Although they numbered 40,000 to 80,000 people at that time, the many independent towns, often speaking different languages and hostile to each other, were unable to unite in opposition to the Spanish.

[2] Po'pay appears in history in 1675 as one of 47 religious leaders of the northern Pueblo arrested by Juan Francisco Trevino's government for "witchcraft."

The governor complied, probably in part because the colony was being seriously targeted by Apaches and Navajo warring parties and he could not afford to risk a Pueblo revolt.

[5] Po'pay's message was simple: destroy the Spanish and their influence and go back to the old ways of life that had given the Pueblos relative peace, prosperity, and independence.

Only the Tiguex area, close to the seat of Spanish power in Santa Fe and perhaps the most acculturated of the Pueblos, declined to join in the revolt.

[10] By August 15, 1,000 Spaniards had taken refuge in the Governor's palace in Santa Fe, and they were besieged by a Pueblo army led by Popé they estimated (or overestimated) to number 2,500.

On August 21 the Spanish broke out of the Palace and began a long trek south, leaving New Mexico behind and not stopping until they reached El Paso.

In 1692, Governor Diego de Vargas, with an army of 150 Spanish soldiers and pro-Spanish Pueblo warriors, attempted reconquest.

[13] As stated by Matthew Martinez of Po'pay's home Pueblo, Ohkay Owingeh, "it took a unique individual to orchestrate the revolt across two dozen communities who spoke six different languages and were sprawled over a distance of nearly 400 miles.

Pueblo warrior and Spanish soldier became allies in the fight against their common enemies, the Apaches, Navajo, Utes, and a new and even greater threat to the survival of New Mexico, the Comanche.

The statue, slightly larger than life size, shows Po'Pay holding a knotted cord in his left hand, the signal for the initiation of the revolt.

Po'pay is mentioned by the controversial Taos priest Father Martinez in Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop, as leader of the Indian revolt which "so added to Spanish martyrology."

Po'pay is the main character in the opera The Scars On His Back by composer Simon Andrews that depicts the events leading up to and following the Pueblo Revolt.