Santiago Tafolla - A Life Crossing Borders: Memoir of a Mexican-American Confederate / Las memorias de un mexicanoamericano en la Confederación

A LIFE CROSSING BORDERS

Memoir of a Mexican-American Confederate Las memorias de un mexicoamericano en la Confederacin

Jos F. Aranda, Jr.
Rice University

Gabriela Baeza Ventura
University of Houston

Alejandra Balestra
Independent Scholar

Rose Marie Beebee
Santa Clara University

Aviva Ben-Ur
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Antonia Castaeda
St. Marys University

Rodolfo J. Cortina
University of Houston

Kenya C. Dworkin y Mndez
Carnegie Mellon University

Jos B. Fernndez
University of Central Florida

Juan Flores
Hunter College of CUNY

Erlinda Gonzales-Berry
Oregon State University

Jos A. Gurpegui
Universidad de Alcal

Laura Gutirrez-Witt
University of Texas at Austin

Jos M. Irizarry Rodrguez
University of Puerto Rico, Mayagez

Donna M. Kabalen de Bichara
Tecnolgico de Monterrey

Luis Leal
University of California at Santa Barbara

Clara Lomas
The Colorado College

Francisco A. Lomel
University of California at Santa Barbara

Blanca Lpez de Mariscal
Tecnolgico de Monterrey

Agnes Lugo-Ortiz
University of Chicago

A. Gabriel Melndez
University of New Mexico

Genaro Padilla
University of California at Berkeley

Raymund Paredes
Commision of Higher Education, State of Texas

Nlida Prez
Hunter College of CUNY

Gerald Poyo
St. Marys University

Barbara O. Reyes
University of New Mexico

Antonio Saborit
Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia

Rosaura Snchez
University of California at San Diego

Virginia Snchez Korrol
Brooklyn College of CUNY

Charles Tatum
University of Arizona

Silvio Torres-Saillant
Syracuse University

Roberto Trujillo
Stanford University

Toms Ybarra-Frausto
Independent Scholar

Memoir of a Mexican-American Confederate
Las memorias de un mexicoamericano en la Confederacin

REV. SANTIAGO TAFOLLA

EDITED BY CARMEN TAFOLLA AND LAURA TAFOLLA

ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY FIDEL L. TAFOLLA

Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage

A Life Crossing Borders : Memoir of a Mexican-American Confederate / Las memorias de un mexicoamericano en la Confederacin is made possible through grants from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance and by the Exemplar Program, a program of Americans for the Arts in collaboration with the LarsonAllen Public Services Group, funded by the Ford Foundation.

Recovering the past, creating the future

Arte Pblico Press
University of Houston
452 Cullen Performance Hall
Houston, Texas 77204-2004

Cover design by Pilar Espino

Tafolla, Santiago, 1837-1911.

A Life Crossing Borders : Memoir of a Mexican-American Confederate / by Santiago Tafolla ; edited by Carmen Tafolla and Laura Tafolla; English translation by Fidel Tafolla.

p. cm.

Published as part of the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project seriesIntro.

Translation of original handwritten, Spanish-language manuscript entitled Memorias de un mexicoamericano en la Confederacin; includes Spanish transcription and English translation.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-55885-597-7 (alk. paper)

1. Tafolla, Santiago, 1837-1911. 2. Mexican Americans Biography. 3. Mexican AmericansEthnic identity. 4. Confederate States of America. ArmyBiography. 5. United StatesHistoryCivil War, 1861-1865Personal narratives, Mexican American. 6. New MexicoHistory1848Biography. 7. Santa Fe (N.M.)Biography. 8. Circuit ridersUnited StatesBiography. 9. RanchersSouthwest, NewBiography. 10. Justices of the peaceTexasBiography. I. Tafolla, Carmen, 1951- II. Tafolla, Laura. III. Tafolla, Fidel L. IV. Title.

E184.M5T35 2009
978.9'04092dc22
[B]

2009038008
CIP

The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

2010 by Carmen Tafolla and Laura Tafolla
Printed in the United States of America

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Santiago

who dared to go searching for something better,

and to our parents,

who taught us to respect our heritage

as well as our dreams.

C.T. & L.T.

Santiago with 7 of his sons. Seated left to right are: J.J. Mercado, Jr., Santiago Tafolla, and Pete Tafolla. Standing are Santiagos youngest sons: Ernesto, Santiago Jr., Gabriel, Mariano F., Lott.

C rossing borders is a daunting task. It requires the changing of rules, the changing of focus, and often, the changing of attitudes. It may also require the revamping of previously held beliefs. Santiago Tafolla, in the year 1908, at the age of seventy-one, took pencil to primary tablet and wrote about the borders, and the changes, of his life. This book carries the Spanish transcription, and the English translation, of that account and documents the life story of an individual who throughout his life crossed many bordersnational, political, religious, cultural and personal.

Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Republic of Mexico, in 1837, to a father who had lived and served at the same presidio when it was under the flag of Spain, and then under the red, white and green of the newly born Repblica de Mxico, he would himself see and live through many changes of flag, traveling from the newly acquired-by-war U.S. Territory of New Mexico to the United States proper, from Missouri to New York, and from Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C., to the plantations of Georgia. He would see Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio, Texas, and the Indian Territory of Oklahoma as part of the U.S. Army Second Cavalry, and subsequently as part of the Confederate Army. He would live in Mexico, in the state of Coahuila, as an expatriate for a year, then return to the United States as a rancher, a fur trader, a justice of the peace and finally, a Methodist preacher.

A personal witness to a time period of continually shifting borders, identities and allegiances, this is a powerful autobiography, challenging the stereotypes and reclaiming the history of Latinos in the United States. A valuable and fascinating work on its own, the historical links and substantiating documents that accompany it make it an even more important source for the understanding of our history and culture on this continent. Beyond the casual references to Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Gen. Juan Cortina, Congressman Jos Gallegos and Major Earl Van Dorn, the personal observation of lesser-known events, attitudes, biases and cultural conflicts adds to our understanding of such diverse situations as White Confederate gangs threatening to lynch their