Coronado and the Coazones Valley
In 1540 Francisco Vazquez Coronado and the army build the town of San Geronimo in Corazones Valley.(Valley of Hearts)
Popular as was the expedition to the Seven Cities of Cibola, there was a little opposition to the undertaking. When it became evident that a large force was about to leave Mexico, some of those who were to remain behind complained that all New Spain was being depopulated, and that no one would be left to defend the country in case of an Indian uprising. . As the men passed before the viceregal party the secretaries made an exact count and description of the force, The men who assembled at Oompostela to start for the Seven Cities numbered, two hundred and sixty Spaniards on horseback, two hundred footmen, and more than a thousand friendly Indians and Indian servants. Arms, horses, and supplies were furnished in abundance; money was advanced from the royal chest to any who had debts to pay before they could depart, and provision was made for the support of those who were about to be left behind by fathers, brothers, or husbands.
The young cavaliers curbed the picked horses from the large stock farms of the viceroy, each resplendent in long blankets flowing to the ground. Each rider held his lance erect, while his sword and other weapons hung in their proper places at his side. Some were arrayed in coats of mail, polished to shine like that of their general, whose gilded armor with its brilliant trappings was to bring him many hard blows a few months later. Others wore iron helmets or vizored headpieces of the tough bullhide for which the country has ever been famous. The footmen carried crossbows and harquebuses, while some of them were armed with sword and shield. The native allies in their paint and holiday attire, armed with the club and the bow of an Indian warrior. All these started off Monday, February 23, 1540 in the morning, in duly ordered companies, with their banners flying, upward of a thousand servants and followers, black men and red men, , went with them, leading the spare horses, driving the pack animals, bearing the extra baggage of their masters, or herding the large droves of big and little cattle, oxen and cows, sheep, and, swine, to assure fresh food for the army on its march. There were more than a thousand horses in the train of the force, besides the mules, loaded with camp supplies and provisions, and carrying half a dozen pieces of light artillery — the pedreros, or swivel guns of the period.
The Sonora River was followed nearly to its source before a pass was discovered. On the northern side of the mountains he found a stream, the Hexpa, he called it. The party followed this river valley until they reached the edge of the wilderness, where, as Friar Marcos had described it to them, they found Ohichilticalli. Here the party camped for two days, which was as long as the general dared to delay, in order to rest the horses, who had begun to give out sometime before as a result of overloading, rough roads, and poor feed.
Coronado entered the wilderness, the White Mountain Apache country of Arizona, on Saint John's eve, and Coronado's letter stated, "to refresh our former traumatizes, the first days we found no grass, but worse was the way of mountaines and bad passages."
Coronado continued on to the Cities of Cibola from here. But his exact path is still unknown to this day.
The main portion of the army remained at Culiacan, under the command of Don Tristan de Arellano, when Coronado started for Cibola with his small party of companions. Some time between the first and middle of May, the army started to follow the route of the advance party. The whole force marched on foot, carrying their lances and other weapons, in order that the horses and other beasts, numbering more than six hundred, might all be loaded with provisions. It had taken Coronado and his party of horsemen, eager to push on toward their destination, more than a month to make the journey to Corazones or Hearts valley. We can only guess how much longer it took the slowly marching army to cover this first half of the distance to Cibola.
The orders which the general had left with Arellano were that he should take the army to this valley, where a good store of provisions had been found by Melchior Diaz, and there wait for further instructions. Coronado promised to send for his soldiers as soon as he was sure that there was a country of the Seven Cities for them to conquer and settle.
In the valley of Corazones, which had been given its name by Cabeza de Vaca in his march from the Texas Coast, Arellano kept the soldiers busy by building a town, naming it San Geronimo de los Corazones — Saint Jerome of the Hearts.
Melchior Diaz had been directed to stay in the new town of San Geronimo, to maintain this post and to open communication with the seacoast. He selected seventy or eighty men — those least fitted for the hardships and struggles of exploration and conquest — who remained to settle the new town and to make an expedition toward the coast. The remainder of the army prepared to rejoin their Coronado at Cibola, and by the middle of September the start was made.
Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas was informed of the death of his brother, by which he became heir to the family estates. Cardenas had broken his arm on the plains, and this injury was still troubling him when he received permission to return to "New Spain". He was accompanied by the messengers carrying letters to the viceroy and by ten or twelve other invalids, "not one of whom could have done any fighting." The party had no trouble, however, until they reached the Corazones Valley, the settlement which had taken the place of San Geronimo was now on the Santa Cruz River. Pedro de Tovar had reduced the already feeble garrison at the Geronimo post by half, when he took away the reinforcements six months before to the new town to the south. The town had been much weakened by desertions, as well as by the loss of its commander, the invaluable Melchior Diaz. The Indians quickly discerned the condition of the town, and its defenders were unable to maintain friendly relations with the surrounding tribes. When Cardenas reached the place, he found everything burned to the ground, and the bodies of Spaniards, Indians, and horses lying about. Indeed, he seems barely to have saved the invalids accompanying him from being added to the number of the massacred.
Question, is Rogers Canyon and surrounding area the Valley of Hearts?
According to this German Jesuit Map, San Geronimo was in modern day Mexico south of Texas's big bend, however it shows that the Apache lands are the Big Bend area. Was this a mistake? Does it mean that San Geronimo and the Apache lands were close to each other?
According to Texas State handbook reads " The arrival of the first Spanish expedition at the Pass of the North in 1581 marked the beginning of more than 400 years of history in the El Paso area. It was followed in 1598 by the colonizing expedition under Juan de Oñate. On April 30, 1598, in a ceremony at a site near present San Elizario, Oñate took formal possession of the entire territory drained by the Rio Grande and brought Spanish civilization to the Pass of the North. In 1659 Fray García de San Francisco founded Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Mission, which still stands in downtown Ciudad Juárez, the oldest structure in the El Paso area. The Pueblo revolt of 1680 sent Spanish colonists and Tigua Indians of New Mexico fleeing southward to take refuge at the Pass. By 1682 five settlements were founded south of the river-El Paso del Norte, San Lorenzo, Senecú, Ysleta, and Socorro, thus providing the Pass with a concentration of population from that time to the present. A presidio was built in 1684. The area became a trade center on one of the historic caminos reales, or royal highways, and agriculture flourished, particularly the vineyards, producing wine and brandy that ranked in quality with the best in the realm. " This map shows El Paso del Norte so we know the map is later than 1598 (almost 70 years after San Geronimo was founded and lost), but more than likely it was some time after 1682, (160 years after San Geronimo had fell off the map).
