page_title: Apache–Mexico Wars
section_title: Scalp hunters
hierarchical_section_title: Apache–Mexico Wars / Scalp hunters
context_page_description: The Apache–Mexico Wars, or the Mexican Apache Wars, refer to the conflicts between Spanish or Mexican forces and the Apache peoples. The wars began in the 1600s with the arrival of Spanish colonists in present-day New Mexico. War between the Mexicans and the Apache was especially intense from 1831 into the 1850s. Thereafter, Mexican operations against the Apache coincided with the Apache Wars of the United States, such as during the Victorio Campaign. Mexico continued to operate against hostile Apache bands as late as 1915.
context_section_description: In 1835, the government of Sonora put a bounty on the Apache which, over time, evolved into a payment by the government of 100 pesos for each scalp of a male 14 or more years old. Later, Chihuahua offered the same bounty for males plus a bounty of 50 pesos for the capture of an adult female and 25 pesos for a child under 14.  Bounty hunters were also allowed to keep any Apache property they captured.  The bounty for one Apache male was more than many Mexicans and American workers earned in a full year.  It is unclear, however, whether the scalp bounty was actually paid during the first few years.
  A famous and often-exaggerated battle (or massacre) involved a United States citizen named John Johnson, resident in Sonora, who led an expedition against the Apache in April 1837.  The Apache had raided near the municipality of Moctezuma and driven away a herd of cattle.  Johnson gathered together 17 North Americans and 5 Mexico muleskinners, apparently collected expense money from the Sonora government, and borrowed an artillery piece, probably a Swivel gun, small enough to be carried mule-back from the presidio at Fronteras. Johnson found an Apache encampment near the southern end of the Animas Mountains in New Mexico. Juan José Compá led the group which consisted of, according to Johnson, of 80 men plus women and children.  Johnson and his men attacked the Apache, killing 20, including Compá, and wounding another 20. For his accomplishment, Johnson received a reward of 100 pesos and the official thanks of the state government. With the death of Compá, Mangas Coloradas (Red Sleeves) became the most prominent Apache leader.
  Punitive missions such as Johnson's however, inflamed the Apache rather than intimidated them. The rich Santa Rita copper mine in New Mexico was a principal target of Mangas Coloradas and his followers.  In 1838, 22 fur trappers were killed nearby and the Apache severed the mine's supply line.  The 300 to 400 inhabitants of Santa Rita fled south toward the Janos presidio, 150 miles away, but the Apache killed nearly all of them en route. Afterwards, the Santa Rita mine was only occasionally in operation until 1873 when Apache chief Cochise signed a peace agreement with the US and the mine was reopened.
   In 1839 North American James Kirker was contracted by the governor of Chihuahua for 25,000 pesos to raise an army of up to 200 men to suppress the Apache.  Kirker's second in command was a Shawnee Indian named Skybuck. The "Sahuanos", or Shawnees, as Kirker's men were called also included Delaware Indians and escaped slaves from the U.S as well as Anglos and Mexicans. Kirker's small army seems to have worsened the situation by killing friendly Apache or groups negotiating peace, after which Apache raids increased. In 1846, Kirker and local Mexicans were responsible for a massacre of 130 peaceful Apaches at Galeana, Chihuahua.  Kirker claimed that he had followed the trail of stolen livestock to the Apache encampment.
  In 1849, the bounty laws in Chihuahua were formalized and strengthened.  Apache adult male prisoners were worth 250 pesos each, females and children 150 pesos.  Dead Apache adult males were worth 200 pesos, the scalp to be given to local governments for verification.  The state that year paid out 17,896 for scalps and prisoners.  The law was quickly abandoned as it was too costly and Apache scalps could not be distinguished from those of other Indians or of Mexicans.
  The punitive missions of Johnson, Kirker, and the Mexican army do not appear to have reduced the scope and scale of Apache depredations.
caption: The son of Mangas Coloradas, the most prominent Apache leader of the 1850s. Photo taken in 1884.
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