Mescalero divisions and groups

[ouroboros]

Shis-Inday ("People of the Mountain Forests") or Mashgalénde / Mashgalé-neí / Mashgalé-õde ("People close to the mountains" or "Mescalero Apache People") - beter known as Mescaleros - were organized in bands and local groups. But there is a long-standing debate on how many Mescalero bands there were.

In Krober's CULTURAL AND NATURAL AREAS OF NATIVE NORTH AMERICA p. 36 footnote 12, the band division of the Shis-Inday is listed as follows (Krober quotes Gifford):

Mescalero division:

Kahoane, the most westerly group, apparently east of the Rio Grande;

Ni'ahane, central, presumably about the Capitan Mountains and the Sierra Blanca;

Huska'ane, or "plains people," to the east, in the Pecos Valley;

Tuetenene, south of the Rio Grande below the mouth of the Pecos namely, in Coahuila, and said to be "half Lipan";

Zitachisene, of Azul, toward Chihuahua City, perhaps belonging rather with Chiricahua than with Mescalero.

[ouroboros]

Here are the Mescalero divisions form Krober's source: E. W. Gifford, ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
4:1: CULTURE ELEMENT DISTRIBUTIONS: XII APACHE-PUEBLO, Berkeley 1940, p. 166:

Three bands: (1) Kahoane. Lived in San Andres, Organ, and Oscura mts. S to El Paso. Ranged N to Santa Fe. (2) Nia'ahane. Lived in Sacramento mts., Guadalupe mts., Sierra Blanca, and Capitan mts. (3) Huskaane. Lived in Pecos V. from Ft. Sumner S to confluence of Pecos and Rio Grande. Huskaane means "plains people."

Kahoane means "people of ridge descending abruptly to river" (viz., Rio Grande at S end of ridge). Ni'ahane means "people of Nikachaa," i.e., of "terraced mts." Comanche (Indassene, from indas, enemy) were principal enemies and lived to E of Huskaane. Navaho, Kiowa, and Kiowa-Apache were also enemies and raided Me, especially Huskaane, for horses. Jicarilla were friendly and were callea Chiyahene (living close to house people). Of the 3 Me bands, Kahoane, the western, had fewest horses; Huskaane, the eastern, had most. Tunsane, "big water people,"Me name for Lipan. Shaiahane, western people, is general term applied by Me to Warm Springs and Huachuca Apache, whom they now call Chiricahua also. Huskaane farmed around Hope and Lincoln. Kahoane did the least farming. Ni'ahane principal farming centers on Rio Penasco, at La Luz, and near Glencoe. Guadalupe mts., in S part of Ni'ahane range, had many springs, better stocked with game than Sierra Blanca in N. Elk, white-tailed deer, black-tailed deer in Ni'ahane territory. Mesquite grew on SE and W slopes of mts. No jaguars. All 3 Mescalero bands hunted buffalo, which came to base of Capitan mts. Buffalo around Ft. Sumner agency, but people did not like flat country and difficulty of getting wood, so transferred to present reservation in mts. A fourth band called Tuetenene lived in arid country S of Me. Tuete means "no water." The people largely depended on rain-water holes in arroyos and occasional springs. They were said to be half Mescalero, half Lipan in blood. Tunsane, Lipan, lived on both sides of Rio Grande downstream from Tuetenane. Zitachisene, an Apache group near Chihuahua City, were their neighbors to S and SW.

[ouroboros]

The best treatment of the issue of Mesclaero political organisation is: Harry W.Basehart, Mescalero Apache subsistence patterns and socio-political organization pp. 155-159:

Mescalero bands, as noted in the preceding section, had but tenuous ties with specific territorial localities. A band, or segment of a band, might have a favorite camping area, and utilize this locality periodically, though members had no right to exclusive occupation of the region. Where a group was associated with a named place in this fashion, the members could be referred to as “People of Such-and-Such Place”; this usage, of course, was uncommon. In later post-reservation days, at least, some “relative groups” manifested definite preference for particular camp sites; this pattern may have obtained to some extent in earlier days as well. The extent of localization at this level for the 1850s is difficult to gage from informant accounts, which tend to stress the freedom of individuals to move about as they pleased.

Larger territorial regions likewise were recognized linguistically, and there was a tendency for leaders to favor one or another such geographical area. Informants are not consistent in distinguishing named territorial divisions, but four regions appear to have been of some importance. People living in these districts might be referred to by the name of the territory, as follows: (1) taho?aende, “People of ‘Pointing to Water’” (those who lived in the southern portion of the San Andres range and adjacent areas; the name refers to the fact that the southern foothills of the range point in the direction of the Rio Grande); (2) gułga?ende, “Plains People” (those occupying the Staked Plains or any group living beyond the timbered mountain area); (3) nit?ahende, “People who live against the mountains” (included the people of the Sacramento range and, possibly, of the Guadalupes); (4) dziłkayesanende, “White Mountain People.” The fourth territorial division was mentioned less frequently than the other three; some of those interviewed included other areas, such as Guadalupe peak, in the same category. However, unless the term tsehitcihende (“People of Hook Nose”) is taken to apply to the entire Guadalupe range, the territory involved would be very small in comparison with the districts noted above.

Mescalero territorial divisions have sometimes been termed “bands” and considered major socio-political units. Opler, for example, held that the Mescalero were divided into two bands, the “Edge of the Mountain People” and the “Plains People”. Gifford distinguished three bands: (1) “Kahoane,” who lived in the San Andres, Organ and Oscura mountains, and ranged south to El Paso and north to Santa Fe; (2) “Ni'ahane,” of the Sacramento, Guadalupe, Sierra Blanca and Capitan ranges; (3) “Huskaane,” the “Plains People,” who occupied the Pecos valley from Fort Summer south to the confluence of the Pecos and Rio Grande. It will be evident that the names of Gifford's three bands correspond roughly to the names of the territorial divisions noted in the preceding paragraph, while Opler's translations evidently refer to the gułga?ende and nit?ahende. Gifford reported that the named bands were led by chiefs. Prior to 1872, the “Kahoane” chief was “Chianacha (he came back to his name) or Caneta”; the “Ni'ahane” chief was “Neschu (yellowish)”; the “Huskaane” chief “Nikale (brave man)” (4, 175). The role of the two leaders who can be identified (Jianatsa or Cadete, and Yellow) has been discussed in an earlier section; no information is available for “Nikale,” the “Plains” leader. Mooney, in field notes recorded in 1897, noted five Mescalero divisions: Nataina, Tuetinini, Tsihlinainde, Guhlkainde, and Tuhuunde. Presumably, Mooney considered these groups “bands,” since Hodge, who utilized the former's notes stated: “These bands intermarry, and each had its chief and subchief,”. The identity of three of these divisions poses no problem; the Tuetinini are the Lipan “No Water People”; the Guhlkainde (gułga?ende) are the “Plains People”; the Tahuunde (taho?aende) are the “Pointing to Water People.” The form “Tsihlinainde” evidently refers to the people of some mountain, but further identification is difficult. The term “Nataina” contains the root for “mescal,” but the suffix is not the usual Mescalero ending designating “people.”

Both ethnographic and historical evidence collected in the course of this research indicates clearly that named territorial divisions did not constitute the basis for significant socio-political units among the Mescalero. Territorial considerations were both more and less important than the territorially-defined bands of Opler and Gifford suggest: more important in the sense that the concept of land as a free good, with all Mescalero territory open to all tribal members, was critical in the constitution of the loose social organization emphasizing independent band and tribe; less important in that the territorial variable did not define socio-political structures at an intermediate level between the leader's group and the tribe. Leaders definitely were not associated with named territorial divisions, nor did they represent particular geographical regions. At the same time, leaders and their followers did have favorite areas for seasonal concentration, even though no claim to the specific locality was involved. As one very old man said of named geographical districts, the people “didn't think they had any more claim on the portion of land they live on than any other part of the country. It's just because they want to live over at a certain place; that's all there was to it.” Essentially, territorial linkages consisted of generalized, long-term preferences for certain geographical areas, other things being equal. But “other things,” especially subsistence problems, were seldom equal. The named territorial divisions of the Mescalero are not comparable to the named bands of the Chiricahua. While the Chiricahua bands were loosely organized, they did constitute distinctive sociopolitical units; bands of this type were not characteristic of Mescalero.

Review of the historical materials for the American-contact period reveals only a few scattered references to Mescalero social units larger than the leader's group. For the most part, these statements appear to be short-hand descriptions, as in Steck's reference to the “White Mountain Apaches,” cited earlier. Until the Mescalero flight from Fort Summer in 1865 American officials utilized leaders' names to designate groups; after that time, with the tribe concentrated in the south, American knowledge was limited to material culture remains, such as abandoned camp sites. Only one named group, the Agua Nueva, is represented with some consistency in the records; the problem of the identification of this group will be discussed below. In contrast, historical documents for the Chiricahua evidence early familiarity with the existence of large named bands. Dr. Steck, who was intimately acquainted with Chiricahua and had some familiarity with Mescalero, recognized Chiricahua groupings which correspond to two of the bands distinguished by ethnologists, but (except for the Agua Nueva) referred to Mescalero groups only by the names of their leaders.

[ouroboros]

The political of division of the Mescaleros is a complicated matter. In the in the "Journal of John Greiner" there are listed as follows:

Here are five bands of Mescaleros the Llaneros, Norteños, Agua Nueva, Paseños, and Mescalero Apaches, their captains names are Bigotes, Francisco, Mateo, Santos and Hueltas.

Link: babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015035866055&view=1up&seq=244&q1=Aguanuevas

However, it is not clear whether the Agua Nueva Apaches were in reality a division of the Mescaleros. Possibly they were a separate Apache group, with kinship ties to both the Mescalero and Chiricahua Apache.

There is a possibility, that the Agua Nueva Apaches are the same as the Zitachisene. See my thread: amertribes.proboards.com/thread/3306/zitachisene-extinct-chiricahua-group

[ouroboros]

Another one division is described by Franklin and Opler.

Castetter Edward Franklin , and Morris Edward Opler. "The use of plants for foods, beverages and narcotics." University of New Mexico biological series, v. 4, no. 5, University of New Mexico bulletin, whole no. 297, Ethnobiological studies in the American Southwest, 3 4, 5, (1936), p. 6:

The Mescalero were divided into two bands. One was called "Edge of the Mountains People." The members of this band stayed most often in the vicinity of the Sacramento and Sierra Blanca mountain ranges.The second band stayed farther to the east and the smaller offshoots of it, which we may term local groups, often camped on the flats in times of peace and so gave the name of "Plains People" to the band. These two Mescalero bands were one in language and customs and, though each had separate leaders, recognized themselves as a  single people.

[juan]

Hello another question just read on a word called Faraones and it translated to Mescalero is there any truth to that

[tosque]

The Faraones is the spanish name for one Mescalero-Group.

www.native-languages.org/definitions/faraones.htm

[nomaddukesancho]

A great deal of Information can be discovered in the book Chevato. Written by Nancy McGown Minor and co-author William Chebahtah, Grandson of Chevato Born at the "Hacienda de Patiño"known as Zaragoza, Coahuila, Mexico in 1856. My 3rd Great grandmother Maria Antonia Patiño b.1826 at Zaragoza. was kin, I am kin to this family of Lipan Apache.