THE LOST APACHES OF THE SIERRA MADRE

Back in the 1990s I was a  foreman on a small cattle ranch in south eastern Arizona, about 20 miles as the crow flies from the Mexican Border. I had awesome views of the Chircahua, Sisshelm, and Dragoon mountain ranges. This Ranch was right in the heart of Apacharia – and I loved it.When I had time off, I would saddle up “Democrat” my mule and ride out in the desert or head over to the dragoon mountains to look for old Apache camps.
One of the coolest things though was that I got to know the local cattle/livestock inspector pretty well. He was a native Arizonan, born and raised in Cochise county. He grew up on a ranch in the San Bernadino valley. He told me about a Viejo (old man) that worked for his father back in the 1940s and 50s. What I though was cool about that is that according to Viejo, he had been captured as a boy in old Mexico by Bronco Apaches. I was told that the old man lived with them in the Sierra Madres for 10 years. He could speak both Apache and Spanish.
According to the stock inspector Viejo would ride his burro to a spring at the south end of the Chiricahua mountains every fall, to meet his Apache brethren who were returning to their traditional homeland to hunt deer. This was in the 1950s….That is – at least to me, pretty awesome. Hearing this story and many others like it from the area makes me want to know more about the Bronco Apaches and how long they actually held out in Mexico, or in small family bands in the Huachucas or other sky islands.
According to Sinew J. Reilly, (one of the last U.S. Army Apache scouts) he discovered an Apache girl in the Huachucas in 1926, and there were many people found dead in those hills with Apache arrows in them until the late 1930s.

With Geronimo’s surrender in 1886, the Apache depredations ceased in the United States. But a few remnant bands slipped into the rugged Sierra Madre near Bacadehuachi in northern Mexico and continued sporadic raids over the intervening century.

“Aristeo Garcia rode into ranch head­quarters at Nacori Chico, a primitive set­tlement at the base of the Sierra Madre. Over the saddle in front of him lay a small Indian girl.
At the home of jack Rowe, he stopped and hailed the house. Rowe came  from inside the large adobe and waited patiently as his foreman rolled a cigarette. Garcia then told him about a shoot-out with Apaches. The year was 1932” …. Abstract from the Lynda Sanchez manuscript: Carmina’s People, The Lost Apache of the Sierra Madre.

It has been a hit-and-run guerrilla exis­tence for the Apaches since the surrender of Geronimo, when the remaining Indi­ans broke into small bands and dis­appeared into the deep, silent barrancas of the Sierra Madre, the mother mountain range of Mexico. There were continual conflicts with ranchers, miners, and loggers. On both sides, hatred brewed, and little quarter was given except to children, when and if they were captured.

Carmina was the name of the young Apache taken by Aris­teo Garcia in 1932. Her lot was better than most because Jack Rowe and his partner, Jack Harris, took pity on the desperate, frightened child. later Harris and his wife adopted the girl. Carmina’s people, the Sierra Madre Apaches, had raided the San Bernardino Ranch on the Arizona side of the border in 1907. later, in the 1920s and ’30s, there were reported sightings of the Indians in New Mexico and Arizona.

The Fimbres family, who lived near Nacori Chico, sur­vived a shoot-out with them in 1929 and again in 1930. In 1934 another encounter occurred at a pass near Cum pas, Sonora. The Apaches, surprised by a group of cow­boys, were convoying a stolen pack train to a mountain stronghold. The leader and four women were killed. It was reported they had human scalps hanging from their belts, among which were those of three merchants from Cumpas, still bloody. After reclaiming the mules, the cow­boys found seven Apache children stuffed into buckskin pockets hanging from the sides of the animals. Several were wounded. The ranchers divided the chil­dren among themselves. Only one sur­vived, however, and was said to have become a teacher somewhere in Sonora.

Over the years, repeated attempts have been made to contact the Apache survi­vors in the Sierra. In 1934 anthropologist Grenville Goodwin wrote to his colleague Morris Opler: “They are fighting a losing battle in Mexico, and it seems only a question of time till they will be extermi­nated. In the last few years, about five of them have been killed in fights with Mexi­cans.. .. A girl of about eight years was caught by two Mexicans. They kept her tied on the end of a rope that was fas­tened to a tree.
A friend of mine down in Mexico offered a hundred pesos for her, but before he could get in touch with the Mexicans … she had died. It is hard to imag­ine how wild these people are …. ” In 1938 Dr. Helge Ingstad tried to make contact with the Indians but failed. Other attempts were made as late as 1982. That survivors still exist, however, is certain. Camps have been identified, and sight­ings of individuals have been made from 1955 to 1980 in such places as Juarez and Chihuahua. The latest and perhaps the most omi­nous report of their existence appeared in a recent issue of Gun Digest, in which a writer commented that leftist guerrillas and drug smugglers were supplying the Sierra Madre Apaches with AK 47s and light machine guns.

Last Apache Scouts in the U.S. Army;
In 1922 the last U.S. Army Indian scouts were sent from Fort Bowie, AZ to Fort Huachuca,  these Scouts lived in and worked all over the Huachuca Mountains in the same stomping grounds that I have camped and hiked in over the past few years. On Post , you can still visit the Scout camp along Huachuca creek where they had their wikiups set up for their respective families. It is a pretty spot with many large Native Sycamore and oak trees with beautiful views of the surrounding hills.

I have parked my car there many times to stretch out before a run up and down the Canyon trails, it is one of my favorite spots on base and I can understand why the Indian Scouts like it too.
I have seen and held in my hands a Sharps carbine rifle that belonged to Staff Sergeant Sinew J. Reilly who was the highest ranking Non Commissioned Officer(NCO) for the Scouts. This rifle was in the possession of a friend of mine for safe keeping, as I held it I could feel the history of it in my hands and I could imagine SSG Reilly with it across the front of his McClellan army saddle (Model 1903 tree), as he rode the Mountain trails. It was an interesting bit of American history to behold.
The red head band worn by the Apache Scouts came about because in the 1880s the Army was looking for distinctive color  for head bands to more easily identify friendly scouts from hostile Indians. The Army Chief of Scouts chose White, but the only color available in the sutlers store at the time was red, so each Army scout was issued 1 yard of red flannel for his head band. The U.S. Army Apache scouts wore their red head bands as a badge of honor and were proud of their skill and ability to sneak up on the enemy Indians while wearing this bright color.
Other than the odd  Apache running around, hostiles were not known to wear red head bands. Unlike the claims of certain “survival experts”, wild or bronco Apache scouts did not wear red head bands. That claim is simply not true.
A few years ago I was yarnin’ with a retired Army Colonel from Fort Huachuca who actually knew the scouts when they were here in Arizona. I was told by the Colonel that the Scouts were sometimes hard to locate in the Mountains due to their disdain for radios, at times a rider had to be dispatched to track them down. The scouts were used for many different missions on base during the ww2 era and it was the last war time service seen by official Army Indian scouts.
The last four Apache scouts were promoted and then retired from service in 1947; some of them had served the army for 40 years or more.
I enjoy reading the colorful names like “Sgt. Chicken”, “Chow Big” , or “Short Bread” , these names and stories about the old scouts reminds me of the Native peoples I have encountered around the world. All Native peoples seem to possess a wonderful sense of humor and come up with colorful descriptive names for things and each other.
It does not take much imagination to figure out why “Chow Big” was called that, I’m sure he could pack away the chow. Probably not unlike the Nepalese Ghurkas or Aeta Negritos I have worked with. I have seen these little guys eat in a single meal an amazing amount of rice and canned meats then top it off with local fruits and veggies etc. , way more food then I would consume in an entire day.
Being from Arizona and having lived in “Apacharia”for several years, specifically in the Huachuca mountains where these scouts lived and worked. Perhaps I can better appreciate them and their abilities more than most folks. I have walked the same trails, drank from the same streams, and camped in the same side canyons as these old scouts. My Tomahawk Scout Field manual and scout course were inspired by the skills of the Apaches scouts.
There were many times when I was Camped alone in the Huachuca mountains on a cold clear winter night, sitting by my small Apache style “star fire”, I swear that I could hear the ghosts of the old scouts shouting at me ………..
“Hadínyaa Ndeen~ we are still here, Aheeya!”,

I sincerely hope the ghosts of these old scouts are still up there in the Huachucas’ and they continue to move about like the wind.

~ Lynda Sanchez, an Arizona native, teaches Spanish and Southwest history in Lincoln County, New Mexico. She is co-author of Indeh, an Apache Odyssey, and her articles on the South­west and Mexico have appeared in Nuestro, journal of Arizona History, Southwest Heritage, and New Mexico Magazine.