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Pecos Indian Tribe History
Pecos
(from P'e'-a-ku', the Keresan name of the pueblo).
Formerly the largest and most populous of the pueblos of New
Mexico in historic times, occupied by a people speaking the same
language of the Tanoan family, with dialectic variations, as
that of Jemez; situated on an upper branch of Pecos River, about
30 miles south east of Santa Fe. In prehistoric times the Pecos
people occupied numerous pueblos containing from 200 to 300
rooms each, and many compactly built single-story house groups
of from 10 to 50 rooms each. These were scattered along the
valley from the north end of Cañon
de Pecos grant to Anton Chico, a distance of 40 miles. At the
time of the arrival of the first Spaniards under Coronado, in
1540, the tribe had become concentrated in the great communal
structure popularly known as Pecos. According to Bandelier, the
Pecos declare that they came into their valley from the south
east, but that they originated in the north and shifted across
the Rio Grande, occupying successively the pueblos now in ruins
at San Jose and Kingman previous to locating at their final
settlement. The principal pueblo of the tribe, according to the
same authority, was Tshiquité,
or Tziquité (the pueblo of
Pecos), which he identifies with the Acuique, Cicuic, Cicuye,
etc., of the early Spanish chroniclers. Gatschet
(Isleta MS. vocab., B. A. E., 1879), however, records
Sikuyé as an Isleta name of
Pecos pueblo, and as the Isleta People are Tigua and Coronado
went from Tiguex (Tigua) province directly to Pecos in 1540, it
seems more likely that Cicuye in its various forms was the Tigua
name of Pecos pueblo in the 16th century. Bandelier thinks it
possible that the ruins at Las Ruedas and El Gusano are those of
pueblos also occupied by the Pecos people contemporaneously with
their principal town at the time of the Spanish advent, and, in
deed, Zarate-Salmeron, about 1629, mentions that the tribe at
that date occupied also the pueblo of Tuerto, near the present
Golden. At the time of Coronado's visit Pecos contained 2,000 to
2,500 inhabitants. It consisted of two great communal dwellings,
built on the terrace plan, each 4 stories high, and containing
585 and 517 rooms respectively in its ground plan. Two
Franciscan friars remained there after Coronado's departure in
1542, but both were probably killed before the close of the
year. Pecos was visited also by Espejo in 1583, Castañode
Sosa in 1590-91, and Oñate
in 1598, the last calling it Santiago. During the governorship
of Oñate the first permanent
missionaries were assigned to Pecos, and the great church, so
long a landmark on the Santa Fe trail, was erected about 1617.
The pueblo suffered severely first at the hands of the Querecho,
or Apache of the plains,
and after 1700 through raids by the
Comanche. In the
revolts of 1680-96 against Spanish authority Pecos played an
important part, and its actual decline may be said to have begun
at this time. In 1760 Galisteo was a visita of its mission, and,
including the latter pueblo, Pecos contained 599 inhabitants in
that year. In 1782, however, the Pecos mission was abandoned,
its people being ministered by a priest from Santa Fé.
Its population had dwindled to 152 in 1790-93, probably on
account of a Comanche raid in which nearly every man in the
tribe was killed. Epidemics, brought about apparently by the
proximity of the cemetery to the source of water supply, also
hastened the diminution of the Pecos people. In 1805 they had
become reduced to 104, and in 1838 the pueblo was finally
abandoned, the 17 survivors moving to Jemez, where there are now
perhaps 25 Indians of Pecos blood, only one of whom however was
born at the mother pueblo. The names of Pecos ruins, so far as
recorded, are Kuuanguala, Pomojoua, San José
(modern Spanish name of locally), Seyupa, and
Tonchuun.
The Pecos clans were as follows:
Waha (Cloud), Pe (Sun), Ya (Coyote), Seé
(Eagle), Kyunu (Corn), Sohl (Badger), Sungti (Turquoise), Daahl
(Earth or Sand), Wahaha (Calabash), Kiahl (Crow) Pa (Deer),
Shiankya (Mountain lion), Whala (Bear), Fwaha, (Fire), Amu
(Ant), Kotsaa ( Pine), Petdelu (Wild Turkey), Tashtye
(Buffalo),Gyuungsh (Oak), Alawahku, (Elk), Alu (Antelope),
Morbah (Parrot), and Hayah (Snake).
Index of Tribes or Nations
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