The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 29, July 1925 - April, 1926 Page: 225

                                
Chamuscado-Rodriguez Expedition

strate a few years ago how unfounded were these charges.2 His
conclusions were (1) that Santa Maria departed contrary to the
wishes of the soldiers and the other friars, and that he was killed
by the Indians in southeastern New Mexico prior to the return
of his companions to Mexico; and (2) that instead of deserting
the friars immediately after their arrival in New Mexico, the
soldiers were eminently successful in exploring a wide expanse
of territory.
After the publication of the above conclusions the writer found
in the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain, additional
documents relating to this same subject. These mss. are two
testimonios or affidavits: (1) a statement signed by seven of the
soldiers, which claimed that Father Santa Maria had left them
contrary to their desires and over their protests; and (2) a similar
statement, signed by four of the soldiers, which attested that
Fathers Rodriguez and L6pez remained in New Mexico against
the wishes of the soldiers and with the full knowledge of the fate
of Santa Maria. Both of the testimonios were written and signed
in New Mexico immediately after the events referred to.
The fact that such information was put in writing is additional
evidence of the incredible systematization of Spanish colonial meth-
ods. Even on the frontier every movement was recorded. This
is the secret of the unparalleled completeness of the Spanish
archives. But the affidavits undoubtedly owe their existence to
something more than the Spaniards' slavishness to red-tape. In
them one detects a fear of the power of the Church, for the ex-
plorers knew that they would be criticised because of their leav-
ing the friars alone among hostile natives.      They sought, there-
fore, to protect themselves against possible accusations. But be-
cause of the great influence of the ecclesiastical historians, Men-
dieta and Torquemada, it appears that the soldiers were unsuc-
cessful in clearing their names.
The new documents are reproduced here in the original Spanish
and in translation.
2The Rodriguez Expedition into New Mexico, 1581-1582 (M. A. Thesis,
University of California, May, 1917); "The Martyrdom of Father Juan de
Santa Maria," in The Catholic Historical Review, VI, No. 3.

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