The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 36, July 1932 - April, 1933 Page: 181
328 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Frontier Life in Southern Arizona, 1858-1861
tains - at first they looked like specks in the distance but they
approached very rapidly - most of them were mounted on horse-
back. There were probably between 60 or 100 in this vicinity,
men, women and children and they appeared to be all coming
towards us -- we had designed taking breakfast here - but our
captain, under the circumstances, thought it expedient to hitch
and and leave as soon as possible - this band of Indians profess
friendship with the whites - they are part of the Apache nation
and most of the tribe are attacking and killing the whites when-
ever they have an opportunity - they are said to be very malicious
and treacherous and cannot agree among themselves but have
quarreled and split up into factions like our Christian Churches
- this small party profess friendship for the whites but our cap-
tain says it will not do to trust them. If we were to admit
enough of them into our camp to overpower us they would shake
hands with us, eat our grub - and if a favorable opportunity
occurred they would murder us all - and if they done no other
harm they would beg our provisions and be angry if we did not
give them and we have not enough for ourselves - we started
before they got to us but we met some of them on the road -
and they were truly a wild and fierce looking race - the men
were almost entirely naked and the women not much better -
they looked very much disappointed when they found we were not
going to stop - they grinned at us and spoke to us in Spanish
as we passed - (nearly all of them talk Spanish) - some of
them looked very grotesque and would provoke a horse to laughter,
for instance, on one old broken down horse were two women,
an old woman and one young woman. They were both sitting
astride (as the Indian women all do) and displayed their legs
to good advantage - we all laughed at them, but they could not
understand what we were laughing at. A number of them stood
along the side of the road and stared at us as we passed - the
old chief came after our wagon on his horse with his long lance
in his hand - he shook hands with some of our party and ap-
peared to be very friendly. He told us where we could get water
and road along side of the wagon some distance. He only asked
for a little sugar for his sick child. We gave him some fine loaf
sugar and he bade us good-bye and turned back. He is a very
old man and was dressed some better than his people. He looked
very important and told us that he was a colonel - the Apache
were once a powerful nation, but now they are few in numbers
and broken up into small bands - each under its own chief -
this is the only band that are at peace with the whites - and
may not be so long - they are a fierce and desperate set of men
and when they are cornered they will fight until they die - the
chiefs have but little control over their men. Every individual
does pretty much as he pleases - this is the reason why some of181
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 36, July 1932 - April, 1933, periodical, 1933; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101093/m1/201/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.