Apacheria Endgames
x 1871-1886
Introduction
Apache refers to the Athapaskan speaking peoples of the American southwest, in the present-day states of Arizona and New Mexico.
This series will explore the critical battles, wars and movements of Apacheria.
https://crackpot.substack.com/t/apacheria
After the Salt River Cave Battle
“Officers and men worked day and night, and with our Indian allies would crawl upon hands and knees for long distances over terrible canyons and precipices…. there is hardly a space of 10 miles square in the country that has not some terrible lava bed or precipitous canyon with fortified caves.” - General Crook’s annual report 1873.
General Crook was tireless. His method of warfare was to explore every bit of Apacheria, harrying the hostile Apache bands until there was no-where they felt safe. There were no great battles in this theatre. Rather, successful war required a relentless effort and willingness to endure the harsh terrain. Crook brought the will and the Apache and other scouts led the way.
[1] Battle of Baby Canyon.
[2] March 11, 1873 - The events at Walnut Grove led to significant escalation by General Crook. Ten men established a settlement at Walnut Grove. One by one the Indians killed them. They captured the last man alive and cruelly tortured him by shooting arrows into him intentionally missing vital spots.
[3]
Randall eventually captures an Apache woman. She leads them to their camp at a place called Turret Mountain.
‘Before starting out the soldiers wrapped their booted feet and knees with gunny sacks to muffle their movements.’
At dawn the soldiers fired into the camp. Some of the men went scrambling down the sides. Many women and children were killed.
“Randall’s men, carbines in hand, swung down from that mountain reeking of death. Although they did not know it, they had broken the back of Apache resistance.” - Thrapp pg. 137
From this time forward the Apache were beat by and large. - but some legendary holdouts would resist for a long time, such as Geronimo, Victorio, Juh, Cochise, Cochinay, Chato, Eskiminzin, Nachez and many others. Many fell. Those who lived eventually conceded defeat. They were not beaten so much as their way of life was permanently lost, so too their will to fight was destroyed. Geronimo, among the last holdouts, would surrender shortly after meeting with General Crook in 1886.
Delshay wanted to save his people, as they were starving. Every rock had turned into a soldier. His people were hunted down as never before. He had nothing but his life. He had 125 warriors last fall, and thought he could whip the world with them. Now he had 20 left. They had no trouble eluding the troops, but now the rocks had gotten soft and could not hide their tracks. They could not sleep at night, for should a coyote or a fox start a rock rolling during the night they would jump up thinking it was an attack. - Thrapp pg. 142
[4] Battle of Cibicue Creek Scout Mutiny of 1881. Crook’s choice to use Apache to fight Apache brought stinging criticism from those outside Arizona and New Mexico as this means of war was controversial to conventional thought of the time. The Battle of Cibicue Creek Scout Mutiny of 1881 seemed to have realized and justified the fears of Crooks detractors. Nonetheless, it was an impossible task for white men to perform and do what was required without allied Indians.
The Apache war was not marked by great movements or dramatics tableaus like the Sioux. The rocky, desert landscape does not allow for that. Rather the battles were fought along belly crawl and by inching along canyon wall.
Following Crook’s success in Apacheria and subsequent promotion, he would go to work on the Sioux and Great Plains northeast of Arizona.
Project Thesis
The noble savage is a doggone myth! We'll have no part of it. Some may be legend, but they were human.
The truth is the monolith lies. America is not a simple story of vicious avaricious Euro-colonizers running over the top of natives. While that simple moral story may please those who dig on guilt trip or righteousness, America had a very complicated political situation with shifting alliances, intrigue, identities and rivalries before any European contact. The Europeans were actors stepping into an already swirling mix - not show runners or puppet masters.
The colonials found a situation akin to the British and French colonial experiences in pre-India with something like 530 princely states. (There were an estimated over 500 American tribes on contact.) Some tribes were small states. Some like the Wabanaki or Iroquois tribes were part of large, formidable arrangements similar to the Maharatha Confederacy - and internal political divisions split them apart similarly. To draw a crude analogy, imagine a historical force of Chinese that came to Europe and aligned with the French to defeat the Germans. In the American Southwest, the Maricopa, Tohono O'odham and Pima were to the French as the Apache were to the Germans in that analogy. Mexico would be Spain. The point is American historical context makes more sense without the Native American monolith present. American history is every bit as replete with political intrigue, rich cultural diversity, war and rivalry as European history.
The flip side to all the war making was the peace and love making - I don't mean to be salacious, but there was an entire tribe of mixed race called the Metis! Per reports the Metis were a colorful travelling circus, as one may imagine. The point is this was not a situation where the people cohabited the same region but did not mix socially/or in marriage or displace by genocide. The intent is to recognize the full contribution and ancestry of native American peoples to modern American culture and still play.
America was forged by fire and sword.
There can be no doubt that the modern United States political system and view that democracy and freedom are coupled is rooted in the confluence of these ideas and working political arrangements.
Consider the Europeans came from colonial, monarchal, patriarchal systems. The Europeans encountered a dazzling array of examples of democratic forms and governance among the native Americans. Some native governance culture was patriarchal, others matrilineal or matriarchal. The Iroquois league of tribes being a foremost example of a complex federated political system. The beatific Finger Lakes were not just out there being pretty before the railroad, vineyard and highway overlay, these were fiercely owned and controlled hunting, fishing and living grounds that were mediated through a tribal political system. One needed hunting and fishing permits then as now. Everywhere was this way. The Dakota Sioux ran into stiff Ojibwa and Cree resistance as they crept toward the Minnesota lakes looking for game and good living space.
The colonials did not have to imagine a world without a king and a noble and a duke and so on that they were expected to serve doggedly, that world was already there before them. Their survival hinged on recognizing it. The Europeans did not bring governance and civilization to the Native Americans, it seems the evidence says that it was a two-way street. The natives put the very proof of ideas of procedural democratic governance into the Europeans' heads. Every 'sqaw-man' got it pretty quick - there was no 'king chief' to serve nor save them now that they were married in. They were all in the same boot. They all had to pull their own boatstraps. Simply put, anyone who wondered if things could be different coming across the pond had literal proof upon landing that yes, they could and they are. That fact of life sparked the American conciousness and lit its imagination until today.
That brings us to the topical item - we fully support President elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that the Canadien states join the federated United States, extending U.S. citizen’s constitutional rights across the entire north American continent. As Mr. Trump clarified, the mechanism for integration is to be won by compelling political and economic pressure and argument. It should make so much sense that people can’t say no. (We’ll all be sorry to see Quebec go its own way, but not everyone can likely be swayed.) This is a fine idea, and nothing stands in the way of effort to integration. Similarly we have supported push to Puerto Rican statehood as well as internal native American state-building projects like recognizing Apacheria and Sequoyah. Expansion and integration of federated states has been the animating force of the United States. In any case, was Mr. Trump’s comments about expansion of the United States an off the cuff comment or the renewal of what was once the animating force of American greatness? It will be interesting to see what time will tell.
References
Gwynne, S. C. (2010). Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history.
Cornelius C. Smith, Jr. Fort HuaChuca The story of a frontier post.
Thrapp, D. L. (1975). The conquest of Apacheria. University of Oklahoma Press.
Worcester, D. E. (1979). The Apaches Eagles of the Southwest. University of Oklahoma Press.
Melody, M. E. (1989). The Apaches. Chelsea House Publishers.