01/22/2025
Chato: Loco Is Forced to Leave San Carlos
(Geronimo photograph taken by C.S. Fly, March 1886 in Canyon de Embudos. Photograph courtesy Library of Congress. Fair Use/Public Domain, Low Res Image, Historical Review)
This post is the fifth in a series of true stories about a Chiricahua chief, Chato, who lived in the times of the Apache wars, survived twenty-seven years of prisoner of war internment, and twenty-one years of life on the Mescalero reservation. The purpose of these posts is to provide the historical background for a duology of novels about Chato, the first book of which will be released in December 2023. Chato’s story is told in: Book I, Desperate Warrior; and Book II, Proud Outcast. Book I, covers the years from 1877 to early 1886. In those years, desperate to get his wife and children out of Mexican slavery, Chato changed from a hard-eyed warrior to a hardworking supporter of General Crook. Book II covers the years from 1886 to 1934, when Chato survived betrayal by the army as a prisoner of war and proudly endured being treated as an outcast by some of his own People after they were freed.
Three hundred seventy-five Chiricahuas, including 74 men and 22 older boys capable of using arms and fighting left the San Carlos Reservation in September 1881. Juh and Geronimo led them across the Mexican border losing only two women, maybe two men, and a child as casualties. Escaping Joaquin Terrazas plans to slaughter or enslave them, Juh led his followers to his favorite ghost face (winter) camping place, Guaynopa on the edge of a great canyon on a big loop of the Río Aros about fifty miles west of Namiquipa. There the Chiricahuas and Juh’s People, the Nednhi feasted and relaxed while their leaders in council planned where to raid, who would lead the raids, and how many warriors would the raids require. In these councils one thing became clear––the Mexicans were pushing further into the mountains and the band at Guaynopa would need more men to fend them off. The young chief, Kaytennae, suggested Loco’s People, who had stayed at San Carlos, be asked to join them in Mexico. Geronimo thought it was a fine idea, but Chato, angry that Loco hadn’t joined them in the first place and that he and the other warriors should not be fighting Loco’s battles in the first place rejected the idea. Others believed Loco would never leave San Carlos because he had given the White Eyes his word that he would stay. To get the facts, Juh sent Bonito to talk with Loco about coming to Mexico. After three different appeals to Loco to come to them in Mexico, and three unequivocal rejections, Bonito warned Loco that the next time the Chiricahua and Nednhi came, Loco and his People would leave San Carlos whether they wanted to or not.
About 11 April, Geronimo and about 70 warriors headed north to bring Loco to Mexico. Juh and Nana stayed behind with about 30 warriors to protect 325 women and children. Geronimo with Chato as his segundo (number 2) and his men crossed quietly into the United States probably using San Luis Pass and following the Animas Mountains in New Mexico to the San Simon Valley and up into the Gila Mountains to Ash Flat where they were above San Carlos.
On April 16 the Chiricahuas encountered the George Stevens sheep camp. The camp had between seven and ten Mexican herders and several White Mountain Apaches including a White Mountain leader Richard Bylas. Victoriano Mestas was in charge. As a child, Mestas had been a captive of the Chiricahuas and knew Geronimo well and Geronimo had treated him well. When it was clear Mestas was not happy with the Apaches, Geronimo traded him to a rancher for a pistol, cartridges, and a pony. Now Mestas was grown and had his wife and three children with him. Geronimo called to Mestas that the Apaches only wanted something to eat and wanted to stop at the camp. Bylas warned Mestas three time not to let Geronimo into the camp, but Mestas invited him in, a choice that led to disaster. The Apaches ate and then Geronimo ordered the Mexicans tied together and killed, even Mestas children. Chato and Naiche nearly talked Geronimo out of the killings until Chihuahua reminded him that the Mexicans had wanted to slaughter them in Mexico and that they were always enemies with Mexicans. Geronimo ordered all the Mexicans killed and they were except for one of the Mestas children who hid under the long skirt of one of Bylas’s wives. When the child was found Naiche cocked his rifle and told Geronimo not to kill the boy, Chato sided with Naiche, and Jelikine put the point his spear against Geronimo’s chest and told him that if the boy died, he would die too. Geronimo let the boy live, saying Naiche was his chief and he always did what his chief wanted. Leaving behind a couple of warriors to ensure the White Mountains didn’t run to warn the agency of the coming Chiricahua attack, the rest of the band headed for the trail through the foothills and canyons to the agency. The Chiricahuas stopped before they rode off Ash Flat and Geronimo made medicine to learn if the mission to get Loco and his People would be successful and was assured it would be.
That night the Geronimo band descended the foothills and early the next morning hid in a camp near the Agency and Río Gila and waited for darkness before moving again. As the sun set, Geronimo sent a group of warriors to block anyone from Loco’s camp running to the agency, Chihuahua led a small group to cut telegraph wires, and he sent Chato and Naiche to Loco’s camp to warn him the Chiricahuas were coming for him and his People and they should be ready to run. To make their message clear Chato held a rifle to Loco’s chest and told him he would kill him if he didn’t leave.
At first light on April 19, a line of fifty Chiricahuas crossed the Gila and swept into Loco’s camp shouting for the People to get their things and get moving. Geronimo was heard telling the warriors, “. . .Take them all. Shoot down anyone who refuses to go with us.” Chato rode up to Loco’s wickiup where he stood surrounded by his wives who were confused and asking him what to do. Pointing his rifle at Loco and cocking it, Chato told him to lead his people or die. Loco knew Chato wasn’t bluffing and joined Geronimo in front of the people being herded down the wagon road toward Fort Thomas. Loco’s People knew they were going in the right direction if he was leading them. Soon most were running, a few were on horses or mules, but they were all headed in the same direction. Geronimo, Chiva (a Chihenne chief), Jelikine, and about 30 warriors led the way in the front northeast down the wagon road. Chihuahua and the rest of the warriors formed the rear guard.
Before leaving, Chihuahua fired a couple of shots hoping to lure Albert Sterling, Chief of Tribal Police, to the then empty Loco camp. Sterling took the bait and came charging to the camp with his sergeant, Sagotal to learn what was happening. He and Sagotal split before they reached the camp to enter the camp from different directions and cover each other in case they were attacked. Chihuahua and two warriors had set up an ambush. They killed Sterling. It was settlement of a blood debt from an accident when Sterling had raided a tizwin party and accidentally killed a young girl. Sagotal saw Sterling killed and raced away back to the agency to get the other policemen. When he returned, the Chiricahuas warned him off saying they had nothing against him. Sagotal refused to leave and in the ensuing gunfire was killed. His policemen left the camp and returned to the agency.
Geronimo turned north when he reached the subagency about twenty miles down the road from the main agency. The subagency had managed Naiche’s camp the previous year. It was dark when the column reached Ash Creek and began moving through the Gila Mountains. They stopped at a spring to rest in the middle of the night. The leaders held a council to decide what to do. It was clear they had to move faster. Geronimo had neglected to consider how soft the Loco People had become living in one place at San Carlos. The young people didn’t run and the young men were not even allowed to hunt to keep up their physical fitness. They were not able to move nearly as fast the people who escaped the year before. The warriors would need to raid nearby ranches for horses and mules to ride if they were to gain any speed. Warriors were also sent to get some sheep from the Stevens sheep camp to feed the people who hadn’t eaten all the previous day.
The People continued their march until they reached a spring on the eastern end of Ash Flat about 20 miles north of Fort Thomas. The sheep arrived and the People ate and rested for two days before resuming their march. They were gaining a little speed as more and more horses and mules were taken from surrounding ranches.
The leaders pushed them hard with night marches and occasional long stops as they pushed through the mountains towards Steins Range. They stopped to rest on a high place at Horseshoe Canyon about four miles north of Steins. Lieutenant Colonel George Forsyth with five companies of cavalry and Apache scouts finally engaged the Chiricahua warriors who were on the south and west ridges of Horseshoe Canyon. The fighting began about 1:00 p.m. and lasted two and a half hours. Forsyth lost two men killed and four wounded. The Apaches lost one man. The Apaches seemed to disappear out of the canyon and inexplicably Forsyth headed for the Gila. He later claimed he mistakenly thought the Apaches had come out of Mexico to reinforce Geronimo’s warriors.
The Chiricahua leaders led the People out of Doubtful Canyon and south for the border. Two days later, just south of Cloverdale, they entered Mexico early in the morning of April 26, 1881. They had fought cavalry in a major engagement and lost one man, and covered roughly 200 miles with 350 men, women, and children from Loco’s camps and 70 warriors from Juh’s camp. It was a magnificent feat of courage and strength that would soon turn to disaster.
Next week: Disaster at Sierra Enmedio and Aliso Creek.
Most of the information presented here is from Indeh by Eve Ball, Nora Henn, and Lynda Sánchez; From Cochise to Geronimo by Edwin Sweeney; The Truth About Geronimo, by Britton Davis; Geronimo by Angie Debo; Geronimo by Robert Utley; In the Days of Victorio by Eve Ball; I Fought with Geronimo by Jason Betzinez, and The Great Escape by Charles Collins
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