Missions and Murder in Old Taos

Franciscan priests founded the original mission in Taos in 1617, but the Taos Pueblo was always the most hostile to the Spanish colonials of all the Pueblo tribes. Practically every attempt to overthrow the Spanish was instigated or supported from here, and not surprisingly this first church was destroyed in 1926 and the priest was murdered. This happened several times before the Pueblo Revolt drove the Spanish from the region for 12 years in 1680.

The Battle of Taos in 1847.

When Diego de Vargas resettled the New Mexico territory in 1692, the Taos church had become a stable, and he order it torn down. The new church -San Jerónimo, was completed in 1706, and built like a fortress with huge walls and a tower to watch over the surrounding mesa for raiding parties. Many besiegers would try to bring down the embattled church, but none would prove successful until America entered the picture.

When New Mexico became a US territory in 1846, a Virginia native and Taos resident named Charles Bent was appointed as interim governor. But Mexican landowners were unhappy with American rule and conspired with members of the Taos Pueblo. When Bent returned home from Santa Fe, the Taosenos scalped and murdered him along with 16 other Americans in the area. When troops were dispatched, the rebels retreated to the fortified mission. The 3–7 feet thick walls proved to be impervious to US Army muskets, cannons and even a howitzer, so the soldiers had to tear down the weakest point with axes. Once the hole was big enough artillery was tossed through and the roof was fired via ladders, forcing the conspirators to emerge and be captured. One tower and fragments of the nave wall are all that is left of the once mighty church.