Photoprint - "Confundis de la Historia del Pintoresco Pueblo de la Mesilla,", [1885?]

The photoprint of the handwritten document by Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain is entitled "Confundis de la Historia del Pintoresco Pueblo de la Mesilla." This description of "the picturesque town of la Mesilla" outlines the role of Mesilla in New Mexican and American history. It describes the settlement of this town by 300 families from what is now Ciudad Juarez and lists assorted families involved in that colonization. The author mentions the building of acequias and the planting of fields which marked that settlement. The author then describes the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo through which the national affiliation of la Mesilla remained vague. Fountain describes the ceremony in which this area was formally recognized as United States territory following the Gadsden Purchase. Fountain explains that "that was a day of glory" in which a speaker in these ceremonies "explained to the town that the mother country had sold that land but left to its inhabitants the privilege, according to the treaty, the duration of one year from that date to declare whether or not they wished to remain Mexican citizens or adopt the new country with the same rights as American citizens." Also described in Fountain's document is the role Mesilla played in the Civil War. He proudly reports that the United States government asked for volunteers to fight for the Union and "although la Mesilla only had six years as the adoptive daughter [of the United States], it had the honor of offering more than its share of soldiers." Furthermore, he mentions this town's occupation by the Confederate Army. Finally, he writes of Jacinto Armijo's donation of land in Las Cruces to be used as the new county seat, thus indicating la Mesilla's end as such.

The document is written in Spanish.

The collection was previously called Albert Jennings Fountain Papers.