55. The Horses of the Apache Are Stolen by the Navajo

Their camp was there at Cimarron. In the springtime the Navajo came and drove their horses away. The Apache rode after them, mounted on their horses which the Navajo had failed to get. As they followed them they found the poorer horses standing one by one. They brought only these home with them. When it was fall the Ute and Apache together went after them where they had driven the horses away. At KôLtsõye, "yellow river" they drove away the horses of some Mexicans. There they saw two mules which they took away and hid in the brush. From there

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they went to Bosque where all the Navajo had been placed. ¹ When they got there, six Ute rode on in front and after dark drove away four of the horses. Two of the Ute, who were out after another horse during the night, came upon a Navajo whom they shot, inflicting a flesh wound. The Navajo hid in the brush and the Ute brought back only the horse with the saddle.

Early the next day they rode toward them. The soldiers were drawn up on horseback in front of the ditch where the Apache and Ute dismounted and went forward with a flag which they had raised. The soldiers then announced that they would fight against whichever tribe fired the first shot. They then rode with them into the town of Bosque. The Ute and Apache rode in the middle with the soldiers on each side. The Navajo, coming up, said bad words against them but the soldiers surrounding the Apache would not let the Navajo attack them. Even when they were inside, the Navajo came up, still wishing to fight. Finally, they gave it up. Two soldiers stood by the door watching while the Indians were eating. A Navajo who wanted to sell something came up behind the soldiers and attempted to go in. The soldiers, discovering him, shot him right there and killed him. His own people (Navajo) took him outside.

After remaining there four days the Ute and Apache started home not having been given their horses because they had already stolen others.

Some of the enemy had been to Santa Fé. One of the family had died. If any other tribe finds us, let them kill us if they want to," they said. They came to Santa Fé, two men, two women, and four children, eight of them altogether. As they were coming back from Santa Fé toward evening, the Apache and Ute returning from there (Bosque) saw them. Riding after them, they overtook them and commenced to fight. They killed one man. Two rode off and one woman attempted to escape on foot, favored by the darkness. They caught three of the children and this woman. The, y also captured the horses with their packs in which they were taking home, corn, bread, flour, peas, and whisky. They brought them all away, arriving after night where the Apache were camped. They did not take the scalps because no one knew how. The Ute knew how to take scalps but the Ute did not kill him. For that reason he was not touched. ²

Early next morning, a man went over to the Ute and told them. "You come and scalp the man. We do not know how," he said to them. They

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immediately commenced to shout and run after their horses. Whoever got there first jumped on his horse without a saddle, and raced to the place where the man lay. They took the scalp, and cut off the ears. They cut off the fingers too. They brought these back to their camp. One of them took the scalp, turned it over his knee, and cut off pieces of flesh. They put these pieces in the fire, eating some of them and rubbing the others on their bodies. ¹

They rode off, stopping at noon, to eat. They built a fire. A man leaned his gun against a rock. While they were eating, a Ute climbed to the top of this rock, sat down and began to sing and shout. Without anyone touching it, the gun went off, shooting this man through the hip. He fell down and the others all ran up to him. The ball passed through the bone breaking it. They moved away from there, placing the wounded man on poles fastened on each side of a horse. They dragged him along this way. ²

They moved to Cimarron. As they rode near they held the enemy's scalp. They went dancing around there and kept it up until night. They stopped at night and the men went to their homes. Early the next morning they started dancing again, continuing until dark. They stopped to eat. The next morning they danced again, continuing until sunset. They stopped to eat but began right away to dance again. It dawned while they were still dancing. After it was daylight they commenced dancing again, stopping to eat when it was night. They commenced dancing again and continued until it was daylight when they finished.

Footnotes

244:1 The Navajo were prisoners of war at Ft. Sumner, Bosque Redondo, on the Pecos River from 1863 until 1867.

244:2 The informant commented, "Very few of the Apache know how to take a scalp. if they do not know how, it (scalping) makes them die without sickness. The body dries up. They sometimes fall in the fire."

245:1 Because the enemy (Plains Indians) sometimes took off the Utes' ears and fingers to wear, the Ute did the same. "Just the Ute did this way, (ate it). The Ute say if they do this the enemy will not be strong. They will get scared quickly."

245:2 The travois seems to have been used only for the transportation of the wounded and infirm, the practice of packing the loads on the backs of the horses having been adopted from the Mexicans.