By Keli Holt
Last month we explored how the Apache, or the Nde (“the people”), arrived in the Southwest around 1500, migrating from the north alongside their related Navajo and Ute cousins. Upon settling in southern Arizona and New Mexico, the Apache maintained their hunter-gatherer lifestyle, hunting in the mountains and gathering mescal from the valleys.
The Spanish arrived soon after the Apache, and the animals they brought – the horse, goat, sheep, pig, and chicken – revolutionized the Southwest. The horse expanded the range and speed with which nations like the Apache could hunt. This came in handy as the Apache would use the new animal to steal livestock from sedentary nations like the Puebloans in New Mexico and the Tohono O’Odham of Arizona. Nde records indicate that stealing penned livestock was simply an easier way to hunt. As a result, the Nde became the archenemies of those whose food sources they opportunistically raided. In turn, some of those nations allied with the Spanish for protection.
By the 1740s, the Spanish were so fed up with raiding that they built a series of presidios (forts) along the northernmost frontier of Nueva España (which spanned from Central America to the American Southwest), further militarizing the situation. The Apache were so adept at raiding by this point that they attacked the new presidio of Tucson and stole all the fort’s livestock in one night.
These failures to protect themselves and their allies led the Spanish to change policies again. By 1786, it was cheaper for Spain to give the Nde rations in return for promises to end the raiding. Some Nde bands accepted these offers and settled near the presidios onto establicimientos de paz (peace establishments). Any Apache found off the settlements were deemed dangerous and were arrested and hauled in chains to Mexico City first and later to Cuba.
The time of the “Peace Apache” from 1790-1830 was an age of relative stability, and the population of northern Nueva España began to rise.
The wars of Mexican independence, however, upset the fragile harmony. Many of the men and material from the presidios went south to fight for independence from Spain, hollowing out the forts and ending the distribution of rations to the peace Apache, many of whom returned to raiding.
After independence in 1821, Mexico was bankrupt and the communities of northern Mexico were left to deal with the Apache and all other Native Nations on their own. To end the raiding, these communities issued cash bounties for any Nde scalps brought to the authorities. As it was difficult to ascertain whether a scalp was truly that of an Apache, these policies simply fueled more violence.
Feeling abandoned by Mexico City, in 1846 the communities of northern Mexico allowed the Americans to march through their lands uncontested en route to conquering California.
At first the Apache traded with the Americans for weapons and tools, but once the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, and the new border between Mexico and the U.S. was created, the Nde found themselves on both sides of the border. Now an Apache raid from America to Mexico was not just a local problem but an international incident.
Just as America was trying to consolidate its hold over the Southwest, the Civil War (1861-1865) broke out leading to an abandonment of military posts in New Mexico and Arizona. Recognizing an opportunity, Apache began raiding all over the Southwest, including along the famous Santa Fe Trail. When the war ended, the Americans returned in greater numbers and with the improved technologies created during the four long years of war. This was the time of the so-called “Indian Wars” when America was determined to end the violence on its terms.
Americans arriving in the Southwest demanded military protection from the Apache. Indeed, it was the settlers, both Mexican and American, who often initiated violence towards the Nde. This was demonstrated in the 1871 Camp Grant Massacre, when a combined force of civilian Mexicans, Americans and allied Native Nations attacked a camp of Nde, murdering over 100 mostly women and children.
The U.S. Army was never far behind. It shared the goal of shepherding most Native Nations onto designated reservations where they could dictate how they lived.
Some Apache bands, like that led by the famous Nde warrior Geronimo fought back ferociously. They used the Mexican-American border to their advantage, launching attacks or raids on one side and disappearing through the remote mountain trails to the other to elude capture.
However, American resources like the railroads and repeating rifles combined with the targeting of Nde food supplies eventually wore the Apache down. It would take 20 years of fighting, but eventually, the Nde accepted their new homes on one of five Apache Nation reservations spread between New Mexico and Arizona.
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