Chiricahua Apache

Name

The name Chiricahua (pronounced CHEER-uh-KAH-wuh) Apache may mean “chatterer,” referring to their warriors’ way of speaking to one another in code during battle. It may mean “grinder” because of their custom of breaking the bones of captured Mexican soldiers. They call themselves Ndé, meaning “man” or “person.” The Chiricahua have also been called Mimbreños, Coppermine, Warm Springs, Mogollon, Pinery, and Cochise Apache.

Location

The Chiricahua Apache once lived in the rugged, mountainous areas of present-day southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northern Mexico. In the early twenty-first century a little more than one hundred Chiricahua lived on individual plots of land in southwestern Oklahoma and had organized as the Fort Sill Apache Tribe with headquarters in Apache, Oklahoma. Other Chiricahua had intermarried with the Mescalero and Lipan Apache at the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico and are no longer considered a separate tribe.

Population

In the early to mid-1800s there were an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 Chiricahua Apache. In 1886 there were just over five hundred. By 1959 there were about 91 full-blooded Chiricahua at the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico, but in 1990 only seventeen Chiricahua were living in New Mexico. In the1990 U.S. Census, 739 people identified themselves as Chiricahua, and 103 people identified themselves as Fort Sill Apache. In 2000 the number of people who said they were Chiricahua increased to 1,155, and 237 said they were Fort Sill Apache.

Language family

Athabaskan.

Origins and group affiliations>

The Chiricahua probably journeyed from western Canada to the American Southwest between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. They are divided into three groups: Eastern Chiricahua (who call themselves “red paint people”), Central Chiricahua, and Southern Chiricahua (who are called “enemy people”).

Apache groups put up perhaps the fiercest and most long lasting Native American resistance to the invasion of their homelands by Spanish and white settlers. Certain Chiricahua men and women became known across America for their leadership of resistance groups. Legendary figures Cochise, Chato, Geronimo, and Victorio were all Chiricahua Apache, and many a U.S. Army commander tried and repeatedly failed to capture them. It was not until the surrender of Geronimo’s band in 1886 that Apache armed resistance to white settlement ended.

History

Chiricahua enemies

The Chiricahua homeland was west of the Rio Grande River and centered around Warm Springs (Ojo Caliente, the Spanish name) in present-day New Mexico. Spanish explorers passed through in the 1500s, but because they did not write about meeting the Chiricahua, some historians believed the Chiricahua were not yet living in the Southwest. Other historians believe the Spanish did not see the remote mountain homes of the Chiricahua, where they may have concealed themselves to avoid attack. They did not stay hidden from the Spanish invaders for long, however.

By the late 1500s the Spanish were building settlements and missions throughout the Southwest. At first the Chiricahua were willing to trade with them, but they soon grew unhappy with the newcomers’ ways. Spanish soldiers considered Native Americans to be “savages,” and took many as slaves. Spanish missionaries tried to turn them away from their religion. All Apache objected to the Spanish attitude, but in the Chiricahua people the Spanish soon found their bitterest enemies.

There followed centuries of battles between the Chiricahuas and the Spanish, and later the Mexicans, who became independent of Spain in 1821, but inherited Spain’s enemies. All sides carried out frequent raids and murders. During the conflict, the Chiricahua may have learned from the Mexicans the custom of scalping and then replacing their victim’s hat. Despite the efforts of many military expeditions sent to subdue them, the Chiricahua held on to their sacred homeland.

Under American control

In 1848 Mexico was defeated in its war with the United States and turned over vast tracts of the Southwest to its former enemy. The land included much of the Apache’s territory in Arizona and New Mexico. The Apache now had a new and larger enemy than Mexico: the government of the United States. The United States refused to put up with Apache raids and would not allow the bands to hunt on land that American settlers wanted. All the Apache resisted the new white settlers, but none fought as long or hard as the Chiricahua.

Between the 1850s and 1875, Apache groups were settled on several reservations in Arizona and New Mexico. Then the American government decided that it was too expensive to maintain so many reservations and tried to move all the Apache to two reservations: Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico and the barren San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. The Apache were outraged. Fights broke out, and many fled the reservations. The leaders of the groups that fled became legends.

Important Dates

1540: Spanish expeditions cross Apache territory.

1861: Cochise is arrested on a false charge, and the Apache Wars begin.

1872: Cochise signs a treaty with the U.S. government and moves his band to an Arizona reservation.

1874: Cochise dies.

1886: Geronimo and his band surrender.

1913: The majority of surviving Chiricahua resettle on Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico.

1977: Fort Sill (Oklahoma) Apache Tribe receives federal recognition.

1977: Fort Sill (Oklahoma) Apache Tribe receives $6 million for land it lost while its members were imprisoned and for resources taken illegally from its land.

Cochise and the Apache Wars

Cochise (pronounced coh-CHEES; c. 1812–1874), whose name means “hardwood,” is one of the best known Chiricahua leaders and was an early opponent of white settlement in Apache territory. He was not well known when he moved with his people onto a reservation in 1853. But his unjust arrest in 1861 and his escape, which may have ignited the Apache Wars, brought his name to the attention of Americans all over the southwestern United States and as far east as the nation’s capital. A young army officer named Bascom arrested Cochise on a false kidnapping charge. Cochise was taken prisoner with some companions; he escaped, but his people were murdered. The Apache Wars that followed lasted for more than three decades.

Cochise and his father–in–law, Mangas Coloradas (c. 1793–1863), fought many battles with the U.S. military. In 1863 Mangas Coloradas was captured, tortured, and killed. Cochise and his small group of followers held on for another ten years, until Cochise’s white friend, Thomas Jeffords (1832–1914), convinced Cochise to end the wars by settling on a reservation in his homeland. After Cochise died in 1874, this agreement dissolved, and the Chiricahua lost their reservation. They were moved to the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. Unhappy with the area, with the Apache already living there, and with their treatment by U.S. government agents; some Chiricahua escaped. Another decade of fighting began.

Geronimo

Geronimo (pronounced juh-RON-uh-moe; c. 1827–1909) was born in present-day Arizona, and his people often hunted and camped with Cochise’s band. He was not a chief, but a medicine man and warrior. Geronimo believed, as many Apache did, that to be removed from one’s homeland was to die. He battled Mexicans and U.S. settlers to preserve the Apache people.

Geronimo’s people called him Goyathlay, “One Who Yawns.” When Mexican raiders killed his mother, wife, and three children in 1858, Geronimo vowed vengeance. He carried out deadly raids in Mexican territory and earned the name Geronimo by awed Mexican soldiers. (One story says that the Mexicans may have been crying out in fear to St. Jerome when they saw Geronimo, or they may simply have been mispronouncing his Apache name.) More than once he was caught and returned to the reservation, only to escape again. His raiding and fighting in Mexico lasted until U.S. General George H. Crook’s (1828–1890) soldiers captured him in 1886.

It took an army of thousands of soldiers to finally capture Geronimo and his band; with him at the time of his surrender were thirty-six warriors, women, and children. They were forced to resettle in Florida and then in Alabama. In Florida, according to his own account, Geronimo and his men were forced to do hard labor and did not see their families until 1887. Many of the people died. One of Geronimo’s wives returned to New Mexico. Finally in 1894 they were moved to a reservation at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Geronimo lived out his years there, raising watermelons and selling his autograph to soldiers and at fairs. He died in 1909 after he fell off his horse into a creek and became ill.

Chato

With Geronimo at the time of an 1881 escape from the San Carlos Reservation was Alfred Chato (c. 1860–1934), known simply as Chato for most of his life. Chato rode with Geronimo and also led his own raiding parties throughout Arizona and New Mexico, stealing ammunition, killing white settlers, and spreading terror. He was convinced to return to San Carlos along with Geronimo in 1884, and thereafter his life took a different path from Geronimo’s.

Chato adapted to reservation life and learned to farm. He was frequently employed by the U.S. army as a scout and consultant on Native American ways. (He later received a medal for his service.) In 1886, when the army commander in charge decided it was time to move the Chiricahua from the San Carlos Reservation and back to the home of their ancestors, Chato went to Washington, D.C., to discuss the move. Washington officials asked Chato to convince the Chiricahua to move to Florida instead, but he refused. On Chato’s return trip from Washington, he was arrested and sent to Florida, where Geronimo and his people had already been sent.

Conditions in Florida were very bad. In 1894 Chato and the other Chiricahua moved with Geronimo to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Although it was not their homeland, at least it was closer to it than Florida had been. Chato was appointed leader of a small village near the reservation and was given a small plot of land for farming. At some point during his stay at Fort Sill, he converted to Christianity. He resumed work for the U.S. Army.

In 1913 Chato again traveled to Washington, this time to ask that his people be allowed to return to their homeland. After long discussions, and after white settlers in New Mexico voiced their fears that the Chiricahua would begin raiding again, the Apache were offered the opportunity to return to New Mexico.

Chato was respected by both the Native Americans and the white community in New Mexico, where he lived the remainder of his life. He died in an automobile accident in March 1934.

Victorio

Tribal leader Victorio (c. 1820–1880) is not as well known as Geronimo, but he too was a major obstacle to the U.S. Army. In 1879 he was told that his reservation at Warm Springs, New Mexico, would be opened to whites for settlement. Victorio responded: “If you force me and my people to leave [Warm Springs], there will be trouble. Leave us alone, so that we may remain at peace.” Fearing he would be taken prisoner, as Geronimo had been, Victorio left the reservation, never to return.

African American soldiers (called Buffalo Soldiers) were sent to capture him, but Victorio eluded them. He was finally trapped by Mexican soldiers, who blasted Victorio’s people out of their hiding place with dynamite. Sixty-one warriors and eighteen women and children were killed. Sixty other women and children, including two of his sons, were captured and taken into slavery. Victorio killed himself rather than be taken.

Gouyen

Born into the Warm Springs Apache band about 1880, Gouyen (“Wise Woman”) earned fame by revenging her husband’s death. She survived a Mexican attack on the tribe. Only seventeen people escaped; two of them were Gouyen and her young son. Her baby daughter had been murdered, and later Comanches (see entry) killed her husband. Gouyen went to the Comanche camp, where they were celebrating with a victory dance. The chief had her husband’s scalp hanging from his belt. She pretended to be interested in the chief and, when they were alone, she scalped him and cut off his beaded breechcloth, an apronlike covering that hangs from the waist. She also took his moccasins and gave all of these as gifts to her in-laws.

Chiricahua reservations

In 1913 Geronimo’s followers at Fort Sill were given the choice of remaining in Oklahoma and receiving eighty acres of land apiece, or returning to New Mexico—their homeland—to live on the Mescalero Reservation. Eighty-seven chose to remain in Oklahoma, while the remaining 171 returned to New Mexico with Victorio.

The Mescalero Reservation was already home to Mescalero and Lipan Apache. For a time the Chiricahua kept an isolated area to themselves and held on to their tribal identity. Eventually they intermarried with the other Apache, though, and their culture was absorbed into the larger group.

The Fort Sill Chiricahua who received land instead of a reservation lived apart from each other on scattered plots. They likewise intermarried with members of other tribes and with whites. Over time their tribal identity has been diluted.

Religion

The Chiricahua believed that coyotes, insects, and birds had once been human beings. Nature was central to their beliefs, and religious beiefs were passed down through stories and poetry. White Painted Woman’s son destroyed the evil monsters that plagued the people of long ago and made Earth livable again. White Painted Woman is also of central importance to a girl’s four-day puberty rites.

In 1881 an Apache medicine man named Nochedelklinne began to preach about a vision he had, in which white men vanished from the earth and dead Apache came back to life. His vision included a dance, which he taught to increasing numbers of Apache. The dance was so lively, and dancers became so enthusiastic performing it, white officials feared it might start an Native American revolution. In fact most Indians believed Nochedelklinne’s teachings meant they should leave revenge to Usen, the Creator.

Nevertheless U.S. Army Colonel Eugene Carr (1830–1910) received orders to arrest or kill the medicine man. When Nochedelklinne did not report to Fort Apache as commanded, Carr marched to his encampment, and a gun battle broke out. The Apache scouts accompanying the colonel deserted and fought against him. Geronimo, too, participated in the battle, and his anger against white people was inflamed when Nochedelklinne was killed together with his wife and son. The medicine man’s religion did not survive long after his death; later the Ghost Dance religion replaced it.

Christian missionaries from the Reformed Church in America arrived at Fort Sill in 1899 and opened the Apache Mission of the Reformed Church. They set up schools, tended the sick, and conducted religious services. Their success was assured when Geronimo agreed to convert, although he was soon expelled for gambling. This Church remains a strong presence at Fort Sill.

Language

Because the Chiricahua had no reservation of their own, their language and culture were largely absorbed into other tribes or into white culture. Their language almost disappeared. Robert W. Young in Handbook of North American Indians estimated that in 1981 there were only five Chiricahua speakers at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, “all over fifty years of age.” According to statistics from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) International in 1990 the population at the Mescalero Reservation included 279 Chiricahua speakers. A small number also spoke Chiricahua at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, although most of those speakers were older adults.

Government

Because the names of many Chiricahua leaders and warriors have become well known, some people think they were chiefs in charge of large groups of followers. The Chiricahua, however, did not have a “big chief” telling them what to do. Each small group had a leader, who was listened to because he had qualities his followers admired, such as wisdom, bravery, or a convincing way of speaking. While the leader may have had a great deal of influence, he did not make major decisions on his own; he had to consult the heads of other families in his group.

After the defeat of Geronimo, the Chiricahua took different paths. Those who went to the Mescalero Reservation at first joined the Mescalero and Lipan Apache in meetings with U.S. government agents who ran the reservations. Later the government offered tribes on reservations the opportunity to organize and handle their own affairs. Recent statistics for the Chiricahua are not recorded by the U.S. government. The U.S. Census does not track population groups of less than fifty members.

At Mescalero the three Apache groups accepted the opportunity offered by the federal government and organized as the Mescalero Apache. This entitled them to receive federal recognition. Federally recognized tribes are those with which the U.S. government maintains official relations. The Mescalero Apache formed a tribal council made up of a president, vice-president, and eight elected members. The reservation has had strong leaders who oversee advances in health care, education, and economic independence.

For a long time the Fort Sill Apache had only an informal business council. The U.S. government threatened to terminate (dissolve) the tribe in the 1950s. Termination would have ended any relationship with the U.S. government. Members of the tribe rallied to fight termination by forming a tribal committee. In the 1970s the Fort Sill Apache formed a new government with elected members, and received federal recognition. They are considered a separate Chiricahua tribe, even though there are Chiricahua at the Mescalero Reservation.

Economy

On the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico, the people are fortunate to have land on which to develop businesses. Extremely successful timber and tourist operations have grown up, including the well known Inn of the Mountain Gods, a luxurious resort, and its sports center. The Big Game Hunting Lodge offers hunting for elk, bear, and wild birds. Ski Apache also attracts many tourists. Grazing land supports a thriving cattle industry. Mescalero Forest Products harvests timber and processes lumber for sale. All of these business provide jobs; some also help fund housing, health, education, and social activities. In spite of these economic advances, the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported an unemployment rate of 62 percent on the Mescalero Reservation in 2001, which means that more than half of the people who wanted to work could not find jobs.

Things have not gone well for the Fort Sill people, who did not have a reservation. When they moved onto individual plots of land in 1913 the people raised cattle and farmed. In the 1920s and 1930s oil and gas were found on their land. The U.S. government negotiated on behalf of the Apaches with outside companies to lease the land. Many Apaches did not speak English well and did not understand the agreements. Their land and their children’s land was leased without their consent. Although they are entitled to 12 percent of all the resources taken from their property, most receive less than one percent.

Then in the 1940s and 1950s large-scale farms blossomed in Oklahoma, requiring expensive machinery, and many Fort Sill Chiricahua could not afford to compete. Some left to find work. In the 1970s the federal government gave aid to Native American tribes, and the economy improved somewhat. In the mid-2000s some people lease their land to whites for farming and cattle grazing, and other business opportunities are being explored, including the use of wind and solar power. The Fort Sill Apache Casino provides jobs and donates money to support tribal services.

Daily life

Buildings

The Chiricahua were wandering mountain dwellers who changed camps often. In the summer they lived in the highlands where it was cooler, and in the winter they moved down to the lowlands. Often their winter encampments included a sweat lodge for the men. Their basic shelters were dome-shaped wickiups made from brush.

Food

Like other Apache, the Chiricahuas were basically hunter-gatherers. They migrated, following the seasons and readily available crops and game. Men hunted for deer and antelope using deer-head disguises and employing bows and arrows. They also hunted elk, mountain goats, and mountain sheep, but these were scarce. Small boys assisted by hunting cottontail rabbits, squirrels, birds, and opossums. Some animals, such as the badger and wildcat, were hunted only for their skins, and others, such as fish, bear, and turkey were not eaten by the Chiricahua. The bear was not hunted by most Apache tribes because it stood upright and was too much like a man. However, it was hunted by the Chiricahua, probably only for bear grease and fur. When food was scarce, the Apaches often raided neighboring tribes.

Women dug roots and harvested plants, berries, and fruits. Fruit from the yucca plant was a favorite food; they also pounded this in water to make suds for shampoo. One of their staple foods was the mescal plant, which is why the Spanish called some Apaches “Mescalero.”

Clothing and adornment

Before the coming of Europeans, Chiricahua men and women wore clothing made of tanned animal skins. Because they lived near the Mexican border, they began early to adapt some of the Mexican-style clothing. Most common were white cotton shirts for the men, long white cotton breechcloths (garments with front and back flaps that hung from the waist), and tall leggings that were part of boot-like moccasins. At the waist they wore cartridge belts (belts with loops or pockets for carrying ammunition). In the later nineteenth century they began wearing American-style black vests or jackets.

The women also adopted American clothing in the late nineteenth century by wearing long-sleeved blouses and full skirts with the addition of a decorative border at the bottom.

Men often wore scarves around their necks, and women had necklaces made of shells or beads. Both sexes wore unpainted wood charms for personal protection, and men carried leather cases with ornate beadwork.

Healing practices

The Chiricahua were skilled at using herbs for healing. Well into the twentieth century they prepared a potion for the elderly to help keep their blood thin. They made it from a weed called zagosti, which has been used by modern medical experts to prepare blood thinner for heart patients. The Chiricahua used roots such as the osha, either chewed or ground up in tobacco, for the common cold. They used Apache plume for diarrhea and constipation. Mud baths were also prescribed for many ailments. A hot cloth spread with grease and ashes was sometimes used for such maladies as mumps.

In the mid-2000s the Mescalero Apache operated a small hospital and an outpatient program with clinics, as well as dental, lab, nutrition, social work, substance abuse, and pharmacy services. Fort Sill had a facility that offered dental and medical services.

Education

By the time he was confined on the Fort Sill Reservation in 1894, Geronimo realized that the old ways of educating Apache children would no longer work in American society. He encouraged children on the reservation to learn the ways of the “White Eyes.” Some Fort Sill children were sent to the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. Others were taught white ways by Christian missionaries, who set up schools at Fort Sill. At many schools, children were forbidden to speak their native language.

Today Fort Sill children attend local public schools in the five counties where Chiricahua own plots of land.. The Mescalero Apache School opened in 2003 and offered classes for grades K–12. In addition to its regular curriculum, the school also provided courses in forestry and agriculture. Plans were also underway to open a community college on the reservation.

Why the Bat Has Short Legs

Many tribes tell tales of times long ago when animals lived as people. These legends, like this one, often explain how an animal developed certain physical features. This Chiricahua Apache story tells how bats ended up with short legs.

Long ago, Killer-of-Enemies vowed to save his people from the terror of monster eagles that roamed the skies and carried off children. Killer-of-Enemies tricked one monster eagle into carrying him up to the eagle nest on the cliff, where he killed the monster eagle and its family. But Killer-of-Enemies did not know how to get down from the cliff. Just then, he saw an old woman approaching. It was Old Woman Bat.

“Grandmother, help me. Take me down,” Killer-of-Enemies said. Old Woman Bat looked all around, but did not see him. Killer-of-Enemies called out again, and again, and again. Finally, Old Woman Bat saw him high in the eagle’s nest. She came over to the cliff and began to climb.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, when she reached the top.

“Monster eagle carried me up here,” he said. “Please take me down.”

“Climb in my basket,” Old Woman Bat said. Killer of Enemies looked at the burden basket on the old woman’s back. Its carrying strap was made of spider’s silk.

“That strap is too fine,” he said. “It will break and I shall fall.”

“Nonsense! I’ve carried a bighorn sheep in this basket,” Old Woman Bat said. “Get in and close your eyes. If you look, we will fall.”

Old Woman Bat clambered down the rock, singing a strange song. Her burden basket swayed wildly from side to side. Killer-of-Enemies thought the spider thread would surely break, so he opened his eyes to look.

As soon as Kill-of-Enemies opened his eyes. He and Old Woman Bat crashed down from the cliff. Old Woman Bat landed first and broke her legs. Killer-of-Enemies fell on top of her and was safe. Old Woman Bat’s broken legs soon mended but from that day on her legs were short.

“Native American Legends: Why The Bat Has Short Legs.” First People. (accessed on July 2, 2007).

Customs

Festivals and ceremonies

The Apache Dance for the Mountain Spirits, originally held for every young girl’s puberty ceremony, is now an annual event. The Fort Sill Apache host the dance in September, while the Mescalero hold it as part of their Fourth of July celebration. That July Ceremonial is a four-day gala event (four is their lucky number); it pays tribute to young girls who have reached puberty and includes feasting and a rodeo.

Fort Sill Apache keep in touch with other Native nations by hosting both rodeos and powwows. A powwow is a celebration at which the main activities are traditional singing and dancing. In modern times the singers and dancers at powwows come from many different tribes. While at Fort Sill visitors can view the works of famed Chiricahua sculptor Allan Houser at the tribal headquarters.

Current Tribal Issues

Poverty—and what to do about it—is a constant concern. Some Apache solutions have raised controversy. For example, in 1996 the Mescalero Apache accepted a $2 billion contract to house nuclear waste in a remote part of their reservation in New Mexico. They say the money will provide jobs and business opportunities. Critics say the decision is an environmental disaster waiting to happen.

At Fort Sill tribal members continue to try to get compensation for the oil and gas that were taken from their reservations (see “Economy”). Although they received $6 million in 1979, some estimate that on only a small portion of the tribal land the people are owed more than $8 million. With support from the Secretary of the Interior, the tribe hopes to foreclose (shut down) on companies who have not paid what they owe.

The Fort Sill Apache had a wind farm constructed near the tribal complex in 2004. They were working to develop both wind and solar energy. They also purchased Indian City USA, a tourist attraction with an RV (recreational vehicle) park, a camping area, a pool, a dance ground, and a museum. Fort Sill Apache Industries was formed for business development.

Health concerns plague many Fort Sill Apache. In addition to diabetes, which is a problem for many Native Americans, the tribe also has high rates of cancer and lupus, which may be related to the oil drilling on their land.

Notable people

Allan Houser (1914–1994) was a Chiricahua Apache sculptor who has been acclaimed throughout the world for his six decades of work in wood, marble, stone, and bronze. In April 1994 he presented an 11-foot bronze sculpture entitled “May We Have Peace” to then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (1947–in Washington, D.C., as a gift from the American Indians to all people. Houser’s work is on view in museums all over the world, and he has won many awards, including the Prix de West Award in 1993 for a bronze sculpture titled “Smoke Signals,” now a part of the permanent collection of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 1992 he became the first Native American to win the National Medal of the Arts.

Lozen (c. 1840s–1886) was the sister of Chiricahua war leader Victorio and is the most famous of the Apache War Women. Though they were few in number, their accomplishments were significant, especially at a time when women everywhere enjoyed little freedom. Lozen was a medicine woman and an accomplished horsewoman whose advice and guidance was sought by both men and women of her band. She rode to battle with Victorio and later with Geronimo, with whom she was photographed several times. Along with Geronimo, she was taken as a prisoner to Florida. She died, probably of tuberculosis, in 1886.

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Aleshire, Peter. Warrior Woman: The Story of Lozen, Apache Warrior and Shaman. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2001.

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Buchanan, Kimberly Moore. Apache Women Warriors. Southwestern Studies No. 79.

Griffin-Pierce, Trudy. Chiricahua Apache Enduring Power: Naiche’s Puberty Ceremony Paintings. Tuscaloosa: University Alabama Press, 2006.

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Wagner, Dennis. “Stolen Artifacts Shatter Ancient Culture.” The Arizona Republic, November 12, 2006.

“The Children of Changing Woman.” Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. (accessed on July 2, 2007).

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“Nde Nation.” Chiricahua: Apache Nation. (accessed on July 2, 2007).

Ned Blackhawk, Associate Professor, Department of History, American Indian Studies Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Laurie Edwards

Laurie Edwards