DUANE
Duane's take
Well, I'm drawing this one straight from the official marker — let me tell you how it reads. Now picture this: somewhere in the Spanish colonial world, word is traveling. Indian stories — just stories, mind you — of settlements up north, in the lands that would one day become New Mexico.
That's all it took. That's all it ever takes. Somebody hears a story, somebody believes it, and the next thing you know, men are packing their bags.
The Spanish Viceroy authorized the whole undertaking, and the man who stepped up to lead it was a Franciscan priest — Fray Agustin Rodriguez. He had a mission in his heart and a destination he'd never seen. On June 5, 1581, the expedition pulled out of Santa Barbara, Mexico.
Rodriguez wasn't alone. He had two fellow priests riding alongside him: Fray Juan de Santa Maria and Fray Francisco Lopez. Then there were nine soldiers, and nineteen Indian servants.
That's a company of people betting their lives on a story. Now — the military escort had a leader too, and this is where things get colorful. His name was Francisco Sanchez.
But out on the road, out under the sun and the dust, nobody called him that. They called him El Chamuscado. The Singed.
Why? The man had a red beard. And so the expedition that history would remember carries two names side by side: Rodriguez, the priest with the calling, and Chamuscado, the soldier with the beard that looked like it'd already met a flame.
They followed the Rio Grande. Mile after mile, the river was their guide, and it led them — eventually — to El Paso Del Norte. The Pass of the North.
They pushed through it, and on the other side, the world opened up. For the rest of 1581, this company of soldiers, priests, and servants ranged across a vast stretch of territory, from what is now western New Mexico all the way to the Texas Panhandle. That is a serious piece of ground to cover on foot and on horseback.
But the land was not welcoming. In September of 1581, Fray Juan de Santa Maria was killed by Indians. Just like that, the expedition lost one of its three priests, and the air around the whole venture shifted.
Plans began to form for a return — somebody had to carry a report back to the Spanish authorities. Here is the part that stays with you, though. When those plans were laid out, Fray Rodriguez and Fray Francisco Lopez looked at each other, looked at the wilderness around them, and said no.
Despite everything — despite the hostile environment, despite what had just happened to their brother — the two remaining missionaries chose to stay. They had come to minister, and minister they would. What happened to them after, the marker does not say.
But they stayed. Chamuscado took the soldiers and the servants and turned back toward the Pass of the North. He led them through it.
But Francisco Sanchez, El Chamuscado himself, the red-bearded soldier who had put his name on this whole expedition, died before he ever reached Santa Barbara. The Rodriguez-Chamuscado Expedition is believed to have been the first Spanish expedition to use the Pass of the North. That passage through — that single choice to follow the Rio Grande and push through El Paso Del Norte — marked the beginning of Spanish influence in the area.
And the exploration they carried out across that vast region opened what is now the American Southwest to later colonization. They left Santa Barbara with a story someone had told them. What they left behind was a story of their own.
What the marker says
Inspired by Indian stories of settlements in present New Mexico and authorized by the Spanish Viceroy, Fray Agustin Rodriguez, a Franciscan priest, led a missionary expedition to the area. Accompanied by Fray Juan de Santa Maria, Fray Francisco Lopez, nine soldiers, and nineteen Indian servants, he left Santa Barbara, Mexico, on June 5, 1581. The military escort was led by Francisco Sanchez, who, because of his red beard, was known as El Chamuscado, "The Singed." Following the Rio Grande, the expedition reached El Paso Del Norte. Proceeding through the pass, they spent the remainder of 1581 exploring the vast region from present western New Mexico to the Texas Panhandle. After Indians killed Fray Santa Maria in September 1581, plans were made to return for a report to the Spanish authorities. Despite the hostile environment, the two remaining missionaries chose to stay. Chamuscado led the others back through the Pass of the North, but died before reaching Santa Barbara. Believed to have been the first Spanish expedition to use the Pass of the North, the Rodriguez-Chamuscado Expedition marked the beginning of Spanish influence in the area. Their exploration opened the region, now the American Southwest, to later colonization. (1981)