On January 6, 1822, Santa Fe celebrated New Spain’s independence from Spain in a gala ceremony with church services, processions, pageantry, the firing of guns and ringing of bells. Soon afterward Governor Facundo Melgares penned a vivid and detailed description of this event for the official government newspaper, the…
A Royalist in Transition: Facundo Melgares, the Last Spanish Governor of New Mexico: 1818‑1822 by Arthur Gomez In August 1818 Viceroy Juan Ruíz de Apodaca, the Conde de Venadito, received documents written by an anonymous visitor to New Mexico. These papers, intercepted by Spanish ambassador to the United States,…
The Revolt and Treason Trials of 1847 By: Robert J. Torrez The occupation of New Mexico by United States troops in 1846, like the much better known reconquest of New Mexico by Diego de Vargas in 1692, is often characterized as peaceful and bloodless because it was accomplished without…
By Rick Hendricks and Robert D. Martínez There is a certain amount of misinformation associated with the family and origins of Governor Albino Pérez that can be readily cleared up. Although his place of birth is often given as Veracruz, the record of his marriage states that he was…
