The Red Fortress

mesa_de_guadalupe.jpg, originally uploaded by craptastica.

"It was brutal" he said. Then his eyes narrowed slightly and it seemed as if he was looking at something in the distance, "The Jemez people took the worst beating of them all."

I was talking to Chris, our Forest surveyor about the reconquest of the Jemez Pueblo by Diego de Vargas. Chris is somewhat of an amatuer historian who's currently in the process of reading a translation of de Vargas's original journals from the early 1600's.

Ths conversation was triggered from my recent weekend hike that I was telling him about. I climbed to the top of G___ mesa, which was the last Jemez holdout, and had brought up the dozens of ruins that still remain. Much like the jews of Masada, on the banks of the Dead Sea, this mesa was where the Jemez people made their stand against the Spanish.

They built their homes on top of the seemingly impenetrable mesa and stacked rocks on all sides to protect their fortress. The Spanish were tasked with climbing the almost vertical cliffs of the mesa while being showered with rocks and debris. Standing on the mesa top is seems impossible, but history says otherwise.

Eventually, the Spanish under the leadership of de Vargas climbed the steep slopes and broke through the impermeable mesa top defenses. Unlike the jews of Masada (who all committed suicide when it became obvious the Romans were going to penetrate their masada), the disease-ravaged and betrayed Jemez people were all dominated or killed by the Spanish.

Standing on the mesa top surrounded by the ruins of a people's last line of defense, I felt bewildered. It is almost inconceivable that the events of the past read of in books are true. It is unbelievable that a people once known for thier peaceful way of life and hospitality were treated so brutally. Yet rocks don't lie and the mesas of the mountain are colored red with blood.