Legacy of Honor: The Life of Rafael Chacon, a Nineteenth-Century New Mexican Meketa, Jacqueline Dorgan

Description

Rafael Chacn (1833-1925), witnessed the end of the Mexican Period and was a participant in commercial, military, and political events during the early decades of the American era. His account represents one of the few surviving documents to record the Hispanic point of view. Its publication in English provides an important new source–unique in its detail, anecdotal style, and human interest. Chacon wrote his memoirs in his seventies to record for his family the drama, adventure, and sorrow he had experienced. As a child in Santa Fe he observed the execution of the leaders of the Rebellion of 1837; as a thirteen-year-old Mexican military cadet, he served with Manuel Armijo at Glorieta Pass when Stephen Kearny’s army marched on Santa Fe. During the 1850s, Chacn was an Indian fighter and trader, surviving several near fatal incidents in the Ute War of 1855 and later in trading caravans onto the Great Plains. During his later service in the Civil War, Chacn repeatedly distinguished himself even though he never mastered English. He commanded volunteer companies, including one at the Battle of Valverde, fought Indians under Kit Carson, escorted the first officials to the newly established territory of Arizona, and as one of the few Hispanics to attain the rank of major, commanded Fort Stanton at the end of the war. Following discharge, Chacn served several terms in the territorial legislature before homesteading near Trinidad, Colorado. This book offers new insights into events in New Mexico history during the Mexican and early territorial periods, especially the Civil War years.