Pilar (formerly Cieneguilla) is an unincorporated community in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. It is located on the Rio Grande.
The original name of Cieneguilla is derived from the Spanish word ciénaga, which means "marsh" or "marshy place". The swampy ground is caused by several streams running across a small flood plain formed by a bend in the Rio Grande. Because the area featured a flat plain with a constant source of water, it was long frequented by the Jicarilla Apache. The village's modern name of Pilar was adopted after its post office was incorporated in 1918. One story suggests that the name came from the daughter of the office's first postmaster, [1] who was named for the Nuestra Señora del Pilar apparition of the Virgin Mary, which appeared on an old Roman pillar in Zaragoza, Spain. Another more commonly cited story suggests that the name was given to the post office in honor of an influential Native American (Hispanic-Ute) male who lived in the area by the name of José Pilar Vigil. [2]
In 1694, the Spaniard Diego de Vargas burned the Apache village in the process of his re-conquest of New Mexico following the expulsion of the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. [3]
In February 1793 the region was taken possession of by 20 persons who had received it as a land grant (Cieneguilla Grant) from the King of Spain Charles IV through his military governor in New Mexico, Don Fernando Chacón. [4]
On March 30, 1854, the Battle of Cieneguilla between the Jicarilla Apache fighters and the U.S. 1st Cavalry Regiment was fought in the hills several miles from the town.
36°16′11″N105°47′15″W / 36.26972°N 105.7875°W
Municipalities and communities of Taos County, New Mexico, United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
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Tierra Amarilla is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States.
Questa is a village in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,770 at the 2010 census. The village has trails into the Rio Grande Gorge, trout fishing, and mountain lakes with trails that access the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that overlook the area. Questa is on the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway, near the confluence of the Rio Grande and the Red River. The "Gateway to the Rio Grande del Norte Monument", its visitors can drive to an overlook of the Red River meeting the Rio Grande in the depth of the gorge. The Carson National Forest parallels Questa to the east. The Columbine Hondo Wilderness and Latir Peak Wildness are in the Carson National Forest close to Questa.
The Apache are several Southern Athabaskan language–speaking peoples of the Southwest and the Southern Plains. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan homelands in the north into the Southwest between 1000 and 1500 CE.
Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan Indigenous people, who have lived in the Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European and African contact, they lived in New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and northern Mexico. Historically, they were the easternmost band of Apache. Early adopters of horse culture and peyotism, the Lipan Apache hunted bison and farmed.
Mescalero or Mescalero Apache is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, located in south-central New Mexico.
Jicarilla Apache, one of several loosely organized autonomous bands of the Eastern Apache, refers to the members of the Jicarilla Apache Nation currently living in New Mexico and speaking a Southern Athabaskan language. The term jicarilla comes from Mexican Spanish meaning "little basket", referring to the small sealed baskets they used as drinking vessels. To neighboring Apache bands, such as the Mescalero and Lipan, they were known as Kinya-Inde.
El Cuartelejo, or El Quartelejo, is a region in eastern Colorado and western Kansas where Plains Apache cohabited with Puebloans. Subject to religious persecution, Puebloans fled the Spanish Nuevo México territory and cohabitated with the Cuartelejo villagers in the 1600s.
The Battle of Cieneguilla was an engagement of the Jicarilla War involving a group of Jicarilla Apaches, possibly their Ute allies, and the American 1st Cavalry Regiment on March 30, 1854 near what is now Pilar, New Mexico. The Santa Fe Weekly Gazette reported that the action "was one of the severest battles that ever took place between American troops and Red Indians." It was one of the first significant battles between American and Apache forces and was also part of the Ute Wars, in which Ute warriors attempted to resist Westward expansion in the Four Corners region.
The 56-mile (90 km) High Road to Taos is a scenic, winding road through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Santa Fe and Taos.. It winds through high desert, mountains, forests, small farms, and tiny Spanish land grant villages and Pueblo Indian villages. Scattered along the way are the galleries and studios of traditional artisans and artists drawn by the natural beauty. It has been recognized by the state of New Mexico as an official scenic byway.
The Jicarilla War began in 1849 and was fought between the Jicarilla Apaches and the United States Army in the New Mexico Territory. Ute warriors also played a significant role in the conflict as they were allied with the Jicarillas. The war started when the Apaches and Utes began raiding against settlers on the Santa Fe Trail. Eventually, in 1853, the U.S. Army retaliated which resulted in a series of battles and campaigns that ended in 1854 when a large military expedition managed to quell most of the violence. However, some minor skirmishing continued into 1855.
El Rito,, is an unincorporated community in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. Its elevation is 6,875 feet (2,096 m).
Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The national heritage area includes a section of the upper Rio Grande Valley that has been inhabited by the Puebloan peoples since the early Pre-Columbian era.
Velarde is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 502 at the time of the 2010 census. Velarde is located on New Mexico State Road 68, in the Rio Grande Rift, at the point where the road enters the Rio Grande Gorge.
Gervasio Cruzat y Góngora was Governor of New Mexico between 1731 and 1736 at a time when it was a province of New Spain, as well as governor of Presidio of Pensacola, in Florida, between 1740 and 1742. He assisted the bishop of Durango, taking evidence for him in his contest with the Franciscans.
The Rio Grande del Norte National Monument is an approximately 242,555-acre (98,159 ha) area of public lands in Taos County, New Mexico, United States, proclaimed as a national monument on March 25, 2013, by President Barack Obama under the provisions of the Antiquities Act. It consists of the Rio Grande Gorge and surrounding lands, managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Tres Piedras is an unincorporated community in Taos County, northern New Mexico, United States, adjacent to Carson National Forest.
Palo Flechado Pass, also called Taos Pass and Old Taos Pass, is a mountain pass located in Taos County, New Mexico on the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway.
Juan de Ulibarrí or Uribarrí (1670-1716) was a Spanish or Criollo soldier and explorer who lived in New Mexico. In 1706 he led an expedition to El Cuartelejo on the Great Plains of western Kansas and eastern Colorado. Ulibarrí's diary survives and is an important source for the history of Spanish exploration of the Great Plains and relationships with the Apache and Pueblo Indians. The purpose of Ulibarrí's expedition was to find and escort back to New Mexico about 60 people from Picuris Pueblo who had earlier fled Spanish rule in New Mexico and established communities on the Great Plains. The Cuartelejo Ruins in Kansas are a remnant of the Pueblos who lived on the plains.
Juan Domingo de Bustamante was the governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico from 1723 to 1731, as well as Lieutenant Captain of El Paso, a region that belonged to Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico until the incorporation of New Mexico and Texas to the United States in the 19th century.