Not "party" as in having a good time.. party as in War Party. But this excursion was more about getting horses and to kill as many whites as they could without getting into a big battle.
One of the mountainous areas that the Apache called home:
Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas! We're in a series about the Wild West and the story of an 11 year old German boy, Hermann, who was captured by an Apache war party from his family's farm in 1870 in Central Texas.
This is not a pro-Indian nor a pro-white man story. Both sides committed atrocities. The Apache were being decimated by the loss of their main food, shelter and clothing source, the buffalo, and they were being hunted by the army so they were on a war footing and fighting for their very existence. To them it was kill or be killed.
They hated the white man for all the destruction and death he had brought to them. But this story is being told from a white boy's perspective while living with the Apache. This ain't no Little House On The Prairie tale, this is a chunk of hard reality from those turbulent times.
In the last post Hermann was with one of his tribe's raiding parties when one of their warriors faced off with a white man by himself and both of them had shot and killed each other. It was a grim sight for him to see because he had never witnessed the death of a man before.
A free herd of Ranger horses
After they buried the warrior they continued on and when they got close to Fort Territt they found a Texas Ranger encampment but the Rangers weren't there. However, they had about 30 head of horses so the braves proceeded to herd them away. Some of them had locked chains on their feet and the braves couldn't break the locks so those horses were killed.
That sounds cruel but in their reckoning those horses in the Ranger's hands would just be used against their people so if they couldn't have them, neither could the Rangers. No emotion, just pure strategy.
Settlers get massacred
Two scouts came back to the main party while they were driving the herd of horses. There was a road ahead with a family and a wagon pulled by oxen. They were unaware of the Indian's presence. The party was able to easily swarm and overtake them. The man was out front with the oxen and in just a few seconds he, his wife and a baby were killed.
They scalped the man and woman and took two other kids captive. There was a girl about 8 years old and a boy about 6 years old. Perfect ages to make into Apache. The oxen were killed and the wagon with the dead bodies was set on fire.
Folks, I don't mean to be critical but there's no way that this family should have been out there in the open country by themselves. They were an easy target.
The two kids didn't fare well, as one can expect after the trauma they witnessed. Hermann said no matter what they tried they wouldn't stop crying. Nor could they get them to eat anything. Hermann didn't say WHAT they were trying to get them to eat but it probably didn't matter.
The fact is, even though they were the perfect age to raise as Apache, they were driving them crazy with their constant wailing. The party couldn't sneak up on anyone and they were putting the whole group at risk. I don't know if Hermann tried to talk to them or not, he didn't say.
Remember when Hermann and his little brother were taken? They were silent no matter what happened and they earned the respect of the Apache. But the difference was these kids didn't care whether they lived or died. I wouldn't have either, would you?
Well anyway, so this went on for four days and nights. Finally two big braves came up on either side of the little girl's horse and the little boy's horse. One took the left hand and foot and the other took the right hand and foot and raised them up and drove the horses out from under them.
Then they started swinging them and let loose on the third swing, catapulting them high into the air. They were already mounted on horses so throwing them up into the air like that would have been what, at least 15 feet in the air?
They were killed when they landed. They rest of the party road over the bodies and then the mangled bodies were hung on a tree for the vultures. Also, as a sign of terror for the white man, in my opinion.
In Hermann's own words
This story that Hermann is telling was written by a friend as it was told to him. But here is what Hermann himself said about this tragedy:
"I hesitate to recite these revolting crimes, but they were true instances of the savagery in which I was engulfed through no choice of my own, and I tell of them in order to show the venomous hatred cherished by the Indian against the whites."
And with good reason. Most people don't know that at one point the United States Army put a bounty on scalps and ears of Indians. As a result, whole villages...men, women and children were slaughtered, hunted like animals. So the hatred was on both sides.
In the next post the Texas Rangers catch up to the raiding party.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas