PUEBLO INDIAN REVOLT of 1680 in SAND and SAGE.

Figure One - Painting on a bison hide, depicting the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 (painter unknown). 

Most Americans believe the American Revolutionary War of 1776 was the first revolutionary war in the United States, but there was one that was much older, the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Let me tell you about it. 

In the 1500s, Spanish conquistadors explored what would ultimately become the states of New Mexico and Colorado. At that time, tensions between the Spanish explorers and the Pueblo Indians were still palpable. The Spaniards brought the Indians new and dazzling trade items that the Pueblo Indians desired while the Spaniards coveted the vast unclaimed land and resources of New Mexico and Colorado. The Spaniards colonized what they called New Mexico. As the years passed, disagreements between the Pueblo Indians and Spaniards escalated. The Pueblo Indians wanted to live in sovereignty following the religion and customs of their ancestors while the Spaniards campaigned to convert the Indians to Christianity and the Spanish way of life. As more and more Spaniards arrived in the territory, it became more and more difficult for the Indians to accept Spanish rule and to live in peace and harmony with the European interlopers.   

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At the beginning of 1660, a long sustained drought swept across New Mexico. Rivers became streams, and streams became dry washes. Winds carried desert sand high up into brownish skies. Cattle suffered and crops failed. Famine swept across the Pueblo Indian Nation. Some of the Indians blamed the Spaniards for this bad luck. At the same time, raids on the Pueblo Indians from the Comanche and Apache tribes became more frequent and daring. The Pueblo Indians asked the Spanish military to help them against these hostile raids, but the Spaniards ignored the Pueblo Indians' plea for help.  

With drought, famine, and raiding parties punishing the Pueblo Indian Nation at the same time, they must have wondered why their gods had forsaken them. To a large portion of the Indian population, their negative circumstances coincided with the arrival of the Spaniards. At the same time, the Spaniards remained relentless in converting the Pueblo Indians from paganism (Spanish opinion) to Christianity, more specifically Catholicism. The Pueblo Indians practiced their own religion and their beliefs for generations, they did not need the Spaniards' religion! The Spaniards responded by banning the Pueblo Indians' religion and religious symbols since they did not fit with Christian beliefs. The destruction of the sacred Pueblo kivas and kachina masks in the Spanish-led purge in 1661 added fuel to the growing discontent of the Pueblo Indians. To top this off, in 1671 disease struck the Pueblo Indians killing off even more people.   

Figure Three - The red roan colt, the inspiration 
for the book SAND and SAGE. The colt lives in my 
memory forever. Photograph by John Bradford Branney.  

By 1675, the relationship between the Pueblo Indians and the Spaniards became irreparable. The governor of the New Mexico territory, Juan Francisco Treviño, ordered the arrest of forty-seven Pueblo Indian medicine men, charging them with sorcery. The Spaniards convicted four of the medicine men to death. The Spaniards hung three of these medicine men while the remaining medicine man took his own life. The Spaniards flogged the rest of the medicine men in public squares before sentencing them to prison.  

Outraged, the Pueblo Indians moved against the Spanish capital of Santa Fe and forced the governor to release the surviving medicine men from prison. One of these medicine men was Po'pay. In the eyes of the Pueblo Indians, Po'pay was a very powerful mystic who possessed serious sorcery. After his release from prison, Po'pay fled to Pueblo de Taos where he took up residence and for the next five years plotted a revolution against the Indians' Spanish oppressors.  

Figure Four  - Map of key pueblos at the start of the Pueblo Revolt in 1680.

At that time, there were an estimated sixty or more pueblos with fewer than four hundred people and a couple of pueblos with more than two thousand people. Each pueblo lived more or less autonomously from the others. In many cases, each pueblo did not even speak a common language. In the past, Indian revolts against the Spanish government never gained momentum because of the division and isolation between the various pueblos of the Pueblo Indian Nations. Po'pay accomplished something that no other leader could. He united the various pueblos against a common enemy - the Spanish. Po'pay and other leaders created a coordinated and united Indian front against the advanced weaponry and horses of the Spaniards.

On August 10, 1680, the Pueblo Revolt began. My historical fiction book SAND and SAGE starts just months before that. The inspiration for SAND and SAGE was a wild mustang that I once saw along the Powder Rim of Wyoming. I wrote the story centered around a horse, a Plains Indian boy, and a Spanish boy. The story is about the coming of age of all three main characters during a very tumultuous period in American history. 

The year was 1680. The place was the Spanish colony of New Mexico. The Pueblo Indians just revolted against their Spanish oppressors. The chaos of war separates two brothers and propels them into hostile circumstances that neither is prepared to navigate. North of the two brothers, an Indian boy struggles to find his place in the tribe. He discovers something so great that it could change his tribe’s lifestyle forever. Skeptics within the tribe prevent the Indian boy from fulfilling his vision, or do they? 

The two boys are on a collision course and it takes a horse to draw them together. Hang on to your saddle horn for a fast-paced adventure!

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The Bartender in CLOCK STRIKES THREE, a John Bradford Branney Novel

Figure One - Lloyd, the creepy bartender from the movie The Shining.
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) confided in Lloyd. Big mistake.  

How many of you have ever befriended a bartender? Okay, how many of you have confided in a bartender, told them some of your more personal information? Have you asked your bartending "consigliere" their advice on important decisions in your life? Okay, hands up…let me do a  count….hold up your hands high if you have befriended a bartender and confided in them…

Yep, you over there! There's one. How about you? Did you befriend a bartender or are you scratching your nose? Yep, okay. You...and you in the front row and you in the back row, that’s right, you! Yep, there are quite a few people in the audience who have confided in a bartender. It may have something to do with the tongue-lubricating liquor served in these establishments.      



When it comes to discussing important issues in our lives, most of us would rather consult family, friends, or maybe a close coworker. However, as you can see from the show of hands, some people confide in their bartenders. These same people may not have friends or family to confide, or perhaps, they are too embarrassed to confide with friends or family, or perhaps, they have just become friends with the bartender. There is absolutely nothing wrong with bouncing ideas off your local bartender.     

During my own lifetime, I have frequented many bars and drank at the bar while watching a sports event or conversing with friends, but I have never befriended or confided in a bartender. I am a very private person, that might have something to do with it. My father was the exact opposite. He owned vending machines, such as pinball machines, bowling machines, candy machines and cigarette machines. He put many of them in bars and businesses around several towns. He would get to know the bartenders since in many cases they were his customers. There were a few of these bartenders I remember my father actually quoting and talking about. I am sure he reciprocated and spoke to them about what was going on in his life.   

Figure Two - Sam Malone from the TV comedy,
Cheers. Everyone trusted Sam.
 

In my most recent book entitled CLOCK STRIKES THREE, my main character, a young man named Joey Gellar, befriended a bartender, an ex-police detective named Hank. Joey had a pretty tough upbringing and so far, life had dished out some pretty rough times for Joey Gellar. In the passage below, taken from my book CLOCK STRIKES THREE, Joey just entered his friend’s bar and is instantly interrogated by Hank, the bartender and owner of the bar. Joey has to explain to his much older bartender friend why he was seeing a psychiatrist. I will catch you on the other side of the dialogue.

            “How are you, Joey?” Hank welcomed his friend and patron. “You are a little early to begin drinking today. Did your boss let you off early?”

“I had a doctor’s appointment this afternoon and decided not to go back to work,” Joey explained.

“Doctor’s appointment?” Hank queried. “Hope everything is all right, amigo.”

“Yeah, the judge ordered me to go to a doctor as part of my sentence.”

Hank looked confused. “The judge sent you to a doctor?” he asked. “Are you talking about the legal issue you had with those bikers?”

“Yep,” Joey declared and then added, “Double shot of Early Times.”

Hank turned around and retrieved the bottle of bourbon from the counter. He turned around with the bottle and fetched a fresh glass. “Rocks or neat?” he asked Joey.

“Neat.”

Hank poured and handed the glass to Joey. “The judge has you going to a doctor?” Hank repeated his question, his curiosity mounting.

“Yep.”      

“What is the doctor supposed to do?” Hank asked with tongue in cheek. “Remove your head from your ass?” 

“Ha, ha, Hank, aren’t you funny?”

“Seriously,” Hank said with a grin. “Why would the judge send you to a doctor? It makes no sense. Did you get a hernia lifting those Ferrari wheels?”

Embarrassed by the questioning, Joey downed the double shot of bourbon instead of answering. Hank stood behind the bar, his arms braced against the counter, waiting for Joey to reveal the mystery. “Those bikers hurt you or something?” he probed. 

 Finally, Joey felt enough pressure to get Hank off his back. “All right,” he mumbled, barely above a whisper. “The judge thought it would be a good idea if I went to a psychiatrist. Now, are you satisfied that I answered your question?”

“HA! HA! HA! HA!” Hank burst into laughter loud enough to raise the heads of the two drunks in the corner, temporarily, at least.  

“C’mon, Hank, quit laughing!” Joey implored. “It ain’t funny!”  

“HA! HA! HA! Bullshit, it ain’t funny!” Hank roared. Finally, Hank calmed down long enough to ask Joey for confirmation, “Let me get this straight, young one, the judge ordered psychiatric treatment for you? What does he think the bikers screwed your noggin up or something?”

The questioning embarrassed Joey. He wanted to scream. Joey did not need any more questions or critiques from the peanut gallery. He felt insecure enough without Hank’s help. Finally, Joey answered the question in a very measured tone of voice. “The judge thought my bad childhood messed me up or something like that,” Joey recalled. “He told me I was a magnet for bad people and trouble. He thought that a psychiatrist could help me deal with my bad childhood and help me figure out why I attract so much trouble.”

“I am sorry, kid,” Hank apologized, suddenly very solemn.

In CLOCK STRIKES THREE, the relationship between Joey and his psychiatrist is something that Joey and Bartender Hank have to revisit often. Hank always looks out for Joey and Hank does not like what is going on with the psychiatrist's treatment. Hank does not mince words when expressing his concerns to Joey. How does this triangular relationship between patient, doctor and bartender work out? You won't believe it if I told you. You are just going to have to read CLOCK STRIKES THREE to find out for yourself.

In the meantime, you can order CLOCK STRIKES THREE on the link below. Please enjoy. Above are some bartenders you just might remember.

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