Marco, Chief of Limpia and Guadalupe Mescaleros

[ouroboros]

Marco (or Marcos, or even Marcus) was described by Michael Steck as the “head chief” of the Mescaleros living in the “southern portion of the Guadalupe and in the Limpia Mts”. There are some many infos on him, which might interest users of this message boards.

George Archibald McCall mentioned him in his 'Letters from the Frontiers: Written During a Period of Thirty Years' Service in the Army of the United States', p. 518:

Next come the Apaches Mescaleros, consisting of two bands, under the chiefs Marco and Gomez ; the former (the more northerly) having two hundred warriors ; the latter, four hundred. They hold the country east of the Rio Grande from the Guadalupe Mountains to Presidio del Norte. These two bands are the strongest and the most warlike and fearless of their tribe. They have rarely molested the inhabitants of New Mexico north of El Paso ; nor were they unfriendly to United States citizens whom they met on the road, until a feeling of hostility was aroused by the infamous attack of Glanton, an American citizen in the pay of the government of Chihuahua, on a part of Gomez's band in 1849. They have however, for years, in conjunction with the Comanches, committed fearful havoc in Chihuahua and Sonora, and like them have carried off women and children, though not by any means to the same extent.

You can legally download McCall's Letters from google.books: books.google.pl/books?id=AhBFAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:dyEeujbtNV8C&hl=pl&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

[ouroboros]

McCall in one of his letters noted Marco's conversation with F. X. Aubrey:

In March last Mr. F. X. Aubrey, on his way from San Antonio to El Paso with a train of wagons, fell in with Marco's band near the Limpia River. The former had with him near sixty men, which perhaps had some influence on the character of his reception . An amicable meeting, however, took place, and some mules were obtained from the Indians. In the “ talk ” held between the parties, Mr. Aubrey told Marco that the United States desired to be on friendly terms with him ; and that, consequently, he must not allow his people to kill our citizens, or carry off their stock. This he promised to do. He was then told he must also give up plundering the Mexicans. After a long pause he replied: "I had supposed that my brother was a man of good sense. Has he, then, seen between the Pecos and the Limpia game enough to feed 3000 people ? We have had for a long time no other food than the meat of Mexican cattle and mules, and we must make use of it still, or perish .” He said subsequently : “ If your people will give us cattle to feed our families, we will no longer take from the Mexicans." If these people were maintained in idleness, they would, perhaps, remain quiet ; but whether they could be induced to take upon themselves the task of providing for their future subsistence, by their own manual labor , is a question that nothing but actual experiment will solve.