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Apache - Fiercest Warriors in the Southwest

 

 

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An influx of Comanche into traditional Apache territory in the early 1700s forced the Lipan and other Apache to move south of their main food source, the buffalo. These displaced Apache then increased their raiding on the Pueblo Indians and non-Indian settlers for food and livestock.

 

Apache raids on settlers and migrants crossing their lands continued into the period of American westward expansion and the United States acquisition of New Mexico in 1848. Some Apache bands and the United States military authorities engaged in fierce wars until the Apache were pacified and moved to reservations.

 

Apache Dancers, 1906

Apache Dancers, 1906, courtesy Library of Congress.

 

The Mescalero were subdued by 1868 and placed on a reservation at Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico with the Navajo. The Western Apache and their Yavapai allies were subdued in the U.S. military’s Tonto Basin Campaign of 1872-1873.

The Chiricahua Chief Cochise signed a treaty with the U.S. government in 1872 and moved with his band to an Apache reservation in Arizona. But Apache resistance continued under the Mimbreno Chief Victorio from 1877 to 1880.

Geronimo

Geronimo was one of the fiercest Apache Chiefs that ever  lived.

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

 

The last band of Apache raiders, active in ensuing years under the Chiricahua Warrior Geronimo, was hunted down in 1886 and sent first to Florida, then to Alabama, and finally to the Oklahoma Territory, where they settled among the Kiowa-Apache.

 

The major Apache groups, each speaking a different dialect,  include the Jicarilla and Mescalero of New Mexico, the Chiricahua of the Arizona- New Mexico border area, and the Western Apache of Arizona. The Yavapai-Apache Nation Reservation is southwest of Flagstaff, Arizona. Other groups were the Lipan Apache of south-western Texas and the Plains Apache of Oklahoma .

 

The White Mountain Apache Tribe is located in the east central region of Arizona, 194 miles northeast of Phoenix. This group manages the popular Sunrise Park Ski Resort and Fort Apache Timber Company.  The Tonto Apache Reservation was created in 1972 near Payson in eastern Arizona. Within the Tonto National Forest, northeast of Phoenix, the reservation consists of 85 acres, serves about 100 tribal members, and operates a casino.

 

 

 

 

Noted leaders have included Cochise, Mangas Coloradas, Chief Victorio and Geronimo, who the U.S. Army found to be fierce warriors and skillful strategists.

In 2000 U.S. census about 57,000 people identified themselves as Apache only; an additional 40,000 people reported being part Apache. Many Apache live on reservations in Arizona and New Mexico. Farming, cattle herding, and tourist-related businesses are important economic activities. The modern Apache way of life is a mixture of traditional beliefs and rituals, such as mountain spirit dances, and contemporary American culture.

 

 

Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, © Updated July, 2007

 

Apache Teepees in Arizona, 1907

Apache Teepees in Arizona, 1907.

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

 

 

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From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Native American Vintage Photographs Native American Photo Prints  - Vintage photographs of famous chiefs, heroes, and Indian life in the 19th century.

 

 

         

 

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