Diego De Vargas

In this, the sixth and final volume of the journals of don Diego de Vargas, Kessell and his colleagues continue their exploration of politics and society in the colonial New Mexico of the turn of the eighteenth century. Despite serious charges of malfeasance brought against him by agents of his political enemy Governor Pedro Rodriguez Cubero, Vargas was acquitted after three years of court hearings and legal manoeuvring in the court in Mexico City. With his acquittal came reappointment to the governor's seat in New Mexico. The journals reveal that maintaining peace in New Mexico during Vargas' absence was a difficult task for Rodriguez Cubero. Hispanic colonists and Pueblo Indians were suspicious of one another, and partisans of the deposed Vargas made little effort to hide their loyalty. With the Reconqueror's return, the colony settled back into familiar routines. Not even don Diego's early death in 1704 undid the hard-won recolonisation.

Documents the legal manoeuvring at Santa Fe, Mexico City, and Madrid, as sitting governor, former governor, and groups of contending colonists struggle to make themselves heard and advance their interests.

Having retaken Santa Fe by force of arms late in 1693, Diego de Vargas faces unrelenting challenges, waging active warfare against defiant Pueblo Indian resisters while maintaining peace with Pueblo allies; providing homes, food, and supplies for 1,500 unsure colonists; and bidding unceasingly for greater support from viceregal authorities in Mexico City. At the head of combined units of Spanish and Pueblo fighting men, the governor in 1694 leads repeated assaults on castle-like fortified sites. Through combat, prisoner exchange, and negotiation, he reestablishes the kingdom. Franciscans reopen some of the missions. Vargas founds the villa of Santa Cruz de la Canada. Pueblos north and west of Santa Fe rebel again in 1696; wearily, Vargas reports more blood on the boulders. Through The Journals of don Diego de Vargas, translated from official and private correspondence, we are drawn back, through conflict and compromise, into New Mexico's formative era.

A documentary account of the resettlement of New Mexico composed of journals and official government records from the late 17th century.

This book, originally published in 1989 and long unavailable, is reissued in conjunction with the completed multi-volume translation of the official correspondence of don Diego De Vargas, late seventeenth-century governor and re-coloniser of New Mexico. These personal letters not only illuminate their author but the history of New Mexico as don Diego experienced it. Like the Journals of don Diego de Vargas, this volume reflects years of document collection, translation, and annotation by the Vargas Project directed by John L Kessell.