New Mexico Order Rescinding 1800s Orders to Kill Navajos and Apaches

(Excerpt from above) "That, in consequence of the constant depredations and the murder of our most esteemed and valuable citizens--cruelly murdered by the Navajo and Gila Apache Indian tribes-said tribes are hereby declared outlaws, and will be punished wherever found outside of the limits of their respective reservations (except under the immediate escort of the soldiery) as common encmies of the country. I do further authorize the citizens of the Territory to use sufficient force, in all localities, for the protection of its citizens, even should it result in the killing of every such depredator."

New Mexico Order Rescinding 1800s Orders to Kill Navajos and Apaches

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

New Mexico governors in the 1800s ordered Apaches and Navajos to be hunted and killed. These orders had never been rescinded until Monday, on Indigenous Peoples Day. The above documents in the Rare Book section of Huntington Library in California were among those discovered by Santa Fe Historian Valerie Rangel who urged the New Mexico Governor to rescind these orders.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham rescinded governors' orders from the 1800s that targeted Navajos and Apaches to be hunted by militia and murdered. The governor's action is the result of extensive research by Rangel, who documented the genocide and appealed to the governor to take action.

Gov. Lujan Grisham, in her executive order below, states, "The government of New Mexico has not always respected the importance and sovereignty of our Native American citizens, and our history is sadly stained with cruel mistreatment of Native Americans; for example, New Mexico territorial county commissions have offered bounties for scalps of Apache men and women."

Read the article at Censored News.

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2022/10/new-mexico-governor-rescinds-1800s-era.html

State of New Mexico 

Michelle Lujan Grisham 

Governor 

EXECUTIVE ORDER 2022-144 

RESCINDING OFFENSIVE TERRITORIAL PROCLAMATIONS 

WHEREAS, New Mexico is home to twenty-three sovereign Native American nations: 

nineteen Pueblos (Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Nambe, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris, 

Pojoaque, Sandia, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Taos, 

Tesuque, Zuni, and Zia), three Apache Tribes (the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, the Jicarilla Apache 

Nation and the Mescalero Apache Tribe), and the Navajo Nation; 

WHEREAS, New Mexico has approximately 262,500 Native American inhabitants 

according to the 2020 Census, which represent nearly 12.4% of the State's entire population; 

WHEREAS, New Mexico's Native American inhabitants belong to some of the oldest 

tribal communities in the country, and their culture and traditions are inextricably woven into our 

history; 

WHEREAS, the government of New Mexico has not always respected the importance and 

sovereignty of our Native American citizens, and our history is sadly stained with cruel 

mistreatment of Native Americans; for example, New Mexico territorial county commissions have 

offered bounties for scalps of Apache men and women; 

WHEREAS, this lack of respect and outright hostility has been memorialized in territorial 

me 

governors' proclamations; 

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Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 - 

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WHEREAS, for instance, Governor James S. Calhoun issued a proclamation on March 

12, 1851, to "take an accurate census or enumeration of all the inhabitants (Indians excepted) of 

the several counties and districts in which they are respectively assigned"; 

WHEREAS, Governor Calhoun issued another proclamation on March 18, 1851, 

organizing and authorizing militia to "pursue and attack any hostile tribe of Indians that may have 

entered settlements for the purpose of plunder and depredation” and seize their property; 

WHEREAS, Governor Robert B. Mitchell issued a proclamation on August 2, 1869, 

declaring the "Navajo and Apache Indian tribes” as "outlaws,” providing for their punishment 

"wherever found outside the limits of their respective reservations," and authorizing citizens to 

"use sufficient force ... even should it result in the killing of every such depredator”; 

WHEREAS, Governor William A. Pile issued a similar proclamation on September 8, 

1869, directed at the Navajo tribe; 

WHEREAS, these proclamations have never been officially rescinded; and 

WHEREAS, it is appropriate to rescind these shameful proclamations today, Indigenous 

OUS 

People's Day, in order to honor our Native American citizens and remedy some of the injustices 

our government has perpetrated. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Governor of the State of New Mexico, 

by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of New Mexico, 

do hereby ORDER and DIRECT: 

1. 

The following proclamations are hereby rescinded: 

Ten 

a. b. 

March 12, 1851, proclamation of Governor James S. Calhoun; March 18, 1851, proclamation of Governor James S. Calhoun; 

August 2, 1869, proclamation of Governor Robert B. Mitchell; 

Executive Order 2022-144 

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Room 400 • Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 • 505-476-2200 

d. 

September 8, 1869, proclamation of Governor William A. Pile; 

2. 

This Order shall take effect on Monday, October 10, 2022, and shall remain in 

effect until renewed, modified, or rescinded. 

ATTEST: 

Maggie Iulouse Clein 

DONE AT THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE THIS 7TH DAY OF OCTOBER 2022 

MAGGIE TOULOUSE OLIVER SECRETARY OF STATE 

WITNESS MY HAND AND THE GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO 

Michelle hujan Gishen 

MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM GOVERNOR 

Executive Order 2022-144 

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505-476-2200