GERONIMO IN MEXICO “Apaches move to Mexico: 1873”

Most of us know of the Apache leader Geronimo but most of what most of us know we learned at the movies.  Leader of the Chiricahua Apaches, Geronimo led the fight against the expansion into Apache tribal lands by the United States during the Apache Wars.  But you knew that much from the movies.  It is true that the greatest wrongs that were visited upon the Apaches were from the United States government.  But the history of the Geronimo’s war parties started in Mexico…and we continue with the story.

Pressure was coming from Brigadier General George Crook who had caused much dissatisfaction among the Apaches.  Around the year 1873, when Mexican troops attacked Apacheria and were defeated by the Chiricahua who were off the reservation, the Apaches decided that it would be prudent to make raids into Mexico.

Geronimo moved the whole camp, packing all their belongings on mules and horses went into Mexico and made camp in the mountains near Nacori.  In moving their camp in this way the Apaches wanted no one to spy on them, and if the Indians passed a Mexican’s home they usually killed the residents. However, if the Mexicans offered to surrender and made no resistance or trouble in any way, Geronimo would take them prisoners. The Indians always set a place of rendezvous when they went off on a raid so that they could all get back together with their women and children.  Frequently the Indians would change their place of rendezvous; then they would take with them their Mexican prisoners if they were willing to go, but if they were unruly they might be killed.

Geronimo told of one Mexican in the Sierra Madre Mountains who saw the tribe moving and shooting at them delayed the Indians for some time.  Thinking the plunder of the Mexican’s house would pay them for the delay, the Apaches undertook the trouble to attack him, but after the Indians had killed him they found nothing in his casa worth having.

The Apaches ranged in those mountains for over a year, raiding the Mexican settlements for supplies, but not having any general engagement with Mexican troops; then the Indians returned to their homes in Arizona. After remaining in Arizona about a year The Apaches returned to Mexico, and went into hiding in the Sierra Madre Mountains.  Their camp was near Nacori, and Geronimo had just organized bands of warriors for raiding the country, when the scouts discovered Mexican troops coming toward the camp to attack them.  We’ll discuss that battle in our next installment.

KINCADE’S DEATH by Michael Chandler and Loahna Chandler

Readers of the Kincade Saga have always been aware that the series would have to eventually come to an end.  And the end might have come with “Kincade’s Death,” by Michael and Loahna Chandler.

Superstition Mountain…pushed up from five miles beneath the earth’s crust three million years ago…feared by the Apaches…and called Monte Supersticion by the Spanish explorers whose compadres mysteriously died there…is the centerpiece of “Kincade’s Death.”  Men came to Superstition Mountain from all over.  They came looking for gold.  And Kincade had the map.  Chandler and Chandler present every Western character imaginable, from a beautiful, striking heroine and a rugged, stalwart Western hero to filthy, stupid villains and faithful, loyal friends.

“Kincade’s Death” reflects Chandler and Chandler’s extensive knowledge of Arizona history and legend, especially in and around Tombstone. While this story follows the three-novel life of Kincade, it can stand alone as a classic Western adventure.  It offers even more to those who have already read the first three Kincade novels. 

Complete your Kincade adventures with “Kincade’s Death,” the fourth book in this exciting Western series.  And then watch for “Kincade’s Son,” coming soon.  Could that mean that Kincade isn’t really dead?  Could it mean that the lovely Josephine was “expecting?”  Where will Chandler and Chandler’s imagination lead us next?

Michael Chandler is an award winning advertising writer and an international author whose best-selling book, “Dreamweaving…The Secret to Overwhelming your Business Competition” has also been published in Southeast Asia and Indonesia. Chandler’s western adventure novel, “Kincades’ Death” is his newest book and continues the Kincade saga found in “Kincade‘s Blood,”  “Kincade‘s Fear” and “Kinkade’s Early Years” His other books include “The Littlest Cowboy‘s Christmas” with John Denver.

Author Michael Chandler’s co-author is his mother, Loahna Chandler. A former singer, dancer and actress on radio, TV and stage, including a stint with the USO during the Korean War, Loahna spent years traveling to 123 countries and sailing on 60 luxury cruises making travelogues with her husband Warren. Loahna Chandler says that she has found the most rewarding writing experience of her 80+ years in collaborating with her son Michael on the Kincade series.

Michael Chandler‘s “Kincade’s Death” is published by Wagonmaster Books and all of his books are available globally through amazon.com.

GERONIMO IN MEXICO “Apaches get back their stock from the Mexicans: 1868”

Most of us know of the Apache leader Geronimo but most of what most of us know we learned at the movies.  Leader of the Chiricahua Apaches, Geronimo led the fight against the expansion into Apache tribal lands by the United States during the Apache Wars.  But you knew that much from the movies.  It is true that the greatest wrongs that were visited upon the Apaches were from the United States government.  But the history of the Geronimo’s war parties started in Mexico…and we continue with the story.

In the year 1868 Mexican troops and cowboys rounded up all the horses and mules that the tribe had taken from Mexico.  The animals were not far from the Chiricahua Apache settlement and the Indians were taken by surprise. No raids had been made down into Mexico that year, and the Apaches were not expecting any attacks or reprisals. The Indians were all resting in camp, having just returned from hunting.

About two o’clock in the afternoon, two Mexican scouts were seen near the settlement. The Apaches dispatched these scouts at once, but the Mexican soldiers and vaqueros got under way with the herd of Apache horses and mules before the warriors saw them.  The Indians realized that it was useless to try to overtake the Mexicans on foot, and so the tribe had not one horse left.

Geronimo took twenty warriors and trailed the Mexicans. The Apaches eventually found their horses and mules at a cattle ranch in Sonora, not far from Nacozari, and attacked the Mexican cowboys who were keeping watch over the herd. The Indians killed two Mexican charros and lost no warriors. After the fight the Apaches drove off their own stock and all of the Mexican cowboys’ stock, as well.

The Apaches were trailed by nine Mexican vaqueros. Geronimo sent the livestock on ahead and, with three warriors, stayed in the rear of the war party in order to intercept any attacking parties of Mexicans. One night, when near the Arizona line, Geronimo discovered that the Mexican cowboys were on their trail.  The warriors watched the Mexicans set up camp for the night and picket their horses.  About midnight, the Apaches quietly crept into the Mexican camp and, while the Mexican charros slept, silently led away all their horses.  Once well away, the Indians rode hard and overtook the rest of their compatriots, who always traveled at night instead of in the daytime. Geronimo turned these horses in with the herd and again fell back to intercept anyone who might trail them.

The Mexican cowboys did not follow the Indians and they were not molested. When Geronimo arrived in camp at home there was great rejoicing in the tribe. It was considered a good trick to get the Mexicans’ horses and leave the vaqueros asleep in the mountains.

It was a long time before the Apaches again went into Mexico or were disturbed by the Mexicans. 

DEATH AT THE SWITCHBACK By Steven Yount

 Steven Yount’s renowned Deputy U.S. Marshal Turner Brown faces what could be his ultimate tests – a young and slight hardened killer and a slim, young raven-haired beauty – in this exciting Western novel, Death at the Switchback    Author Steven Yount transports the reader back in time to the Albuquerque area of New Mexico Territory in the autumn of 1868.  It was a holdup of the Hayes and Hatch stagecoach at Bernalillo Switchback that caused lawman Turner Brown to get involved and, armed with his courage, keen eye and fast draw, Brown set out to make things right.  Death at the Switchback is a gripping story peopled with memorable characters, from a legendary one-time Texas Ranger to a beautiful Spanish aristocrat.  And SASS members will get a kick out of some character names they might recognize. 

Just like Death on the Trail, Yount’s first Turner Brown Western, Death at the Switchback is another outstanding, traditional Western escapade sure to please fans of Western novels.  In fact, it is Steven Yount’s familiarity with the history of the Old West and his attention to every facet of Western life that makes Death at the Switchback the factual Western adventure that it is.  Yount has a good knowledge of period firearms, dress and customs, people, and of New Mexico history and landscape.  If you’ve ever been to the parts of New Mexico that Yount describes in his books you’ll recognize them immediately.  Even if you‘ve never seen New Mexico in person, Steven Yount creates word pictures that make it real. The main character, Turner Brown is loosely based on the author’s own great-grandfather.  Death at the Switchback follows Death on the Trail as the second novel of The Turner Brown Westerns and what will become a four book series.  With Hollywood re-discovering the West, this reviewer is sure that there’s a movie or two in there somewhere.

Steven Yount, the author of The Turner Brown Westerns: Death at the Switchback and Death on the Trail is a veteran, award-winning broadcast journalist who has worked as a news reporter and news anchor at the premier all-news radio stations in Philadelphia, Chicago and New York City as well as the most prestigious financial news reporting publication in America, The Wall Street Journal Radio Network.  This Easterner who has become an expert on the West lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife, Joanne and their Chihuahua, Lola.  

Death at the Switchback and Death on the Trail, Turner Brown Westerns, are both available via the internet at TurnerBrownWesterns.com, where readers can join Turner Brown’s posse and receive free bonus material and reviews of upcoming Turner Brown adventures.

GERONIMO IN MEXICO “The Chief’s loss and Geronimo’s gain: 1866-67”

Most of us know of the Apache leader Geronimo but most of what most of us know we learned at the movies.  Leader of the Chiricahua Apaches, Geronimo led the fight against the expansion into Apache tribal lands by the United States during the Apache Wars.  But you knew that much from the movies.  It is true that the greatest wrongs that were visited upon the Apaches were from the United States government.  But the history of the Geronimo’s war parties started in Mexico…and we continue with the story.

Early in the summer of 1866 Geronimo took thirty mounted warriors and invaded Mexican territory. The war party went south through Chihuahua as far as Santa Cruz, Sonora, then crossed over the Sierra Madre Mountains, following the river course at the south end of the range. The Indians kept on westward from the Sierra Madre Mountains to the Sierra de Sahuaripa Mountains, and followed that range northward.

Geronimo collected all the horses, mules, and cattle they wanted, and drove the animals northward through Sonora into Arizona. Mexicans saw the Indians many times and in many places, but they did not attack at any time, nor did any Mexican troops attempt to follow them. When the Apaches arrived at the Homeland, Geronimo gave presents to all, and the tribe feasted and danced. During this raid the warriors had killed about fifty Mexicans.

Next year, in 1867, Chief Mangas Coloradas led eight Chiricahua Apache warriors on a raid into Mexico.  Geronimo went along as a warrior, for even if not in charge he was always glad for an opportunity to fight the Mexicans. The Indians rode south from near Tombstone, Arizona, into Sonora, Mexico. They attacked some Mexican cowboys, and after a fight with the Mexicans the Indians drove all the Mexican cattle toward Apacheria. On the second day of travel, as the war party drove the cattle northward, the Chief failed to set out scouts.

When not far from Arispe, Mexican troops rode down upon the Apaches. The Mexicans were well armed and well mounted, and when the Apaches first saw them the Mexicans were less than half a mile away. The Indians abandoned the purloined cattle and rode as hard as they could toward the mountains, but the Mexican troops gained on them rapidly. Soon the troopers opened fire, but they were still far away.  The Indians returned fire but they were unable to reach the Mexicans with their arrows.  At last the Indians reached some timber, and, leaving their ponies, fought the Mexican troops from the cover of the trees. The Mexicans simply halted, collected the Indian’s ponies, and rode away across the plains toward Arispe, driving the cattle with them. Mangas Coloradas and the Apache war party could do nothing but stand and watch the Mexicans until they disappeared in the distance.  After that, the Indians set out on their disappointing walk home to Arizona.

The Indians arrived home in five days with no victory to report, no spoils to divide, and not even the ponies on which they had ridden into Mexico. The whole tribe considered this Mangas Coloradas expedition disgraceful.

The warriors who had been with the Chief on this last expedition wanted to return to Mexico. They were not content with the unsatisfactory results of the raid.  More importantly, they felt intensely the taunts and jeers of the other warriors.

Mangas Coloradas either would not or could not lead them back to Mexico, so Geronimo took command.  A war party of only six went on foot, directly toward Arispe in Sonora, and made their camp in the Sierra de Sahuaripa Mountains. The Indians raided several Mexican settlements at night and captured many horses and mules.  They loaded the animals with the provisions, saddles and blankets they had taken from the Mexican villages. Then Geronimo and the war party, traveling only at night, rode back to Arizona.

When the warriors arrived at their home, Geronimo sent out sentries to prevent any surprise by Mexicans who might have trailed them, assembled the tribe, divided the spoils, and the Apaches feasted and danced into the night.  Because of the disgrace felt by the tribe as a result of the last raid, Mangas Coloradas did not receive any of this plunder.  And it seems, according to Geronimo’s words, that the war party did not care. No Mexican troops followed Geronimo’s war party back to Arizona.

GERONIMO IN MEXICO “Good summer, bad autumn: 1865”

Most of us know of the Apache leader Geronimo but most of what most of us know we learned at the movies.  Leader of the Chiricahua Apaches, Geronimo led the fight against the expansion into Apache tribal lands by the United States during the Apache Wars.  But you knew that much from the movies.  It is true that the greatest wrongs that were visited upon the Apaches were from the United States government.  But the history of the Geronimo’s war parties started in Mexico…and we continue with the story.

In the summer of 1865, with four warriors, Geronimo again went into Mexico. Up to that point, the Apache war parties had always gone into Mexico on foot.  The Apaches were accustomed to fight on foot and they had the ability to more easily conceal themselves when dismounted.  But this time Geronimo wanted more cattle, and it was hard to drive cattle when the warriors were on foot. 

Geronimo and the four warriors entered Sonora at a point southwest from Tombstone, Arizona, and followed the Sierra de Antunez Mountains to the southern limit, then crossed the country as far south as the mouth of Yaqui River. Here they saw what Geronimo described as a great lake extending beyond the limit of sight. Subsequently the Indians turned north, attacked several settlements, and secured plenty of supplies.

When the Apaches had come back northwest of Arispe, Geronimo secured about sixty head of cattle, and drove them to Apacheria in Arizona. The Indians did not go directly home, but camped in different valleys with the cattle. They were not followed by the Mexicans. When the Apaches finally arrived at the camp the tribe was again assembled for feasting and dancing.  Presents were given to everybody.  Afterward the cattle were slaughtered and the meat dried and packed in layers of cow hides.

In the fall of 1865, this time with nine other warriors, Geronimo again went into Mexico, this time on foot.  He attacked several settlements south of Casa Grande, and rounded up many horses and mules.  Now mounted, the Indians made their way northward through the mountains with the horses and mules.

The warriors made camp one evening near the Mexican village of Arispe.

Believing that the Mexicans were not trailing them, the Indians set out sentries and turned loose the whole herd, even those they had been riding. The Apaches were encamped in a valley surrounded by steep mountains and they settled in at the mouth of this valley in order that the animals could not wander away without coming through Geronimo’s camp.  

Just as the war party had begun to eat their supper, the sentries came into the camp and announced that Mexican troops were coming toward them. The Apaches started for the horses, but troops that the Indian scouts had not seen were scattered on the cliffs above them.  The troops opened fire. The Indians spread out in all directions, and the Mexican troops recovered all the horses and mules that Geronimo had taken.

The Apaches reassembled at their appointed place of rendezvous in the Sierra Madre Mountains in northern Sonora.  The Mexican troops did not follow them.   Geronimo and his war party returned to Arizona without any more fighting but without plunder. No feasting, no dancing would follow.  Taking blame, Geronimo had nothing to say, but he was anxious for another raid, which would occur early the next summer.

GERONIMO IN MEXICO “Tequila Sunset: 1864”

Most of us know of the Apache leader Geronimo but most of what most of us know we learned at the movies.  Leader of the Chiricahua Apaches, Geronimo led the fight against the expansion into Apache tribal lands by the United States during the Apache Wars.  But you knew that much from the movies.  The greatest wrongs that were visited upon the Apaches were from the United States government.  But it all started in Mexico…and we continue with the story.

In the fall of 1864, twenty Apache warriors were willing to go with Geronimo on another raid into Mexico. These were all carefully chosen men, well armed and equipped for battle.

As usual, the Indians provided for the safety of their families before starting on the raid. The whole tribe scattered and then reassembled at a camp about forty miles from their former location.  In this way it would be hard for the Mexicans to trail them and the warriors would know where to find their families when they returned. Moreover, if any hostile Indians should see this large a number of warriors leaving their range, the hostiles might attack the Apache camp.  This way, if the unfriendly Indians found no one at the usual place, their raid would fail.

Geronimo and the war party went south through the Chokonen Apaches’ range, entered Sonora, Mexico, at a point directly south of Tombstone, Arizona, and went into hiding in the Sierra de Antunez Mountains.

The Apaches raided several settlements in the neighborhood and secured plenty of provisions and supplies to support the war party.  After about three days, the warriors attacked and captured a Mexican mule pack train at a place called by the Indians “Pontoco.”  Pontoco is situated in the mountains due west, about one day’s journey from Arispe.

There were three drivers with the Mexican pack train. One Mexican driver was killed and the other two escaped. The pack train was loaded with mescal, which was stored in bottles held in wicker baskets. As soon as the Apaches made camp, the Indians got into the mescal.  This led to most of them getting drunk and fighting each other. Geronimo, too, drank enough mescal to feel the effect of it, but he always claimed that he was not under the influence. 

Geronimo ordered the fighting stopped, but, given the circumstances, the order was disobeyed. Soon a general fight was in progress. Geronimo tried to place outside guards around the camp, but all the Indians were intoxicated and refused to serve.  Geronimo expected an attack from Mexican troops at any moment.  This was a serious matter for Geronimo because being in command he would be held responsible for any misfortune attending the expedition. Finally the camp became comparatively still, for the Indians were too inebriated to walk or even to fight.  

While the Apaches were in an alcohol stupor, Geronimo spilled all of the remaining mescal on the ground.  In case Mexican troops were watching, Geronimo then put out all the fires and moved the pack mules to a considerable distance from camp.  After this Geronimo returned to camp to try to do something for the wounded. He found that only two of his war party were dangerously injured. Geronimo proceeded to cut an arrow head out of the leg of one of these, and from the shoulder of another he withdrew a spear point.  When all the wounds had been cared for, Geronimo himself kept guard till morning.  

The next day the Apaches loaded their wounded on the pack mules and started back to Arizona.  On the journey the Indians captured some cattle from a Mexican herd and drove them back home with them. It turned out to be a very difficult task for the war party to drive cattle when the Indians were on foot.  Caring for the wounded and keeping the cattle from escaping made the journey rather tedious. Luckily, the Apaches were not trailed by the Mexicans, and the Indians arrived safely at home with all the plunder.

Geronimo then gave a feast and a dance, and divided the spoils among the tribe.  After the dance they slaughtered all the cattle and dried the meat.  The Indians dressed the hides and then packed the jerked meat in between layers of the hides to store it.  All that winter of 1864-65, the Apaches had plenty of meat.

These were the first cattle the Apaches had ever been able to successfully steal and get to the Homeland to be prepared for food.  Usually, the Apaches killed and ate some of the mules they captured. It seems that the Apaches had little use for mules, and if they could not trade them for something of value, the Indians killed and ate them.