos Rebellion, a futile revolt against the new American rule.
January 23, 1923 — Aztec Ruins National Monument opens, boasting impressive Ancestral Pueblo ruins that date from circa 1106 A.D.
January 24, 1945 — Camp O'Donnell (Philippines) is liberated from Japan by U.S. troops. Many New Mexicans with the 200th and 515th coastal artillery units are discovered, having survived the Bataan Death March and several years of captivity.
January 28, 1870 — Lucien B. Maxwell sells the "Maxwell Land Grant&qupt; to foreign investors for $1,350,000. It consisted of more than 1.7 million acres. The land grant was the largest tract of privately owned land in the Western Hemisphere.
January 29, 1822 — William Becknell, founder of the Santa Fe Trail, returns to Franklin, Mo., after his first trading expedition to Santa Fe. As Becknell talked of second trip, silver pesos fell to the ground from a leather pouch atop his pack animals.
January 30, 1945 — Camp Cabanatuan (Philippines) is liberated from Japan by U.S. troops. Many New Mexicans with the 200th and 515th coastal artillery units are discovered, having survived the Bataan Death March and several years of captivity.
February
February 1, 1847 — During the Taos Rebellion, 200 occupying U.S. Army soldiers in Las Vegas were sent to uproot an insurgence in Mora, where they burned every building.
February 2, 1848 — The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was initially signed, ending the Mexican War and officially ceding New Mexico and much of the Southwest to the United States.
February 7, 1706 — The villa San Francisco de Alburquerque was founded by Gov. Francisco Cuervo y Valdes and 12 families. It was named after the Duke of Alburquerque who resided in New Spain (Mexico). Later, English-speaking people dropped the first "r" from its spelling in the early 19th century, as noted in the 1807 narratives of the Zebulon Pike expedition.
February 9, 1880 — The first steam locomotive chugs into Santa Fe, on a spur from the main line near Lamy, signaling the symbolic and actual demise of commerce on the Santa Fe Trail.
February 11, 1916 — Bandelier National Monument opens with evidence of human inhabitation as early as 1200 B.C. The area's inhabitants lived in pit houses, cave dwellings carved into volcanic tuft and later pueblo-like structures on the ground.
February 12, 1929 — Colorado, Texas and New Mexico signed the first Rio Grande Compact in Santa Fe. It placed five-year moratorium on water projects until water could be measured for apportionment.
February 13, 1888 — Jean Baptiste Lamy, the Archbishop of Santa Fe, dies after a nine-day fight with pneumonia. As leader of the Santa Fe Archdiocese since 1851, he oversaw many changes within the Roman Catholic Church in New Mexico, including the establishment of many schools, the building of churches and the discouragement of religious brotherhood societies within individual communities.
February 17, 1896 — The "Santa Fe New Mexican" reports blood and clothing found on a Tularosa road indicate that Col. Albert J. Fountain and his son, Henry, were killed and buried at White Sands. Fountain and the 7-year-old were never found.
February 18, 1878 — John H. Tunstall is murdered near Tinnie while driving horses to Lincoln. His death inflamed his young cowhands, including Billy the Kid, who sought revenge in the Lincoln County War.
February 18, 1930 — New Mexico State University professor Clyde W. Tombaugh discovers the planet of Pluto.
February 19, 1851 — Guadalupe Miranda petitions Mexican officials for a land grant in the Dona Ana County area. In 1888 he sold the land for only $5, believing the United States would not confirm the grant. Indeed, the next owner's claim was denied.
February 20, 1905 — The New Mexico Assembly creates the Mounted Police, which never exceeded 22 members and existed until 1922 when duties were transferred to the National Guard.
February 21, 1862 — Rebel forces under Gen. H.H. Sibley defeat Union forces of Gen. E.R.S. Canby at Valverde, the largest Civil War battle in New Mexico.
February 23, 1540 — Francisco Vazquez de Coronado and his caravan of 337 Spaniards, about 700 Indian allies and thousands of livestock go north from the Mexican outpost of Compostela to look for the golden cities of Cibola.
February 24, 1821 — Augustine Iturbide proclaims Mexican independence from Spain at the town of Iguala. Months would pass before New Mexicans would receive news of the event.
February 24, 1863 — U.S. Congress creates the Territory of Arizona, severing the western half of New Mexico. During the Civil War, the area was too remote to be governed from Santa Fe, and Confederates had created a rival territory in the Tucson area.
February 27, 1875 — After brief illness, Harry Battles, infant grandson of Gov. Marsh Giddings, dies in the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe. Giddings also dies in the Palace the following June.
February 28, 1861 — Congress organizes the Territory of Colorado, and a northern portion of New Mexico from the fertile San Luis Valley to the east is taken. Many longtime New Mexicans become citizens of Colorado.
February 29, 1908 — Former Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett, whose claim to fame was shooting Billy the Kid nearly 30 years before, was shot and killed himself near Organ. His killer was acquitted of murder charges even though he confessed to the crime.
March
March 1, 1873 — Catherine McCarty, mother of Billy the Kid, marries William H. Antrim in Santa Fe. Antrim was one of the Kid's many aliases.
March 2, 1881 — Billy the Kid writes the fourth of six letters to Gov. Lew Wallace from a Santa Fe jail, asking for a meeting to discuss their 1879 agreement and his criminal case.
March 3, 1891 — Congress replaces the New Mexico Surveyor General with the Court of Private Land Claims. The court assumes the function of validating Spanish and Mexican land grants because of the failure of the Surveyor's office since 1854.
March 4, 1862 — Gov. Henry Connelly flees Santa Fe with 120 wagons toward Las Vegas and ahead of Confederate troops who are quickly advancing up the Rio Grande Valley.
March 7, 1539 — Fray Marcos de Niza and Estevan the Moor leave Culiacan, Mexico, to explore New Mexico. Zuni Indians kill Estevan, but de Niza returns with false stories confirming the Seven Cities of Cibola. This Indians distrusted Estevan because he wore jewelry depicting serpents and, also, because he demanded women from the pueblo.
March 8, 1823 — The short-lived Mexican empire of Augustine Iturbide ends primarily because of insufficient funds to pay the army. By the time news reached New Mexico, Iturbide had been executed.
March 9, 1916 — Mexican revolutionary leader Francisco "Pancho" Villa leads an attack on the small community of Columbus on the Mexican border. After the attack, the Mexican insurgents retreat back into Mexico.
March 10, 1862 — The Confederate army marches into Santa Fe to find that the Palace of the Governors has been abandoned. Troops raise the Confederate flag over the Palace.
March 11, 1907 — Chaco Canyon National Monument opens under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service with impressive Ancestral Pueblo stone ruins that date back to 1000 B.C. Recent theories suggest that the entire complex is almost perfectly aligned with the seasonal and annual skyward paths of the sun, the moon and the stars.
March 11, 1925 — With the signature of Gov. Arthur Hannett, New Mexico adopts the current state flag — a red Zia symbol on a field of yellow that replaced the original flag and symbolized the Spanish royal colors.
March 13, 1879 — Billy the Kid writes first of six letters to Gov. Lew Wallace, offering to testify against others in the Lincoln County War for immunity. They meet four days later in Lincoln.
March 14, 1933 — The Legislature creates the New Mexico Motorcycle Patrol (chief and nine patrolmen) but the state police replace them two years later because of the number of Patrol accidents.
March 16, 1903 — The New Mexico Assembly creates Leonard Wood County, named after the former Rough Rider and U.S. Army Chief of Staff, but the public demanded the county be renamed Guadalupe in 1905.
March 16, 1916 — Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing leads American troops from Columbus, N.M., 400 miles into Mexico in search of Pancho Villa who led a raid on the town a week earlier. Villa eluded his pursuers.
March 17, 1879 — Gov. Lew Wallace and Billy the Kid meet in Lincoln on the condition that The Kid testify against others involved in the Lincoln County War in exchange for immunity.
March 18, 1938 — The second Rio Grande Compact is signed in Santa Fe by Colorado, Texas and New Mexico to distribute equal water from the Rio Grande Basin, but New Mexico since has had trouble delivering the quota to Texas.
March 23, 1862 — Confederate forces under Gen. Henry H. Sibley formally capture Santa Fe. Two separate advance units entered the capital on the 10th and 13th and reported that the city was unguarded.
March 26-28, 1862 — Confederate soldiers defeat outnumbered Union troops near Glorieta Pass, but the Union's covert destruction of Rebel supplies in the rear forces the Graycoats' to evacuate to the south.
March 27, 1881 — Billy the Kid writes his last letter to Gov. Lew Wallace, reminding him of their 1879 agreement and asking for help in The Kid's upcoming criminal trial in Mesilla.
March 28, 1881 — Billy the Kid begins journey from Santa Fe to La Mesilla where he would be tried and convicted of killing Sheriff William Brady in 1878.
March 30, 1609 — Viceregal instructions were given to Don Pedro de Peralta to build a presidio and six districts around a plaza. The new settlement was named La Villa Real de Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis. (Recently discovered documents, however, suggest that Santa Fe actually might have been founded two years earlier.)
March 31, 1950 — Hot Springs along the Rio Grande officially changes its name to Truth or Consequences at the urging of national game show host Ralph Edwards, who sponsored a national contest with incentives to any community in the nation that would change its name to that of his popular game show.
April
April 1, 1878 — Sheriff William Brady and George Hindman are ambushed and killed on the streets of Lincoln. Among those suspected of the murders was Billy the Kid, who later would be tried and convicted of the deed.
April 2, 1870 — The "Santa Fe Weekly Post" accuses Gov. William Pile and his librarian Ira Bond with selling and destroying many valuable Spanish and Mexican archival records.
April 3, 1884 — The "grandfather of dust storms" originates in New Mexico, reaching great altitudes over Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. Several deaths related to storm are reported.
April 4, 1879 — The first Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway locomotive steams into Las Vegas, N.M., bringing prosperity to that town and diminishing commerce on the Santa Fe Trail.
April 6, 1870 — Librarian Ira Bond announces the recovery of lost archival records ordered disposed by Gov. William Pile. Despite the statement, Bond still urges return of missing records through Santa Fe newspapers.
April 8, 1704 — Don Diego de Vargas dies in Bernalillo after contracting a fever while leading Spanish soldiers and Pueblo scouts against Apaches raiding settlements in the Middle Rio Grande Valley.
April 9, 1942 — The Bataan Peninsula (Philippines) falls to Japan; among the United States and Filipino defenders are the 200th and 515th coastal artillery units, both with numerous New Mexico National Guardsmen.
April 12, 1915 — Six men are indicted for helping Mexican General José Inez Salazar escape from an Albuquerque jail. The alleged conspirators were district attorney Manuel Vigil, game warden Trinidad C de Baca, two deputies and the famous lawman Elfego Baca, who served as Salazar's attorney.
April 15, 1862 — Forces clash in the Battle of Peralta, the last Civil War conflict in New Mexico. An indecisive skirmish by Eastern standards, it convinced the Rebels to retreat to El Paso.
April 16, 1605 — Don Juan de Oñate, New Mexico's first official colonizer, inscribes his name at El Morro near Zuni Pueblo. Many other westbound travelers would also leave their mark at the area's only watering hole.
April 22, 1880 — The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway reaches Albuquerque, which eventually becomes the hub of operations in state. One reason the railroad bypasses its namesake is because of inflated prices of key sites into Santa Fe.
April 23, 1541 — Francisco Vazquez de Coronado sets out from the area now known as Bernalillo to search for the Golden Cities of Cibola, a journey that saw him travel as far east as Kansas before he turned back empty-handed.
April 23, 1870 — Judge Kirby Benedict leads committee to fix blame for recent loss of Spanish and Mexican archival records, issuing a report to President Ulysses S. Grant that recommended the removal of New Mexico Gov. William Pile.
April 25, 1835 — The Mexican Congress repeals all land colonization laws, seeking to become the final issuing authority for land grants along the northern frontier. Military and church leaders were alarmed at the number of Anglos receiving grants in New Mexico and Texas.
April 26, 1901 — Outlaw Tom "Blackjack" Ketchum is hanged in Clayton for committing a train robbery. Ketchum was decapitated while plunging from the gallows and his death raised many questions about the inhumanity of this method of execution.
April 28, 1881 — Sentenced to hang two weeks later and incarcerated in the Lincoln County Courthouse, Billy the Kid escapes by killing deputies J.W. Bell and Bob Olinger. The incident has been re-enacted in scores of plays, movies and novels and is one of the Kid's most famous escapades.
April 30, 1598 — Oñate's first New Mexico colonizers reach the Rio Grande after days without water in the Chihuahua, Mexico, badlands. A celebration is held that many New Mexicans consider to be the first Thanksgiving.
May
May 1, 1958 — White Sands Proving Grounds, secretly established by the military in 1945, officially becomes White Sands Missile Range. Many ranchers in the area felt that the U.S. Government unfairly seized their land.
May 3, 1837 — American John Langham complains to New Mexico Gov. Albino Perez saying he had leased the Cienega of Santa Fe but the town council had failed to fence the area as promised. Langham paid 127 pesos to lease the swamp for the spring and summer and finally fenced part of the area at his own expense.
May 4, 1909 — Wayne Brazil was acquitted even after he confessed to killing former Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett, who historians believe was shot in the back near Las Cruces while urinating.
May 5, 1903 — President Theodore Roosevelt visits Santa Fe and is given a rousing welcome, large parade and is entertained by Gov. Miguel A. Otero. He visited the state several times after many New Mexico "Rough Riders" enlisted in 1898.
May 6, 1942 — Corregidor Island surrenders to Japan, ending a five-month Philippines defense by many New Mexico National Guardsmen of the 200th and 515th coastal artillery units. Many died in the Bataan Death March and three years of inhumane captivity.
May 7, 1935 — The Pueblo ruins of Kuaua and Puaray along the Rio Grande north of Albuquerque are opened to the public as Coronado State Monument. Historians believe that Francisco Vazquez de Coronado encountered these villages during his epic explorations.
May 9, 1950 — A fire crew fighting the Capitan Gap fire in Lincoln National Forest rescues a bear cub clinging to a tree. The burned animal later became known as Smokey Bear and the cub grew into a national symbol for the prevention of forest fires. The bear lived on and later died of natural causes and his body was returned from Washington, D.C., to be buried in the same area of the Lincoln fire.
May 12, 1892 — The New Mexico territorial capitol building in Santa Fe is mysteriously destroyed by fire. Some documents are lost, but the "ancient Santa Fe Archives" are saved. The cause of the fire is still unknown but some people report seeing some dark figures running from the building shortly before the building is consumed in flames.
May 15, 1912 — The New Mexico Supreme Court rules in "New Mexico vs. Davenport" that playing baseball on Sunday is not a crime as earlier interpreted from the legal code of 1897.
May 17, 1912 — Sam Bean's Saloon and adjoining Majestic Cafe in downtown Las Cruces is leveled by a nitroglycerin blast allegedly set by Spaniard Conselo Llexia. Other buildings suffer minor damage.
May 18, 1822 — Augustine Iturbide proclaims himself emperor of Mexico, but is not given absolute power and is later removed by the Congress. His reign ended the next year and he was executed months later. New Mexicans heard of the events months after they occurred but most were more interested in new influx of Santa Fe Trail merchandise.
May 19, 1893 — Clandestine leader Vicente Silva kills his wife north of Las Vegas and hires five henchmen to dispose of her body. Dissatisfied with the paltry $10 payment each, they also rob and kill Silva. Two years pass until the Silva deaths are known. Silva ran a prosperous business by day and at night he was the leader of a feared outlaw gang.
May 21, 1598 — Pedro Robledo was the first of Juan de Oñate's colonistas to die in New Mexico. He was buried in Robledo, a Dona Ana County village that now bears his name.
May 23, 1868 — Christopher "Kit" Carson, explorer, soldier and Indian campaigner who led Navajo captives on "The Long Walk," dies of hemorrhage. Although he began his military career as an Indian fighter, he changed his philosophy later in life to be sympathetic toward Native Americans.
May 25, 1850 — The New Mexico Assembly completes the first constitution, establishing a U.S.-style government and repudiating slavery. This was New Mexico's first attempt at gaining statehood.
May 26, 1834 — After a short effort to prohibit Americans from entering and owning land in New Mexico, Texas and California, the Mexican Congress reverses the policy, but centralist factions in Mexico City would soon revive the policy because of the growing number of American immigrants.
May 30, 1881 — Gov. Lew Wallace leaves Santa Fe, serving since Sept. 1878. The "Las Vegas Optic" calls him "best executive New Mexico has had for many years."
June
June 1, 1868 — The Treaty of Bosque Redondo creates the Navajo Indian Reservation, which later expands into areas of western New Mexico, northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah.
June 2, 1860 — The U.S. Congress confirms the Las Trampas land grant in New Mexico based on the investigation of the Surveyor-General William Pelham. The community grant was quickly honored according to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
June 3, 1872 — New Mexico voters reject a second constitutional issue to gain statehood. The loss is attributed to low voter turnout. The first 1850 Constitution passed New Mexico voters but not U.S. Congress.
June 4, 1696 — Many Pueblo Indians stage a second revolt, requiring Gov. Don Diego de Vargas, Spanish soldiers and a contingent of Pecos Pueblo warriors six months to control.
June 5, 1967 — Reies Lopez Tijerina and a group of his followers shoot up the Rio Arriba County Courthouse in Tierra Amarilla and take hostages in protest of land grant circumstances.
June 10, 1942 — The Naval cruiser U.S.S. Santa Fe is launched from Camden, N.J., earning 13 battle stars in Pacific operations during World War II. She helped capture the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
June 14, 1962 — The New Mexico. Supreme Court in the case of "Montoya vs. Bolack" prohibits state and local governments from denying Indians the right to vote because they live on a reservation.
June 15, 1904 — The U.S. Private Land Claims court adjourns its final session after 13 years of adjudicating Spanish and Mexican land grants assumed by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. Most grants were in New Mexico.
June 17, 1527 — The Narvaez flotilla sails from Cuba carrying Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and others in an effort to colonize Florida. A violent storm shipwrecks the expedition along the Gulf Coast near present-day Galveston. Cabeza de Vaca and three others (including Estevan the Moor) survive, live among the Indians and emerge in 1536 with the first stories of New Mexico.
June 18, 1909 — An agreement between 111 landowners of the Jacona land grant (north of Santa Fe) transforms it from a community to a private grant. The action is taken to prevent losing common lands to the U.S. government.
June 19, 1854 — The bill to create the office of Surveyor-General of New Mexico is introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The office is charged with investigating land grants assumed by the United States from the Mexican and Spanish regimes through the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
June 20, 1850 — Voters approve 1850 Constitution in the first attempt at statehood (8,371 to 39), but the fledgling territory-to-be would have to wait 62 years before admission to Union.
June 21, 1860 — Congress approves the Maxwell Land Grant, 1,714,765 acres granted by the Mexican government to Charles Beaubien in 1841 and later acquired by Lucien B. Maxwell who married Beaubien's daughter Luz. The Maxwells later bought out other family members and eventually sold the grant to foreign investors in 1872. Maxwell, who many said was a very generous man, eventually died broke. He allowed many squatters to establish homes on the grant and when the new owners began evicting them the Colfax County War erupted.
June 26, 1853 — Romolo Barela receives a land grant from Mexican authorities in the Gadsden Purchase area of southern New Mexico, which he uses to plant an orchard. Fifty years later, his heirs lost their fight to have the grant confirmed by the United States because a lesser official issued the grant.
July
July 1, 1751 — New Mexico landowner Sebastian Martin deeds a large chunk of land to Las Trampas, northeast of Espanola. Las Trampas later became a springboard for settlement in Mora County and Colorado.
July 1, 1887 — Outlaw gunslinger Clay Allison is accidentally killed when he falls off his buckboard and a rear wheel runs over him, breaking his neck. Some believe he was highly intoxicated at the time. Historians believe Allison once killed a man for abusing a Native American woman. The woman told Allison that the man, who operated a trading post, would beat her and force her to commit acts of prostitution for his profit. Allison is said to have decapitated the man then posted the victim's head on a spike in front of a Cimarron drinking establishment, where it remained for many days.
July 3, 1947 — The Santa Fe Opera presents its first performance in a new outdoor theater north of Santa Fe. The structure served its purpose for more than 50 years before it was demolished and replaced with a new semi-outdoor venue that allows all theatergoers to enjoy the show without fear of rain.
July 4, 1879 — Two locomotives decorated with the U.S. and Mexican flags arrive in Las Vegas, opening rail service to what was then the largest city in the New Mexico territory.
July 7, 1540 — Hawikuh Pueblo (old Zuni) attempts to repel Francisco Vazquez de Coronado's army, but the Indians are forced from their homes within five days. The Spanish confiscate provisions and continue their search for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola based on fabricated stories of New Mexico.
July 8, 1947 — Military officials announce the recovery of a crashed flying saucer near Roswell, but the Dallas-based 8th Army later rescinds the announcement, calling the find a metallic weather balloon. Many UFO enthusiasts today are skeptical about the Army's amended version.
July 9, 1828 — Residents of Ysleta, Texas, descendents from those who fled Isleta Pueblo during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, petition Mexican officials for a land grant in southern Otero County because their population has grown. The U.S. Private Land Claims Court rejected the Rancho de Ysleta grant.
July 10, 1751 — Political chief Juan Jose Lobato allows 12 families to take possession of the Las Trampas land grant. He assigns each family plots for homes, gardens and growing wheat. Las Trampas was a springboard for settlement of eastern New Mexico and Colorado.
July 11, 1598 — Juan de Oñate and about 200 colonistas occupy San Juan Pueblo and establish the first New Mexico capital, near the confluence of the Rio Grande and Rio Chama.
July 14, 1881 — William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, is shot and killed by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett who ambushed him in a darkened bedroom at Pete Maxwell's ranch in Fort Sumner. The Kid's last words were "Quien es, quien es?" (Who's there, who's there?)
July 15, 1751 — Don Tomas Velez Cachupin, governor of New Mexico, approves land grant request for 12 families in Las Trampas.
July 16, 1945 — Scientists detonate the world's first atomic bomb at Trinity Site in south-central New Mexico after secretly developing the technology through the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. Today, Trinity Site is open to the public only twice a year.
July 19, 1878 — Alexander McSween and others are killed by fire and bullets at McSween's home in Lincoln. Billy the Kid escapes, ending the Five-Day Battle of the Lincoln County War.
July 22, 1854 — U.S. President Franklin Pierce signs the bill creating the office of Surveyor-General of New Mexico who was charged with investigating Spanish and Mexican land grants assumed by the United States through the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
July 25, 1861 — The town of La Mesilla is taken by Confederate Lt. Col. John R. Baylor without a shot being fired.
July 26, 1861 — In the first Civil War clash in New Mexico, Confederates capture Fort Fillmore near Las Cruces. Lt. Col. John Baylor's Rebels capture 400 Bluecoats fleeing to Fort Stanton. Within a week, Baylor establishes the Confederate Territory of Arizona.
July 27, 1590 — Lt. Gov. Castano de Sosa of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, departs Alameda, but his expedition to settle New Mexico is declared illegal, and he is returned in chains in 1591 to face charges of entering the area without a license.
July 29, 1776 — Missionaries Silvestre Velez de Escalante and Atanasio Dominguez set out from Santa Fe with a few soldiers to explore the northern frontier, blazing the Spanish Trail, a trade route to California.
July 30, 1875 — Samuel B. Axtell becomes New Mexico governor and federal agent Frank Angel later describes Axtell's tenure as having more "corruption, fraud, mismanagement, plots and murder" than any other. Axtell was forced to resign and was replaced by governor-apointee Lew Wallace.
August
August 1, 1861 — Confederate Army Lt. Col. John R. Baylor and a force of Texas Mounted Volunteers proclaim all of New Mexico south of the 34th parallel as the Territory of Arizona, with La Mesilla near Las Cruces as their capital.
August 3, 1837 — Many northern New Mexicans stage a full-fledged revolt, mainly in the Chimayo area, against the Mexican government in protest of unfair taxation and poor military protection.
August 4, 1854 — The U.S. Congress officially annexes lands of the Gadsden Purchase and adds 29 million acres to the southern frontier of New Mexico. A total of $10 million was paid to Mexico according to the treaty signed the previous December in order to avoid another armed conflict between the two countries over the disputed southern boundary of New Mexico after the Mexican War. The United States saw the area as lucrative because of the verdant Mesilla Valley, the ore-rich mines at Santa Rita and prime routes for possible southern transcontinental railway lines.
August 8, 1837 — Santo Domingo revolutionaries in Santa Fe on Agua Fria Road decapitate Gov. Albino Perez. Perez tried to impose taxes ordered by Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, sparking the Revolt of 1837.
August 9, 1916 — Capulin Volcano National Monument is established. Geologists believe the volcano's last eruption occurred between 56,000 and 63,000 years ago.
August 10, 1680 — The first day of the Pueblo Revolt in which Pueblo Indians killed and drove domineering Catholic missionaries, Spanish colonistas and Christianized Indians out of New Mexico.
August 11, 1948 — U.S. District Court enters judgment in the case of "Trujillo vs. Garley" that prohibited New Mexico from denying Indians the right to vote based upon their ethnicity and relationship with the federal government. Indians were allowed to vote after the ruling.
August 12, 1955 — The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that a mild earthquake hit the area in the early morning. Moderate damage to some buildings is reported.
August 13, 1680 — Pope and other Pueblo Indian leaders fix this date to begin the united revolt against Spanish rule in New Mexico. Hostilities began three days early, however, because some messengers were captured. The revolt forced a 12-year Spanish exile from the area.
August 15, 1846 — Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny and his U.S. Army of the American West ride into Las Vegas. Standing atop a building on the Plaza, he announces the American takeover of the New Mexico territory and announces the swearing of allegiance to the United States.
August 17, 1773 — Spanish Viceroy Antonio Bucareli allows northern governors to issue common lands to any who will settle in dangerous areas to act a buffer from certain hostile Indian tribes. Many New Mexicans took advantage by settling in lands beyond the Rio Grande corridor.
August 17, 1780 — Joseph de Galvez sends a royal dispatch to Teodoro de Croix, commander of the Internal Provinces, including New Mexico, asking all subjects to donate money to help the American Revolution. Millions of pesos were given.
August 18, 1846 — Gen. Stephen W. Kearny and the Army of the West enter Santa Fe and officially conquer New Mexico relatively peacefully. He establishes an American-style government with the famous Kearny Code. Within days the Army departs to take control of California from Mexico.
August 19, 1941 — New Mexico newspapers announce the National Guard's 200th Coast Artillery is leaving Fort Bliss toward a secret destination. Within months and after valiant defense, the 200th would be captured by Japanese forces in the Philippines and begin years of brutal captivity by the Japanese military.
August 21, 1680 — Led by wounded Gov. Antonio Otermin, some 1,000 Spanish survivors of the Pueblo Revolt agree to abandon Santa Fe and the casas reales (now the Palace of the Governors), which was under siege by the Indians. The next day the survivors began a long dangerous trek to friendly Isleta Pueblo and then to El Paso.
August 22, 1776 — Spain reorganizes its American territories. New Mexico and the northern areas are now called the Internal Provinces and are taken from the command of the viceroy in Mexico City and placed under the commandant-general in Durango, Mexico.
August 22, 1846 — Gen. Stephen Kearny establishes the Territory of New Mexico and guarantees freedom of religion and protection for private property. His proclamation also sought to reduce the claims of Texas upon much of New Mexico's eastern lands.
August 23, 1846 — Work is started on Fort Marcy, located on a promontory 700 yards north of the Santa Fe Plaza. From the fort the entire city is within cannon range.
August 24, 1821 — The Treaty of Cordoba establishes Mexican independence from Spain. New Mexicans became official citizens of the Mexican republic rather than subjects of the Spanish monarchy.
August 27, 1871 — Election Day violence erupts between Republicans and Democrats in La Mesilla, leaving seven dead and 30 wounded, some mortally. U.S. Army troops from nearby Fort Selden are dispatched to restore order.
August 28, 1944 — The U.S. Catron (named after the New Mexico county) is launched from Wilmington, Calif. The ship transported Japanese POWs and repatriated Americans, earning a combat battle star during World War II.
September
September 1, 1821 — William Becknell leaves Arrow Rock, Mo., toward the Rocky Mountains to trade with Indians. He encounters a Mexican cavalry unit that takes him into custody and escorts him into Santa Fe, where his goods are quickly traded. Realizing potential profits, Becknell plans other trips and opens the Santa Fe Trail.
September 4, 1886 — Apache war chief Geronimo and his feisty band of Chiricahua renegades surrender to U.S. Army forces at Skeleton Canyon in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona on the border. Some historians claim that Geronimo's warriors were the last group of Indians to roam freely in the United States.
September 6, 1853 — Believed to be the day José Manuel Gallegos, an Albuquerque priest, defeated Gov. William Carr Lane in a hotly contested congressional election. Gallegos became the first Hispanic delegate to the U.S. Congress from New Mexico.
September 9, 1850 — President Millard Fillmore signs into law the Organic Act, which admitted New Mexico into the Union as a territory and allowed for the formation of a U.S. territorial government.
September 11, 1821 — Mexico wins independence from Spain in the spring of this year but the news does not reach Santa Fe until this date. All local government officials swear allegiance to Mexico.
September 12, 1848 — Francis X. Aubry leaves Santa Fe on horseback en route to Independence, Mo., a 900-mile journey that took him five days and 16 hours. He won a $1,000 wager.
September 13, 1692 — Don Diego de Vargas returns to Santa Fe to take back the casas reales (now the Palace of the Governors) from Pueblo Indians still in revolt. Vargas is on royal orders from the Spanish crown to reconquer New Mexico after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. This is the first of several bloodless ceremonial reconquests, including many at other northern pueblos. Vargas revisited the same areas a year later to complete the reconquest and some of the encounters proved to be violent.
September 13, 1813 — The Spanish Cortes decrees that Indian missions existing for 100 years should be secularized allowing assimilation of Indians into mainstream society and opening their lands for private appropriation.
September 14, 1875 — Methodist minister F.J. Tolby is killed by operatives of the "Santa Fe Ring," a group of lawyers and businessmen who aggressively and unscrupulously sought control of many Spanish land grants. The death sparked violence and led to Gov. Samuel B. Axtell's resignation.
September 16, 1712 — Gov. Marques de la Penuela issues order obliging Santa Feans to celebrate a fiesta each September to honor the spiritual and ceremonial reconquest of New Mexico by Don Diego de Vargas. It's now the oldest continuous celebration in the United States.
September 17, 1943 — Patrol frigate U.S.S. Gallup (named after the New Mexico city) is launched from Los Angeles. The ship earned five battle stars in the Pacific during World War II and the Korean Conflict. She also served in the Soviet Navy (1945-49).
September 18, 1692 — Gov. Don Diego de Vargas assigns the Los Cerrillos Land Grant southwest of Santa Fe to Alfonso Rael de Aguilar.
September 19, 1850 — Congress ignores local requests for statehood and instead creates the massive Territory of New Mexico, which at the time included much of the Southwest.
September 21, 1595 — Don Juan de Oñate signs a contract in Mexico that entitles him to lead the colonization of New Mexico. Because of a series of bureaucratic and political maneuverings compounded by funding problems due to the delay, his expedition took several years to finally leave Mexico.
September 22, 1846 — Gen. Stephen W. Kearny appoints Charles Bent the first governor of New Mexico under the newly established American regime government. Bent was assassinated at his Taos home the following January, and Kearny traveled on to conquer Mexican-controlled California by 1848.
September 25, 1927 — Charles "Lucky Lindy" Lindbergh lands his airplane in Santa Fe for a visit after his historic solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
September 28, 1835 — New Mexico Gov. Albino Perez orders the mayor of Las Trampas, Manuel Sanchez, to establish a land grant in the fertile Mora Valley and distribute parcels of land to 75 families willing to settle. The settlement occurred in 1835.
September 30, 1878 — Gen. Lew Wallace replaces the resigning Samuel B. Axtell as governor and inherits the problems of armed conflicts in Colfax and Lincoln counties. Although he completed his epic book, "Ben Hur," in the Palace of the Governors while serving as governor, he probably is more renowned because of his relationship with Billy the Kid.
October
October 4, 1821 — The Mexican Congress adopts a constitution patterned after the U.S. charter. A republic of federated states is created, but New Mexico remains a territory without the rights to create its own constitution.
October 8, 1878 — Probate Judge Florencio Gonzales and other Lincoln residents petition the governor for protection due to the violent circumstances of the Lincoln County War. Rivaling cattle barons and merchants escalated the economic-turf standoff into a full-fledged range war, which catapulted Billy the Kid into an intriguing international figure.
October 10, 1848 — Influential citizens begin a convention in Santa Fe to ask the U.S. Congress for the privilege of organizing a territorial government. Most participants were Hispanics who had served the Mexican regime and were now eager to join the Union.
October 11, 1814 — Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy, who ordered the construction of St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe and other drastic changes to the Roman Catholic Church in New Mexico, is born in Lempdes, France.
October 13, 1903 — The historic Montezuma Hotel west of Las Vegas is sold to the Young Mens' Christian Association for $1. Two prior massive hotels built out of wood in the same area each burned to the ground before this structure, still standing, was sold. Although there were grand plans for the hotels and adjoining hot springs to turn a profit from the vacationing idle rich, the hotel venture was mostly unsuccessful.
October 14, 1848 — Local leaders send a memorial to Congress for a "speedy organization by law of a territorial government" protected from Texas land claims and the introduction of slavery.
October 15, 1909 — President William Howard Taft visits the Alvarado Hotel in Albuquerque and later that evening he gets in sharp debate with citizens who are rallying for statehood.
October 20, 1835 — Manual Sanchez, mayor of Las Trampas, establishes the Mora land grant. After a boundary survey, he distributes land parcels to 75 families who mostly settle along the Mora River.
October 22, 1791 — Pedro de Nava, military commander of the Internal Provinces of New Spain, instructs his captains to distribute some presidio lands to soldiers. Santa Fe was the only community with a presidio in New Mexico.
October 25, 1861 — Confederate Army Lt. Col. John R. Baylor writes Gen. H.H. Sibley to send more troops to the area because the Mexican population was in favor of the Union and "nothing but a strong force will keep them quiet."
October 28, 1880 — President Rutherford B. Hayes arrives in Santa Fe, becoming first sitting president to visit New Mexico. He arrived by railroad in Grant County then traveled by horse-drawn ambulance.
November
November 1, 1864 — U.S. Congress patents Spanish land grants that were
issued to 17 Indian pueblos. Some pueblos had no supporting documents but
the evidence of continuous occupation was great and expedited the confirmation
process. Later, President Abraham Lincoln presented silver-decorated canes
to each Pueblo leader. Today, these same canes are still passed along to
the new leader of a pueblo.
November 1, 1875 — Outlaw gunslinger R.C. "Clay" Allison shoots
and kills Francisco "Pancho" Griego in the St. James Hotel in
Cimarron. The altercation stemmed from the dispute between opposing factions
in the Colfax County War.
November 6, 1906 — New Mexico and Arizona citizens go to the polls to vote on whether to join the Union as one state. Although New Mexicans agree, Arizona voters reject the idea. New Mexico later became the 47th state and Arizona the 48th, both in 1912.
November 10, 1582 — Antonio de Espejo, leading a small expedition, departs San Bartolome, Mexico, to explore New Mexico and hopefully to contact priests who accompanied prior exploration expeditions but chose to remain among the Indians instead of returning back to Mexico.
November 13, 1878 — Gov. Lew Wallace issues general pardon to fighting factions in Lincoln County War for all "misdemeanors and offenses committed" since February 1. After short hiatus, however, the war resumes.
November 15, 1854 — Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy arrives in New Mexico. He later writes that only 10 Catholic priests are in the whole territory and they were "neglectful and extortionate, churches in ruins and no schools." He immediately begins to update the area's isolated, various worshiping practices.
November 16, 1821 — William Becknell, under forced escort by Mexican troops, arrives at Santa Fe. New Mexicans, who are still celebrating their newly won independence from Spain, quickly purchase all of his goods, which he initially intended to trade with the Indians. This marked the birth of the Santa Fe Trail, originating from Independence, Mo. Eventually, many traders privately complain to each other that they lose much profit by having to bribe local officials with goods or cash.
November 20, 1914 — Mexican Gen. Jose Ynez Salazar, who served Victoriano Huerta in the Mexican Revolution, escapes from an Albuquerque jail. Legendary New Mexico lawman Elfego Baca likely planned his friend Salazar's escape.
November 21, 1875 — The "Grant County Herald" article, "Political Corruption in New Mexico," states that "fraud and corruption are freely employed by the [Santa Fe] Ring which now controls the Territory in order to further their designs."
November 24, 1922 — The Colorado River Compact signed in Santa Fe by representatives of seven western states provided for equal "division and apportionment" of water from the Colorado River system.
November 25, 1875 — The "Las Vegas Gazette" reports that cattleman John S. Chisum sent 100 cowboys from his ranch near Roswell to tend some 80,000 cattle that extend "as far as a man can travel, on a good horse, during a summer."
November 28, 1684 — A boundary dispute between New Mexico authorities and those of Nueva Vizcaya (northern Mexico) is settled. New Mexico loses any claim to the El Paso area.
November 28, 1849 — The first issue of the "Santa Fe New Mexican" rolls off the press. The newspaper today dubs itself, "The West's Oldest Newspaper."
December
December 6, 1681 — Ousted Gov. Antonio de Otermin and 70 Spanish soldiers come back to New Mexico after the Pueblo Revolt and learn that all northern pueblos except Isleta are still in rebellion.
December 8, 1702 — The Duke of Alburquerque, Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva Enriquez, arrives in Mexico City to assume duties as the 34th viceroy of New Spain. In 1706, the villa of Alburquerque is founded in his honor. The first "r" in the spelling of Alburquerque was later dropped as more Anglos came into the area and spelled it differently.
December 8, 1966 — Dubbed the "Roundhouse," a new state capitol with an architectural mix of Territorial, Greek Revival and Pueblo styles is dedicated.
December 9, 1902 — The last case is filed before the Private Land Claims Court. In 13 years the court adjudicated 228 grants in New Mexico, 17 in Arizona and three in Colorado. A total of 158 claims were rejected and only 21 were confirmed without adjustment.
December 12, 1880 — While on the lam, Billy the Kid writes the second of six letters to Gov. Lew Wallace, claiming innocence to recent charges of horse thieving and killing deputy James Carlysle.
December 14, 1868 — New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice John P. Slough responds to Legislative Council censure, calling Col. William L. Rynerson "a thief in the army, a thief out of the army, a coward and an S.O.B."
December 15, 1868 — Col. William L. Rynerson kills Supreme Court Chief Justice John P. Slough in a barroom duel at the Exchange Hotel in Santa Fe. Rynerson was found not guilty and he later served many years in territorial politics.
December 20, 1943 — Patrol frigate U.S.S. Albuquerque is commissioned at Richmond, Calif. She served in Pacific during World War II and Korean Conflict then in Soviet Navy between 1945-49.
December 23, 1880 — Sheriff Pat Garrett kills Kid cohort Charlie Bowdre at Stinking Springs in De Baca County and captures Billy the Kid, who later escapes from the Lincoln County Courthouse. The Kid, Bowdre and Tom O'Folliard are all buried side by side at Fort Sumner, N.M. Residents of Hico, Tex., will dispute this however, as they claim their "Brushy" Bill Roberts was the real Kid and died in Hico in 1950.
December 25, 1846 — U.S. Army Col. A. W. Doniphan reinforces U.S. troops and defeats Mexican soldiers at Brazitos near Las Cruces, the only Mexican War battle fought in New Mexico.
December 27, 1950 — "Brushy" Bill Roberts dies in Hico, Texas. Roberts contended for most of his later years that he, indeed, was the real Billy the Kid. Residents of Lincoln have long disputed Roberts' claim, while those in Hico support it. Most experts, however, dispute Roberts' claim.
December 28, 1854 — Surveyor-General William Pelham arrives in Santa Fe to begin the process of investigating the legitimacy of Spanish and Mexican land grants pursuant to the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo and based largely on the historical New Mexico archives.
December 29, 1693 — Gov. Don Diego de Vargas, 100 Spanish soldiers and 140 Pecos Pueblo warrior allies engage in a two-day battle to re-conquer Santa Fe from rebellious Pueblo Indians occupying the casas reales (now the Palace of the Governors). A total of 89 rebels died in the battle for Santa Fe, including nine in the fight, two of these by their own hand. Vargas then ordered that 70 of the rebels who refused to surrender be executed and about another 400 resistors, who did surrender, were distributed among the soldiers and colonists for 10 years of servitude.
December 30, 1853 — The United States and Mexico agree to the $10 million Gadsden Purchase, in which a land tract in southwestern New Mexico and eastern Arizona disputed by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, is purchased from Mexico. The purchase was necessary to avoid another armed conflict between the two countries.
Click any image for an enlargement.
U.S.
President William H. Taft at the official signing that admitted New Mexico
into the Union as the 47th state on Jan. 6, 1912. (Photographer unknown,
Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 23027)
Gertrudes
Barcelo, aka Doña Tules, ran a profitable gambling hall and bordello
in Santa Fe . Historians believe
she lent officers of the U.S. Army money so that they could pay the American
soldiers who were occupying Santa Fe. It's likely that she got paid
back by the U.S. government, and also got most of her original loan back
via the soldiers' gambling losses. (Engraving from Harper's Weekly, April
1854)
The
signature stonework typical of the Ancestral Pueblo people
at Aztec Ruins National Monument in northwestern New Mexico. (Photographer
unknown, New Mexico Magazine Archival Collection)
Soldiers
in the 200th Coast Artillery in chow line at Camp
Luna near Las Vegas, N.M., in 1940. In 1941 this unit was sent
to the Philippines, where it took part in the unsuccessful defense of Bataan
and Corregidor. Some men were killed in action, while many more
died in the horrific Bataan Death March and ensuing captivity. (Photographer
unknown, New Mexico Magazine Archival Collection)
Don
Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva Enriquez, the Duke of Alburquerque, and
for whom the settlement of Albuquerque was founded. The duke was viceroy
of New Spain from 1702-11. (Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 47997)
Fred
Harvey, founder of a chain of successful restaurants on board Atchison
Topeka & Santa Fe locomotives as well as at railroad
depots. "Harvey Houses" were renowned for their
food and for the Harvey Girls, young single females who became the
most notable trademark for the business. (Kansas Historical Society Collection)
Artist
Gerald Cassidy depicted the expedition of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado
in an oversized mural painted with oils in 1921. (Museum of New Mexico
Negative No. 20206)
Former
Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett, 1850-1908, whose main claim to fame
was killing Billy the Kid. After the Kid's killing, Garrett wrote a book
about Billy's as well as his own exploits, but many knowledgeable historians
doubt the validity of many claims made in the book. (Photographer unknown,
Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 105080)
A
view of Columbus, N.M., shortly after Pancho Villa's raid. (Charles Poe
Family Collection, Aisle #16-Album, N.M. State Records Center & Archives)
An
overhead view of Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, mysteriously abandoned
by the Ancestral Pueblo people. Formerly called the Anasazi by scholars,
the people of this advanced civilization are believed to be the predecessors
of the Pueblo Indians. Most Pueblo Indians do not use the word Anasazi
to refer to this ancient culture because it's been determined that it is
actually a Navajo word that means "enemy of our people." (New
Mexico Magazine Archival Collection)
The
U.S. government commemorated the Glorieta Pass Battlefield with this historical
plaque just off N.M. 63. Recently, the remains of many soldiers who were
killed in the Civil War battle and buried at the site were exhumed and
returned to their home states for honorary burials. Photographer unknown,
(Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 48956)M
A
publicity photo of game show host Ralph Edwards, whose on-air prompting
influenced the people of Hot Springs, N.M., to change the name of their
town to Truth or Consequences, the name of Edwards' radio show at the time.
He later went on to host "This is Your Life," a
popular television show. (Ralph Edwards Productions)
An
overhead view of Lincoln, N.M., taken sometime around 1886-88, just
about a decade after the infamous Lincoln County War. (Photo by J.R. Riddle,
Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 76100)
Elfego
Baca, whose true-to-life exploits as a young man in Socorro County in the
1880s served as grist for Walt Disney Productions' 1958 TV mini-series, "The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca." According
to both truth and legend, Baca appointed himself deputy to protect the
Hispanic citizens of Frisco in the western part of the county, where Texan
and English cowboys in the area were relentlessly harassing the farmers
and sheepherders. The self-appointment culminated in a solo Baca being
held siege in a small cabin by 50 heavily armed cattlemen, who were thwarted
by the sharpshooting and holed-up deputy for two days. He was later acquitted
for the deaths of two of the Texans. (Photographer unknown, Museum of New
Mexico Negative No. 87489)
Juan
de Oñate carved this message on Inscription Rock in northwestern New Mexico.
It translates to, "Passed by here the adelantado Juan
de Onate to the discovery of the sea of the south on the 16 April the year
1605." (Photo by Ralph H. Anderson, Museum of New Mexico Negative
No. 129403)
Historians believe that the two holes in the wall at the bottom of this
stairwell
in the historic Lincoln County Courthouse were made by bullets fired by
Billy the Kid during his famous escape from an upstairs jail on
April 28, 1881. (Photographer
unknown, New Mexico Magazine Archival Collection)
Col. Theodore Roosevelt at the first annual Rough Riders Reunion in front
of the Castañeda Hotel in Las Vegas, N.M., in June 1899. (Photographer
unknown, Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 14292)
The
Territorial Capitol in Santa Fe was built in 1886 and was destroyed by a
suspicious fire in 1892. The next Capitol building was erected a few years
later on the site of what is now the Bataan Memorial Building. (Top: Photographer
unknown, Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 16710; bottom: photographer unknown,
Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 72384)
Baseball plays a very important part in New Mexico's history as shown
by this 1935 baseball team in the mining town of Madrid, which fielded
many semi-professional teams in its heyday and even boasted the state's
first lighted baseball park. The mining company's generators powered the
outdoor lights. (Photo by T. Harmon Parkhurst, Museum of New Mexico Negative
No. 51435)
A military portrait of Kit Carson taken in St. Louis, Mo., in December
1864. (Photographer unknown, Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 58388)
French
fur trapper Charles H. Trotier de Sieur Beaubien, who along with Guadalupe
Miranda of Taos, was granted 1.7 million acres by Gov. Manuel Armijo in
1841. (Photo by Nicholas & Howard,
Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 8799)
Descendants
of Charles Beaubien gather around the piano. Lucien Maxwell and his wife
Luz, the daughter of Charles Beaubien, bought out Beaubien's heirs for
$3,000 and acquired rights to the family's enormous land grant, later
known as the Maxwell Land Grant. (Photographer unknown, Museum of New Mexico
Negative No. 58799)
Gunslinger-for-hire Clay Allison, a major figure in the Colfax County War.
(Denver Public Library, Western History Department)
A young boy looks over Zuni Pueblo as it appeared around 1890. (Photo
by Ben Wittick, School of American Research Collections, and Museum of
New Mexico Negative No. 16210)
Only
verified photograph of Billy the Kid. (Photographer unknown, Museum of
New Mexico Negative No. 30769)
The world's first atomic explosion at Trinity Site in southern New Mexico.
(Los Alamos National Laboratory photo, Museum of New Mexico Negative No.
71128)
New
Mexico Territorial Gov. Samuel B. Axtell was forced to resign in 1875.
(Photo by Broadbent & Taylor, Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 8787)
While on leave from the Marines in 1942, Miguel
H. Trujillo, far right,
poses with his mother-in-law Mary S. Paisano, Pedro Sarracino and Trujillo's
daughter Josephine. Trujillo, an Isleta Pueblo native living and teaching
at Laguna Pueblo, was refused the right to vote in New Mexico in 1948 even
though he had just served in the U.S. military during World War II. He
sued in federal court and won a precedent-setting judgement that granted
Indians the right to vote in New Mexico, which lagged behind a federal
ruling that granted Native Americans suffrage in 1924. (Photo courtesy
of Josephine Waconda)
Gen.
Stephen W. Kearny, while under the watchful eye of his invading Army of
the West, stood on the roof of this building on the Las Vegas Plaza and
declared to the citizenry that New Mexico from that point on was officially
part of the United States. (Photo by Barnes & Caplin, New Mexico Magazine
Archival Collection)
An artist's rendering of Gen. Stephen W. Kearny. (Museum of New Mexico
Negative No. 9938)
Little Santiago "Jimmy" McKinn lived among
Chiricahua Apache Indians after taken captive near his home of Silver
City. Major Gen. George Crook freed the boy at the Mimbres River at the
time this picture was taken in 1885. It was said that the boy did not
want to leave his Apache captors upon his emancipation. (Photo by C.S.
Fly, Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 11649)
A portrait of merchant Charles Bent, the first territorial governor of
New Mexico killed during the Taos Rebellion. The original portrait hangs
in the Kit Carson house in Taos. (New Mexico Magazine Archival Collection)
An engraving of Gov. Lew Wallace that appeared in "Harper's Weekly" in
1886. The engraving was etched from a photograph taken by Napoleon Sarony.
(Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 13123)
This was the second grand resort hotel that burned
in the village of Montezuma west of Las Vegas, N.M., just before the turn
of the 20th century. It was called the "Phoenix" because it symbolically rose from
the ashes of the original wooden resort hotel also destroyed by fire.
Although it was built on a different site higher on a hill than the original,
many design elements and stonework of the "Phoenix" were incorporated
into the third and final building which closely resembles this one. Now
dubbed the Montezuma "Castle," the massive building today and
adjoining grounds are part of the Armand Hammer United World College
of the American West and is undergoing a multi-million-dollar restoration.
(Photographer unknown, Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 14726)
This
is an actual wagon train traveling on the Santa Fe Trail in 1872 along
the banks of the Arkansas River at Great Bend, Kansas. (Archival photo)
A portrait of Thomas B. Catron, who historians believe was one of the
principal leaders of the Santa Fe Ring, a group of lawyers and businessmen
who used unscrupulous legal, political and business tactics to acquire
Spanish and Mexican land grants that carried over to the United States
after the Mexican War in the mid-1800s. (Photographer unknown, Museum of
New Mexico Negative No. 50616)
Immediately after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941,
the FBI identified and detained Japanese American community leaders living
throughout the United States and held them in internment camps for the
duration of World War II. These are inmates
are pictured at an internment camp in northern Santa Fe around 1942. (National Japanese American Historical
Society)
A picture of the Exchange
Hotel as it appeared in 1880 on the southeast
corner of the Plaza in Santa Fe. Today, the famous La Fonda hotel occupies
the site. (Photographer unknown, Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 39368)
The legendary outlaw William H. Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, and his cohorts
in crime Tom O'Folliard and Charlie Bowdre are buried side by side near
the Pecos River and Fort Sumner. (Photographer unknown, New Mexico Magazine
Archival Collection)
Once an extensive presidio that was strategically designed to be self-sufficient
in the event of enemy attack, the Palace of the Governors on the Plaza
in Santa Fe has undergone many interior and exterior changes in its existence
since the early 1600s. This how it appeared in 1868. (Photo by Nicholas
Brown, Museum of New Mexico Negative No. 045819)