The Unmarried Women of Santa Fe, 1850-1880

The Unmarried Women of Santa Fe, 1850-1880

Deena J. González

Zaragoza Vargas, Ed. Major Problems in Mexican-American History, Houghton- Mifflin,1999

When the United States-Mexican War ended in 1848, all women in Santa Fe faced generally dismal economic circumstances. Only two years earlier, they had heard General Stephen Watts Kearny proclaim peace and promise prosperity. His army, Kearny declared, had come “as friends, to better your condition.” When people first watched the soldiers occupy the area peacefully, perhaps they anticipated better times. Since 1820 they had witnessed traders trek to Santa Fe, introduce manufactured items, and alter the town’s character. Now they stood on the verge of another conquest, neither military nor economic, but a mixture of both…