<P> Following his release, Popé, along with a number of other Pueblo leaders (see list below), planned and orchestrated the Pueblo Revolt . Popé took up residence in Taos Pueblo far from the capital of Santa Fe and spent the next five years seeking support for a revolt among the 46 Pueblo towns . He gained the support of the Northern Tiwa, Tewa, Towa, Tano, and Keres - speaking Pueblos of the Rio Grande Valley . The Pecos Pueblo, 50 miles east of the Rio Grande pledged its participation in the revolt as did the Zuni and Hopi, 120 and 200 miles respectively west of the Rio Grande . The Pueblos not joining the revolt were the four southern Tiwa (Tiguex) towns near Santa Fe and the Piro Pueblos south of the principal Pueblo population centers near the present day city of Socorro . The southern Tiwa and the Piro were more thoroughly integrated into Spanish culture than the other groups . The Spanish population of about 2,400, including mixed - blood mestizos, and Indian servants and retainers, was scattered thinly throughout the region . Santa Fe was the only place that approximated being a town . The Spanish could only muster 170 men with arms . The Pueblos joining the revolt probably had 2,000 or more adult men capable of using native weapons such as the bow and arrow . It is possible that some Apache and Navajo participated in the revolt . </P> <P> The Pueblo revolt was typical of millenarian movements in colonial societies . Popé promised that, once the Spanish were killed or expelled, the ancient Pueblo gods would reward them with health and prosperity . Popé's plan was that the inhabitants of each Pueblo would rise up and kill the Spanish in their area and then all would advance on Santa Fe to kill or expel all the remaining Spanish . The date set for the uprising was August 11, 1680 . Popé dispatched runners to all the Pueblos carrying knotted cords . Each morning the Pueblo leadership was to untie one knot from the cord, and when the last knot was untied, that would be the signal for them to rise against the Spaniards in unison . On August 9, however, the Spaniards were warned of the impending revolt by southern Tiwa leaders and they captured two Tesuque Pueblo youths entrusted with carrying the message to the pueblos . They were tortured to make them reveal the significance of the knotted cord . </P> <P> Popé then ordered the revolt to begin a day early . The Hopi pueblos located on the remote Hopi Mesas of Arizona did not receive the advanced notice for the beginning of the revolt and followed the schedule for the revolt . On August 10, the Puebloans rose up, stole the Spaniards' horses to prevent them from fleeing, sealed off roads leading to Santa Fe, and pillaged Spanish settlements . A total of 400 people were killed, including men, women, children, and 21 of the 33 Franciscan missionaries in New Mexico . Survivors fled to Santa Fe and Isleta Pueblo, 10 miles south of Albuquerque and one of the Pueblos that did not participate in the rebellion . By August 13, all the Spanish settlements in New Mexico had been destroyed and Santa Fe was besieged . The Puebloans surrounded the city and cut off its water supply . In desperation, on August 21, New Mexico Governor Antonio de Otermín, barricaded in the Palace of the Governors, sallied outside the palace with all of his available men and forced the Puebloans to retreat with heavy losses . He then led the Spaniards out of the city and retreated southward along the Rio Grande, headed for El Paso del Norte . The Puebloans shadowed the Spaniards but did not attack . The Spaniards who had taken refuge in Isleta had also retreated southward on August 15, and on September 6 the two groups of survivors, numbering 1,946, met at Socorro . About 500 of the survivors were Indian slaves . They were escorted to El Paso by a Spanish supply train . The Puebloans did not block their passage out of New Mexico . </P> <P> The retreat of the Spaniards left New Mexico in the power of the Puebloans . Popé was a mysterious figure in the history of the southwest as there are many tales among the Puebloans of what happened to him after the revolt . Later testimony to the Spanish by Pueblo Indians was probably colored by anti-Popé sentiments and a desire to tell the Spanish what they wanted to hear . </P>

The background to pope's revolt in 1680 included all the following factors except