19 January 1847
Pueblo and Mexican residents rise against U.S. occupation at Taos
Taos and Taos Pueblo, occupied New Mexico
Pueblo and Mexican residents rose against U.S. occupation in northern New Mexico. On January 19, rebels killed the U.S.-appointed governor Charles Bent and other officials at Taos. U.S. forces subsequently attacked the church at Taos Pueblo, where rebels and families had gathered; captured leaders faced trials and executions. The uprising challenged the claim that military occupation meant local acceptance of U.S. rule.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
The January date follows the New Mexico History Museum’s chronology. Zinn’s compressed December narrative is not used as the date of Bent’s death or the Taos uprising. Pueblo participants are distinguished from Mexican residents; neither group is treated as unanimous. Exact casualty totals and the jurisdiction of individual trials require further original-source work.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 8, p. 164; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- New Mexico History Museum, Shifting Boundaries, Taos story; exhibit text in data/data.xml ↗