Victorio

 

The Mescalero Apaches deeply resented the presence of the settlers, travelers, and soldiers in the Big Bend area. In 1879 the wilder elements of this band joined with the Warm Springs Apaches under the leadership of Victorio, hose tactics were a model of guerilla warfare. His band crossed the Rio Grande three times in the winter of 1879-80, leaving death and destruction behind them. Then, these Indians made two attempts to reach the Mescalero Reservation in southern New Mexico, but were fought off by United States troops in battles at Quitman Canyon and Rattlesnake Springs in far West Texas. Victorio went back to his stronghold in the Candelaria Mountains of Old Mexico. On October 14, 1880, he was picked off by a sharpshooter during a battle with Mexican volunteers under Colonel Joaquin Terrazas at Tres Castillos. In January 1881 the remnants of Victorio’s band attacked a stagecoach in Quitman Canyon. Texas Rangers pursued, killed eight, and dispersed the rest. This was the last Indian fight on Texas soil.