Border Heritage Center: El Paso Thanksgiving

The Spanish expedition of Juan de Onate with the Manso Native Americans has a special place right here in the El Paso area. On April 30, 1598, the Onate expedition reached a location in El Paso’s Lower Valley, somewhere between Socorro and Fabens, leading to a celebratory feast.

El Paso historian Fred Morales said that the Mission Trail Association commemorates that 1598 Thanksgiving in San Elizario right after Easter.

“Our Thanksgiving feast involved several hundred people: the Spanish Army that Juan de Onate brought, along with the priest and the Manso Indians,” he said.

“They feasted the entire Spanish army with eating geese, duck and fish, primarily with the Manso Indians,” Morales said. “Onate had found a group of trees and had built a chapel there and Fray Alonso Martinez read a mass sermon. Some were converted into Christianity.”

Marker located in San Elizario, Texas, El Paso County. It can be reached from the intersection of San Elizario Road and Church Street and is located at the San Elizario Memorial Plaza.

Inscription:

"Late in November 1597 a colonizing expedition headed by Don Juan de Oñate left Santa Barbara in northern Chihuahua headed for what is now New Mexico. Four hundred men led the way, 130 of whom had wives and children. There were several priests, 83 wagons and carts, plus 7000 head of stock. They were planning to stay.

They reached the Río Conchos and after a needed rest, started out again on February 7. Marching on northward over the barren desert of Chihuahua for several weeks, the last four days without water, the expedition finally reached El Río del Norte (near the present-day San Elizario) on April 26, 1598. The poet-chronicler of the march Gasper Pérez de Villagrá, wrote that the river was a most welcome sight: "Horses approached the rolling stream and plunged headlong into it two of them drank so much that they burst their sides and died. Two others plunged so far into the stream that they were caught in its swift current and drowned." Some of the humans went almost as wild. The arrival was a "happy and joyous occasion," and all were in a thankful mood. Grateful for the completion of a perilous part of their journey, the abundance of water, and plenty of wild game along the river, the expedition set about preparations for a great celebration, The First Thanksgiving in what is now the United States of America, which took place on April 30, 1598.

The Great Colonizer, as Oñate has been called, thus brought the Spanish culture (and ultimately, that of Mexico) to what would become the Great Southwest shaping its growth and the development of the area for generations. These historic events preceded the English colonies on the Atlantic Seaboard, the French colonization of Canada, and the Dutch settlements in the Hudson River area by several years.

Erected by the El Paso Mission Trail Association, Inc., in recognition of the Oñate Expedition and dedicated by Manuel Gullon y Oñate, Conde de Tepa, April 29, 1989."

For Checkout:

The titles you see here are some of the books about Juan de Oñate and the how the Southwest was settled. These books are available for checkout at the Border Heritage Center.

From the Perrenot Room:

Inside our vault we have various reference books about the Southwest. Once such book is displayed here. The books in this room are Reference materials so they are unable to be checked out, but they can be requested for viewing at the Border Heritage Center. Just ask staff for help and they will assist you.