Establishing New Mexico as a U.S. territory was anything but bloodless.
The Mexican-American War brought ferocious battles, brutal sieges,
guerrilla warfare and scorched earth tactics. More than three hundred
Mexican and American forces were killed or wounded in a single battle
near Santa Fe. During the Taos Revolt, Governor Charles Bent was scalped
and murdered in his home, and American forces fired cannons into a
church where Pueblos and Mexicans sought refuge. Soldiers destroyed
entire villages like Los Valles, killing or forcing residents to flee.
Author Ray John de Aragón recounts these and other dramatic stories
behind the birth of the Land of Enchantment.