It is good to honor the memory of those that have served their people

When Colonel Shafter explored the sanddunes in 1871 his scouts interviewed an old Apache woman at Willow Springs. She told them that his command had just missed a meeting between the Comanche Mow-way and the Lipan Apache Magoosh. Also present had been Mescalero Apaches, but their leader was not named in the official report. It might have been Juan de la Paz, for it is recorded that he did lead buffalo hunting trips away from the Mescalero Reservation in the Sacramento Mountains that year. Juan de la Paz led a group of young men desirous of the prestige offered only to warriors. He had conceived the buffalo-hunting trip as a way to satisfy their restlessness. A Comanchero had also been present, to trade bars of lead to the Comanches. This was surely Jose Piedad Tafoya or one of his most trusted associates.

The old Apache woman had been “left behind to die.” The Apache woman left behind to die may or may not have been the Mescalero Lozen, the namesake of the Ojo Caliente Apache Lozen who rode with Victorio, Nana, and Geronimo. “History” does not record her name.  Shafter’s report expressed disgust at the inhumanity of the “savages,” aghast at the brutal throwing away of a human life.  I have been thinking about her recently. The emotional upheavals that death incurs has struck two people I know within the last week. A mentor of mine died last week (and this essay is in honor of him.)

In the 1700’s Spanish documents refer to a group of Apaches known as Llaneros that lived along the Pecos River and the sanddunes between the river and the western edge of the Llano Estacado. The invasion of Comanches early in the century had disrupted Plains Apache culture. During the 1700’s the Lipans went south, first to Muchaque Peak and the headwaters of the Colorado River, and then on to the San Saba River, and finally to the Nueces River. The Jicarilla went west to the Sandia and Sangre de Christo Mountains first, and then to the Tres Piedras/Chama region and finally even further west. The Llaneros, like the Lipans, wished to remain near their favorite food – the vast herds of buffalo and pronghorn of the grasslands.

The Comanches possessed enough guns through trade from the Pawnee (who received them from French traders) to be almost invincible in battle. The Comanches had also built up substantial horse herds. This allowed them to travel great distances by each man having a “string of ponies.” They would ride one horse at a gallop until it tired, and then switch to another, and then to another. This allowed them to use the tactic of the blitzkrieg lightning attack. They would strike without warning, disrupt the Apache village life, and then be out of reach of pursuit. Faced by such a harrying force, the Apaches slowly left their former homeland of the upper Canadian, Red and Brazos rivers during the first half of the 1700’s.

It is understandable that the Llaneros wished to remain near the buffalo. Plains Apaches were the original partners in the buffalo economy with the Spanish settlers of northern New Mexico. They often came to great trade fairs at the Pecos Pueblo where they offered dried buffalo meat and robes in exchange for metal arrow points, kettles, and blankets. Without buffalo, they would lose their most valuable commodity for trade.

Lozen had been born at Willow Springs in the late 1700’s. She had often visited there as a child, and also as a young married woman. The place held many happy memories for her. Her knowledge of the landscape there had served her well when she took her legendary revenge ride. Comanches had killed her husband in camp, and Lozen had pursued the Comanches alone. After trailing them for weeks she finally snuck into one of their camps and killed her husband’s murderer and stole his best horses. The Comanches pursuit was thwarted by her purposefully disappearing into the “trackless” dune region on a windy day. Her parents and grandparents had been Llanero Apaches, but a few years after her revenge ride, the Llaneros abandoned the buffalo hunting as a way of life, and had decided that the different family groups would join Mescalero groups (related by marriage) scattered throughout the Guadalupe, Davis, and Sacramento Mountains.

Lozen knew she was about to die, and she wished to die where she had been born. Magoosh and Juan de la Paz understood her wishes. Magoosh was headed back to Nascimiento, Mexico, returning to his family. Juan de la Paz and fifteen others were headed to hunt buffalo, if they could find any before being discovered by Comanches. From the Sacramento Mountains they had watched huge spring thunderheads build up along the western edge of the Llano Estacado. With the filling of the playas of the shortgrass country of the western Llano, buffalo might be present. If the rains had fallen on the eastern side of the Llano, then the Comanches would focus their attention on the cattle drives and wagon trains on the southern Llano. There, just east of Castle Gap and Horsehead Crossing, these would be at their weakest at the dry end of the three-day’s distance between the Concho River and Horsehead. 

The arrival of first the Comanchero and then of Mow-way’s thirty Comanches had been a surprise. Magoosh had convinced Mow-way not to attack the Mescaleros by virtue of a trade (but the nature of that trade is a whole different story.) 

Lozen had lived a good life. Her bravery had inspired others. She had served all of her people as a respected and beloved healer and advisor, and had never remarried. As the Apaches had sat in council with the Comanches and the Comanchero, a scout had reported the approach of the black Seminole scouts riding in advance of Colonel Shafter. She volunteered to serve her people one last time. While everyone made their escape, she would tell the soldiers that Apaches and Comanches (historically mortal enemies) had agreed to fight together to preserve the buffalo hunting grounds.  Upon leaving, every Apache present rode his horse slowly by her and saluted her, with tears in their eyes.