On March 11, 1583, Antonio de Espejo provided the first historical record of El Morro, noting a stop at  El Estanque de Penol (the pool at the great rock) during an exploration of New Mexico. In 1598, Don Juan de Oñate colonized New Mexico, bringing 400 settlers and 10 Franciscans north, along with 7,000 head of stock. From the beginning, hard winters, lack of food, and the great distance from Mexico created hardship and discontent. Oñate's explorations killed early hopes for mineral riches in the region. Returning from an expedition to the Pacific Ocean, Oñate inscribed his name at El Morro on April 16, 1605 - the first known European inscription on the rock.

Scores of other Spanish inscriptions followed as governors, soldiers, and priests took the El Morro route to Zuni and other western pueblos. These brief notes in stone give a thumbnail sketch of New Mexico's Spanish history. Routine records of passage - a name and a date attached to the standard “paso por aqui”- are mixed with accounts of retribution for an ambushed detachment or martyred priest.  By 1750, the number of travelers passing El Morro declined as the Spanish turned their attention to fighting increased opposition from  Navajo, Apache, Ute, and Comanche Indians. A final surge of Navajo campaigns, trail blazing, and visits to the Zuni and Hopi pueblos occurred at the turn of the nineteenth century, but for the most part the western pueblos and El Morro stood beyond the effective dominion of Spain.  

“Aqui estuvo de General Don Diego de Vargas, quien conquisto a nuestra Santa Fe y a la Real Corona todo el Nuevo Mexico a su costa, Ano de 1692”

“Here was the General Don Diego de Vargas, who conquered for our Holy Faith, and for the Royal Crown, all of New Mexico at his own expense, in the year of 1692”

Diego de Vargas stopped at El Morro on November 7, 1692, during his reconquest of Spain. Born in Madrid in 1643 to a prominent but indebted family, Vargas sought advancement in the New World. Arriving in New Spain in 1673, he was soon appointed chief judge of Teutila (modern Oaxaca). This was followed by success as a royal administrator of the mining region of Tlalpujahua. Appointed governor of New Mexico in 1691, he would have to reestablish the colony before he could lead it. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 had forced the colonists to abandon it, fleeing to El Paso.

Vargas set off with a small military force in August 1692, retaking Santa Fe in September. He reclaimed the northern pueblos by early October and then headed west, accompanied by eight-nine Spanish soldiers and thirty allied Pueblo Indians. The expedition stopped at El Morro after retaking Acoma, on their way to Zuni.  Relying primarily on diplomacy, Vargas achieved a virtually bloodless reconquest. Vargas returned to El Paso in December 1692 to organize settlers. Though around 2,000 colonists had fled New Mexico, only around 1,000 remained in El Paso, with many giving up and moving elsewhere. Returning with newly recruited settlers in 1693, Vargas had to fight his way into Santa Fe but successfully reestablished the colony. During his second term as governor, Vargas fell ill during an expedition against the Apaches and passed away on April 1, 1704. 

"Pasamos por aqui El sarjento mayor Y el capitan Ju de Arechuleta y el aiudante diego martin barba 7 el alferes Agustin de yno jos ano de 1636"

"We passed by here the Sargent Major and Captain Juan de Archuleta and the Adjutant Diego Martin Barba and the Ensign Augustin de Ynojos, the year of 1636"

Juan de Archuleta passed El Morro in 1636. Though the reason is unknown, his most likely destination was Zuni Pueblo. A career soldier and Santa Fe councilman, Archuleta was born around 1602 in San Gabriel, the first capital of New Mexico. His family was among the original settlers of Santa Fe, established in 1610.  

During the 1630s, New Mexico experienced continual conflict between the church and civil government, with each claiming ultimate authority and blaming the other for poor conditions in the colony. Unpopular Governor de Rosas exacerbated these tensions. When his replacement, Don Juan Flores de Sierra y Valdes, arrived in 1641, Rosas was placed under house arrest while his administration was investigated. Traveling with the new governor to New Mexico was Nicholas Ortiz, who had been absent from the colony for several years. Distraught when finding his wife pregnant and serving as Rosas’ mistress, Ortiz became the center of a revenge plot against the former governor. Involved were related members of several leading Santa Fe families, all political antagonists of the Rosas regime, who feared Rosas might be reinstated after the sudden death of the new governor. The men assassinated Rosas on January 25, 1642. Ortiz escaped while Archuleta and seven others were captured, tried, and beheaded on July 21, 1643. 

With the Mexican-American War (1846-48), New Mexico became part of the United States. Army expeditions to the Zuni country and into troubled Navajo land began at once. Lt. James H. Simpson accompanied one of these and, with artist Richard Kern, took a side trip to El Morro in September 1849. The beautiful inscriptions inspired the men to spend two days copying them. Midway through their task, they paused before the "exquisite picture" of the shaded pool, then climbed to El Morro's crest. From the aerie of the abandoned ruins, they took in the "extensive and pleasing prospect" below. Simpson's was the first written description of what he named Inscription Rock, and Kern's drawings were the first recording of the inscriptions.

The Topographical Engineers carried out several expeditions between New Mexico and California during the 1850s, scouting a wagon and railroad route along the 35th parallel, with members of the Sitgreaves and Whipple expeditions leaving their names at El Morro. In 1857, Edward F. Beale passed by with an expedition furnished with camels, experimenting with their usefulness for long-distance desert travel.   With the establishment of Beale’s Wagon Road to California, emigrants and traders began passing El Morro and inscribing their names, such as thirteen-year old Sallie Fox.

When the first train steamed over the Continental Divide in 1881, taking Campbell’s Pass some 25 miles north of El Morro, the old trail past El Morro became obsolete as a long-distance thoroughfare though it was still used for travel between Acoma and Zuni.  

Edward Pendleton Long arrived at El Morro on March 21, 1859. The twenty-five year old was part of Edward Fitzgerald Beale’s expedition to establish a wagon road for the military and emigrants along the 35th parallel from Fort Smith, Arkansas to the Colorado River, connecting with the Mojave Road to Los Angeles. Sponsored by Congress, the 1,240-mile route was arguably the first federally funded road project.  Beale scouted much of the route in 1857, a trip famous for its use of camels as pack animals. In October 1858, he set out with a construction crew of around 100 to improve the route, leveling grades, removing obstacles, and developing springs. The group reached the Colorado River on May 1. Beale reported the expedition a great success. Beale’s Wagon Road was used by thousands of California immigrants and millions of livestock, but was never as popular as some other routes west. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad supplanted the route in 1883.

Long enlisted in the 13th Virginia Infantry when the Civil War broke out. The regiment fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia with engagements including Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Cold Harbor. Long survived the war, later passing away in 1878. 

Richard Hovedon Kern first saw the inscriptions at El Morro on September 17, 1849. Working for James H. Simpson of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, the twenty-eight year old artist from Philadelphia was accompanying a military expedition intended to stop Navajo raids on settlements. Tasked with surveying the country through which the expedition passed, Simpson and Kern left the main group to explore a rock reportedly covered with inscriptions. El Morro exceeded expectations and the pair spent more than a day documenting the inscriptions. Kern’s sketches were included in the published version of Simpson’s journal, giving the public its first glimpse of the local inhabitants, pueblos, culture, and landscapes of lands newly acquired from Mexico.  

Kern returned to El Morro in August 1851, while serving as artist and cartographer for Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves’ expedition to chart a route from New Mexico to California along the 35th parallel.  By the time the group reached a military post on the lower Colorado River, two were dead, two wounded, provisions gone, and the men forced to eat their mules. Kern’s luck ran out on his next expedition, killed by Utes in Utah while mapping a possible rail route to California across the 38th parallel.   

Samuel W. Woodhouse arrived at El Morro on August 30, 1851 on an expedition to survey a wagon route from New Mexico to California. Just getting to New Mexico had been an adventure. Woodhouse departed from New York City, traveling by ship to Cuba and then on to New Orleans and Galveston. From there he set off overland to San Antonio, joining with an army supply train for the trip to Santa Fe. The expedition departed on August 13, 1851. Captain Sitgreaves and Lieutenant Parke of the Corps of Topographical Engineers led the expedition, Woodhouse was the doctor and naturalist, Richard Kern served as the artist, and Antoine Leroux was the guide. Accompanying them were five laborers, a mess cook, eleven Mexican muleteers, and a thirty-two member military escort.

The expedition reached California in November, after a harrowing journey with the group coming close to starvation and losing much of their equipment. Early in the trip, a rattlesnake bit Sitgreaves on the hand. Just as he was recovering, a Mojave shot him in the leg with an arrow. Woodhouse published his expedition journal, including detailed notes on wildlife, landscape, and climate, and expanding the scientific knowledge of the region. Woodhouse followed this trip with a private expedition to Nicaragua and Honduras. He then returned to Philadelphia to practice medicine, passing away there in 1904. 

Imaging Services Provided by Cultural Heritage Imaging