DATE VISITED: 04/28/2015
HISTORICAL
SITE: Old Town Albuquerque
LOCATION: Plaza Street, Albuquerque, Bernalillo Co., New Mexico
“In 1706, New Mexico Governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdes
founded the new Villa de Albuquerque (now Albuquerque), which became the
principal settlement of the Rio Abajo, or lower river district. Here, the
Camino Real wound its way through a series of farming and ranching communities
and led to a nearby ford which linked the Camino Real to settlements on the
west bank of the Rio Grande.”
PERSONAL
REFLECTIONS:
To be honest, except for some interesting information around
the Civil War period, there really isn’t enough to warrant a blog just about
Old Town.
I had a misconception that I would find Old Town Albuquerque to
be similar to Old Town San Diego, but that isn’t what we found.
The plaza is surrounded by gift shops that yes, do have Native
American items….manufactured outside the U.S. No thank you! I would have rather
paid more for something genuine.
The restaurants seemed a little touristy to me and after
checking TripAdvisor, we found the one consistent thing people said was that
they are expensive.
Old Town was founded in 1706 and became the first
“neighborhood” when a group of Spanish families settled here. It was organized
like traditional Spanish colonial towns…a central plaza anchored by a church.
“In this
plaza were enacted A.D. 1706 by Governor and Captain General Don Francisco
Cuervo Y. Valdez ceremonies incident to the founding of the Villa of
Albuquerque names after Spanish Viceroy Don Francisco Fernanadez De La Cueva
Enriquez Duke of Albuquerque
Erected 1922 by Lew Wallace Chapter D.A.R.”
Like many towns, the Civil War touched Old Town when the
Confederates from the 7th Texas Cavalry, coming from a victory at
Valverde, held the town for about a month in 1862. The 7th Texas Calvary
were the last Confederate units to abandon New Mexico and far West Texas. The
Confederates were routed from Old Town and left for Texas in the dark of night.
“Skirmish of Albuquerque April 8 – 9, 1862
While
Confederate Brigadier General H.H. Sibley was assembling the bulk of his army
at Santa Fe, Union Colonel E.R.S. Canby moved 1200 men from Fort Craig to
occupy Albuquerque – “If it can be done without serious loss”. Though
outnumbered six to one, a small detachment of Confederates under Captain
William P. Hardeman repulsed the attack and maintained possession of the town.
-emplaced by the New Mexico Sons of Confederate Veterans April
9, 1982”
“Confederate soldiers who served in Gen Sibley’s Brig with Maj
Trevanion T Teel were buried here when conf flag was flying over Old
Albuquerque in April 1862”
It is more the story of what was left behind that I find so
interesting…
“Cast in the foundry of Cyrus Alger & Company of Boston,
Massachusetts, and originally designed to be mule-pack artillery, the Model of
1835 12-Pounder Mountain Howitzer was the smallest U.S. cannon of the period
and could fire a 12-pound exploding shell to a distance of 1000 yards. It was a
light field piece of great mobility and intended for use in all kinds of rough
terrain.
In early 1862, Civil War Confederate forces that had invaded
New Mexico Territory began their retreat back to Texas following defeat at
Glorieta Pass, east of Santa Fe, two weeks earlier. Confederate artillery
commander Major Trevanion T. Teel buried eight cannon barrels near this Plaza
to prevent their capture by pursuing Union Forces.
Twenty-seven years later, Major Teel returned to Albuquerque
to show local citizens where the cannon barrels were buried. On August 9, 1889,
all eight barrels were excavated from a chile pepper patch, formerly a corral,
some 500 feet northeast of San Felipe de Neri Church, near present day
Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. Two of the barrels have remained in
Albuquerque.
Local residents made new carriages for the two remaining
cannon barrels and displayed them on the Plaza for many years. Because of the
great value of the original barrels, replicas were later made and replaced the
originals on the Plaza. These replica barrels are mounted on “Prairie” style
gun carriages—most likely the configuration used by Confederate forces in New Mexico.
It is sometimes said that these two mountain howitzer “guard” the Old Town
Plaza. They represent a proud and important era in Albuquerque.
The howitzer’s were originally in the possession of Union forces
but were captured by the Confederates at the battle of Valverde in February
1862.
In “Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1887-88)”, Teel,
shown at left, places the blame for Confederate loses in New Mexico directly on
General Henry H. Sibley.
The sign really doesn’t talk much about the actual digging up
of the cannons and that’s interesting too…
When the time came to dig up the cannons, a delegation of
Union soldiers and a few Confederates were in attendance along with half of
Albuquerque. The owner of the land refused to allow the digging saying his
chili farm would be damaged. A miner came forward and offered him $100 to allow
the digging to continue but he refused, got a lawyer and went before a judge.
The judge said he wouldn’t be irreparably harmed and “besides, I’m curious
myself about those cannon. I want to see if the Rebels really did bury the
cannons.”
In the meantime, the person who had offered the $100 staked a
claim out for mining as allowed by law and told the diggers to go ahead with
their “mineral prospecting”.
The cannons were found, just as Major Teel had said they would
be and spent the next few years having their ownership contested.
Until the railroad came through in 1880, buildings in Old Town
continued in the traditional adobe but afterwards, had plenty of Victorian
influence.
Interestingly, Old Town Albuquerque did not become a part of
the City of Albuquerque until the 1940’s.
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