The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-01-26
CONFESSIONS OF AN APACHE CHIEF.

pes aN' =.
CONFESSIONS OF AN APACHE CHIEF.
The fall oflSia and spring of 1850 will long
b, remembered by the people OF the Western
t-,r,ie, States ard our Territories of the deep
terror for the acts OF blood perpetrated by
.o,rs oC the Indians of New Mexico. The
-.o n,nsl urUmjnent cases were the massacre
MA pariv conducting train OF wagons owned
al scc0mganed by Mr.. White, a Santa Fe
1~srcbanr. and his wife and child. The sec
oud wa the destruction of the entire party in
r-srge ct the United States mail from lnde-
psadfncc 10 Santa Fe, in May, 1850, consist
s-s OF eleven persons, all males. Until, now,
faough suspicious were plentiful, certalnty has
NOT been attained. At a recent talk had with
CLlc0a. The chief of band of Apache All.
c,r,.It, we beIeve,J al Abiqui, in New Mex
$50. by lluior Greiner, Secretary OF State of
rev Mexico, employed by the Governor, as
W. suppose, in Indian service, the probable
fr!th mas come out which We think of interest
enough 20 publish, as We find II In the Santa
Es Gazette.
Chacor said: "His people went 10 Las We
gas Ter lie purpose of making peace. They
we're there attacked by an annual force, and
fourteen of their number killed. Chacon him.
sell was not in with his people, but was near
ne town. and heard the firing. The reason
assigned Tor this massacre OF the Indians was,
that il was said an Apache had killed two
Mexlcans and driven off he stock al Casa
Colorado. This report, Chacon says, was
not true.
After This event, the Apaches under Chino
attacked ,rn Americans and one Mexican near
;ae Wagon mound, capturing two children
girls. Cnlno himself was killed IN this fight.
The uext event tof course Chacon had no
ca,esl IN order was the massacre of Whites
party. This deed was perpetrated by the
tabs and Apaches jointly. They had gone
INTO the camp Of the whites in the morning,
wh Ch, Cnacon said, was on the Red river. But
tbs could not have been so, tor the party were
massacred nearly midway between the Point
OF Rocks and Milestone Creek. From the
spot where the party were murdered 10 The
crossing Of Red river is very good days ira
vel. il the party were encamped upon any
stream when the Indians visited them in the
morning, it must have been the Milestone, a
lew miles from where the massacre took place,
or the Rnbbit-ear, twenty miles further back,
and a few miles east of :he Round Mound
But Chacon's saying that the camp was on
Red river was most probably from the fact
that it was in sight of Red river las the place
Of massacre really is,) and, in direct line, not
great distance from il.
The party of Indians, he says, were driven
from the camp, and this was the cause of their
attacking them afterwards. We think most
likely this is true statement. We know
such is the treatment the Indians usually re-
ceive from the trains. Indeed, it is usually
found necessary TO resort TO some such meas
Cre IN order to get rid of their most annoying
opportunities.
Atler this rePulse from the camp, tprobably
al Whetsone,) the fight commenced. White
AID negro woman were killed, and the wo.
man Mrs. Whie} and child were captured,
and carried off prisoners TO Red river, where
j@eV were kept kept until the Indians were at
lacked by The American troops under Major
NTler fhey had taken good care of them,
a@d had the Americans sent for them peacea.
by Insiead Ut fighting, they would have been
gwen up unharmed. Mrs. White was killed
when the fight commenced, and Chacon saws
he has always been told that the child was
hiiied with the mother. He has never seen or
neard OF II since. We have no doubt, and
nave never hud, that this was the fate of" Mrs.
Whites child" which has been the subject OF
80 mucn speculation and vague rumors.
The light with Flournoy's company COM
Nenced early in the morning, and continued
1T flying skrmishes we supposed till near
rundown. Five Apaches and four Utahs were
Killed, and were buried back of the Wagon
mound near lake of water. The Apaches
ana whites were at war at that time in conse-
4uence ofthe affair at Las Vegas, already al
u
great many lndlans in this last fight, or they
could not have Killed eight Americans.
preceding this fight, there is another incident
related by Chacon, Of which we never heurd
"rioie' An Apache woman, daughter of a
s"lti, fLobos,) was IN prison at Las Vegas -
enc was taken out OF prison and conveyed by
'"e American troops to the Wagon-mound, TO
poiht them where the Apaches were A few
men went with her 10 the top Of the mound,
lEa
making so desperate fight that they were
oDlzed to shoot her.
From Chacon's statement, taken in connec-
tion with our own observations last spring, we
nave no doubt that the fight with the small
parry commenced IN the morning al Red river,
aud terminated al the Wagon-mound, near sun
down, the distance between the places being
twenty miles We examined, last spring, Just
On Tins side OF Red river, and near the road
sf'erat pits Tor rather commencement of piis)
SUNK ~ the ground, now partially filled up
q Is sad by the Indians las we wers then told)
maj these excavations were commenced AT
mat lime, and for that purp )se. As there was
80 uhipef 10 which TO conceal, and no bluffs
Arnf the road at this point las at the place
"1ere whites party was aiiacked,) behind
"h.chsthey might form an ambush, they re-.
'Er'Td 10 this expedent OF digging pits in
"b!ch 10 CONCEAL themselves. From the num-
~ vi pIts shuS commenced, we have no doubt,
as Chacon says, that there must have been Il
great many.
Ine mai party probably came upon them
before they had lime 10 complete their work
nhh The hight commenced, continued Il fting
"ght through the day, I'LL arriving at ,he mar
'ow pass 81 The Wagon mound. the Ind JAMS
c.osed ia upon the little band aud overw wheime
tdem by numbers.
We have often thought that lille hand mus
hevr given the Indians desperate fight, from
tHe iaci that the nasil has scarcely ever beer
nolested by the IGdians on that route from tha