b'THREE GREAT APACHE CHIEFS OF ARIZONA/NEW MEXICO TERRITORIESPART 3, VICTORIO By Bill Roberts Reprinted from The TravelerVictorio was the last great warrior chief of the Apache. He had been a trusted follower of Mangas Coloradas. He had been a trusted ally of Cochise. With the murder while in military custody of Mangas in 1863 and the death of Cochise from natural causes in June 1876, the Apache tribes were in disarray.V ictorio was the most respected figure in the Apachefled with 30 braves and their families, going into New nation, the most experienced, the most cunningMexico, the Big Bend Country of Texas, and into Mexico.and the most ruthless. Most of the Apache tribes looked to him to keep the whites at bay and to preventThe aged Mescalero chief Caballero followed with more the extinction of the way of life the Apaches had lived forthan 200 of his people, joining up with Victorio on the hundreds of years. Victorio was up to the task. trail. Victorio now had more than 100 warriors following him. The small sheepherders and ranchers in Mexico From 1877 to 1880, he and his varied followers put up theknew Victorio well and he knew them and their country last major resistance of the Apaches against overwhelmingequally well. Without protection of any significance from U.S. Army and Mexican forces on both sides of the borderthe Apaches, the sheepherders readily supplied Victorio between New Mexico and Arizona Territory and Mexico.and his band with supplies, rifles, and ammunition that This is the story of the Warm Springs Apache who led theVictorio requested. It was either that, or death, and the Apaches last stand. sheepherders knew it. So long as they supplied Victorio and his band, the Apache chief would let them live. In this None disputed Victorios strategic skills at warfare. He hadmanner, Victorio kept his band moving and well supplied learned them from two of the finest chiefs the Apaches everfor many months, much to the amazement of U.S. Army had. Mangas Coloradas and Cochise. Victorio had been aand Mexican Army officers.trusted lieutenant of both of these great warrior chiefs. Hard Lesson LearnedWhen U.S. troops in the company of the Walker PartyThe lessons the top officers of these two armies were tortured and murdered Mangas Coloradas while holdingto learn about Victorios keen abilities at strategy and him captive in 1863, the great Chiricahua chief CochiseApache Chief Victorio learned his strategic skills at deception began early in the determined chiefs flight became the successor who could pull the various tribeswarfare from two of the finest chiefs the Apaches ever to Mexico through Texas. His scouts informed him together through statesmanship and respect. had, Mangas Coloradas and Cochise. that a detachment of troops of the 10th Cavalry was on their trail. Victorio was not yet ready to encounter any When Cochise succumbed to old age after negotiating awould move on him. After a few whiskeys were served,large body of troops so he began a twisting trail through treaty with General O.O. Howard, the personal emissaryRogers told the Indians he would not sell them any morecountry he knew far better than the Buffalo Soldiers and of President Grant, that allowed the Chiricahua to remainand ordered them to leave the station.their white officers.forever in their own mountains near Tucson, the Apache tribes were again in disarray. Cochise died with theThe two Apaches were outraged and insulted. They leveledColonel Baylor and a contingent of Texas Rangers joined satisfaction that he had saved the Chiricahua Mountainstheir rifles on Rogers and killed him. They also killed histhe 10th Cavalry effort to run down the Apaches. This for his people to live on for eternity. Within 18 months,assistant, a man named Spence. They then collected all offorce pressed Victorio hard until he was forced to cross the treaty was broken. the rifles, ammunition, and whiskey they could carry andthe Rio Grande into Mexico. Victorio and his band were rode back to Eskinas camp. After raiding several ranchesout of Texas and the U.S. forces could not follow him Whiskey Sale Backfires and killing several whites, Eskinas band returned to theacross the border. He had disappeared into the mountains The Indian Agent overseeing the Chiricahuas under theChiricahua reservation. Eskina and his band wanted theof Mexico where he was sure of supplies and support from treaty gave permission to some of the tribe to take theirrest of the tribe to join them in raiding the countryside. the sheepherders and small ranchers.families into the nearby Dragoon Mountains to hunt, as their food supply was exhausted. In the Dragoons wasWisdom Prevails Suddenly Reappears In U.S.the Rogers Station, a stage station on the Overland StageTah-sa, the chief of the reservation Apaches, refused. ANothing was heard from Victorio after he slipped across Route. Rogers, despite repeated warnings, supplementedfight followed. A battle for control followed and Eskimathe Texas border with Mexico in the Big Bend area. his income by selling liquor to Indians. was killed, along with five others. Three warriors wereNothing until several months later.wounded, including Pi-hon-se-ne. Tah-sa himself shot Rogers sold liquor to the Chiricahua camp and that veryPi-hon-se-ne in the shoulder. Soon officials from theIt was fall and Captain Hooker and a company of the 9th night, the Apaches had a wild party that resulted in aIndian Bureau arrived on the Chiricahua reservation.Cavalry was camped near Ojo Caliente, New Mexico. fight among themselves. Two men and a child died in theThey had orders to move the Chiricahuas to the hated SanVictorio spotted the encampment. He waited until melee. Next day, most of the hunting band returned toCarlos reservation. Cochises treaty with President Grantsnightfall. Victorio did not adhere to the myth that Indians the reservation. A sub-chief named Eskina, leading thepersonal emissary, General Howard, was ignored, just anever attack at night. He needed horses for his warriors remaining Chiricahua hunting band, made up of about ayear and a half after it was signed. and horses the soldiers had, grazing under a guard a dozen warriors and their families, remained in the Dragoons.short distance from the military campsite. Victorio sent War Again Erupts his warriors through the darkness to claim the horses. Two of Eskinas warriors decided to pay Rogers a visit toSome 80 Chiricahuas along with their women and childrenSuddenly rifles cracked, seemingly from everywhere, as get more whiskey. The two were a sub-chief named Pi- fled the reservation before the move to San Carlos couldVictorio provided cover for the warriors after the horses. hon-se-ne and his nephew. Rogers sold the Apaches a fewbe organized by white officials. They fled into Sonora.Suddenly the firing stopped. The thundering hooves of small drinks but refused to give them any large amounts ofGeronimo and Juh led this exodus. Among those who fled46 horses could be heard distancing themselves from the whiskey. He had heard what had happened in the Apacheto escape being moved to San Carlos were some Mescalerocamp ahead of the yells of their new Apache herders.camp the previous night and he was fearful the authoritiesand Mimbreno Apaches. Victorio, A Warm Springs Chief, continued on page 2018 April 2019'