Mescalero Apache

[jeroen]

So far, we have paid very little attention to the Mescalero Apache, let's change that by putting in as much images and info as we can come up with...

[Dietmar]

Jeroen,

Thanks for starting this thread. The above photo was taken at the Tertio-Millennial Exposition, Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1883. Note the typical Southern Plains style of clothing the Mescaleros wear in the photograph.


The most important leader of the Mescaleros in the early 19th century probably was Barranquito. When he died in 1857, his three sons and/or nephews Santana, Cadete and Roman succeeded him.

Santana seem to have had the most influence within the Mescalero tribe, but he avoided the spotlight and was hardly known by the Whites. He died in 1876 of pneumonia.
Cadete (aka Zhee Ah Nat Tsa) had the most to do with the Whites and is said to had been more of a diplomat. He was murdered in 1872.
Roman was an less important chief than the other two. He lived until 1885.

After Satanta and Cadete were gone, Chief San Juan and war chief Nautzile (aka Nodzilla) took over the leadership of the Mescaleros on the reservation.


Here are some of Frank A. Randall´s Mescalero portraits (all linked from SIRIS):


Portrait of Chief San Juan and Nautzili




San Juan, Mescalero chief by Frank A. Randall



Nautzile, Mescalero chief by Frank A. Randall


Portrait of Comanche John, Blue Knife's Son

Comanche son with his wife


Portrait of Little Old Boy (Dwarf) in Feline Skin Costume


Portrait of Domingo, Scout


Portrait of Two Young Men in Partial Native Dress, One Wearing Flute Around Neck 1886 by Randall


Portrait of Young Man in Native Dress Playing Flute and Carrying Bow and Quiver 1886 by Randall


Portrait of Boy

[tkavanagh]

Ah, these great photos. I have had so much fun with them.

In re the first group photo:

Please note, these are *not* “typical Southern Plains” clothing. While yes, the SP people did wear otter fur “turbans,” but generally KCA turbans did not have beadwork designs on them.

Note also, none of the men wear /piksikwina/ [aka /savare/], the shawl/sheet worn around the waist that is typical of the KCA.

The leggings are not SP. The moccasins are not SP.

In the second series, note that several of the men wear the same blanket, carry the same shield, hold the same lance, and indeed, wear what appears to be the bodice of a (non-SP) woman’s dress. There is another photo from this series which clearly shows curtain rings sewn on the hem of the blanket. (I’ve got it somewhere around here and will try to post it.) These are not ethnographic artifacts, but are photographers props; why do you think that girl is grinning in photo : she knows!

tk

[grahamew]

I might as well add the few I have:


Mescalero group including Domingo


Mescaleros with A J Curtis, pre-1868??


Nautzilli


Is that Muchacho Negro third from left?




Not sure that this man is Mescalero...


Trais??


Comanche John's wife; Comanche John kneeling and




Domingo


Muchacho Negro


Comanche John

I have seen photos of Comanche John labelled as Jicarilla.

[kayitah]

Sept 24, 2010 11:50:15 GMT -5 grahamew said:

I might as well add the few I have:


Mescalero group including Domingo

this is a great image that very likely includes a couple leaders besides Domingo.

The man next to him has sometimes been misidentified as Kedinchin. It more than unlikely that it's him, simply because of the following reasons:

- It doesn't seem that Kedinchin was a leader, while the centre position of this man in the image indicates that he's one of the more prominent men of the group.
- Kedinchin became known to Americans when he (in fear) killed a cowboy, which eventually led to his own death. I couldn't find any reports on him prior to this sad chapter.
- The photograph was made in the 1870s or (more likely) 1880s, over 20 years before Kedinchin became known to Americans.

Unfortunately, I don't know who the man is.

[grahamew]

It look likes it's cropped from a larger photo.

Is the guy at the back a younger, slimmer Nautzilli?

[Dietmar]

Sept 24, 2010 11:23:41 GMT -5 tkavanagh said:

Please note, these are *not* “typical Southern Plains” clothing. While yes, the SP people did wear otter fur “turbans,” but generally KCA turbans did not have beadwork designs on them.

Ah... well, my mistake. Again, good to have you here.
I think a series of authors have misinterpreted the 1883 photos. So the turbans are not Mescalero design. Do we have images that more authentically show Mescalero clothing and regalia?

Here´s a better resolution scan of the first group photo plus a second one featuring San Juan and Nautzile:

[Dietmar]

And here is another version of the San Juan/Nautzile portrait posted in reply 1:


San Juan, Nautzile and an unidentified Indian

Please look at the young Indian standing behind. Is he Mescalero? He reminds me of the portait of a Lipan Apache of the 1850s:


Lipan Apache brave wearing breastplate. Watercolor by Frederich Richard Petri, circa 1850s.

[grahamew]

Some more:


Nautzilli just left of centre


by Wittick




Nautzilli in the centre of the back row


Horse Thief?


Gorgonia (?), medicine man, who appears to be wearing the long moccasins associated with the more western Apache


Mescalero women?

[jeroen]

Amazing images and good info! Here's another one, said to be Ih Tedda, Geronimo's Mescalero wife, the baby on her lap would be their son Robert... Can anybody confirm this?

[kayitah]

Sept 25, 2010 12:22:21 GMT -5 grahamew said:

Some more:


Nautzilli in the centre of the back row


Mescalero women?

Between Nautzilli and the white man is Patricio, a brother of Chato.

You're right the women are Mescalero, both wives of chief Cadete.

[grahamew]

Thanks.

[naiches2]

Sept 25, 2010 12:22:21 GMT -5 grahamew said:

Some more:
************

Mescalero women?

Daughters of Apache Chief Coetta


Coetta, Chief of the Apache Nation

From New Mexico Digital Collection

[naiches2]

Sept 25, 2010 12:22:21 GMT -5 grahamew said:

Some more:
************

Mescalero women?

These girls are the daughters of Apache Chief Coetta


Coetta, Chief of the Apache Nation

Info and pic From New Mexico Digital Collection

[jeroen]

Mescalero bands:

Natahéndé (spanish rendering as Natages, spelled Na-ta-hay, "Mescal People", lived between Rio Grande and Pecos River in central New Mexico with local groups wandering on the southern and western edge of the Llano Estacado onto the southern Texas Panhandle)
Guhlkahéndé (spanish rendering as Cuelcajenne, "People of the Plains", lived east of the mountains and the Pecos River, on the High Plains from the Texas Panhandle to the Pecos Valley , between Amarillo, Tucumcari, Lubbock and the Llano Estacado, along the Sandia and Tijeras Mountains westward to Santa Fe, from Nogal Canyon to the north to Las Vegas, from the Organ Mountains eastwards to El Paso, in Oklahoma they had kinship ties per marriage with the Comanche)
Dzithinahndé / Tsilnihéndé (spanish rendering as Chilpaines, "Mountain Ridge Band People", lived in the mountains west and south of the Pecos River, extending in northern Chihuahua and Coahuila)
Ch'laandé / Tslahahéndé ("Antelope Band People", lived west of the Pecos west to the Rio Grande in the mountains of central and south New Mexico and the Tularosa Basin)
Nit'ahéndé ("People Who Live Against the Mountains", "Earth Crevine (Deer) People", lived in the Sacramento Mountains in New Mexico and the Guadalupe Mountains in western Texas)
Tsehitcihéndé ("People of Hook Nose", several bands, who lived in the Guadalupe Mountains, the adjacent Plains of Texas and in northern Coahuila and Chihuahua)
Tsebekinéndé ("Rock House People", often called by Spanish and Americans Aguas Nuevas or Norteños, have had their center around Nuevo Casas Grandes in Chihuahua, wandering north toward the Sacramento Mountains and south to Agua Nueva 60 miles north of Chihuahua City, also on both sides of the Rio Grande between El Paso and Ojinaga, Chihuahua; some local groups lived in the Guadalupe and Limpia Mountains)
Tahuundé / Tá'huú'ndé ("Mountains Extending into the River People", lived on both sides of the Pecos River in southern New Mexico and wandering into southwestern Texas)
Tuintsundé ("Big Water People", once the Tú sis Ndé band of the Lipan, who lived in southcentral Texas and in northern Coahuila, camping with several bands of the Mescalero together on the Plains for hunting and raiding; they merged with the Mescalero forming a Mescalero band)
Tuetinini ("No Water People", "Tough People of the Desert", once the Tú é diné Ndé band of the Lipan, who was wandering in northern Coahuila and Chihuahua and eventually merged with some southern Mescalero bands)