CORONADO

Upon reaching the Seven Cities, Coronado wrote Viceroy Mendoza describing the countryside, the natives, the fruits of the land, etc., and noted

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, “… al Signor Antonio de Mendoza …,” trans. George Parker Winship, The Coronado Expedition 1540-1542, (Washington: Bureau of American Ethnology, 1896), p.563:

… it does not appear to me that there is any hope of getting gold or silver.

p. 560:

God knows that I wish I had better news to write to Your Lordship, but I must give you the truth ….

After two years of trekking through Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, Coronado wrote to the King:

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, “… al emperador …,” trans. George Parker Winship, The Coronado Expedition 1540-1542, (Washington: Bureau of American Ethnology, 1896), p. 582:

The country itself is the best I have ever seen for producing all the products of Spain.

p. 583:

"[But] it would not be possible to establish a settlement here, for besides being 400 leagues from the North sea and more than 200 from the South sea, with which it is impossible to have any sort of communication, the country is so cold, as I have written to Your Majesty, that apparently the winter could not possibly be spent here, because there is no wood, nor cloth with which to protect the men, except the skins which the natives wear and some small amount of cotton cloaks.

And what I am sure of is that there is not any gold nor other metal in all that country, and the other things of which they had told me are nothing but little villages."

p. 582:

… although I have searched with all diligence, I have not found or heard of anything, unless it be these provinces, which are a very small affair.

The Coronado expedition formally disbanded after returning to Culiacan, Mexico, in June 1542. Per

Herbert E. Bolton, Coronado: Knight of Pueblos and Plains, (Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press, 1949), chapters 28 & 34:

though Coronado had declared his intention to return to Quivira in the Spring and explore further east from there, both he and most of his men were pessimistic. When he suffered a blow to the head in a horseriding accident, he was never again quite himself, brooded, and thought more of home. Most of his troops wanted out, too. Thus it was decided: Return march in April 1542.

Pedro de Castañeda, “Relación de la jornada de Cíbola … ,” Nacera, ~1562, trans. George Parker Winship, The Coronado Expedition 1540-1542, (Washington: Bureau of American Ethnology, 1896), p. 539:

The general proceeded, leaving the men who did not want to follow him all along the way, and reached Mexico with less than 100 men. He made his report to the viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, who did not receive him very graciously, although he gave him his discharge. His reputation was gone from this time on. He kept the government of New Galicia, which had been entrusted to him, for only a short time, when the viceroy took it himself, until the arrival of the court ….

A variety of charges regarding the expedition were brought against Coronado and some of his officers, and though he lived a comfortable life and continued in public affairs, he was stripped of estates by the court, and three years before his death on September 2, 1554 was still suing to regain them.

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