Taos Revolt The Taos Revolt was a popular insurrection in January 1847 by Mexicans and Pueblo allies against the United States ' occupation of present - day northern New Mexico during the Mexican – American War . In two short campaigns , United States troops and militia crushed the rebellion of the Mexicans and their allies . The rebels regrouped and fought three more engagements , but after being defeated , they abandoned open warfare . Background . In August 1846 , the territory of New Mexico , then under Mexican rule , fell to U . S . forces under Stephen Watts Kearny . Governor Manuel Armijo surrendered at the Battle of Santa Fe without firing a shot . When Kearny departed with his forces for California , he left Colonel Sterling Price in command of U . S . forces in New Mexico . He appointed Charles Bent as New Mexico ' s first territorial governor . Many New Mexicans were unreconciled to Armijo ' s surrender ; they also resented their treatment by U . S . soldiers , which Governor Bent described : " As other occupation troops have done at other times and places have done , they undertook to act like conquerors . " Gov . Bent implored Price ' s superior , Col . Alexander Doniphan , " to interpose your authority to compel the soldiers to respect the rights of the inhabitants . These outrages are becoming so frequent that I apprehend serious consequences must result sooner or later if measures are not taken to prevent them . " An issue more significant than the galling daily insults was that many New Mexican citizens feared that their land titles , issued by the Mexican government , would not be recognized by the United States . They worried that American sympathizers would prosper at their expense . Following Kearny ' s departure , dissenters in Santa Fe plotted a Christmas uprising . When the plans were discovered by the US authorities , the dissenters postponed the uprising . They attracted numerous Native American allies , including Puebloan peoples , who also wanted to push the Americans from the territory . Revolt . Taos Massacre . On the morning of January 19 , 1847 , the insurrectionists began the revolt in Don Fernando de Taos , present - day Taos , New Mexico . They were led by Pablo Montoya , a Mexican , and Tomás Romero , a Taos Pueblo also known as " Tomasito " ( Little Thomas ) . Romero led a Native American force to the house of Governor Charles Bent , where they broke down the door , shot Bent with arrows , and scalped him in front of his family . After they moved on , Bent was still alive . With his wife Ignacia and children , and the wives of friends Kit Carson and Thomas Boggs , the group escaped by digging through the adobe walls of their house into the one next door . When the insurgents discovered the party , they killed Bent , but left the women and children unharmed . The Indians killed and scalped several other government officials , along with others seen as related to the new US territorial government . Among those killed were Stephen Lee , acting county sheriff ; Cornelio Vigil , prefect and probate judge ; and J . W . Leal , circuit attorney . " It appeared , " wrote Colonel Price , " to be the object of the insurrectionists to put to death every . . . [ m ] an who had accepted office under the American government . " Arroyo Hondo and Mora massacres . The next day a large armed force of approximately 500 Mexicans and Pueblo attacked and laid siege to Simeon Turley ' s mill in Arroyo Hondo , several miles outside of Taos . Charles Autobees , an employee at the mill , saw the men coming . He rode to Santa Fe for help from the occupying US forces . Eight to ten mountain men were left at the mill for defense . After a day - long battle , only two of the mountain men , John David Albert and Thomas Tate Tobin , Autobees ' half brother , survived . Both escaped separately on foot during the night . The same day Mexican insurgents killed seven American traders who were passing through the village of Mora . At most , 15 Americans were killed in both actions on January 20 . United States ' response . The US military moved quickly to quash the revolt ; Col . Price led more than 300 U . S . troops from Santa Fe to Taos , together with 65 volunteers , including a few New Mexicans , organized by Ceran St . Vrain , the business partner of the brothers William and Charles Bent . Along the way , the combined forces beat back a force of some 1 , 500 Mexicans and Pueblo at Santa Cruz de la Cañada and Embudo Pass . The insurgents retreated to Taos Pueblo , where they took refuge in the thick - walled adobe church . During the ensuing battle , the US breached a wall of the church and directed cannon fire into the interior , inflicting many casualties and killing about 150 rebels . They captured 400 more men after close hand - to - hand fighting . Only seven Americans died in the battle . A separate force of US troops under captains Israel R . Hendley and Jesse I . Morin campaigned against the rebels in Mora . The First Battle of Mora ended in a New Mexican strategic victory . The Americans attacked again in the Second Battle of Mora and won , which ended their operations against Mora . Aftermath . The next day , US officials ordered the execution of some of the captives in the plaza in a " drumhead court - martial " , including the leader " Montojo " Pablo Montoya . Price then set up a military court in Taos to try more of the captured insurgents under civil law . He appointed as judges Joab Houghton , a close friend of Charles Bent ; and Charles H . Beaubien , the father of Narcisse Beaubien , who had been killed on January 19 . Both men had previously been appointed as judges to the New Mexico Territory Superior Court by the late Gov . Bent in August of the previous year . George Bent , Charles ’ brother , was elected foreman of the jury . The jury included Lucien Maxwell , a brother - in - law of Beaubien ; and several friends of the Bents . Ceran St . Vrain served as court interpreter . Since the Anglo community in Taos was small , and several men had been killed by the rebels , the jury pool was extremely limited . The court was in session for fifteen days . The jury found 15 men guilty of murder and treason ( under the new US rule ) , and the judges sentenced them to death . An eyewitness , Lewis Hector Garrard , described the trial and events : It certainly did appear to be a great assumption of the part of the Americans to conquer a country and then arraign the revolting inhabitants for treason . American judges sat on the bench , New Mexicans and Americans filled the jury box , and an American soldiery guarded the halls . Verily , a strange mixture of violence and justice - a strange middle ground between martial and common law . After an absence of a few minutes the jury returned with a verdict , " Guilty in the first degree " . Five for murder , one for treason . Treason , indeed ! What did the poor devil know about his new allegiance ? . . . I left the room , sick at heart . Justice ! Out upon the word when its distorted meaning is a warrant for murdering those who defended to the last their country and their homes . On April 9 , the US forces hanged six of the convicted insurgents in the Taos plaza ; all but one were convicted of murder , and he of treason . This was the first execution by hanging in the Taos valley . Two weeks later , the US forces executed five more . In all , the US hanged at least 28 men in Taos in response to the revolt . A year later , the United States Secretary of War reviewed the case . He said that the one man hanged for treason , Pablo Salazar , might have been wrongfully convicted . The Supreme Court of the United States agreed . All other convictions were affirmed . Further fighting . The revolt did not end after the Siege of Taos . New Mexican rebels engaged US forces three more times in the following months . The actions are known as the Battle of Red River Canyon , the Battle of Las Vegas , and the Battle of Cienega Creek . After the US forces won each battle , the New Mexicans and Native Americans ended open warfare .