| Sometimes when I am looking for
information for one story, I come across another story just as fascinating or maybe even
more fascinating than the one I started with. This book is a story like that. |
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Part of what we know about Estevan
comes from Cabeza de Vaca's account of their trek across the interior of the New
World. This time I have focused on the slave named Estevan. He along with his
master survived those horrible eight years after the shipwreck on the coast of the place
we call Texas. |
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| As they made their way to Mexico
City, Estevan spent more time with the native tribes than the others did. Because he
knew the route and could speak some of the languages, the viceroy very soon sent him back
north. Estevan and Father Marcos were supposed to find a route for Coronado's army
to reach Cibola, where it was rumored that the walls were made of gold. Estevan got
as far as the Zuni Pueblo, on the border of what is today Arizona and New Mexico.
Father Marcos raced home with the sad story of what happened to him. |
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We have no way of knowing whether
Estevan was glad to make this trip. Perhaps it allowed him to escape slavery
again. It is sad to think that he was not rewarded in the same way as his master,
who became very rich. |
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| In a strange twist of fate, Cabeza
de Vaca, the highest ranking of the four survivors, went home and received a reward that
proved his downfall. Estevan did not live long enough to know about any of
these things. |
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I like to visit the places I write
about. It helps me imagine what used to be there. Some places have changed,
others have not. I went to Hawikuh where Estevan died. The town was abandoned
in the 1600s, but pieces of pottery still litter the ground. I could just see
Coronado's army marching up that broad valley -- 2000 soldiers with 500 sheep, horses, and
other animals. They found only mud walls at this place said to be the first of the
Seven Cities of Gold. |
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| I'd like to share a little story
about something that is NOT in this book. In a nonfiction book I must be careful to
include only information for which there is proof. I had heard that Estevan had a
greyhound dog and two green dinner plates with him when he left Mexico City. I
couldn't find anything to support that story, so you will not find it in my
book. But, after the book was finished, I was still working on the one about
Cabeza de Vaca. Guess what I found -- a letter from Coronado to the viceroy in
Mexico City. He reported that they had found the dog and the green dinner plates! |
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Another note about Coronado -- he
pushed on with his search for gold. His men found Grand Canyon, and he took part of
his army all the way into what is today Kansas. No gold! He returned to
Mexico City in disgrace. |
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| History is a series of fascinating
stories. That is why I like to write about things that really happened. |
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- Mary Dodson Wade |