Apache–Mexico Wars
Apache-Mexico Wars | |||||||
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Part of the Mexican Indian Wars | |||||||
A camp of the Coyotero Apache in 1873. Brush shelters, called wikiups, were typical, temporary homes for the nomadic Apache. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Kingdom of Spain (1861–1865)(1716–1821) Mexico (1821–1915) Republic of Texas (1836–1846) United States (1850–1924) Confederate States | Apache |
The Apache–Mexico Wars, or the Mexican Apache Wars, refer to the conflicts between Spanish or Mexican forces and the Apache peoples. The wars began in the 1600s with the arrival of Spanish colonists in present-day New Mexico. War between the Mexicans and the Apache was especially intense from 1831 into the 1850s. Thereafter, Mexican operations against the Apache coincided with the Apache Wars of the United States, such as during the Victorio Campaign. Mexico continued to operate against hostile Apache bands as late as 1915.[1][2]
War with the Spanish
The Spanish first encountered the Apache, whom they called
The Apache migrated south and west, under pressure from the
The Spanish response to the Apache problem in the 1770s was to reorganize its frontier defenses, withdraw from some areas, establish a "cordon of
The punitive missions of the Spanish against the Apache extracted a heavy toll of lives but were ineffective in halting Apache raids. The intensity of the conflict was at its peak from 1771 to 1776 when in Chihuahua and Coahuila "1,674 Spaniards were killed, 154 were captured, over one hundred ranches were abandoned, and over sixty-eight thousand animals were stolen." Many of the Spaniard deaths recorded were probably mestizos and Christian Indians. Apache casualties were also heavy. In October and November 1775, a Spanish military operation headed by Hugo Oconór in New Mexico killed 132 Apache and took 104 prisoners.[7]
In 1786, the Viceroy in Mexico City,
War with Mexico
When Mexico became independent in 1821 the long-standing peace with the Apache began to fall apart. The number of soldiers at the frontier presidios was reduced, as was the budget for supporting the soldiers and the Apache. The key element leading to war was that, in 1831, the Mexican government cut off food rations to Apaches settled near presidios. The 2,000 Apache at the presidios quickly departed, it being necessary for them to resume their hunting-gathering lifestyle if they were to survive. The military commander of Chihuahua declared war on the Apache on October 16, 1831, and initiated military action against them.[11] Mexico, however, was ill-prepared for a war against the Apache. The two states most affected, Chihuahua and Sonora, operated almost independently of each other and the federal government. Sonora (which included Arizona at this time) had a thinly-scattered population of perhaps 50,000 people; Chihuahua had a more concentrated population of 134,000 and a better organized government.[12][13]
The Apache tribes most involved in the war, the
Apache raids beginning in 1831 occurred in fits and starts as bands and leaders, most prominently Juan José Compá, who was literate and spoke Spanish, alternately raided and responded to peace overtures from Mexican authorities. Most often the Apache objective in a raid was to steal livestock and other property; but a common Apache modus operandi was also to travel by horseback in small groups into Mexico, rendezvous with other groups, attack a settlement, kill the men and capture as many women, children, and livestock as desired, and then flee toward their homeland, setting ambushes along the way to discourage pursuit. The Apache avoided pitched battles unless they were superior in numbers or had the element of surprise.[15]
However, after Mexican independence the resources and manpower devoted to the presidios declined. In Sonora, in 1833, the state government solicited public donations to bolster its defenses, and in 1834 briefly reduced salaries of all state officials by 10 to 33 percent to devote the money to enlisting more soldiers.[16] In Chihuahua, in 1832, to supplement the presidios all civilian men were ordered to carry weapons at all times, all occupied places were ordered to be fortified, and local defense forces were organized. By the early 1840s Chihuahua had 1,500 soldiers under arms in addition to local defense forces. However, much of this force was devoted to protecting the eastern part of the state against Comanches rather than fighting the Apache.[17]
Scalp hunters
In 1835, the government of Sonora put a bounty on the Apache which, over time, evolved into a payment by the government of 100 pesos for each scalp of a male 14 or more years old. Later, Chihuahua offered the same bounty for males plus a bounty of 50 pesos for the capture of an adult female and 25 pesos for a child under 14. Bounty hunters were also allowed to keep any Apache property they captured. The bounty for one Apache male was more than many Mexicans and American workers earned in a full year.[18] It is unclear, however, whether the scalp bounty was actually paid during the first few years.
A famous and often-exaggerated battle (or massacre) involved a United States citizen named James Johnson, resident in Sonora, who led an expedition against the Apache in April 1837. The Apache had raided near the municipality of Moctezuma and driven away a herd of cattle. Johnson gathered together 17 North Americans and 5 Mexico muleskinners, apparently collected expense money from the Sonora government, and borrowed an artillery piece, probably a Swivel gun, small enough to be carried mule-back from the presidio at Fronteras. Johnson found an Apache encampment near the southern end of the Animas Mountains in New Mexico. Juan José Compá led the group which consisted of, according to Johnson, of 80 men plus women and children. Johnson and his men attacked the Apache, killing 20, including Compá, and wounding another 20. For his accomplishment, Johnson received a reward of 100 pesos and the official thanks of the state government. With the death of Compá, Mangas Coloradas (Red Sleeves) became the most prominent Apache leader.[19]
Punitive missions such as Johnson's however, inflamed the Apache rather than intimidated them. The rich
In 1839 North American
In 1849, the bounty laws in Chihuahua were formalized and strengthened. Apache adult male prisoners were worth 250 pesos each, females and children 150 pesos. Dead Apache adult males were worth 200 pesos, the scalp to be given to local governments for verification. The state that year paid out 17,896 for scalps and prisoners. The law was quickly abandoned as it was too costly and Apache scalps could not be distinguished from those of other Indians or of Mexicans.[23]
The punitive missions of Johnson, Kirker, and the Mexican army do not appear to have reduced the scope and scale of Apache depredations.[24]
Casualties
It is impossible to come up with an accurate estimate of casualties for either Mexicans or Apache, but historian William E. Griffen found enough data to illustrate the scope of the war in Chihuahua. From 1832 to 1849, there were 1,707 recorded encounters, 80 percent of which resulted in hostilities, between Indians (Apache and Comanche) and Mexicans. Of these 1,040 were reported to be Apache. The remaining 667 were by Comanche or Indians unidentified by tribe. Data was sufficient to total up casualty figures for nine of the years between 1835 and 1846. A total of 1,394 Mexicans were killed, including 774 killed by Apache and 620 killed by Comanche or unidentified Indians. A total of 559 Indians were reported killed, including 373 Apache and 186 Comanche and unidentified Indians. Casualty figures for both sides included many women and children. Additional incidents and casualties undoubtedly were unrecorded.[25]
Deaths due to the Apache war in Sonora may have been even higher, although data is anecdotal. A Mexican official estimated that 5,000 Sonorans had lost their lives to the Apaches in the 1830s. That seems an exaggeration although, undoubtedly, casualties were substantial. The town of Arizpe saw its population reduced from 7,000 to 1,500 in a few years because it was necessary to move the capital of the state from there because of Apache attacks. Tucson was attacked several times and 200 people were killed by infiltrating Apache inside the walls of the presidio of Fronteras between 1832 and 1849.[26]
What is clear is that Mexico's capacity for defense was seriously weakened by Apache and Comanche raids at the same time as Mexico was suffering from "centralism, clericalism, militarism, and American imperialism."[27]
Enter the United States
The U.S. victory in the
The last hostile band of Apache, led by Geronimo, surrendered in 1886, although individual Apaches continued with banditry in the U.S. and Mexico for many additional years (see Apache Wars). Illustrating the tenacity and elusiveness of the Apache, thousands of U.S. and Mexican soldiers and Apache scouts pursued Geronimo for more than one year, mostly in northern Mexico, until he was induced to surrender his band of only 36 men, women, and children.[28]
See also
References
- ^ "Chiricahua History: The Apache – Mexican wars".
- ^ "Home".
- ^ Schmal, John P. "Indigenous Chihuahua: a story of war and assimilation" http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/374-indigenous-chihuahua-a-story-of-war-and-assimilation
- ^ Weber. David J. (1992), The Spanish Frontier in North America. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 213, 216
- ^ Griffen, William B. (1991), "The Chiricahua Apache Population Resident at the Janos Presido, 1792–1858," Journal of the Southwest, Vol. 33, No. 2, p. 158.
- ^ Schmal, http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/374-indigenous-chihuahua-a-story-of-war-and-assimilation
- ^ Griffen, William B. Apaches at War & Peace: The Janos Presidio, 1750–1858 Albuquerque: U of NM, 1988, pp. 32–33
- ^ Griffen, pp. 53–54
- ISBN 978-1-63149-699-8.
- ^ Griffen, pp. 139, 267–268
- ^ Griffen, William B., Utmost Good Faith: Patterns of Apache-Mexican Hostilities in Northern Chihuahua Border Warfare, 1821–1848, Albuquerque: U of NM Press, 1988, p. 28
- ^ Griffen, Utmost Good Faith, p. 5
- ^ Stevens, Robert C. "The Apache Menace in Sonora" Arizona and the West, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Autumn 1964), p. 213
- ^ Griffen, Utmost Good Faith, p. 183
- ^ Stevens, Robert C. "The Apache Menace in Sonora, 1831–1849", Arizona and the West, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Autumn, 1964), p. 225
- ^ Stevens, pp. 215–216
- ^ Griffen, Utmost Good Faith, pp. 166–171
- ^ "The Scalp Industry" http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPWE/HNS/Scalpin/old/folks.html, accessed 10 Jul 2012.
- ^ Strickland, Rex W. "The Birth and Death of a Legend: The Johnson "Massacre" of 1837", Arizona and the West, Vol. 18, No 3 (Autumn 1976), pp. 257–286
- ISBN 0-8061-1066-X
- Wyandotteas there are Spybucks in early census reports of the tribe."Wyandot and Shawnee Indian Lands in Wyandotte county, Kansas" Collections of Kansas State Historical Society, Vol 15 (1919–1922), p. 116
- ^ Griffen, Utmost Good Faith pp. 58–61, 119, 171–172,
- ^ Griffen, Apaches at War & Peace, p. 224
- ^ Griffen, Utmost Good Faith, p. 247
- ^ Griffen, Utmost Good Faith, pp. 217–307
- ^ Stevens, pp. 219–221
- ^ Smith, Ralph A. "Indians in American-Mexican Relations Before the War of 1846." The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Feb 1963), p. 36
- ^ "The American Experience, We Shall Remain: Geronimo". PBS. Archived from the original on December 9, 2009. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
External links
- Media related to Apache–Mexico Wars at Wikimedia Commons