Author of: WHERE WE COME FROM, AN ARCHULETA SPECIAL COLLECTION BOOK…..

Dec. 24,2007 Transborder Library Forum

I hope you will find the following information worthy of being published on the Sunday News Publication, What most people don’t know, A bit of History…..

American Citizens of Spanish Ancestors who are in part the oldest and original Americans who came here and established the very first colonies in what is now the United States of America….this said I want to mention many of the contributions made by the Spanish when America did not exist and later in it’s infancy.

The Spanish are not given recognition or credit, but it was the Spaniards who introduced Steel, the horse wagons, horses, sheep, Cattle, and goats to the virgin land we now call “America” and left a tremendous LANDMARK of Cities, Towns, Villages, Rivers, Mountains and Missions that still continue to exist, all in Spanish and throughout the Spanish West, from California to La Florida, including Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana.

Thousands of Spanish troops allied with the Continental Army fought against the British in the Spanish declared War of 1779.

There were 7000 prisoners of war who died in English prison ships in the New York Harbor; 4000 of them were Spanish Soldiers fighting for American Independence.

Hispanics from Spain, the present day USA, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Santo Domingo,
Venezuela and Costa Rica fought with the Continental Army against the British.

Spanish Ports in Europe and the Caribbean were safe havens for harassed American Ships.
The battle of York Town was planned by a Military Strategist, Captain Francisco de
Saavedra, which was the turning point of the war for Independence.

During the revolutionary War of (1746 – 1786) General Bernardo de Galvez commanded the Spanish troops composed of Puerto Ricans, Venezuelans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, and Mexicans during this Revolution. In this war, Galvez also provided guns, clothing, gunpowder, and medicine to the American troops, by flying the Spanish flag enabling them to pass through the British fortifications unimpeded.

In 1785 George Washington, wrote a thank you letter to “Carlos III, King of Spain”, for his generous fledging support to the United States in which the King of Spain had donated 1,000,000 pounds to the Continental Congress towards the defeat of the

British at York Town
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For at least five years, Spain had sent more supplies and money then had been requested, to help America succeed.

The American Revolution used funds collected from Spanish people already living in the present States of what is now California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, with a substantial support originated in New Spain what is now Mexico.

Hispanics served in Confederate Units, such as the, Benavides Regiment Commanded by Colonel Santos Benavides and the 10^th Texas Calvary and Commanded by Major Leonides M. Martin; many Hispanics also served in the 6^th

Missouri Infantry and the Chalmetle Regiment of Louisiana Infantry and also the

2^nd Texas Mounted Rifles. Other units with a large number of Hispanics were the

Vigils Independent Companies, and Calvary in the Louisiana Zouaves, 1^st Florida Calvary, The Spanish Legion, the Spanish Guard of Mobile Alabama, and four independent New Mexico Militia Companies known by their Commanders names

( Gonzales, Martinez, Tafoya and Perea).

American Citizens of Spanish Ancestry have fought in all USA conflicts with high honors, prestige, and distinction and for which they deserve some kind of MEMORIAL which we the present American Hispanics should undertake…..

Many of our Citizens of Spanish Descent have been outstanding for their contributions to the culture of our Nation in Medicine, the Arts, Science and Philosophy. Example: Rear Admiral Luis de Florez –organized a Naval Aviation Instruments Division in WWI and WWII, Doctor C.H. Mayo founded the Mayo Health Clinic in Rochester. Juan de Oro was a specialized Bio-chemist in Houston.

Painter – Artist named Salvador Dali, the famous Pianist-conductor Jose Iurbe, the great Historians like Javier Malago and Guillermo Cespedes, and many more prominent Hispanics are found in the books of “Cerebros Espanoles en USA (Spanish Minds in USA) by Alfredo Gomez Gil.

Many of the legends left by the Spaniards, continue to exist today, such as the Civil Code 1825 related to the famous “Quinta Partida” (15^th book of Law),” the Recopilaciones de Castile” (Compilations of Castile), “Autos Acordados” (Judicial

Decrees), “Lees de Toro” (Tort Laws).

What most people don’t know, including politicians, and national leaders and those who dislike the word “Spanish”, so they use the term LATIN or Latino to classify a people of Spanish origin…in doing research I could not find a “NATION STATE LATIN”, and therefore I consider it to be a “MISNOMER”. I further asked the Library of Congress the following question:

***Wherte is Latin America??? I am unable to find a Latin Nation State!!! My findings are that “Latin “ comes from the ancient Latium made up by Italy ,France,

Spain and Portugal established by the Roman Catholic Church. Why do so many

Politicians use the Latin term to classify people???

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*** Response from the Library of Congress!!!

Dear Roy A. Archuleta: Yes you have a point . English is sometimes a very vague language and people use “bucket terms” to arbitrarily classify countries, and Geographic regions for various purposes. The following article, written by David Dressing in the Encyclopedia of Latin America may help classify the term:

*** LATIN AMERICA, term commonly used to describe South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Islands of the Caribbean. As such, it incorporates numerous Spanish Speaking Countries, Portuguese-speaking Brazil, French speaking Haiti and the French West Indies, and usual implies countries such as Suriname and Guyana, where romance languages are not spoken. The term Latin America originated in France during the reign of Napoleon III in 1860s, when the country was second only to England in terms of industrial and financial strength. The French political economist Michel Chavalier, in order to solidify the intellectual underpinnings of French overseas ambitions, first proposed a “Pan-Latin foreign policy in the hopes of promoting solidarity between Nations whose languages were of Latin origin and that shared the common cultural tradition of Roman Catholicism. Led by France, the Latin peoples could reassert their influence throughout the world in the face of threats from both the Slavic peoples of eastern Europe (led by Russia) and the Anglo-Saxon peoples of northern Europe (led by England) in the western hemisphere, pan-Latinists distinguished between the Anglo nor th and the Latin south, which they gradually began to refer to as America Latina. From the French I’Amerique latine. The term came into general use in other languages….Sincerely yours/Hispanic Reference Team. LOC.

As I study the old History of our Conquistadores, and Colonizers, our Ancestors had been in the New World some 225 years before the creation of the USA; at which time in its infancy, America wanted to populate the few States. When America opened it’s doors of immigration, England at the time had an overpopulation of thieves, peasants, murders, tramps and undesirables, which the authorities rounded up in masses and were the first to be shipped to the American New World and which pleased the English Elite.

The individual family names like Aragon, Archuleta, Baca, Calderon, Chavez, Hidalgo, Rodriguez, Trujillo, Valdez etc., etc. are some of the oldest dating back to the 1500s… This said, it was in 1598 When Don Juan de Onate, ventured in the long journey from Nueva Spania what is now Mexico, to colonize Nuevo Mejico (New Mexico) Onate had 129 Spanish Soldiers and their families, including babies, a total of some 500 people with some, servants, packers, and a few slaves. Some were Mestizos, some were Mulattos and some Indians. They brought 83 covered –horse wagons with supplies, and steel farming equipment, 1000 goats, 2000 sheep, 1000 cows, horses and mares, a total of 7000 head of stock. They were practically out of water when they reached the junction of the Conchos and the Rio Grande west of El Paso where they rested for a week, with a thanksgiving celebration among friendly

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Indians (Mansos) and from there they moved the herds and the people north to san Juan Bautista ( the first Capital in New Mexico) arriving on July 11,1598. The Capital later was moved to San Gabriel in 1600. In 1610 Onates successor, Don Pedro De Peralta moved the State Capital to the present Santa Fe, where Colonies were already established…

We need to not only remember the Don Juan de Onate long and harsh journey of our Ancesters who opened the doors to the New World, But we should also pay tribute to the brave men and women who came here to the vast open territory and nothing but faith and trust in the leadership of the Governador Adelantado and the Soldiers, for if it had not been for them, we ourselves would not be here…..

With best Wishes…..

Article submitted by:
Roy A. Elroyo Archuleta
24 Equus Road
Alamogordo, NM 88310
[ram3@totacc.com] 505 437-3722