Chief Victorio a.k.a. Lone Wolf, Courtesy of The National Archives.

"Chief Victorio, is considered one of the fiercest of the Apaches. He and his Warm Springs Apaches, left the hated San Carlos Reservation. He had done this twice before, but had returned. When moved to Fort Stanton, New Mexico he fled again, but this time he said, he would never return. Victorio reasoned that the arrival of the new judge and district attorney meant he would be tried for old killings and horse stealing. Another reason why he and his band left, was because the government would not give his people their promised food allotments, which brought them to near starvation. Before Victorio's breakout, the Ninth U.S. Cavalry had been given the task of returning Apaches who left their reservation. They also had to protect the Apaches on and off the reservation from cowboys and others, who often hunted and killed Indians for sport. Some whites even made a living selling Indian scalps to the Mexican government, who paid $50 for a male, $25 for a female and $10 for a child's scalp. At one time, the Apaches had been allowed to hunt, under the protection of the military, but the settlers didn't like seeing armed Indians, so the practice was discontinued. Colonel Hatch of the Ninth U.S. Cavalry, complained to General Sheridan that the Apaches were going to starve if they couldn't leave the reservation to hunt. Sheridan was not interested in Hatch's letter.

September 4, 1879: Ojo Caliente, Arizona; As Victorio became more and more hate filled, he began to mutilate bodies. Soon after breaking out of the San Carlos Reservation, Victorio and his men struck at Captain Hooker and Company E of the Ninth U.S. cavalry stealing forty-six of their horses. In the aftermath, five Buffalo Soldiers lay dead, with their bodies staked to the ground. They were Sergeant Silas Chapman, Privates Lafayerre Hoke, William Murphy, Silas Graddon and Alvrew Percival. Victorio and his band escaped.

 September 10, 1879: By this time, nine settlers had been killed by Victorio's band. Other groups of Apaches joined in the fighting. All of the Ninth's Companies with Apache and Navaho scouts were in the field, always one step behind Victorio. Thousands of soldiers would continue this scenario for the next year, skirmishing Victorio's band over thousands of grueling miles in the worst of conditions.

September 16, Black Range Mountains, New Mexico: Lieutenant Colonel Dudley with Captain Dawson's B Company and Hooker's E were ambushed and trapped by Vicrorio's warriors. They were rescued by Captain Beyer and Lieutenant Hugo of Companies C and G. After a day of fighting, the soldiers broke off the engagement. Five soldiers, three scouts and thirty-two horses lay dead.

November 1879, The Candelaria Mountains, Mexico: Victorio and his warriors ambushed and killed fifteen Mexican citizens from the little village of Carrizal, who were looking for cattle thieves. Later, eleven more citizens were killed while searching for those who had not returned. The Mexican government telegraphed the U.S. commander in the area, to inform him that they were after Victorio, which would drive him back into Texas.

 January 9, -May, 1880: Major Morrow, who had assumed command of operations in Southern New Mexico, sent the Buffalo Soldiers of the Ninth against Victorio's band many times during this period. In most of these cases, Victorio's war party fought off the soldiers. Sometimes the fighting ended quickly. At other times, it lasted for days.

May 1880: General Sheridan assigned Colonel Grierson's Tenth U.S. Cavalry to assist in the capture of Victorio. Instead of going into New Mexico, he felt Victorio would come to Texas to raid. Grierson also decided to change his strategy in confronting Victorio. Instead of his men chasing Victorio across the desolate countryside, he would post them at the canyon passes and water holes he thought they would use.

May 12, Bass Canon west of Fort Davis: Eight Mescalero warriors attacked a wagon train killing two settlers and wounding two. Captain Carpenter of the Tenth U.S. Cavalry with Company H pursued them to the Rio Grande. He was convinced they were on their way to join Victorio.

July 1880 Eagle Springs, Texas: Lieutenant Henry Flipper was the first black officer in the U. S. military and the first to graduate from the West Point Military Academy. He as in charge of three troopers who rode 98 miles in twenty-one hours to inform Captain Gillmore that Victorio's advance guard had been spotted. This information was forwarded to Colonel Grierson who thought Victorio and his warriors would head for Eagle Springs. His men marched sixty-eight miles in twenty-four hours to get there ahead of Victorio's band. To their disappointment, Victorio had turned northwest, headed for Rattlesnake Springs. That same night, they marched sixty miles more to Rattlesnake Springs.

August 6, 1880, Rattlesnake Springs, Texas: Captain Viele was placed in charge of Companies C and G of the Tenth as they waited for Victorio's approach. At mid-afternoon their long wait was rewarded. Slowly, Victorio's warriors advanced unaware of the ambush. Seconds before the signal to fire was given, Victorio sensed the danger and halted his men. The troopers opened fire. The warriors swiftly withdrew out of range. Needing water and believing there were only a few soldiers, Victorio attacked. Carpenter and B and H companies counter attacked, temporarily halting the Indians advance. Meanwhile, a strong unit of Victorio's band struck at the army wagons that were in route to the springs. They were beaten off. Victorio's warriors repeatedly charged the troopers to reach the water. Finally, in near darkness, one last attempt was made to reach the spring. It failed, Victorio fled with the troopers in pursuit. The chase ended without further contact. By then, all mountain passes and water holes were covered by the troopers.

August 9th Victorio's supply camp was discovered. His guards retreated, leaving twenty-five head of cattle, dried beef and pack animals.

August 11, 1880: The Buffalo Soldiers with Captains Carpenter and Nolon found Victorio and his warriors. They gave chase. The horses in Carpenters Company gave out, leaving Nolon's troopers to continue the chase. Victorio's warriors crossed the Rio Grande River into Mexico before Nolon's troopers could catch them. Victorio, like many times before, had escaped. Soon after his return to Mexico, its government gave the U.S. military, permission to cross into Mexico with the expressed intention of capturing Victorio dead or alive.

 October 4,1880: Ten companies of the Tenth U.S. Cavalry were placed inside Mexico at the Rio Grande to stop Victorio from returning into Texas. The Tenth and Colonel Jaoquin Terraza's Mexican forces located Victorio and his band. Five days later, the Mexican government informed the American forces their presence in Mexico was no longer needed. The Buffalo Soldiers left under protest. Colonel Grierson asked General Sheridan for permission to return to Mexico, permission was denied.

October 14, 1880: Tres Castillos Mountains, Mexico; Colonel Terrazas and his Mexican troops surrounded Victorio's camp and attacked. Before the morning was over, Victorio lay dead, with sixty warriors, and eighteen women and children. Sixty-eight women and children were taken prisoner.

Death road with Victorio, as silently as a shadow, when he and his warriors returned to Mexico. With Victorio's War at an end, the Trans-Pacos area was somewhat at peace. Colonel Grierson reported that during "Victorio's War", the Tenth U.S. Cavalry lost three troopers and saw three wounded. He also reported trooper Private Wesley Hardy as missing in action."

By Stanford L. Davis

Source: Buffalo Soldiers & Indian Wars


Bibliography

Baker, Edward L., Jr. ROSTER of NON-COMMISSIONED OFFECERS OF THE TENTH CAVALRY WITH
SOME REGIMENTAL REMINESCENCES, APPENDIXES, Etc., connected with the Early History of the Regiment.
St. Paul, MN: Wm. Kennedy Printing Company, 1897. Mattituck, MY: J. M. Carroll and Company, 1983.

Cashin, Herschel. UNDER FIRE WITH THE TENTH U.S. CAVALRY. Salem, New Hampshire, Ayers Company,
Publishers, 1991.

Cox, Clinton. THE FORGOTTEN HEROES: The Story of the Buffalo Soldiers. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1993.

Katz, William Loren. BLACK INDIANS: A Hidden Heritage. New York: Atheneum, 1986.

Leckie, William H. THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Norman: University
of Oklahoma Press 1967.

Levenson, Dorothy. HOMESTEADERS AND INDIANS. New York: Franklin Watts Inc. 1971.

Miller, Donald. AN ALBUM OF BLACK AMERICANS IN THE ARMED FORCES. New York, NY.: Franklin
Watts, 1969.

Schubert, Frank N. BLACK VALOR: Buffalo Soldiers and the Medal of Honor, 1870-1898.Wilmington, DE.:
Scholarly Resources, 1997.

A Closer Look

Excerpt from the History of Hudspeth County

"Another bloody episode involving Hudspeth County more directly was the long and often frustrating campaign by the United States Army and the Texas Rangers to control the Apaches. Under chief Victorio, a Warm Springs Apache who joined forces with the Mescaleros, the Apaches eluded their pursuers throughout the 1870s. Victorio himself was finally killed in Mexico in 1880, but not before his warriors had impressed all observers with their tactical brilliance. Perhaps the most notable encounter between the Apaches and their pursuers occurred in Hudspeth County on October 28, 1880, just two weeks after Victorio's death, when the Apaches killed seven "Buffalo Soldiers," members of the famous black Tenth United States Cavalry. A historical marker has been placed at their graves, near Indian Hot Springs, and their story was the subject of a 1970 movie starring O. J. Simpson."

Ambush In Massacre Canyon
By Gene Ballinger

The Courier July 29, 1993 Issue,


MASSACRE CANYON in the Black Range -- In 1976 Jim Grider and I took several Boy Scouts from T or C on a camping trip in the Black Range. While on that trip we also located a number of burial sites of U.S. Cavalry troopers, Indian Scouts and at least one civilian killed in an all-day firefight with Victorio and his men in 1879. I had first been to the location in 1973.

Last Saturday I was able to return to that battle site through the kindness and assistance of the ranch family who owns the
property that the grave sites are on, adjacent to forest lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service. Most, but not all, of the
actual battle site is on public forest lands, but extremely difficult to reach unless you are on horseback or willing and able to
hike 10 miles and climb up and over a 7800 foot peak in and out of the area.

On September 18, 1879, Navajo scouts attached to Company B and Company E of the U.S. Ninth Cavalry, tracked Victorio, War Chief of the Warm Springs Apaches and about 60 warriors, up Las Animas Creek. Troopers from Companies B, C, E, and G were in pursuit of Victorio after he had left the reservation at Fort Stanton, refusing to be transported back to Arizona.
His stated desire was to remain at Ojo Caliente, which the federal government refused. Ojo Caliente, on the fringes of the Black Range, was the historical home of the Warm Springs Apaches. And Victorio's people, after having been promised that they could remain at Ojo Caliente, were forced to move to Arizona to live among other Apaches who were their enemies, and on a reservation on the desert best known for its pestilence and the death of hundreds of Apache men, women and children. Victorio did not stay there long. His people came from the high country and that fact was totally ignored by the government after giving him the promise that he and his people could remain in their home lands if they turned themselves in and became reservation residents.

Victorio eventually turned himself in at Fort Stanton, again asking to return to Ojo Caliente. That request was again refused
and he was told that he and his people would be returned to Arizona. It was the string of broken promises that lead up to the
Massacre.

After leaving Stanton and the Mescalero Reservation on September 3, 1879, Victorio attacked near Camp Ojo Caliente,
capturing eighteen mules, fifty cavalry horses, and killing five Black troopers and three civilians guarding the animals.

After that attack the cavalry made an all-out effort to capture Victorio and Col. Edward Hatch put four companies of the
Ninth Cavalry in the field to find Victorio and either capture him or kill him. They did neither.

And what became known as the "Victorio War" began.

In the past Victorio had encountered troopers from the Ninth Cavalry and each and every time was victorious in the field.
Why anyone in command of the four companies that met him head on on Las Animas Creek could possibly think that this time
is would be different is still an unanswered question today.

Victorio was perhaps the finest guerilla fighter ever known and most certainly, one of the finest the United States Army had
ever had occasion to meet in the field, and he was an old man.

Throughout the so-called "Victorio War" the chief never had more than one hundred warriors, and usually less than 50. The
Army had more than one thousand men in the field chasing him.

On the morning of September 18, 1879, Company B, under command of Lt. Byron Dawson, and Company E, under command
of Capt. Ambrose Hooker, following their Navajo scouts, rode up Las Animas Creek and into the history books. The cavalry
units were assigned part-time to Camp Ojo Caliente.

Their intent apparently was to surprise Victorio. What they apparently did not know was that they were riding not only into a
trap but approaching one of the Warm Springs Apaches' main mountain top camp sites, today called Vic's Peak and Victoria
Park. The incorrect use of the name Victoria instead of Victorio has never been corrected.

The troopers fell under a heavy concentration of rifle and arrow fire at the junction of Las Animas Creek (and Canyon) and a
side canyon now known as Massacre Canyon.

The troopers were caught in a three-way trap with Victorio's men firing from the heights of Las Animas and the side canyon,
with nothing to hide behind but boulders, a few rock shelves and trees. Victorio had command of all the heights surrounding
the two companies and there was no way the troopers could approach the Apaches without being hit.

All the men in both companies, now dismounted, were pinned down and most certainly would have been wiped out. However, the gunfire was heard echoing and re-echoing down the canyon by men with Companies C and G and they rushed
to the battle scene only to be pinned down as well.

All four companies withdrew at nightfall.

There are conflicting reports about just how many troopers were killed and wounded in that battle. One official report says
five troopers killed, one wounded, thirty-six horses killed, six wounded, three Navajo scouts killed and one civilian killed.
Another report places the count at six troopers killed, the horse count is the same, but two Navajo scouts killed and one
civilian. Yet three Medals of Honor were awarded to three different men who saved wounded troopers, therefore I do not
believe any of the official reports are very accurate.

None of these figures account for 32 or more graves located near the battle site.

Official Army estimates place Victorio's strength at 120 men and has to be grossly inflated. Correct figures would be more
like 50 to 60.

Victorio chose his ambush site with care. It was on his home turf and at a location which the Army found, to their chagrin, to
be impossible to overrun or for them to defend themselves. the Animas drops off the Continental Divide in the Black Range
eastward to the Rio Grande and is surrounded by high cliffs at elevations running from seven to nine thousand feet, with
heavy timber.

The canyon walls in Las Animas and the surrounding side canyons are rugged, some pinnacled, a maze of side canyons with numerous caves and overhangs, all highly defensible by those waiting in ambush. Victorio used his knowledge of the terrain to the fullest. Victorio and his men left the immediate area the next day and shortly thereafter met head on with some of the same troopers again on Las Palomas Creek, but that is another story.

Several days later Lt. Dawson escorted Major Albert Morrow, commander of all military operations in southern New
Mexico, over the battle site and Morrow reported that it took him 120 minutes to climb to the Apache camp and under fire it
would have been an "absolute impossibility for any number of men to take the position by storm."

1896 Medal of Honor, Courtesy of the National Park Service.

Late in the battle Lt. Matthias Day carried a wounded trooper to safety after refusing to leave the battle field and his wounded and in so doing was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. For heroism in the same battle Sgt. John Denny was also awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving a wounded private by the name of Freeland. Lt. Robert Emmet was also awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day.

There is no known record of how many men Victorio may have lost, if any, but walking over the battle site can only make one wonder how in the world anyone would be dumb enough to possibly think that they could dislodge Victorio or anyone else from their positions.

With the able assistance of Brent Bason the grave sites were found on a flat nearby a homestead cabin maintained as a line cabin for the Bason Ranch. We also walked over a portion of the battle site and found one large boulder that appeared to have been hit by bullets. From the angle and location of the boulder, the rounds striking the boulder had to have come from a higher elevation, therefore it is assumed that they were rounds fired by Victorio's men.

Because Las Animas Creek is mostly on patented lands, originally homesteads which have been acquired by neighboring ranches through the years, the area is comparatively untouched by "modern" civilization. And the area of the battle site on forest lands is so difficult to reach that generally things are as they were in 1879, although now there appears to be a lot of underbrush and smaller trees that may not have been there at the time. Hopefully being untouched will never change. The public has a habit of ruining anything and everything they come in contact with. The whole region has been used for cattle ranching for over 100 years and it is obvious from the look of the range, the abundance of grass and forage and the cattle, that the land has been well-managed and taken care of for a very long time by those ranching and raising cattle in the region. And bison are also grazing on some portions of Las Animas as well. It is a portion of our State that if at all possible, should remain as it is and in private hands so that it is never ruined or exploited as so many places have been.

Standing on a portion of the battle site, in the silence of the mountains, it was not difficult to imagine how that day in
September 1879 must have gone for the cavalry, they did not have a prayer.

In the 1930s members of the Civilian Conservation Corps replaced wooden crosses that had been erected at the grave site
but those crosses long ago fell down, were dislodged or simply disintegrated with time.

And bear, looking for bugs, have rolled the stones covering the graves over and scattered many of the rocks, making it
difficult to identify each individual grave site today.

Jimmy Bason, owner of the land which the graves are located on, said that he intends to secure the site and perhaps re-mark
each grave that he identified, and we will sure pitch in and help him do that financially and work-wise. Jim Paxton, District
Ranger for the Black Range District, had indicated that the Forest Service would be interested in doing the same thing.

Why there are apparently thirty-two or more graves at the site instead of the eight or nine indicated in military reports is
unknown. But the most accepted theory is that more men were lost in the battle than the Army was prepared to admit.

The graves lay in two rows separated by a 20 to 30 foot span, on level ground above Las Animas Creek. There are also at
least three more graves apart from the two rows mentioned above and it has been suggested that those three may be the burial
sites of the Navajo scouts.

The beauty and silence of the spot today, the last resting place for men, mostly Black Buffalo Soldiers, who fought against
Victorio, stands as a reminder of the foolishness and dishonesty of some of those in our government of the time. The battle
never had to happen, nor many of the others of the Apache Wars that took so many lives on both sides and all the civilians
caught in the middle. All our government had to do was keep its word and maintain the treaties and promises made by
government officials to the Apaches. That was not done.

Buffalo Soldiers

Civil War

62nd & 65th Regiments U.S. Colored Troops, with History & Soldiers' Names* Co-founders of Lincoln Institute, later Lincoln University, Jefferson City, MO. Preservation Issues, Black Missourians in the Civil War, Co-founders of Lincoln Institute, later Lincoln University, Jefferson City, MO. The Battle of Glasgow- Includes 62nd Regiment USCT. Pictures, maps and references. Excellent "Additional Notes on the Battle of Glasgow on October 15, 1864." New research and maps; Excellent Mid-Missouri Round Table- This Civil War historical Web site presents detailed documented accounts of military engagements, with pictures, maps, and references, plus a calendar of association events. Excellent Site. Palmito Ranch, The Last Battle of the Civil War: A Gentleman's Agreement Broken* COLUMBIA CEMETERY Columbia, Missouri- The Columbia Cemetary could be the only known cemetary in Missouri in which United States Colored Infantry, Civil War Veterans are buried. You will find 31 graves from the following regiments; 2nd, 3rd, 11th, 13th, 18th, 54th, 56th, 60th, 62nd, 65th, 67th, and the 68th. They are in very poor condition. Civil War Medicine- Excellent War of the Rebellion Journal Contents (1880 - 1901)- The War of the Rebellion is a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies published under the direction of the Secretary of War. It includes all official General & Regimental communications.  Helps to know the theater of war, unit, month and year. The United States Civil War Center-Thousands of links, including Native Americans Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System United States Army Military History Institute The Louisiana Native Guards- Excellent Site Black Civil War Soldiers of the Trans-Mississippi West Union Army Regimental Histories Cindi's List of African- American Sites American Indians In The Civil War Veteran Military Websites Military & Pension Records for Union Civil War Veterans Civil War Artillery Sites Educational Constitution of the United States-Biographies of the signing and nonsigning delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Bill of Rights, and much more. Excellent THE OVERLAND TRAIL: An Official Millennium Trail. This site is very comprehensive in its analysis of the everyday aspects of living and traving in the West. Excellent Dive and Discover- Join scientists as they dive to the mid-ocean ridge thousands of meters deep. Excellent eCLASSROOM- Travel thirty-eight states by motorhome, and experience their wonder and history through interactive experiences. Excellent 50 STATES.com - Complete information on each State Project Gutenberg - Download pre-1923 classic books from the start of this century and previous centuries, from authors like Shakespeare, Poe, Dante. Titles: Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Alice's adventures in Wonderland, and thousands of others. Excellent Library of Congress American Memory Lessons, Grades 4-12 Hperhistory Timeline - Click on the 3,000-year timeline to access relevant maps, biographies and profiles of people, places and events. Excellent Blue Web'n- A Library of Blue Ribbon learning sites on the Web. Excellent The Wild, Wild West- This site provides a multiplicity of "Excellent" links. EduScapes -A Website for Life-Long Learners. Websites and Resources For Teachers Los Angeles County Schools- K-12 Lesson Plans VisionQuest St.Johns K-12, Fl. SJCSD Black History Websites Georgia Institute of Technology- K-12; Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing Davenport Public LIbrary Online-Learning- Learning Disabilities Brothers Judd A major source for good books, recommended reading, and tons of rated websites! Educational Resources Information Center ( Ask ERIC) and Other Clearinghouses POETRY- You'll find everything here. Federation of American Scientists- Includes video clips and much more. Excellent NASA- Photo Gallery; Excellent NASA- Ask the Hubble Space Telescope team a question. Excellent National Geographic- Excellent A WWW Vitural International Aborigious People- Excellent site with excellent photographs. Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators Historically Black Colleges and Universities Native American Tribal Colleges & Universities Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities Women's Colleges Smithsonian Institution Kidsweb Kids Domain Kids-online Yaho0ligans-A Web guide for kids Reach-it: A very useful site! www.gmsp.org. The American Veterinary Medical Association: Animal health, safety, buying, pet loss, careers, kid's corner Environmental Protection Agency-There is also a link for kids. TeachersFirst Search Engines-28* Shareware & Freebees Efortress Scholarships NAACP CSUS LIBRARY- Offers a multiplicty of services including, online applications for more than 1,700 undergraduate colleges, as well as graduate programs. National Achievement Scholarship The Minority On-Line Information Service (MOLIS) 2001 Colleges, College Scholarships, and Financial Aid page United Negro College Fund The American Indian College Fund The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans Hispanic Scholarship Fund www.hsf.net www.gatesfoundation.org. Genealogy Afrigeneas Home Page Amistad Research Center American Historical Text Archive-This archive, housed at Mississippi State University, is international in scope. U.S. Colored Troops - Contains the names of over 230,000 soldiers of the USCT. New Orleans Public Library Pennsylvania Department: African-American genealogy Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives -"Archival Reference Services", accepts certain written requests for genealogy searches. Josephculligan.com Hundreds of sources Government The Constitution of the United States: Full Text Pro-Handgun Control Anti-Handgun Control Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System Name Search- I found my granfather by leaving out the Unit No. (or Ordinal) info. National Archives and Records Administration Genealogy & Soundex Locator Ordering Pension & Military Records Selected Civil War Photographs & Searchable Index Library of Congress The White House  American Memory Library Environmental Organizations Web Directory-This site has everything on the topic from restrants to solar vehicles. National Weather Service Local & World The Federal Population Censuses U. S. Census Bureau

You may FREELY link to this Web site and its PERSONAL LINKS*, for NON-COMMERCIAL or PERSONAL USE ONLY. Copyright restrictions apply to the use, transmission and reproduction of images and content on this page and its links. Any other use, without prior written permission of the copyright owners is prohibited. Buffalosoldier.net is not responsible for any losses due to linking to its Web pages and links.

Send e-mail to: sldavis@buffalosoldier.net
Copyright 2003 Stanford L. Davis, M.A.
All Rights Reserved
www.buffalosoldier.net