Women and the Santa Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail, a historic artery connecting the United States and Mexico, often conjures images of rugged frontiersmen, laden wagons, and military expeditions. While primarily a commercial and military route dominated by male traders, the trail also played a significant, albeit lesser-known, role as an emigrant path for individuals seeking new opportunities and lives in both directions. This westward expansion attracted a diverse array of people, including women whose contributions, though historically understated, were crucial to the trail’s narrative.
Early 20th-century historians, like Frederick Jackson Turner, often minimized the impact of women in the westward movement, portraying them as "invisible, few in number and not important to the process of taming a wilderness." However, contemporary scholarship challenges this narrow perspective, highlighting the multifaceted roles women played along the Santa Fe Trail. Their presence and activities were far more significant than previously acknowledged.
The lives of women living in communities along the Santa Fe Trail were deeply intertwined with their cultural backgrounds. Among the Pueblo peoples, who were primarily agriculturalists, women held significant responsibilities. They were the architects and owners of homes, the primary caregivers for children, and the providers of sustenance. They skillfully prepared and gathered food, crafted pottery and cooking utensils, and produced clothing for their families and communities. Their contributions were essential to the stability and continuity of Pueblo life.
In contrast, semi-nomadic tribes like the Kanza, Pawnee, and Osage had different divisions of labor. Women in these tribes were responsible for cultivating garden plots, gathering food, and preparing meals. They were also skilled artisans, crafting clothing and other essential items. The Plains tribes, including the Comanche, Kiowa, Apache, and Cheyenne, also had distinct roles for women. These women managed the domestic arrangements of their camps, ensuring order and comfort amidst the nomadic lifestyle. They were also responsible for food preparation and clothing production, vital skills for survival on the plains.
Beyond their traditional roles, Native American and Mexican women directly interacted with the Santa Fe Trail. Some traveled along its path, while others married American traders and trappers who operated along its routes. These unions created cultural exchanges and blended families, further enriching the trail’s history. African-American women also contributed to the Santa Fe Trail, often serving as cooks and personal maids for travelers. Their labor provided essential support for those traversing the challenging route.
Several New Mexican women emerged as prominent figures in the commercial landscape of the Santa Fe Trail. They became regular customers of the merchants who operated along the trail, contributing to the economic vitality of the region. Some of these women, like Manuela Rosalia Baca, Luisita Baca, and Senora Linda del Sargento Sanchez, were shrewd businesswomen in their own right. Perhaps the most well-known was Doña Gertrudis Barceló, also known as "La Tules," a gambling queen and astute businesswoman who operated a saloon in Santa Fe during the 1830s and 1840s. She is credited with playing a significant role in the history of New Mexico and the Santa Fe Trail, demonstrating the power and influence women could wield in this frontier environment.
The presence of American, Mexican, and Spanish women along the trail dates back to at least 1829. In September of that year, a wealthy Spanish family, consisting of six women and ten men, was banished from Santa Fe and traveled northeast to Missouri with a trade caravan. Colonel Jose Antonio Viscarra led an escort of 200 men, including Mexicans, hired whites, and hired Indians, to protect them as far as the Arkansas River. This journey underscores the diverse circumstances that led women to traverse the Santa Fe Trail.
Another notable figure among the early female travelers was Carmel Benevides, a Santa Fe native and the common-law wife of Antoine Robidoux, a voyageur, fur trader, Santa Fe merchant, and magistrate. Carmel accompanied her husband on at least six trips between Santa Fe and Missouri. Missouri birth records indicate that she gave birth to a daughter, Carmelete, around 1830, potentially at the Blacksnake Hills Trading Post in present-day St. Joseph or St. Louis, Missouri. This suggests that Carmel’s first journey along the Santa Fe Trail occurred shortly before 1830. The 1841 census recorded Carmel and her daughter in Santa Fe, confirming their return trip. The Robidoux family made additional trips to and from Mexico in 1841 and around 1845. Antoine Robidoux died in St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1860, and his will recognized Carmel as his "beloved wife" and executrix. Her final trip on the trail occurred in the early 1860s, when she returned to Santa Fe with her adopted granddaughter. Carmel’s life story exemplifies the resilience and adaptability of women on the Santa Fe Trail. She died in Santa Fe on January 29, 1888, at the age of 76.
The experiences of American women on the Santa Fe Trail are particularly well-documented, providing valuable insights into the challenges and triumphs of frontier life. Accounts from women like Susan Shelby Magoffin and Marion Sloan Russell offer some of the most informative narratives of trail life and commerce. Some accounts even suggest that an American woman disguised herself as a male soldier to travel part of the route in the 1840s.
Marion Sloan Russell traversed the Santa Fe Trail five times, beginning in 1851 when she traveled with her mother and brother as a child. Susan Shelby Magoffin, at the age of 18, traveled the route with her husband Samuel in the summer of 1846. They departed from Council Grove, Kansas, and completed the journey in 32 days, arriving in Santa Fe on August 31, 1846. Magoffin was considered the first American woman to enter Santa Fe. In her trail account, she described her newfound fame, writing, "I have entered the city in a year that will always be remembered by my countrymen; and under the ‘Star-Spangled banner’ too, the first American lady, who has come under such auspices, and some of our company seem disposed to make me the first under any circumstances that ever crossed the Plains."
Magoffin’s diary of her 1846 trip was published in 1926, while Russell’s memoirs were transcribed by her daughter-in-law in the 1920s and published in the 1950s. These firsthand accounts offer invaluable perspectives on the daily realities of life on the Santa Fe Trail. Hezekiah Brake, who crossed the trail in 1858, wrote in his published account that "In those days the women dreaded worse than death, the perils of the Western trails," suggesting that many women traveled the trail due to the decisions of their husbands or families. These perils were undoubtedly experienced by Magoffin in 1846 when she miscarried at Bent’s Fort, Colorado, after a carriage accident west of Pawnee Rock, Kansas.
The first recorded trail crossing by an American woman occurred in the 1830s. For some time, Susan Shelby Magoffin was believed to be the first American woman in Santa Fe, but it is now accepted that Mary Dodson Donoho, the 25-year-old wife of trader William Donoho, was the first American woman to arrive in Santa Fe via the Santa Fe Trail. In 1833, Mary Donoho, along with her husband William and their nine-month-old daughter Mary Ann, traveled over 100 miles from Columbia, Missouri, to join the caravan for Santa Fe at Independence. This caravan consisted of approximately 328 people, between 93 and 103 wagons and carriages, 63 of which carried between $100,000 and $180,000 worth of merchandise. Captain William N. Wickliffe commanded the caravan, which included an escort of 144 officers and men with five supply wagons, one piece of field artillery, and one ammunition wagon. After arriving in Santa Fe, the Donoho family operated a hotel there from 1833 to 1837. Mary Donoho’s journey challenges the traditional narrative of the Santa Fe Trail and highlights the contributions of women who actively participated in the westward expansion.