page_title: Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá
section_title: Military career
hierarchical_section_title: Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá / Military career
caption_attribution_description: English: Philip Lea, North America divided into its three principal parts, 1685, detail including “Rio Escondado” flowing from the north, in “New Mexico,” southeast to the Gulf of Mexico
context_page_description: Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá was a captain and legal officer in the Juan de Oñate expedition that first colonized Santa Fe de Nuevo México in 1598. Between 1601 and 1603, he served as the Alcalde mayor of the Guanacevi mines in what is now the Mexican state of Durango. He is better known for his authorship of Historia de la Nueva México, published in 1610.
  He was born in Puebla de Los Angeles, New Spain. His father, Hernan Peréz de Villagrá was a Spaniard while his mother's identity remains unknown. He received the opportunity to study in Europe and received a bachelor of letters degree from the University of Salamanca in the early 1570s, where he studied Greek and Roman historians and rhetoricians after which he returned to New Spain.
context_section_description: In 1579 an Indian captive, held in Santa Bárbara, spoke of big cities beyond the Chihuahua desert. The news reached the Franciscan Friar Agustín Rodríguez, who conveyed the news to the viceroy. This was the beginning of a series of expeditions that would lead to Oñate's request to conquer and govern New México in 1595. His request for the expedition was approved in 1598 by the viceroy.
  Oñate's expedition in 1598 was perhaps the best prepared, and his purpose was not only to capture the riches but also to establish a colony with his important force of settlers. Villagrá joined Captain de Oñate's expedition to New Mexico in 1596 and was an eyewitness and participant in the pacification and colonization of the Pueblo Indians in the New Mexican territory.
  Oñate's expedition, comprising about 400 participants, initiated its journey from the state of Zacatecas in northern México. After various impediments, mostly of a political nature, the expedition was able to depart on January 26, 1598, and work its way through mountainous terrain, deserts, and raging rivers. After many hair raising and near-death adventures, the expedition was finally able to cross the turbulent and rapidly flowing waters of the Rio Grande River at what today is El Paso, Texas, in July 1598. In an act of thanksgiving, Oñate ordered a Mass to be said, after which the men and women relaxed by watching a play written by one of the soldiers for the occasion; this was the first Western European drama performed in the United States. These secular dramas, such as Los Moros y Cristianos, were performed in part as a strategy to demonstrate the mighty power of the Spanish Empire to the astounded Indian masses who marveled at the deafening sound of the firing cannons.
  The expedition established its headquarters in San Juan, and from there Oñate sent Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá and his other captains into expeditions in search of towns, riches, and resources. The first Spanish settlers in New Mexico moved from San Juan in 1598, to the river valley settlement of San Gabriel in 1601, then to a spot twenty miles south at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, named Sante Fe in 1607. The expeditions found nothing and the settlers he had brought became discontent with the quest, some deciding to leave. As a demonstration of disapproval, Oñate ordered the execution of some of the settlers who led the dissent.
  It is rumored that Villagrá, of athletic build and hard spirits, was left alone with his dog and his horse after an eventful persecution, and went through the desert in search of Oñate. After several days, hungry and thirsty, he killed his faithful dog and drank his blood. He was almost dead when he was found by soldiers. Later he distinguished himself in making high population of Acoma, the stronghold of warlike Indians, and made a formidable leap across a deep abyss where his companions had put a log that served as a bridge.
  Oñate was also known for his brutality toward the Indians, and soon the Pueblo, who were subjugated, mistreated, their food stolen, and their lands taken away in the name of the king of Spain, began to rebel. Soon thereafter, in 1599, the deadly battle of Acoma transpired, where hundreds of the Native American population were massacred and driven from their homes, marking the defeat of the Pueblo and the triumph of the Spanish colonizers. Pérez de Villagrá's Historia de la Nueva México is a literary masterpiece in which he is also one of the protagonists who help the pacification and the political and social organization of the new territory, but most importantly recounts this important moment in American history. In 1600, Oñate sent his trusted captain with an escort back to Mexico to seek more supplies and men. When the party was ready to return to New Mexico, the viceroy removed Villagrá from command and appointed another in his place. Angry, Villagrá took sanctuary in a church to avoid returning—in an inferior position—to Oñate's colony. In 1605, he left for Spain, hoping to persuade the king to grant him some royal favor for his servi
caption: Philip Lea, North America divided into its three principal parts, 1685, detail including “Rio Escondado” flowing from the north, in “New Mexico,” southeast to the Gulf of Mexico
exif: {}