Preceded by Felix Martinez Preceded by Juan Paez Hurtado Name Antonio y | Succeeded by Juan Paez Hurtado Profession Political and military | |
Succeeded by Juan Estrada de Austria Died December 1728
El Paso, Texas | ||
Antonio Valverde y Cosio (born 1670 - died 1728) was a prominent entrepreneur and Spanish soldier who served as interim governor of New Mexico in 1716 and 1718 - 1721. His politics was based, in large part, on stopping the French invasion of New Mexico.
Contents
Early life
Antonio Valverde y Cosio was born around 1670 at Villapresente, Cantabria, Spain, to Antonio Velarde and Juana de Velarde y Cosio. Valverde emigrated to New Spain attracted for various business interests that they had on the region. Thus, he began working in Sombrerete, Zacatecas (in modern Mexico), as there was discovered rich minerals in 1646. Over time, he and their associates created an important business in the area. The success of their partnership grew throughout the next twentyfour years. In 1693, Diego de Vargas, governor of New Mexico, recruited settlers and soldiers from Sombrerete. Thus, Valverde decided to join in the group. Eventually he reached the position of secretary of Vargas.
From June 1694 till July 1697, he served as soldier in New Mexico to impose Spanish authority in Sombrerete and restore the region's Hispanic population. Over the next two years (1694–96), he and Vargas participated in the war against the Puebloan peoples, who had rebelled against Spanish sovereignty since 1980, because the maladministration of Juan Francisco Trevino (who subjected them and tortured them). He had a bloody fight with Taos and Picuris. In December 1695, Valverde was promoted as captain of the presidio.
He participated in many battles in 1696: So, he participated in the assault on the Mesa at Acoma; and, in early June this year, he began a new military campaign against the Tewa, who had promoted a Native American revolt formed for Tewas and some Tiwas, Keres, and Jemez. Also in that year, Valverde suffered a serious illness, so Vargas gave him permission to traveled to Mexico City to get treatment for their disease. In July 1697 Pedro Rodriguez Cubero replaced to Vargas as governor. Rodriguez Cubero presented complaints against Vargas and Antonio Valverde de Cosio. However, as Valverde was in Spain in this moment, those allegations not affected him, while Vargas was imprisoned for several years. Valverde shared with Juan Bautista de Saldua the captaincy of the Presidio El Paso, having that position for the remainder of his life. Also, in 1699, he became in the alcalde mayor of El Paso.
He developed the more lucrative field of New Mexico, having his own hacienda in San Antonio de Padua (the hacienda included several crops and a large farm), and the downriver from El Paso. In addition, he controlled much of the economy of El Paso and trade and business of whole New Mexico's territory. In 1705, he become in Lieutenant general serving to governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdes. In 1708, he also was named regidor de primer voto (councilman) and alguacil mayor of the city council of Santa Fe.
Two years after, in 1710, Cosio attained the General rank. In 1712 and 1714 he fight against the Suma Indians and Apaches, who had rebelled against the Spanish.
Government from New Mexico
He was appointed acting governor of New Mexico in 1716 replacing to Felix Martinez. After being replaced in the same year by Juan Paez Hurtado, he regained the government of the Spanish province in 1718. His politic was based in cope of French invasion of New Mexico’s eastern and northeastern fringe, specifically in the Great Plains's part. In 1719 Spain and France joined forces to cope with the Comanches and Utes, as Valverde y Cosio led a column of Spanish troops (60 soldiers from Santa Fe and 45 Spanish settlers) and auxiliary Native Americans tribes (of which, 465 were Pueblo warriors and other 165 were Apaches) to punish the Comanches. Upon reaching the Arkansas River, south the Colorado, the Apaches of El Cuartelejo spoke to Cosio of the French presence in the plains. One of the Apaches also said him that the French built two villages in the Pawnee lands, to west of the Missouri River, "as big as Taos" in New Mexico. He also said that the French were arming the Native Americans and they dedicated themselves to insult the Spanish.
Therefore, Valverde traveled to North New Mexico to try brake the French expansion, establishing a mission on the northeastern flank of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and a presidio in El Cuartelejo. In September, he began to seek the French settlement, leading a troop formed for 600 men, but he never found it (although the expedition arrived to the Pawnee lands). In 1720, he traveled from Santa Fe of the areas located to farther north of the Plains, leading a small group of explorers to investigate these areas. On his return to Santa Fe, the governor sent a report to the viceroy, Baltasar de Zuniga, in concluding that the French were preparing to enter New Mexico, bribing the native tribes through gifts and giveaways, which included firearms. On January 10, 1720 the viceroy Zuniga ordered the governor Valverde to establish a presidio in the Apache settlement of El Cuartelejo, and he launched another expedition in search of the French settlements in Pawnee lands.
The governor Valverde suggested the viceroy that the Jicarilla, a place located among the Native American lands, was just 40 miles from Santa Fe and the place had cultivated fields. Yet, the Apaches of El Cuartelejo, allies of the Spanish, were at 130 miles of Santa Fe and they not had supplies, so they could not adequately defend themselves from enemy attacks, so the Spanish should to help them and defend them. The viceroy agreed to the suggestion. The Spanish troops fulfilled their orders and they entered in an unknown territory further north, towards to Jicarilla. In June 1720, Cosio directed a military expedition, the so-called Villasur expedition, to check the growing French influence on the Great Plains of central North America and capture French traders that there were. The expedition was formed with 100 men, between them many Pueblo Amerindians, and traveled to the confluence of the Loup and North Platte River, in Nebraska. In New Mexico, the explorers were attacked by the Pawnees and Otos (who used some firearms in the attack). They killed many explorers.
Valverde y Cosio finished his term in New Mexico in 1721, when the viceroy of New Spain appointed Juan Estrada de Austria as the new governor of the province.
Last years
Valverde was accused of having facilitated the murder of their explorers through the Villasur Expedition, so he was fined (having to pay 200 pesos), and prosecuted. However, the prosecution took place after 7 years of the investigation on the subject. In this time, Valverde had again become in rancher in El Paso (which in this time, was a part of New Mexico), city where he lived until his last days. Antonio Cosio died on December 15, 1728 in El Paso. He was buried in the mission at Guadalupe del Paso.
Personal life
Although Cosio never married, he had several children: Antonia , Maria Rosa, Juana, and Antonio de Valverde. He also was the uncle of Juan Domingo Bustamante, future governor of Spanish New Mexico. He was perhaps the wealthiest man in New Mexico, having the hacienda San Antonio de Padua which had large wheat fields, a flour mill, a vineyard and a farm (comprising sheep and cattle, hundreds of horses and mules, hogs and goats). He also had 9 black and mulato slaves, and more of 30 Apache and farm laborers.