Chiricahua and Janos: Communities of Violence in the Southwestern Borderlands, 1680-1880

6. Border Dilemmas: Security and Survival, 1850–1875

The delineation of the border between the United States and Mexico not only began the separation of Chiricahua and Janos. It also created a dilemma of security and survival for both communities. Americans said Chiricahuas were not to do violence in Mexico, but violence was how Chiricahuas related with Mexicans, including Janeros. Yet the Americans were unable to stop Apache raiding and Janos did not have enough soldiers to defend itself. This forced the community to rely increasingly upon armed civilian volunteers , who could not provide a continual defense. Armed civilians and their leaders were willing to campaign against Chiricahuas when organized and ready but would trade for Apache plunder when they were not. The border dilemma for Chiricahua was that it feared treachery on the Mexican side, but the Americans would not let them raid or keep their captives. For Janos the dilemma was that being responsible for their own defense, they would eventually become a threat to the Mexican state. “Why did you take our captives?” In the late fall after his declaration of “war to the knife,” Mangas Coloradas assembled the leaders of his band—Ponce, Teboca , Miguel Narbona, Esquinaline, Cochise—for an attack into Chapter 6 Border Dilemmas Security and Survival, 1850–1875 border dilemmas 156 Sonora. Mangas instructed them to leave their families together in the mountains under a guard of older men and boys, designating several rendezvous sites should they be attacked and have to scatter . He then led the warriors southward into Mexico along mountain ridges and down drainages. A number of warriors left their families in peace at Janos, including Geronimo, and joined Mangas on his trek. Guided by Geronimo the warriors, now totaling over 150, penetrated ever deeper into Sonora. On the outskirts of a large town the Mexicans called Hermosillo, Chiricahuas killed eight men and seized a supply train. Having deceived his enemies Mangas struck back northward, attacking ranches and villages from the south, not the north as expected. Several days of raiding accumulated several hundred head of cattle and one thousand horses.1 As the cattle herd moved more slowly than the horses, Mangas Coloradas sent them on ahead with fifty warriors, while he and the rest of the warriors brought the herd of horses. One midmorning as the Apaches followed a river valley northward, a number of warriors from the vanguard rushed back to tell Mangas they had been ambushed by Mexican soldiers, who were now in pursuit . Mangas quickly and calmly led his warriors into the timber along the river, organizing them into a hollow circle to resist an assault from any direction. The pursuing Mexicans formed up into two lines of infantry, with cavalry in reserve, and advanced on the Apaches. Coming within range, the soldiers stopped and opened fire. Mangas kept his warriors under control, waiting until the Mexicans’ guns were empty and becoming too hot to hold, and then unleashed his warriors in a direct attack while sending more to encircle the soldiers.2 The Mexicans broke ranks in the face of Mangas’s attack and scrambled up a nearby hill to gain a defensible position. Chiricahua warriors swarmed up the slopes from all sides, taking the soldiers into fierce hand to hand fighting with bow, spear, and knife, negating their firearms. The Mexicans fell back to another hill under this assault, then another, and another, as Chiricahuas attacked again and again, reinforced by more warriors under Irigóllen and 157 Map 14. Mangas’s raid, 1850 UNITED STATES MEXICO Janos Bacoachi Hermosillo M a n g a s M a n g a s G e r o n i m o M a n g a s G e r o n i m o G e r o nimo Geronimo Geronimo 40 mi 0 20 EX X M MEX o c Bacoa Bacoa MEXICO TX NM AZ border dilemmas 158 Juh, who had been raiding elsewhere in Sonora and rode to the sound of the fight. At one lull in the battle Geronimo and three companions, armed with only knives, faced two Mexicans with guns in the no-man’sland between the two sides. The Apaches turned to flee to the safety of their comrades, but the Mexicans shot down two and wounded another with a saber. Geronimo reached the mass of Chiricahua warriors, seized a spear from one, and ran back. The Mexican pursuing him reloaded and fired...