Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

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ANTONIO NARBONA



The brief Spanish intervention in the Seven Years War resulted in their loss of Spanish Florida to Great Britain, but they gained French Louisiana which included the port city of Mobile in what is now Alabama. In 1773 Antonio Narbona, of pure Spanish blood, burst onto the scene in Mobile. At the tender age of 15 Antonio moved to Sonora to join the army of New Spain as a cadet in the Santa Cruz Company. He was sponsored by his brother-in-law, the commandant Brigadier Enrico Grimarest. On January 27, 1793 Antonio Narbona was promoted to the rank of ensign at the garrison in Fronteras. He took his soldiering seriously. In January of 1805 he led a punitive expedition out of Chihuahua against the Navajo who had been raiding Cebolletta, a Spanish settlement at the base of Mount Taylor east of where Grants was later built. The Navajo raid was done to regain control of traditional grazing land and maintain access to the turquoise at Mount Taylor. Narbona came to Cebolletta and tracked the raiders northwest to Canyon de Chelly and attacked the first Navajo he found there. She was a woman gathering acorns on a bluff very near the edge of the canyon wall. When a soldier grabbed her they scuffled, she tripped and fell off the cliff taking the soldier with her. The soldiers soon located other Navajo hiding in a nearby cave and opened fire on them, killing 115 women, children and old men. The survivors, 33 women and children were taken into slavery in Mexico. The warriors were out raiding other Spanish settlements most likely. The massacre was hailed as a great victory for Narbona. He was promoted to captain at Fronteras, and in 1809 was made commandant of the Presidio at Tucson. By 1820 he had military command of Sonora and led his soldiers in support of the Plan of Iguala, which was the movement to establish independence from Spain. He squashed opposition to the plan among the Yaquis, Opatas, and Pimas who wanted their own independence. On September 6, 1821 the Spanish were driven out of Mexico and Narbona gained political control of Sonora and Sinaloa. In September of 1825 he was appointed Governor of New Mexico and negotiated a trade agreement with the Americans that opened the Santa Fe Trail. Commerce led to immigration and within twenty years New Mexico had become an American Territory. Antonio Narbona, the man who gave us New Mexico, died at Arizpe in 1830. The photos show Massacre Cave where he slaughtered the Navajo and Two Went Over.

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Photos

TWO WENT OVER
From the National Park Service Visitor Center east of Chinle take Indian Road 64 across the bridge and about 5 miles up the north rim of Canyon de Chelly. Turn right on a paved access road to a parking lot about three quarters of mile southward. It is a short walk along a good Park Service trail to the edge of the cliff where two fell over.

MASSACRE CAVE
Follow the trail beyond where two fell over until it ends at a vista point. Massacre Cave is in a side canyon to the north behind the vista point.