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In the late 1880s Juan José Herrera rose to
prominence in San Miguel County, New Mexico,
as district organizer for the Knights of
Labor, or Los Caballeros del Trabajo. Known as
El Capitan by his followers, Herrera's efforts
to organize labor and vigilante groups earned
him great respect among poor and dispossessed
neomexicanos (Spanish-speaking New
Mexicans), as well as disdain among many
Anglo-American settlers, local officials, and
landed neomexicanos. From April 1889 and
into 1891, he reportedly led the Gorras Blancas
(White Caps) in an armed campaign against
Anglo-Americans and neomexicanos who
had presumably encroached on community
lands. Although he and several of his followers
were arrested for vigilante activities in 1889,
none was convicted. Herrera denied association
with the Gorras Blancas.
Two years later Herrera was elected probate judge of San Miguel County. His varied background prepared him for popular organizing. A captain in the Union army, Herrera departed from New Mexico in 1866, leaving his wife, Luisa Pinard, and became an Indian agent, traveling among various western states. By the time he finally resettled in New Mexico in 1887, he had learned to speak several Native languages or dialects, as well as French. His command of English, his growing knowledge of the law, and his political instinct served him well in his brief organizing career. According to his descendants, Herrera, who was born sometime in the 1840s, died in relative obscurity in Utah in or about 1902.