The First Spanish-Indian Settlement In New Mexico

In 1598 the first Europeans, Spanish conquistadores led by Don Juan De Oñate cleared the area of indian natives making the “river of the North” their home claiming it by the name of El Paso. This area was home to the native indians before the spanish reign. on the river had already been home to native Tigua Indians. the first Spanish-Indian settlement was founded in the area that is now call Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. In 1682, the established a new home in Ysleta del Sur, a western suburb of El Paso, after fleeing the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico, together with their Spanish masters. Here they built the Mission Nuestra Señora del Carmen and established the oldest settlement in Texas..In 1849, the first U.S. Army post was established to protect
the settlers from marauding Apaches and Comanches. Between 1858 and 1859, El Paso served as a major stop for the famous Butterfield Overland Mail Coach. El Paso became a US city in 1873, and in 1881, the Southern Pacific Railroad opened, establishing the cornerstone of an east-west hook-up and the only easy gateway into and out of Mexico.El Paso's era of gunfighters, cattle rustlers, saloons, famous marshals and Texas Rangers occurred between 1881 and 1887. It was from El Paso, in 1916, that General "Black Jack" Pershing began his expedition against the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa.In 1943, horses and horse equipment of the Cavalry Division at Ft. Bliss were retired and the days of the horse-mounted cavalry ended forever.