Essay: The Apache Wars

“When God made the world he gave one part to the white man and another to the Apache” (Cochise). The Apache Wars were a series of wars between the Apaches and America. These wars lasted over thirty-seven years. These wars still affect America to this day. This is because America has to pay back these Indian tribes, including the Apache. In 2012, the U.S. had to pay one billion dollars to Indian tribes, including the Apache (Apache). The nation is already in debt so having to give away one billion dollars is hard on the nation. The Apache Wars should be taught in classes because it gives people the understanding of why America is forever in debt to the Apache people.
Many people have a skewed perception of how Indians are treated and the benefits they are given. In many cases, people believe that the Indians have it made, but this is far from true. In most cases, the schools on Indian reserves are from the regular schools elsewhere. Also, many Indians when trying to get jobs are overlooked because of their race and heredity. Teaching the Apache Wars will give a better understanding so people can form educated opinions.
During the Apache Wars, many of the Apache lives were lost and their land was taken away from them. The government did try to do them right by putting them on Indian reserves, but the Apache people were attached to their land so it was hard for them to leave. This left many Apaches heartbroken causing them to fight in the war. This caused many of them to die. This left the Apache people in despair. That is why the government decided that it was necessary to take care of the Apache people until the nation falls apart. For most, when they look at this decision they only see and hear about the money that is being spent not the entirety of the story. The Apache Wars should be taught in classes so people can get a better understanding of why the government decided to take care of the Apaches until the nation falls apart.
As America was growing in the eighteenth century, new land was needed and people want to expand the areas they could live in. This caused problems because westward expansion would mean that the Apache people would be either forced to move or change their ways of life. A war was not necessary, but it was found necessary by the Apaches when they believed that a line had been cross and the Americans had gone too far (Smith). This was because the Americans had killed one of their leaders and they had started to pressure them to move.
The Apache were among the fiercest groups on the colonial frontiers of Mexico and the United States. This could have come from their confidence in their own military prowess (Smith). The Apache initially attempted to be friends of the Spanish, Mexicans, and Americans. This was as early as the seventeenth century. This did not last long though as Apache bands begun to raid Spanish missions. The Spanish failed to protect missionized Pueblo villages from Apache raids. This happened during a five-year drought in the late seventeenth century. This may have helped instigate the Pueblo Rebellion of 1680. This was an uprising of most of the indigenous people against the Spanish colonizers. During the Spanish retaliation immediately following the revolt, many Pueblo individuals took shelter with the Navajo (Apache).
Before the conflicts, the Apache had a nomadic way of life. This means they never settled down and they just moved from land to land. They relied heavily on horse transport, and semi-sedentary Apache farmers were living along the Dismal River in what is now Kansas. Horse and gun trades then began to converge to the central Plains in about 1850 (Apache, 1). Guerilla tactics were soon used. Guerilla tactics were previously used by nomadic groups greatly increased. This caused the remaining Plains Apache to be severely pressured. So they then retreated to the south and west of what is now America (Apache).
Instead of using a centralized tribal organization, the Apache people used a band. A band is an autonomous small group within a given locality. This means instead of having a democracy, they had a monarchy. The band was the primary political unit as well as the primary raiding unit. The strongest headman of a band was the informal chief, and multiple bands could all be unified under one leader. Rather than chieftainship being passed down, it had to be earned (Apache). This is important to show that the Apache didn’t believe in one person being naturally powerful. They believed that to become the leader you had to work and fight for leadership. This also shows that in war multiple places would have to be taken down, and not just one centralized location. This meaning that it would take time to take down the Apaches.
When the Apache moved to the Southwest, they began to develop a flexible subsistence economy that included hunting and gathering wild foods, farming, and obtaining food and other items from Pueblo villages via trade livestock hunts and raiding. This means they used a variety of techniques to sustain their society (Smith). The portion of these techniques varied greatly from tribe to tribe.
As time went on both America and the Apaches had decided that peace needed to be made. In 1858, a meeting between the Americans and the Chiricahua Apache at Apache Pass in the Dragoon Mountains resulted in a peace that lasted until 1861. This marked the beginning of twenty-five years of confrontation between the U.S. military forces and the native peoples of the Southwest (Apache). In 1861, the peace was broken when Cochise went on a warpath. This meant that war was soon to come.
The causes of conflict included the Apache disinclination toward reservation life and incursions into Apache lands that were related to the development of gold, silver, and coal mining operations in the region. Even though the Apache had their use of swift horses and their knowledge of the terrain, The Apache were eventually outmatched by the superior arms of American troops. The first band to surrender was the Navajo in 1865 and they agreed to settle on a reservation in New Mexico (Simmons). Other bands followed in the years following, but large numbers of warriors refused to give up their nomadic ways and accept permanent confinement. Thus intermittent raids continued to be lead by such Apache leaders as Geronimo and Naiche, this evoked federal action once more.
Naiche and Geronimo went on to try to outrun the United States. Naiche is often overlooked by his counterpart Geronimo. This is because whites often wanted pictures with Geronimo or get Geronimo to sign something (Smith). This left Naiche in the backgrounds unnoticed by most. Naiche was one of few Apaches to live through the entirety of the wars. This left him with a different opinion than most because he went through all of it.
Naiche and Geronimo gave a great effort but fell short. Geronimo tried to surrender twice the first time it fell through and the second time it was a success. This ended the wars in 1886 (Lahti). They were then evacuated from the West and held as prisoners of war successively in Florida, in Alabama, and at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for a total of twenty-seven years. Later in 1913, the members of the tribe were given the choice of taking allotments of land in Oklahoma or living in New Mexico on the Mescalero Reservation (Simmons). About one-third chose the former and two-thirds the latter.
How would you feel if one day everything you had was gone? This is what happened to the Apaches. This is why the government feels that they are forever in debt to the Apache people. This for some is confusing why the government would ever forever be in debt to someone. That is why the Apache Wars should be taught in classes because it gives people an understanding of why America is forever in debt to the Apache people.