The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 was one of the most successful indigenous revolts of the colonial period in all of Latin America. The Pueblos succeeded in expelling all Spaniards from their homeland in New Mexico—a feat few other indigenous groups were able to accomplish in the New World. It was so well known that it sparked other Indian rebellions—to the extent that Spanish authorities feared that the "flames of rebellion" would "engulf the entire northern frontier" of New Spain (or what is now called Mexico).¹ Soon after Diego de Vargas had regained nominal control of New Mexico (1692), he intercepted a cord of maguey fiber with four knots in it that was being sent from pueblo to pueblo. A knotted cord had been passed around in August of 1680 to alert Pueblo communities that the revolt was imminent. Thus, the knotted cord that Vargas intercepted was "an eerie echo of the 1680 rebellion" and was an indication that the Pueblos were ready to go to war with the Spaniards once again.² The reconquest—called "bloodless" up to that point due to Vargas' diplomacy and ability to negotiate Pueblo submission—turned violent.