■ Carlos Phillipe Pitts, M.A. / September 2022
Originating in the Valley of Mexico in 1776, a smallpox epidemic metastasized and ravaged the northern frontier of New Spain for a decade, inflicting serious population losses among the Comanche and other “Norteno” peoples. This was a significant factor for over four hundred Comanche converging on Taos in July 1785 and...