Governors, Missionaries, Kachinas, and the Holy Office of the Inquisition, 1632-59

The creaking carretas wended their way northward from waterhole to water hole along the long Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, reaching New Mexico in spring 1659 after months of travel from Mexico City. One wagon stood out. Quite distinct from the carretas, a large carossa, a covered wagon with bedding and curtains, carried Governor López de Mendizábal and his wife, doña Teresa de Aguilera de la Rocha. In a separate wagon rode their servants, among them, the mulatta Clarilla and the Black Ana de la Cruz, who would live in the Palace of the Governor in Santa Fe as the governor’s servants. His term would be tumultuous and unsettling to the missionaries, settlers, and Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, each for different reasons. While the Plains tribes appeared peripheral to events in New Mexico at the time, missionaries continued to venture among them, hoping to convert them to Christianity.