Luis Tupatu

Luis Tupatu, also known as Luis Tupatú or Ciervo Blanco was Picuris Pueblo leader of the Pueblo confederation during the period following the expulsion of the Spanish from New Mexico following the Pueblo revolt. He was from Picuris Pueblo and took over the leadership position from Po'pay.

As leader of Picuris, Luis Tupatu led a rebellion of the Picuris Indians in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt against the Spanish. Around 1683 he became leader of the Pueblo confederation. As leader of the at least thirteen Pueblos of Northern New Mexico, he negotiated a successful plan with governor of New Mexico Diego de Vargas to allow the Spanish to peacefully return in 1692 to stop the fighting between Pecos people and Taos Pueblo. Following this, he was officially recognized as the Governor of Northern New Mexico. Luis Tupatu participated in the second Pueblo revolt against the Spanish in 1696 and led his people to exile in what is today southern Colorado.

Early life Luis Tupatu was a member of Picuris Pueblo, but he had some relatives of Spanish origin who had arrived to New Mexico as settlers. So his uncle Miguel Luján was one of the Captains of soldiers that accompanied Vargas in 1692. In addition, his wife belonged to a family formed by Tewas, Criollos Spaniards, and mestizos.

Pueblo Revolt During the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, Luis Tupatu led a rebellion of the Picuris Pueblo Indians, to whom also he ruled. Po'pay died, probably in 1688, with the united Pueblo state he envisioned divided and weak. In 1692, Governor Diego de Vargas, with an army of 150 Spanish soldiers and pro-Spanish Pueblo warriors, attempted reconquest. Vargas promised pardon rather than punishment and most of the Pueblos gradually acceded to Spanish rule although violent opposition to Spanish rule continued for several years. Only the distant Hopi, living in what is today Arizona, retained their independence although many Pueblos also took up residence among the Navajo and Apaches.

Luis Tupatu negotiated a plan with Diego de Vargas, governor of New Mexico at this time, to stop the fighting between Pecos people and Taos Pueblo. The business of peace was successful for both peoples because of the need to avoid further attacks (prior to the plan to promote the peace, the Apache seriously attacked the Pueblos, and several clashes between the Pueblo tribes happened). So Tupatú was appreciated by Vargas and the Spanish government, already that he helped to preserve the peace in New Mexico. Later, in Santa Fe, Luis Tupatú was officially appointed governor of thirteen villages of Northern New Mexico. Thus, the month after his appointment, he earned a written title that symbolized his authority.

Governor of Northern New Mexico

The Spanish return to New Mexico was prompted by their fears of French advances into the Mississippi valley and their desire to create a defensive frontier against the increasingly aggressive nomadic tribes on their northern borders. In August 1692, Diego de Vargas marched to Santa Fe unopposed along with a converted Zia war captain, Bartolomé de Ojeda. De Vargas, with only sixty soldiers, one hundred Indian auxiliaries or native soldiers, seven cannons (which he used as leverage against the Pueblo inside Santa Fe), and one Franciscan priest, arrived at Santa Fe on September 13. He promised the 1,000 Pueblo people assembled there clemency and protection if they would swear allegiance to the King of Spain and return to the Christian faith. After a while the Pueblo rejected the Spaniards. After much persuading, the Spanish finally made the Pueblo agree to peace. On September 14, 1692, de Vargas proclaimed a formal act of repossession. It was the thirteenth town he had reconquered for God and King in this manner, he wrote jubilantly to the Conde de Galve, viceroy of New Spain. This time, however, 70 Pueblo warriors and 400 family members within the town opposed his entry. De Vargas and his forces staged a quick and bloody recapture that concluded with the surrender and execution of the 70 Pueblo warriors on December 30, and their surviving families (about 400 women and children) were sentenced to ten years' servitude and distributed to the Spanish colonists as slaves.

Second Pueblo Revolt In 1696 the residents of fourteen pueblos attempted a second organized revolt, launched with the murders of five missionaries and thirty-four settlers and using weapons the Spanish themselves had traded to the natives over the years; de Vargas's retribution was unmerciful, thorough and prolonged. By the end of the century the last resisting Pueblo town had surrendered and the Spanish reconquest was essentially complete. Many of the Pueblos, however, fled New Mexico to join the Apache or Navajo or to attempt to re-settle on the Great Plains.

Legacy While the independence of many pueblos from the Spaniards was short-lived, the Pueblo Revolt gained the Pueblo people a measure of freedom from future Spanish efforts to eradicate their culture and religion following the reconquest. Moreover, the Spanish issued substantial land grants to each Pueblo and appointed a public defender to protect the rights of the Native Americans and argue their legal cases in the Spanish courts. The Franciscan priests returning to New Mexico did not again attempt to impose a theocracy on the Pueblo who continued to practice their traditional religion.