To the Royal Crown Restored: The Journals of Don Diego de Vargas, New Mexico, 1692-1694 - Hardcover

by John L. Kessell (Editor), Rick Hendricks (Editor), Meredith D. Dodge (Editor)

On 4 October 1693 don Diego de Vargas left El Paso with eight hundred settlers and soldiers to reoccupy New Mexico. His account of organizing the colonizing expedition, leading the march up the Rio Grande valley, and eventually conquering Santa Fe is presented in this volume, the third of six drawn from his reports.

Vargas's journal gives immediacy to the themes of reoccupation and pacification. Many of those he led into New Mexico were survivors of the Pueblo Revolt, and all, he noted, were now reduced to "abject poverty and nakedness." To organize the expedition, Vargas spent eight months in northern Mexico recruiting settlers and attempting to secure financing from the royal treasury.

When no funds were forthcoming, Vargas and the settlers nevertheless departed for Santa Fe before winter arrived. On their march north they survived by trading livestock for foodstuffs, and by the end of December they successfully reached the colonial capital and defeated the Pueblo Indians occupying it.

This documentary history in English translation is a key resource on New Mexico's cultural and political history. Its extensive annotation will be useful to genealogists as well.

Author Biography

John L. Kessell, a professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico, is the author or editor of many books, including Remote Beyond Compare: Letters of don Diego de Vargas to His Family from New Spain to New Mexico, 1675-1706 (UNM Press).

Rick Hendricks served as the New Mexico State Historian from 2010 through 2019. His books include The Witches of Abiquiu: The Governor, the Priest, the Genízaro Indians, and the Devil; The Navajos in 1705: Roque Madrid's Campaign Journal; Four Square Leagues: Pueblo Indian Land in New Mexico; and Pueblo Sovereignty: Indian Land and Water in New Mexico and Texas.

Meredith D. Dodge, an independent historian, has devoted nearly two decades compiling, translating, and editing the Vargas papers along with John Kessell, Rick Hendricks, and Larry D. Miller.