Pueblo escaped from the Spanish on their journey southward. It is believed that these along with a few others that escaped the initial attack fled to Arizona to seek refuge with the Hopi Indians, a tribe they had always been friendly with. The remaining Tigua were shackled and used as a human shield on the treacherous trek south to El Paso. This is evidenced by Otermin’s own words in his report the Extractos: “…protection would thus be afforded [the Spanish] along the retreat [while] danger of the Indians returning to apostasy would thereby be relieved.” The Spanish returned in February 1682 with 385 Tiguas, all which was left after the dreaded Journada de Muerto, a trackless waste of sixty miles void of water and shelter. Because of the increased number of Indian captives the settlements were reorganized. The Tiguas were moved from Santismo Sacramento to a nearby site to form the Pueblo of Corpus Christi de la Ysleta del Sur Pueblo where they have remained to this day. The Tigua were immediately forced into labor building a new mission. This indentured servitude went on for some time.In 1751 King Charles V of Spain made a formal land grant to the Tiguas that gave them title to a thirty-six square mile area. . This surrounded their mission with a “Four League Grant”(one league in each direction from the church). This came after being ignored when the other Pueblo Indians received Four League Grants in 1689. After lengthy court battles the Mexican government reaffirmed the Tigua right to this land in 1834. Unfortunately for the Tiguas, Ysleta del Sur was the only pueblo not reaffirmed by the U.S government in 1864, because Texas had joined the Confederacy. This is at least the reason given by the United States as to why the Tigua were ignored when the other Pueblos were recognized. This argument, however, is flawed in that the Federal government never recognized the secession of the Confederate Stat...
