The following document concerns testimony taken by the Spanish Audiencia
investigating the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. In this case, a native participant in the
revolt is being interviewed. You must ensure that before reading the testimony,
you familiarized yourself with the Pueblo Revolt. It is hoped that you consulted
the course textbook to find out what happened and you accessed the internet article on the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. You are required to inform yourself of the event
first before reading the following testimony. Source: “Declarations of Josephe, a
Spanish-speaking Indian, 1681.” From: American Journeys Collection. Revolt of
the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Otermín’s Attempted Reconquest, 1680
– 1682. Document No. AJ-009B. Wisconsin Historical Society Digital Library
and Achives, pp. 239 – 240. __________________________ Asked
what causes or motives the said Indian rebels had for renouncing the law of God
and obedience to his Majesty, and for committing so many kinds of crimes, and
who were the instigators of the rebellion, and what he had heard while he was
among the apostates, he said that the prime movers of the rebellion were two
Indians of San Juan, one named El Popé and the other El Taqu, and another
from Taos named Saca, and another from San Ildefonso named Francisco. He
knows that these were the principals, and the causes they gave were alleged ill
treatment and injuries received from the present Secretary, Francisco Xavier,
and the Maestre de Campo, Alonso García, and from the Sargentos Mayores,
Luis de Quintana and Diego Lopéz, because they beat them, took away what
they had, and made them work without pay. Thus, he replies. Asked if he has
learned or it has come to his notice during the time that he has been here the
reason why the apostates burned the images, churches, and things pertaining to
divine worship, making a mockery and a trophy of them, killing the priests and
doing the other things they did, he said that he knows and has heard it generally
stated that while they were besieging the villa the rebellious traitors burned the
church and shouted in loud voices, “Now the God of the Spaniards, who was
their father, is dead, and Santa Maria, who was their mother, and the saints,
who were pieces of rotten wood,” saying that only their own god lived. Thus,
they ordered all the temples and images, crosses and rosaries burned, and this
function being over, they all went to bathe in the rivers, saying that they thereby
washed away the water of baptism. For their churches, they placed on the four
sides and in the center of the plaza some small circular enclosures of stone where
they went to offer flour, feathers, and the seed of maguey, maize, and tobacco,
and performed other superstitious rites, giving the children to understand that
they must all do this in the future. The captains and chiefs ordered that the
names of Jesus and of Mary should nowhere be uttered, and that they should
discard their baptismal names, and abandon the wives whom God had given
them in matrimony, and take the ones that they pleased. He saw that as soon
as the remaining Spaniards had left, they ordered all the estufas erected, which
are their houses of idolatry, and danced throughout the kingdom the dance of
the cazina, making many masks for it in the image of the devil. Thus, he replied
to this question . . . . Asked if he knows, or whether it has come to his notice,
that the said apostates have erected houses of idolatry which they call estufas
in the pueblos, and have practiced dances and superstitions, he said there is a
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general report throughout the kingdom that they have done so and he has seen
many houses of idolatry which they have built, dancing the dance of the cachina,
which this declarant has also danced. Thus, he replied to the question.
The following is testimony given in 1763 by Pontiac, an Ottawa war leader, who
led a major rebellion (Pontiac’s Rebellion). He began spreading the message
of the Delaware (Loup) prophet, Neolin, who advocated a new interpretation
of Indian European relations. Pontiac is addressing an international gathering
of the Ottawa, Pottawatomie, and Huron nations. You were asked to consult
the course textbook and find out what happened. It is hoped that you read the
internet article on the rebellion. You must inform yourself of the event first before
reading the following testimony. Source: This account is written from multiple
interpreters: Neolin (presumably in his native Delaware language), the language
Pontiac used that day (probably Ottawa), French (probably written down by
the French-Canadian soldier and notary Robert Navarre), and now in English.
Translated by John DuVal from [Robert Navarre?], “Journal ou dictation d’une
conspiration, faite par les sauvages contre les Anglais, et du siège du fort de
Detroix par quatre nations différentes le 7 mai, 1763,” in Journal of Pontiac’s
Conspiracy, ed. M. Agnes Burton (Detroit, 1912), 23-33. In Interpreting
a Continent: Voices from Colonial America, ed. Kathleen DuVal and John
DuVal (Lanham, Md., 2009), 79-83. __________________________
Englishmen, although you have conquered the French you have not yet conquered
us! We are not your slaves. These lakes, these woods, and mountains were left us
by our ancestors. They are our inheritance; and we will part with them to none.
Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, cannot live without bread
and pork and beef! But you ought to know that He, the Great Spirit and Master
of Life, has provided food for us in these spacious lakes, and on these woody
mountains.[The Master of Life has said to Neolin:]I am the Maker of heaven and
earth, the trees, lakes, rivers, and all else. I am the Maker of all mankind; and
because I love you, you must do my will. The land on which you live I have
made for you and not for others. Why do you suffer the white man to dwell
among you? My children, you have forgotten the customs and traditions of your
forefathers. Why do you not clothe yourselves in skins, as they did, use bows
and arrows and the stone-pointed lances, which they used? You have bought
guns, knives, kettles and blankets from the white man until you can no longer
do without them; and what is worse, you have drunk the poison firewater, which
turns you into fools. Fling all these things away; live as your wise forefathers
did before you. And as for these English – these dogs dressed in red, who have
come to rob you of your hunting grounds, and drive away the game – you must
lift the hatchet against them. Wipe them from the face of the earth, and then
you will win my favor back again, and once more be happy and prosperous.
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