Ambush of Spanish Expedition In 1720, the New Mexico governor sent forty-three Spanish soldiers and sixty Pueblo Indians to expel French intruders from New Spain’s northern borderlands. The French and their Indian allies ambushed the expedition killing thirty-three Spaniards and twelve Pueblos. Shortly afterward, an unknown artist recorded the event in this hide painting. Shown in the center of the painting is Father Juan Minguez of Albuquerque, and the Indian directly in front of him is Joseph Naranjo, leader of the Spaniards’ Pueblo allies; both were killed in the ambush. MPI /Getty Images.