The ballad of Plácida Romero : a woman's captivity & redemption / Aulton E. "Bob" Roland ; foreword by Jerry D. Thompson ; introduction by Enrique R. Lamadrid ; afterword by Leslie Marmon Silko.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roland, Aulton E., author.

Contributor:

Thompson, Jerry D., writer of foreword.

Lamadrid, Enrique R., writer of introduction.

Silko, Leslie Marmon, 1948- writer of afterword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Romero, Plácida.

New Mexico--History--1848-.

New Mexico.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

140 pages : illustrations (some color), portraits, maps ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Santa Fe : Museum of New Mexico Press, [2022]

Summary:

This book centers on the true story of Pl̀cida Romero, a nuevomexicana who was taken captive and whose husband, Domingo Gallegos, was murdered at their Cebolla Springs Ranch by an Apache war party led by Nana during their raid into south and central New Mexico Territory in 1881. This incursion, one of the last major Apache raids into the territory, took place near the end of the southwestern Indian wars. Her captors took Pl̀cida to Mexico, she subsequently escaped, was returned to her family, and then told her story to her relatives and community in Cubero. Pl̀cida's story was later written as a ballad in Spanish and set to music. Aulton E. Roland first heard about Pl̀cida Romero's plight when he met Arthur "Arty" Bibo in 1961. With his knowledge of the land and the Native American and Hispano people of the area, Roland helped Bibo research the events behind the story. Over time and after Bibo's death, Roland found the exact locations of the events of Nana's raid, some of them in very remote locations and in Mexico, and even chartered airplanes to aid in his search. He also corrected a number of historical misconceptions concerning the events of the bloody raid, discovering in the process that Pl̀cida Romero never recovered her abducted daughter, Trinidad Gallegos, although the child had grown up with the Navajo people near Prewitt only fifty miles from Cubero, where Pl̀cida lived, died, and is buried. The Ballad of Pl̀cida Romero: A Woman's Captivity & Redemption is a harrowing, deeply moving, and incisive piece of New Mexico history. It is a provocative yet uplifting account of survival and suspense on a fragile frontier in territorial New Mexico in the late nineteenth century.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Background

2. The Tragic Capture of Placida Romero

3. The Flight to Mexico

4. In Mexico and Return Home

5. The Military Pursuit

6. The Aftermath

7. Variations of the Placida Story

Afterword: A Laguna Connection / Leslie Marmon Silko

Acknowledgments

APPENDIXES

1. Original Spanish Corrido Transcription as presented to Arthur Bibo

2. Arthur G. Bibo Eulogy / John L. Kessell

3. Descendants of Maria Placida Romero

4. Newspaper Articles on Placida's Escape

5. Act of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of New Mexico, 1882

6. Newspaper Articles Pertaining to Navajo Agent Galen Eastman

7. Albuquerque Daily Journal Articles

8. Las Cosas Perdidas de Rancho Armijo / Carol A. Macaulay-Jameson.

ISBN:

9780890136720

0890136726

OCLC:

1345053482

Publisher Number:

99993272674