Apache Indians
These Indians are divided into small bands, and are governed by petty
chiefs or captains. The main divisions of the Apaches are named the
Coyoteros, Pinals, Tontos, Apaches, Mohaves, and what is known as
Cochise's tribe. Each of these tribes or hands has more or less divisions,
and are governed as said before, by the petty chiefs or captains of such
hand. They have no common head, and when the chief of one of these bands
is not acceptable to his people he is removed and another chosen in his
stead. In this respect they are republican. They have lived principally by
theft and such supplies as they could obtain from the natural products of
the country, as far back as we have any written knowledge of them. They
have levied their contributions for centuries upon Arizona, New Mexico,
Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango. They often travel hundreds of miles from
their mountain homes and unexpectedly sally forth upon a settlement to
murder, burn and destroy and capture herds, and carry into captivity women
and children. There are many Mexicans now with them who were stolen when
so young that they have no recollection of home or relations, while many
were taken at an age that the memory of father, mother, brothers and
sisters could never be effaced, and such embrace every opportunity of
escape, and have often returned after an absence of from ten to fifteen
years to gladden the hearts of fond relatives who had never ceased to
mourn their sad fate. The tales of anguish as told by these poor people,
of the long years of captivity, of hardships and hunger, of fears and
hopes for life and liberty, and of constantly witnessing the murder and
torture of their own people, are heartrending in the extreme. The Apaches
are polygamists, and have as many wives as fancy dictates, or as they can
induce to live with them. The women do all the hard labor, and are often
treated with great severity by their lords and masters. They have no
matrimonial ceremony to celebrate the marriage relation, but if the
bridegroom is possessed of any property he is expected to give something
to the bride's father at the time she is taken from the parental roof.
After marriage, these Indians expect and demand fidelity on the part of
their wives, be they few or many; and, any deviation from the paths of
virtue is punished by cutting off the nose. The writer has seen a number
of their women after they had been disfigured in this way.
Repeated attempts have been made to place them on reservations, but they
have invariably proved treacherous in their pretensions, and while being
fed at the expense of the Government have often murdered and robbed
citizens, and when their nefarious work was done, return again to the
reservation for safety and rest. There are undoubtedly Apache Indians who
desire peace, and policy and humanity dictate that they should be placed
upon a reservation and be fed and guarded, and not allowed to roam at
will, and murder and devastate as has been the case in all previous
experiments. Cochise is the most noted of all the Apache chiefs, and while
all other bands are independent of him, they all give him assistance in
men and supplies whenever he makes requisitions. The murders committed by
this notorious chief, if given in detail, would cause the blood to curdle
in any one's veins who has a heart of sympathy. The misery and torture he
has inflicted, if portrayed, would cause amazement that a just God ever
created such a monster. To the personal knowledge of the writer full one
hundred have fallen beneath his hand during the past two years. He is
inventive in his means of torture. Women are often made captives, and
subjected to a life worse than death. Children are placed on spears and
roasted over a slow fire, and writhe in misery until life is extinct. Men
are hanged by the feet and a slow fire kindled at the head, and gashed
with knives and pierced with arrows until death gives relief. Reader,
these are stubborn facts. Do you wonder the people clamor for protection,
and feel deeply wronged when their brethren, far removed from these horrid
scenes, denounce them as barbarous because they want peace and these
Indians subdued?
Source: Resources Of Arizona Territory.
Francis & Valentine, Steam Printers And Engravers. 1871.
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