With all the kerfuffle about statues honoring Civil War rebels who took up arms against the United States, it comes to mind that there are statues galore in Tucson honoring Father Eusebio Kino, but none of Luis Oacpicagigua, who led a revolt against Spanish enslavement. On this 266th anniversary of the Pima Revolt it might be worth remembering a piece of Tucson’s history that is generally swept under the carpet.
Fr. Kino, an Italian, arrived in Southern Arizona in March, 1691, following the Spanish conquistadores to Christianize the Indians. He was charismatic and energetic, bringing to the Tohono O’odham grain seeds, livestock, fruit trees and vegetables – and a forced change in a way of life lived for thousands of years. Kino and the missionaries practiced reducción, “reducing” the natives to a village life where they could be controlled and converted from their “pagan” ways. Kino and his associates had established such missions in northern Sonora and native people had rebelled, but the missionaries stuck to their plans with the backing of military garrisons.
The Tohono O’odham were called “Pima” by the Spaniards; that name may have come from a conversation where a Spaniard asked an Indian a question about who they were and the answer was, “I don’t know,” which sounded like “pima.” The natives welcomed the gifts and new technologies and saw the Spaniards as allies against the recently-arrived Apache raiders. Winter wheat allowed the natives to live in one place year-round and became a staple crop by the mid-1700s. Without the O’odham New Spain might never have established itself in the Southwest.
The first headquarters mission was built southeast of Tucson at Guevavi in 1691, followed by Calavasas, Tumacacori, and San Xavier. Other Spanish settlements were built on top of indigenous villages with access to water. Churches were built over traditional kivas to assert their dominance. The O’odham built adobe structures under Spanish direction, without pay, and with punishment for malingering or arguing. Rape of native women by Spanish soldiers was common. It is possible that the first passive rebellion against enslavement began at Guevavi. Priests rarely lasted more than a year at that mission due to illness that may have been the result of deliberate poisoning by their Indian cooks.
DISEASE, DEATH & REBELLION
Among the unintended consequences of disrupting a way of life were diseases brought by the missionaries and soldiers against which the O’odham had no immunity. At Tumacacori Mission the native population was reduced from 200 to just 30 by disease. Fr. Kino’s missionaries blamed the O’odham’s “heathen gods” for the fatal illnesses caused by measles, smallpox and influenza. Baptism and church bells began to be associated with misery and death rather than salvation. With so many O’odham workers killed off, the Spaniards imported Yaqui and other Indians and paid them with goods and food, adding to the O’odham’s resentments.
In March, 1694, several herds of horses were stolen from missions in Sonora and the Sobaipuri O’odham were blamed. Spanish soldiers saw a group of Indians drying meat which they assumed came from the stolen horses. They killed three men and took two others captive. The meat turned out to be venison. Despite incidents like this, the O’odham joined the Spaniards in fighting the Apaches. But even as allies, Indians who spoke out against Spanish mistreatment were punished, some hung by the military. In 1695 the beating of an Indian led to a rebellion along the Altar River. Conquistadores, with non-O’odham Indian allies, hunted down the rebels, killing women and children.
Father Kino negotiated with the military to spare O’odhams who had not revolted if they would help identify the rebels, and so a delegation of 50 native people met in the army’s camp at El Tupo on June 9, 1695. Rebels were pointed out and bound as Spanish soldiers on horseback encircled the group. When the informers realized they themselves were trapped and tried to escape they were killed. La Matanza, The Slaughter, claimed 48 O’odham lives.
Fr. Kino died in 1711. By 1730 mission records throughout the region showed only 1200 converts to Christianity. Under attack by Apache and Seri raids in the Altar Valley, the Spaniards began building presidios to protect missions and settlers to the north.
THE PIMA REVOLT
Following Fr. Kino’s death, the Spaniards sent more Jesuit missionaries to the Southwest in the 1730s and ‘40s. The new arrivals, unhappy with the slow pace of converting the natives, used the whip to enforce compliance. Missionaries took the best land and forced the Indians to work it for the benefit of the mission. Minor uprisings in 1732 and 1748 contributed to the colonialists’ hostility towards the native people. Still, the two groups joined forces to resist Apache raids, and Spanish officers honored Luis Oacpicagigua as leader of the O’odham warriors. Luis mistakenly thought that this meant he had authority over traditional O’odham lands, but the missionaries quickly corrected him.
Luis organized secretly in November, 1751, to expel the Spaniards and their converts from O’odham land. On the first night of the Revolt some 25 people were killed by the rebels. Groups of O’odham a thousand strong attacked missions with arrows and fire, with more Indians flocking to the rebel cause daily. Missions at Arivaca, Sonoita, Guevavi and elsewhere were attacked and the Spaniards forced into retreat. Most of the Christianized Indians were driven off O’odham land along with the soldiers and priests. Churches were burned and dozens killed.
Two hundred Spanish soldiers mobilized by Sonoran Governor Diego Ortiz Parilla prepared for battle with 3,000 O’odham warriors in the Baboquivari Mountains, a sacred and familiar place to the rebels. Spanish military leaders understood their disadvantage, but Jesuit missionaries led by Father Keller argued for immediate and harsh action. However, negotiating feelers were extended to the rebels and Luis Oacpicagigua sent word back that if Fr. Keller were expelled from the area, the rebels would surrender.
Keller was ordered to leave and Luis gave himself up, blaming Jesuit land theft and brutality for the uprising. Instead of responding to the O’odham grievances, however, the Spaniards began construction of a new military presidio at Tubac to protect the region and a new governor had Luis Oacpicagigua arrested. He died in military prison.
The Pima Revolt led to the abandonment of many Spanish settlements for several decades. Political intrigues in Spain led to the expulsion of Jesuit priests from New Spain in 1767, with Franciscan missionaries replacing them. Disease continued to claim native lives, killing an estimated half of the O’odham population. Revolts against colonial exploitation spread west, with missions attacked at San Diego, San Luis Obispo and San Juan Bautista in the 1700s, and at Santa Barbara in 1824.
Isn’t it about time the Pima Revolt was honored as an important piece of local history? How about a statue of Luis Oacpicagigua, maybe one that towers over the statues of Father Kino?