Upon returning to Spain in 1493 after his first voyage, Christopher Columbus contacted Pope Alexander VI (a Spaniard by birth) to report his discoveries. Acting as the great European arbiter of the day, the pope then issued a bull (decree) that divided the New World lands between Spain and…
By Gregg Gonzales From 1760 to 1859, La Castrense Church (the Military Chapel), stood on the south side of the Santa Fe Plaza across from the Palace of the Governors. The church’s official name was Nuesta Señora de la Luz (Our Lady of the Light), however, most of the…
Brig. Gen. Henry H. Sibley led his force of 2,500 men across the Rio Grande River and up the east side of the river to the ford at Valverde, north of Fort Craig, New Mexico, hoping to cut Federal communications between the fort and military headquarters in Santa Fe….
Glorieta Pass was a strategic location, situated at the southern tip of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, southeast of Santa Fe, and on the Santa Fe Trail. In March 1862, a Confederate force of 200-300 Texans under the command of Maj. Charles L. Pyron encamped at Johnson’s Ranch, at…
The phrase was first used in a book title by Lilian Whiting, The Land of Enchantment: From Pike's Peak to the Pacific. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1906. The book's content, however, did not focus solely on New Mexico: it also covers Colorado, Arizona, and California. Seeking to develop…
WHEREAS a treaty between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic was concluded and signed at the City of Mexico on the thirtieth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three; which treaty, as amended by the Senate of the United States, and being in the…
Following the appointment of James Gadsden to president of the South Carolina Railroad Company, his goal was to connect the Southern transcontinental railroad to the Pacific. Engineers advised Gadsden, however, that the most direct and practicable route for the Southern transcontinental railroad would be south of the United States…
Lincoln County Wars, outlaws, first Protestant church, Hondo Valley; St. Anne's Chapel By The Episcopal Church of Lincoln County The historical events which led up to the building of St. Anne’s Chapel begin with the Lincoln County War, when the Coe brothers, Al, Lou, Frank and George, moved into…
Union County Courthouse; Court Street, Clayton, New Mexico; Union County The Union County Courthouse sits on a slight rise southwest of Clayton’s business district; its shiny silver dome visible for blocks. Constructed in 1909 to replace an earlier courthouse destroyed by a tornado, the Union County Courthouse designed to…
St. Catherine's Industrial Indian School Situated on a hill northwest of the Santa Fe Plaza, overlooking two cemeteries, is perhaps the largest adobe building in the Southwest. With more than three stories and a façade of sturdy gables and a spindly bell tower, the 1887 Main Building is the…
