Manuel Armijo
Encyclopedia
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
soldier and statesman who served three times as governor
Spanish governors of New Mexico
The following is a list of governors of the Province of New Mexico under the Viceroyalty of New Spain.*Juan de Oñate *Cristóbal de Oñate *Pedro de Peralta *Bernadino de Ceballos...
of New Mexico
Santa Fe de Nuevo México
Santa Fe de Nuevo México was a province of New Spain and later Mexico that existed from the late 16th century up through the mid-19th century. It was centered on the upper valley of the Rio Grande , in an area that included most of the present-day U.S. state of New Mexico...
. He was instrumental in putting down the Revolt of 1837
Revolt of 1837 (New Mexico)
The Revolt of 1837, also known as the Chimayó Rebellion, was a popular insurrection in New Mexico against Albino Pérez, the Mexican governor at the time.-Background:Governor Pérez had arrived from central Mexico in 1835...
, he led the force that captured the Texan Santa Fe Expedition and he surrendered to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(U.S.) in the Mexican-American War.
Early life and first governorship
He was born in AlburquerqueAlbuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, and apparently made himself wealthy and prominent. He may have been born in Casa de Armijo, which is now a restaurant in Old Town Albuquerque.
According to George Wilkins Kendall
George Wilkins Kendall
George Wilkins Kendall was a journalist, war correspondent, and pioneer Texas sheepman, known as the father of the Texas sheep business. Kendall County, Texas is named for him...
, he became wealthy by working for a sheep rancher and stealing and selling the sheep, often to his own employer; but Kendall was writing about his experience as Armijo's prisoner in 1841 and his biographical sketch of Armijo is scurrilous. The historian Marc Simmons ascribes the story of sheep theft to "tradition". Armijo became the alcalde (mayor) of Albuquerque and militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
lieutenant in 1822 and 1824.
In 1827 he was appointed governor of New Mexico, but in 1828 he returned from Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
to Albuquerque as a wealthy merchant in sheep and wool blankets, acting as alcalde again. Some have it that he left the governorship to avoid a Federal investigation.
In 1836 Armijo was appointed subcomisario, collector of customs, of New Mexico; this was a fund-raising position that involved work in Santa Fe. However, for health reasons he spent most of his time in Albuquerque and was replaced.
Revolt of 1837
In August 1837 disaffected residents of the northern part of New Mexico assassinated Governor Albino PérezAlbino Pérez
Albino Pérez was a Mexican soldier and politician.Pérez was appointed Governor of New Mexico in 1835. He was assassinated near the city of Santa Fe in 1837 during the Revolt of 1837 after he tried to impose taxes ordered by President Antonio López de Santa Anna.In June 2007 a monument...
and took over the state (the Revolt of 1837
Revolt of 1837 (New Mexico)
The Revolt of 1837, also known as the Chimayó Rebellion, was a popular insurrection in New Mexico against Albino Pérez, the Mexican governor at the time.-Background:Governor Pérez had arrived from central Mexico in 1835...
). Many people in the southern part opposed the new government, but several prominent people refused to lead a counterrevolution. Mariano Chávez, a wealthy young relative of Armijo's, proposed him for the position and Armijo accepted. He marched to Santa Fe and declared himself governor, a position that the Mexican government also gave him when the news of the rebellion reached them (and not when Armijo's letter announcing his self-appointment reached them later, contrary to Kendall's account).
Armijo wrote to the government requesting federal troops, and trained soldiers under Lt. Col. Cayetano Justiniani of the Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
dragoons arrived in early January 1838. Later that month the rebellion flared up again and Armijo led the force that defeated the rebels at Pojoaque
Pojoaque, New Mexico
Pojoaque is a census-designated place in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States. It is part of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,261 at the 2000 census. Pojoaque and Pojoaque Pueblo are neighboring communities...
. According to Armijo's letters to the Mexican historian Carlos María Bustamante
Carlos María Bustamante
Carlos María de Bustamante was a Mexican statesman and historian.-Biography and works:Carlos María de Bustamante was born in the city of Oaxaca in 1774...
, he was nominally in command but his forces were really led by Justiniani.
Beginning with Kendall, some American authors have accused Armijo of starting the rebellion that he later put down., The trader and writer Josiah Gregg
Josiah Gregg
Josiah Gregg was a merchant, explorer, naturalist, and author of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico regions. He is most famous for his book Commerce of the Prairies.-Early years:...
said Armijo's brother "intimated" to Gregg that Armijo had ridden from Albuquerque to Santa Fe expecting the rebels to elect him governor. As he had taken no personal part in the insurrection, they "would not acknowledge his claim to their suffrages," so he returned to Albuquerque to plot the counterrevolution. The historian Janet Lecompte doubts this story and notes that there is no documentary evidence of any involvement of Armijo in the Revolt of 1837.
Second term
In 1841 Armijo successfully repelled the Texan Santa Fe Expedition. He evidently authorized false promises of safe conduct, but instead took the Texan merchants and soldiers into custody and sent them further south in Mexico as prisoners.Stories about Armijo's corruption made it into Euro-American accounts of the region to justify a U.S. invasion. It was also rumored that he was having an illicit affair with the wealthy Santa Fe saloon owner Maria Gertrudis "Tules" Barceló
Maria Gertrudis "Tules" Barceló
Maria Gertrudis "Tules" Barceló in castilian or Gertrude Barcelo in English was a saloon owner and master gambler in the Territory of New Mexico at the time of the U.S.-Mexican War. Barceló amassed a small fortune by capitalizing on the flow of American and Mexican traders involved with the...
.
Also during this period he eagerly approved land grants to Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, selling 9700000 acres (39,254.5 km²) in some of the largest land grants ever made. For example, in January 1841 Charles Beaubien and Guadalupe Miranda petitioned Armijo for a grant of 1741764 acres (7,048.7 km²) of land east of the Sangre de Cristo
Sangre de Cristo
Sangre de Cristo can refer to either:*Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in Northern New Mexico and South-Central Colorado in the United States...
range. Charles Bent
Charles Bent
Charles Bent was appointed as the first Governor of the newly acquired New Mexico Territory by Governor Stephen Watts Kearny in September 1846....
was given part of that land, even though he was not a Mexican citizen. When Padre Martinez of Taos learned of the grant, he raised such a strong objection that Armijo withdrew the grant that summer. Armijo later reinstated the grant when Beaubien died, giving it to his son-in-law, Lucien Maxwell
Lucien Maxwell
Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell was a rancher and entrepreneur who at one point owned more than . Along with Thomas Catron and Ted Turner, Maxwell was one of the largest private landowners in United States history....
.
In 1843 the Republic of Texas
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
sent another force into New Mexico to retaliate for the capture of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition and Mexican attacks on Texas. This force, with something over 200 men, defeated a New Mexican advance party. Armijo, camped 140 miles (225.3 km) away with 500 men, "fled in terror" on hearing the news. He then resigned his position as military commander and in the following year, the governorship, "claiming ill health".
Third term and Mexican-American War
Nevertheless, he was appointed to his third governorship in 1845. The following year, the Mexican-American War started and General Stephen Kearny brought about 1,700 soldiers to conquer New Mexico. Armijo heard of the plan in late June from an American business partner who arrived with a caravan on the Santa Fe TrailSanta Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1822 by William Becknell, it served as a vital commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880...
. Armijo sold his interest in their business to his partner and began liquidating his many other assets.
He also received a large amount of ammunition and supplies from a caravan out of Independence, Missouri
Independence, Missouri
Independence is the fourth largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri, and is contained within the counties of Jackson and Clay. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...
. On August 4, as Kearny crossed what is now the border between Colorado and New Mexico, Armijo signed a power of attorney so that an associate could take care of his affairs after he left. On August 8 he issued a proclamation to the people of New Mexico exhorting them to prepare to repel the invasion.
On about August 9 Armijo called a meeting with a number of respected New Mexicans. He did not want to fight, but the priests present did, as did the young regular-army commander, Diego Archuleta
Diego Archuleta
Brigadier General Diego Archuleta , was a member of the Mexican Congress. He joined the Mexican Army to fight against the United States in the Mexican American War. Later, he was appointed an Indian Agent by President Abraham Lincoln, and joined the Union Army during the American Civil War...
, and the young militia officers Manuel Chaves
Manuel Antonio Chaves
Manuel Antonio Chaves or Chávez , known as El Leoncito , was a soldier in the Mexican Army and then became a rancher who lived in New Mexico. His life was full of incident, and his courage and marksmanship became literally legendary in his own time...
and Miguel Pino. According to a refugee from the war, Armijo would have done nothing toward defense if the latter two had not threatened to shoot him. Then on August 12 or 13 he received an American named James Magoffin, the husband of a relative of his, who later claimed to have convinced Armijo not to fight. An unverified story says that Magoffin bribed them. Magoffin later requested a reimbursement from the U. S. Treasury of $50,000, of which he received $30,000.
Around this same time some Santa Feans talked of killing the American traders in the town, but Armijo put a stop to the plan and dismissed Archuleta. In any case, at the Battle of Santa Fe
Battle of Santa Fe
The Capture of Santa Fe, also known as the Battle of Santa Fe or the Battle of Cañoncito, took place near Santa Fe, New Mexico, the capital of the Mexican Province of New Mexico, during the Mexican-American War on 8 August through 14 August 1846. No shots were fired.-Background:United States Army...
, Armijo set up a position in Apache Canyon, a narrow pass about 10 miles (16.1 km) southeast of the city, but decided not to fight before the American army was even in sight. When Pino, Chaves and some of the militiamen insisted, Armijo ordered the cannon pointed at them. All of the New Mexican army retreated to Santa Fe and Armijo fled to Chihuahua
Chihuahua, Chihuahua
The city of Chihuahua is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It has a population of about 825,327. The predominant activity is industry, including domestic heavy, light industries, consumer goods production, and to a smaller extent maquiladoras.-History:It has been said that the...
, while Kearny and his force entered Santa Fe and claimed New Mexico for the U.S. without a shot fired.
Armijo was tried in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
for cowardice and desertion in the face of the enemy, but he was acquitted. While in Mexico City, he interceded on behalf of Magoffin, who had been arrested as a spy in Chihuahua.
Armijo later returned to Lemitar, New Mexico, and lived the rest of his life there. He is buried in the churchyard (Camposanto Iglesia) in front of San Miguel de Socorro
San Miguel de Socorro
San Miguel de Socorro is the Catholic church in Socorro, New Mexico, built on the ruins of the old Nuestra Señora de Socorro mission. The old mission was built around 1626, but was destroyed in 1680 during the Pueblo Revolt...
, in the northwest corner.
External links
- Contemporary portrait at Invasión Yanqui, accessed 19 June 2006