Manuel Armijo

Politician and governor of New Mexico (c.1793 1853)

Manuel Armijo (c. 1793 – 1853) was a New Mexican soldier and statesman who served three times as governor of New Mexico between 1827 and 1846. He was instrumental in putting down the Revolt of 1837; he led the military forces that captured the invaders of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition; and he later surrendered to the United States in the Mexican–American War, leading to the capture of Santa Fe and occupation of New Mexico by the American army. Armijo attempted to expand Hispanic settlements and bolster the security of New Mexico by granting large acreages of land to prominent individuals. Armijo has been vilified by Americans participating in the conquest of New Mexico and some subsequent historians.

Manuel Armijo was born around 1793 in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area, most likely in Belen. He was the son of Vicente Ferrer Durán y Armijo and Bárbara Casilda Durán y Chávez, both from prominent New Mexico families. Vicente Armijo and his family resided in the Plaza de San Antonio de Belén during the 1790s, and according to the Spanish census, Vicente was a stockman and lieutenant in the militia. The historian Marc Simmons ascribes the story of sheep theft to "tradition". William Wroth wrote on the New Mexico State Historian's Website, "Governor Armijo was portrayed by George Wilkins Kendall as having been an uneducated man from a poor family who worked his way up by stealing. This gross caricature was Kendall's way of vilifying Armijo due to his perception that the Governor had treated him unfairly in 1841 in the capture of the disastrous Texas Santa Fe expedition." In general, according to many Hispanic New Mexicans, historians have been unfair in their telling of the history of Manuel Armijo. Angélico Chávez wrote, "Manuel Armijo's character as Governor and as a man has been unjustly painted in sources too numerous to mention here." Some have it that he left the governorship to avoid a Federal investigation. In 1836 Armijo was appointed subcomisario, collector of customs, of New Mexico; this was a fund raising position that involved work in Santa Fe. However, for health reasons he spent most of his time in Albuquerque and was replaced.

In August 1837 disaffected residents of the northern part of New Mexico assassinated Governor Albino Pérez and took over the state (the Revolt of 1837). Many people in the southern part opposed the new government, but several prominent people refused to lead a counterrevolution. Mariano Chávez, a wealthy young relative of Armijo's, proposed him for the position and Armijo accepted. He marched to Santa Fe and declared himself governor, a position that the Mexican government also gave him when the news of the rebellion reached them (and not when Armijo's letter announcing his self appointment reached them later, contrary to Kendall's account). The historian Janet Lecompte doubts this story and notes that there is no documentary evidence of any involvement of Armijo in the Revolt of 1837. Stories about Armijo's corruption made it into Anglo accounts of the region to justify a U. S. invasion. Armijo was a friend, a business partner, and a rumored lover of the wealthy Santa Fe saloon owner Maria Gertrudis "Tules" Barceló.

Land grants to individuals and groups by New Mexican governors had long been a characteristic of Spanish and Mexican rule. During the last years of Mexican rule, Armijo made several large individual grants to reward supporters and cronies, encourage settlement of the New Mexican frontier, bolster defenses against Indian raids, and counter growing U. S. encroachments, including the threat of invasion by the U. S. or Texas which was independent from 1836 1845. Armijo approved grants of land totaling to New Mexican citizens (including several prominent Anglos who had become Mexican citizens) For example, in January 1841 Charles Beaubien and Guadalupe Miranda petitioned Armijo for a grant of of land east of the Sangre de Cristo range. Charles Bent became owner of part of that land, even though he was not a Mexican citizen. When Padre Martinez of Taos learned of the grant, he raised such a strong objection that Armijo withdrew the grant that summer. Armijo reinstated the grant after Beaubien died, giving it to his son in law, Lucien Maxwell. The grant is best known as the Maxwell Land Grant. The U. S., after taking control of New Mexico, adjudicated the grants and approved many of them as legal, but the ultimate owners of the land became in large part the Anglos and Hispanic politicians and speculators known as the Santa Fe Ring. Controversies concerning ownership of the land in the grants continued into the 21st century.

Armijo was appointed to his third governorship in 1845. The following year, the Mexican–American War started and General Stephen Kearny brought about 1,700 soldiers to conquer New Mexico. Armijo heard of the plan in late June from an American business partner who arrived with a caravan on the Santa Fe Trail. Armijo sold his interest in their business to his partner and began liquidating his many other assets. He also received a large amount of ammunition and supplies from a caravan out of Independence, Missouri. On August 4, as Kearny crossed what is now the border between Colorado and New Mexico, Armijo signed a power of attorney so that an associate could take care of his affairs after he left. On August 8 he issued a proclamation to the people of New Mexico exhorting them to prepare to repel the invasion. On about August 9 Armijo called a meeting with a number of respected New Mexicans. He did not want to fight, but the priests present did, as did the young regular army commander, Diego Archuleta, and the young militia officers Manuel Chaves and Miguel Pino. According to a refugee from the war, Armijo would have done nothing toward defense if the latter two had not threatened to shoot him. Magoffin later requested a reimbursement from the U. S. Treasury of $50,000, of which he received $30,000. Another version of this story is that a spy of Governor Armijo was captured by Kearny, and given a tour of Kearny's forces in order for the spy to report to Armijo about the size and strength of the United States forces. It wasn't until the governor called for the militia to meet at Apache Canyon to prepare for defense of New Mexico that he changed his mind. When he saw that his militia had weapons of spears, bows, arrows and outdated firearms, he knew they were outnumbered, too under trained and under equipped to meet the regular United States's army. In any case, at the Battle of Santa Fe, Armijo set up a position in Apache Canyon, a narrow pass about 10 mile (16 km) southeast of the city, but decided not to fight before the American army was even in sight. When Pino, Chaves and some of the militiamen insisted, Armijo ordered the cannon pointed at them. and lived the rest of his life there. One of his sons, Manuel Armijo, served as Colonel of the New Mexico Militia in the American Civil War, participating in the Battle of Valverde.