After polishing off a tasty meal at the Meers Store and Restaurant, Sarah and I stopped by nearby Mount Scott Cemetery. It was a short stop because both of us were tired and ready to put our feet up.

Mount Scott Cemetery has about 550 burials listed on Find a Grave. It’s a member of the KCA Intertribal Burial Grounds. The KCA stands for Kiowa-Comanche-Apache, but there are folks who belong to other tribal groups buried here. I would visit a few more of these KCA designated cemeteries over the next few days before we headed back to Georgia.

As we walked among the graves, I was intrigued by what I saw. This was different than the POW cemeteries I had passed through earlier in the days with their white government-issues markers. There was more personality, more expression. A number of those buried here are Native Americans who are proud of their culture. But some have also adopted the Christian faith, melding the two.

Daughter of Chief Standing Bear

I discovered ties between some buried here and those at Fort Sill. One was Virginia “Au-Quo-Yah” Stumbling Bear Sahmaunt. She was the daughter of Kiowa Chief Stumbling Bear and To-Ye-Mah. Her name is thought to mean “To Turn Back”.

In November 1864, Chief Stumbling Bear fought U.S. military forces led by Kit Carson at the Battle of Adobe Wells. Soon after, both Chief Stumbling Bear and Chief Kicking Bird became advocates of peace with the whites. As a result of his peace efforts, the federal government built him a home in 1878 on the Kiowa Reservation in the Indian Territory. He died in 1903 and is buried in the Fort Still Post Cemetery.

Virginia’s marker indicates she was born in 1861. But at age 15, she arrived at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania in April 1880. That would mean she was likely born in 1866. She stayed there for three years, returning to Oklahoma in 1883. She kept in touch with the Carlisle administrators, letting them know in a letter she had married Luther Sahmaunt. They were living in Lawton, Okla. in 1914.

Virginia and Luther had at least two sons and one daughter, according to her obituary. She died on May 28, 1926, suffering from heat stroke on her return from traveling with her family. It caused a heart attack that hastened her death.

Virginia’s obituary mentions that she spoke English fluently, which she may have learned at Carlisle. She had many friends among the white population and was a member of the Mount Scott Church where her funeral was held. The epitaph on her marker reads: “Her spirit smiles from that bright shore, and softly whispers weep no more.” Luther, her husband, remarried to a daughter of Santata and died in 1958.

One of Virginia’s grandchildren is buried near her. Annetta Quoetone, born in 1919, was the daughter of Nannie Susan Sahmaunt Quoetone. Annetta died on Valentine’s Day in 1920, only eight months old.

Another of Virginia’s grandchildren is buried at Mount Scott Cemetery, but Helen lived a long and happy life. Helen Ellen Quoetone, born in 1909, married Charles Curley. Charles served in the U.S. Army during World War II. They had one son named Archie. Charles worked in a meat packing plant while Helen was a hospital worker. Charles died in 1977 and Helen passed away in 1998 at age 88. They share this lovely marker.

I especially like the portrait of the couple with Helen in her traditional Native American garb. It was clearly an important part of who she was.

Captain Scott Emauha

The marker for Captain Scott Emauah intrigues me. Born in 1894, he is the child of E-Mau-Ah and Gap-Kau-Go, and the nephew of Virginia Sahmaunt. Scott died at age 14 on June 26, 1909. I’m not sure how he was a Captain at such a young age or if that was simply part of his given name.

I suspect E-Mau-Ah may have been a Native American chief but I could find nothing about him. He is buried at Mount Scott Cemetery but I did not photograph his grave marker. He and Gap-Kau-Go had at least seven children together and none of them lived past their teen years.

Scott is buried beside his sister Vida, who died in 1907 at age 15. The angel at the top of his monument has an Arts and Crafts style to it that I love.

Pah-do-Pony

The grave marker of Pah-do-Pony posed a bit of a mystery for me. I found little about him online but I did find some information regarding his son, Oliver, that helped. I believe the family is of Comanche origin.

Born in 1838, it is likely Pah-do-Pony was a medicine man. His son, Oliver, would follow in his footsteps many decades later, which you can read about here. The following generations went by the surname Pahdopony and many of them are buried at Mount Scott Cemetery. Pah-do-Pony died on Oct. 27, 1912 at age 75. Oliver, who died in 1988, is also buried at Mount Scott.

The top of the grave marker features a bird clutching a quiver and arrows in its talons. I’m not sure if it a tribal symbol.

Alexander and Lorraine Mathews

I am especially fond of the grave of Alexander Mathews (1919-2008) and his wife, Lorraine Coosewoon Mathews (1920-1994). He and Lorraine were married for 47 years.

Alexander’s Pawnee name was “Koot-ooks-Tah-Kah” meaning “White Bear”. He was a full-blood member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. In 1941, he joined the U.S. Army and fought in the Pacific during World War II. He was captured in April 1942, and was a prisoner of war until September 1945. He was part of the Bataan Death March, and was forced into slave labor conditions in Japanese prison concentration camps. As a result, he returned to America after the war a much-decorated veteran.

He and Lorraine had two sons and two daughters together. Alexander was Pawnee Nation President from 1993 to 1995, and a Traditional Chief of the Chaui Band of Pawnee. A graduate of the Haskell Institute in Kansas, he used his accounting skills to help others through various tribal agency organizations. After Lorraine died in 1994, Alexander remarried to Darlene Joyce Codopony in 1999. Alexander died on March 4, 2008 at age 88.

A Song for Bradley

It’s always difficult to see a grave for a young person. But the one for Bradley Hilton Wahnee is especially painful.

Born in Oklahoma City in 1990, Bradley was the son of Kari and Ernest Wahnee. His grandmother, Geneva, was a Sahmaunt. He attended Norman High School and graduated from Elgin High School in 2008. He was the 2008 Comanche Nation High School Graduate of the Year. He attended Oklahoma City University, where he was majoring in biology and pursuing a pre-med course.

From newspaper articles I found, Bradley was doing well in college and was a popular student. On the night of Sept. 22, 2009, he was standing outside a friend’s home with him when a group of men wearing hoodies and bandanas drove up in a truck. Both Bradley and his friend were shot. The friend survived but Bradley died of his wounds. Police hunted for the truck’s driver but he was later found shot to death. I don’t know if any of the others involved were ever apprehended.

On the back of Bradley’s marker is a powerful poem called “A Song for Bradley”. He will never be forgotten.

Join me next time when I visit Deyo Mission Cemetery.

My visit to Fort Sill’s cemeteries ends here at Apache North Cemetery. It also goes by the name Chief Chihuahua Apache North POW Cemetery. With 28 recorded burials, there are 26 marked graves here. It looks much like its sister cemeteries nearby, Beef Creek Apache Cemetery and Apache South Cemetery.

There is one Native American chief buried at Apache North and that is Chief Chihuahua. He was chief of the Chokonen local group of the Tsokanende Band of Chiricahua Apache. This group is different than the Warm Spring Apache that we’ve talked about up to this point. But Chief Chihuahua lived among and fought alongside Geronimo and other Native American warriors.

Birth of a Chief

Born around 1825, Chief Chihuahua was also known as Kla-esh or Tłá’í’ez, meaning “”To push something under something else with your foot”. Chief Chihuahua carried out several raids on Arizona settlers in the 1870s and 1880s. His brother Ulzana (ca. 1821–1909), also called Ol-Sanny, who led a famous raid through New Mexico and Arizona in 1885, was his war chief. I’ll talk more about him later.

Chief Chihuahua was a protege of Cochise, surrendering with Cochise in 1872 and going to live on the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. Once there, he became first sergeant of a company of Apache Scouts in 1880 under U.S. Army Lieutenant James A. Maney.

After Cochise’s death in 1874, Chief Chihuahua and Ol-Sanny didn’t recognize Cochise’s sons’ leadership. Chief Chihuahua later fled the reservation to lead a war party into Mexico, but surrendered to General George Crook in 1883. He left the reservation in San Carlos again with Geronimo and other chiefs in 1885, and led raids into Mexico, finally surrendering again to Crook in 1886.

On April 7, 1886, Chihuahua was shipped along with other Apaches to Fort Marion, Fla. In May 1888, he was transferred to Mount Vernon Barracks, Ala. While at Mount Vernon Barracks, Chief Chihuahua carried himself with such dignity and became so respected by his captors, the soldiers called him “Chesterfield”. In October 1894, the remaining Apaches were transferred to Fort Sill.

Thanks to Alicia Delgadillo, I found a little information about Ilth-Gozey. Her Apache name means “Twisted”. She was the daughter of Tzegojuni and a full sister of Tahdaste. I don’t know what year she married Chief Chihuahua. They had at least six children together. Four of them are buried at Apache North Cemetery with their father.

Their first child, Ramona, was born in 1875 and attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania like Clarence Bailtso, whom I talked about last week. It was there she met Asa Daklugie, whom she married in 1898. Asa was close with Geronimo and was with him when he died in 1909.

Chief Chihuahua’s Children

The date on Mable Chihuahua’s marker is May 17, 1895. This would have been about seven months after the Apaches were sent from Mount Vernon Barracks to Fort Sill. This probably means Mable died at birth.

Chief Chihuahua and Ilth-Goley’s son, Tom, was born on in 1885. He died in 1896. I don’t know what his cause of death was.

Chief Chihuahua died in 1901 at Fort Sill. He was close to 80 at the time.

Oseola Chihuahua, born in 1892 at Fort Sill, died in 1901.

Emily Chihuahua was born in 1889 and attended the Carlisle School. She married Paul Tee (“Teenah”), another Chirichua Apache. She died in 1907 and was probably 19 or 20. Their child, Edna Teenah Commanche, was born in 1906. She died at the age of 93 in 1999 and is buried at Mescalero Indian Cemetery in New Mexico. Paul died in 1907 and is buried with Emily at Apache North.

Eugene Chihuahua

Eugene Chihuahua was born after Ramona in 1878. Chief Chihuahua was allowed to keep Eugene with him and he was not sent to Carlisle as Ramona was. His father wanted to train him up to be a leader of his people. According to Michael Farmer, Chief Chihuahua asked George Wratten to employ Eugene in his store and teach him how to read. Wratten, an interpreter, ran a trading post for the Chiricahuas at San Carlos before moving with them to Florida, and later Mount Vernon and Fort Sill.

Eugene learned to read from looking at the labels on cans and learned to do the arithmetic needed to run the store. Wratten also taught Eugene English. When he was older, Chief Chihuhua chose Viola Massai to be Eugene’s bride. She had been educated at Carlisle with his sister Ramona and was from a respected family.

Although the couple only knew each other four days, they married. They would have six children together and all would die young. The children are all buried at Apache North Cemetery.

In 1913, Viola and Eugene went to live on the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico when the Chiricahuas were released as POWs. I’m not sure when Viola died. Her parents, Chino and Nah-Go-Tsi-Eh, are both buried at Apache North.

At Mescalero, Eugene became a powerful medicine man and joined the Dutch Reformed Church where he sang in the choir. He remained unmarried for several years until he returned to Oklahoma and married the Comanche widow of Hostosovit. He returned to Mescalero with his new wife and her three children. Unfortunately, the marriage ended in divorce. He later remarried to Jennie Pena and they had a happy marriage. Eugene passed way at age 84 on Dec. 16, 1965 and is buried in the Mescalero Indiana Cemetery.

So what became of Ilth-Gozey? After Chief Chihuahua died in 1901, she remarried to Victor Biete. He was 20 years her junior. He died in 1911 and is buried over at Beef Creek Apache Cemetery. She is thought to have settled at Mescalero after the Apache were freed in 1913. I don’t know where she’s buried.

Chief Chihuahua’s Brother, Ol-Sanny

Also buried at Apache North is Ulzana, the brother of Chief Chihuahua. His name is Ol-Sanny on his grave marker so that is how I will refer to him here. Ol-Sanny made a name for himself when he led a raid in 1885 through Arizona and New Mexico with only 11 Mogollon warriors, riding 1,200 miles, killing 36 Pindah and Mexicans. Later, he would surrender with his brother to General George Crook in 1886 and went with the other Apaches to Fort Marion, Fla.

A revisionist Western film based very loosely on the 1885 raid called “Ulzana’s Raid” was released in 1972 starring Burt Lancaster, Richard Jaeckel, Bruce Davison, and Joaquin Martinez. Some think it was meant to be an allegory of the Vietnam War taking place at that time.

Ol-Sanny stayed with the Apaches through their moves from Fort Marion to Mount Vernon Barracks to Fort Sill. He remained there until his death in 1909. He was in his 80s.

Several of Ol-Sanny’s children with his wives, Nah-Zis-Eh and Nahn-Ish-Klah, are buried at Apache North. They all died young. His wives are also buried at Apache North.

Time to Go

I glanced at my watch and realized it was time to pick up Sarah, who was finishing up her bike ride. We were both hungry so we headed to the Meers Store and Restaurant. We’d eaten there back in 2000 and I was looking forward to going back for their legendary burgers. The line was long but thanks to another couple who didn’t mind eating with us, we were able to get a table faster as a foursome. They took the photo of us below.

My time at the Fort Sill cemeteries gave me a lot to think about. In researching for these posts, I can only conclude that this chapter of American history is something our children need to know more about. It is rarely, if ever, spoken about. It should be remembered and never repeated. Because what we did was wrong. So wrong.

I’ll be at Mount Scott Cemetery next time.

By comparison, Apache South Cemetery is much smaller than Beef Creek Apache Cemetery. It’s also known as Bailtso Apache Cemetery. It’s very close to Beef Creek but there are only 14 recorded graves, and one of them is unmarked.

Apache South Cemetery is small but well taken care of.

The oldest burial at Apache South is Clarence Bailtso. Most of the folks buried here are related to him. Clarence was not a Native American chief or a warrior. Instead, he served in the U.S. Army as a scout. So his story is a bit different than the ones I’ve shared up to this point.

Sent to School

I could not locate a photo of Clarence, but he is thought to have been born in 1875. He was the son of Bashdelihi and Mohtsos. I believe that he was living on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona until April 1887 when he was sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. It was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. The school took over the historic Carlisle Barracks, which was transferred to the Department of Interior from the War Department. Clarence was 12 at the time.

Established by Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt, he wrote that he believed that Native Americans were equal to European-Americans, and that the school was meant to immerse students into mainstream Euro-American culture, believing they might be able to advance and thrive in the dominant society, and be leaders to their people. Pratt is also known for using the phrase “kill the Indian, save the man.”

So did Clarence’s parents voluntarily send him to Carlisle? It’s possible. From what I read, reservation life was understandably miserable for many Native American families. Parents hoping to give their children an education and a path to a better future were told that sending their children to such schools could help them to do that. But many children, especially those at Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama, were sent to Carlisle without their parents’ permission.

There’s plenty written about Carlisle that I won’t go into here but the school’s goal, in a militaristic environment, was to assimilate Native American children by (among other things) teaching them English and making them wear Anglo clothing. As Pratt’s phrase reflects, Carlisle’s aim was to literally remove their Native American culture from them.

Mount Vernon Barracks

I don’t know how Clarence fared at Carlisle but he was there for a little over five years. Immediately before leaving in August 1892, Clarence enlisted in Company I of the 12th Infantry and went to the Mount Vernon Barracks in South Alabama. Mount Vernon Barracks was where in 1886, the U.S. Army imprisoned nearly 400 Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache men, women, and children. I believe Clarence’s mother was probably there at the time. Conditions were reportedly very poor. Geronimo was held there at one point.

Clarence joined L Troop of the U.S. Army’s Seventh Cavalry and served as a scout. A number of the young Apache men did. From 1895 until 1899, the regiment served in New Mexico (Fort Bayard) and Oklahoma (Ft. Sill), then overseas in Cuba (Camp Columbia) from 1899 to 1902. The Apaches held at Mount Vernon, including Clarence, were moved to Fort Sill in October 1894.

Moved to Fort Sill

Thanks to author W. Michael Farmer, I learned that after the Apache soldiers moved to Fort Sill with their families, they were tasked with maintaining order in the Apache camps, and to keep illegal Anglo cattlemen and traders off the reservation. However, much of their time was spent learning various trade crafts. In May 1897, the Indian company at Fort Sill held its last drill. Twelve of the Apaches were able to re-enlist as scouts. Few of the others were able to find work near the post and were soon starving. The Army neither helped them to find work or leave Fort Sill.

Clarence married Helen Chinney, the daughter of Nah-Kay Godekonne. She was a Warm Springs Apache who had been at Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama. Their first child, also named Helen, was born in 1894. She died in 1900. Their second child Martha’s grave marker has a date of Dec. 26, 1895. She may have died shortly after birth.

Helen and Clarence had a third child in 1903, a son. His name is unknown. But he has a plot and a stone at Apache South Cemetery that may look familiar to you. His plot is surrounded by the same fencing that I shared with you last week at Beef Creek Apache Cemetery for Grace Rose Sunday and for the Carter family at Old Elgin Cemetery.

As I did with Grace, I have questions about this plot. Who provided the stone and fencing? Was it missionary Mary McMillan, who provided both for Grace Rose Sunday? While Clarence died shortly before his son’s birth, his mother Helen was still alive and living at Fort Sill. The child was not in the orphanage. But he may have attended the school. His death on May 22, 1910 was close to the date of Grace’s death on April 25, 11. I suspect the person who supplied her stone/fence also supplied the stone and fence for this Bailtso child.

You know what I’m going to bring up next, right? Again, it bears the insignia from the Valley Forge Iron Fence Co. A company that supposedly went out of business in 1903.

Clarence Bailtso died on March 21, 1902 of tuberculosis. He would have been 26 or 27.

So what became of Clarence’s wife, Helen? Part of the answer is something I haven’t shared up to this point regarding the Native American POWs at Fort Sill. Through an act of Congress in 1913, the tribe was released as prisoners of war and given a choice of remaining in the Fort Sill area or moving to the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico. A total of 183 people moved to New Mexico and 81 (about 20 families) remained in Oklahoma and were given allotments. The land was purchased with money from the Kiowa and Comanche with the sale of the Apache cattle herd.

Helen Bailtso stayed at Fort Still for the rest of her life. She remarried two more times and had more children. But after she died on April 29, 1965, she was laid to rest with Clarence, her first three children, and her mother, who had died shortly after they came to Fort Sill from Alabama.

Son of Chief Chatto

As I scanned the named of the others buried at Apache South Cemetery, the name of Blake Chatto got my attention. He was born in 1894 not long after the Apache arrived at Fort Sill from Alabama. I have Farmer’s research to thank for what I learned about Blake and Chief Chatto.

Blake Chatto was the second child of Chiricahua Chief Chatto and his wife, Helen, whom he had met and married at Fort Marion, Fla. Chief Chatto has quite a history of his own worth reading about that I won’t get into here. Their first child, Maurice, was born after they were moved to Mount Vernon Barracks. Born in 1894 right after they arrived at Fort Sill, Blake died of tuberculosis in 1908. He would have been about 14.

Chief Chatto served as a scout while at Fort Sill, as Clarence had. When the Apaches at Fort Sill were freed in 1913, Chief Chatto chose to go to the Mescalero Reservation. He died from complications following a car accident on August 13, 1934. He is buried at Mescalero Indian Cemetery in Otero County, N.M.

Next time, I’ll finish up my Fort Sill visit at Apache North Cemetery.

You won’t be surprised to learn that many people who visit Beef Creek Apache Cemetery come only to visit Geronimo’s grave and leave after snapping a few pictures. When I was first there in 1999, I did the same thing. But this time, I wanted to see who else was there.

Last week, I told you that Geronimo was not a tribal chief but a warrior and medicine man. There are actually two Native American chiefs buried at Beef Creek. One of them is Chief Loco.

“Stops His Horse”

In the shadow of the more storied Geronimo, Chief Loco is often overlooked. Born around 1823, his Native American name was Jlin-tay-i-tith, which means “Stops His Horse.” He was a Copper Mines Mimbreño Apache chief and his marker classifies him as a chief of the Warm Springs Apache. While he was not afraid to fight, he was also hopeful for peace with the whites who were disrupting his people’s way of life.

Some think he earned his nickname “Loco” because he was crazy enough to trust the white men. However, this view is not widely held. Bud Shapard, former chief of the bureau of research at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), noted that Chief Loco got his name from his actions during a battle against the Mexicans, where he supposedly braved gunfire in order to save an injured warrior.

After the deaths of Cuchillo Negro, chief of the Warm Springs Tchihende (1857), and Mangas Coloradas, chief of the Copper Mines Tchihende (1863), the Copper Mines Mimbreños and the Warm Springs Mimbreños, were forced to leave the Pinos Altos area, near Santa Rita del Cobre, and try to concentrate in the Ojo Caliente area. Both of the tribe’s bands after Delgadito’s death in 1864 had dual chiefs: the Copper Mines Tchihende were under Loco and the Warm Springs Tchihende were under Victorio.

The Mimbreños agreed to settle in a reservation at Ojo Caliente and later at Cañada Alamosa, but the Mimbreño reservation was abolished. Victorio’s and Loco’s people were sent to the Mescalero reservation at Tularosa. When the U.S. government intended to deport the Mimbreños to San Carlos in 1877, Victorio and Loco led their people back to Ojo Caliente. In 1878, the U.S. Ninth Cavalry was dispatched to bring them back to San Carlos. Victorio returned to the warpath, but Loco was arrested and could not join Victorio in his last war from 1879-1880. He remained on the San Carlos reservation.

In 1882, when a party of Apaches including Geronimo forced Loco to leave for Mexico, Loco instead waged guerilla warfare against the Chiricahuas. In 1886, Loco went to Washington, D.C. to negotiate. However, like Geronimo, he was made a prisoner of war and sent to Florida. He was later transferred to Fort Sill with his wives. Here Loco was made head of Loco’s Village. His son, John Loco, was enlisted as a scout, and they raised crops. Loco was the last living chief of the Warm Springs Apaches. He died in 1905 at age 82.

Loco was a strong believer in education and was the first chief to send his children to school while at San Carlos in 1884. Another of his sons was the first to attend the Indian school in Alabama in 1889. Son John Loco, who died in 1946, is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Caddo County, Okla.

Wives of Chief Loco

Three of Chief Loco’s wives are buried at Beef Creek Cemetery. The first is Chiz-Pah-Odlee, whose name is thought to mean “Burning Wood”. She was born around 1823 and her marker has a death date of 1895.

Another one of Chief Loco’s wives was Chish-Odl-Netln, who name means “Wood Carrier”. She was born in 1829 and is thought to have died in 1909. She was the sister of Chiz-Pah-Odlee.

One of Chief Loco’s later wives was Clee-Hn, born in 1843. I could find no photos of her.

She and Chief Loco had a son they named Fritz. Born in 1890, he died in 1908. I have no idea what his cause of death was.

The Short Life of Grace Rose Sunday

You can’t help noticing the grave site of Grace Sunday because it is the only one surrounded by a handsome iron fence. I was curious about her from the moment I saw it.

Grace was the daughter of Apache parents Ken-i-ee-nidlth and Tsedikizen (Waldo Sundayman). Grace was the great-granddaughter of Chief Loco. Ken-i-ee-nidlth gave birth to Grace in 1895 but died in 1898.

According to Alicia Delgadillo’s book “From Fort Marion to Fort Sill: A Documentary History of the Chiricahua Apace Prisoners of War”, Grace was raised in the Dutch Reformed Church Mission Orphanage at Fort Sill. She died of tuberculosis at 15 on April 25, 1911. Her granite marker and the fence around it were provided by missionary Mary McMillan.

Grace’s stone is inscribed with this verse from Matthew 19:14: “Suffer [the] little children, and forbid them not to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of Heaven.” Mary must have been especially attached to Grace and wanted her to have a special burial site to remember her. Note that Grace has a footstone with her initials “GRS” behind her larger stone.

Only when I started writing about the Oklahoma Road Trip did I make the connection between this plot and the Carter plot at Old Elgin Cemetery that I wrote about a few weeks ago. The fencing for both plots was provided by the Valley Forge Iron Fence Co. of Knoxville, Tenn. Again, the question arises in my mind. How did a company that supposedly went out of business in 1903 provide a fence in an Oklahoma cemetery in 1911? It puzzles me. We will see their work yet again at Apache North Cemetery.

Chief Nana

Last but not least, there’s Chief Nana. He’s also known as Kas-tziden (“Broken Foot”) or Haškɛnadɨltla (“Angry, He is Agitated”). His exact birth year is not known but the date of 1800 is on his grave marker.

Chief Nana’s name was Kas-tziden among the Mimbreno Apache in southern New Mexico. Some say he had the longest fighting career of any of the Apache warriors. He fought alongside Mangas Coloradas until Mangas was killed in 1863. He then aligned with Victorio in his raids through Texas and Mexico during the Indian Wars. When Victorio was killed in 1880, Nana formed his own war party with the Warm Springs Apaches.

Under his leadership, the Mimbreno and Warm Springs Apaches raided isolated settlers and U.S. Army supply trains. He was very good at eluding capture. In a surprise attack, Chief Nana was captured and sent to the San Carlos Reservation. He soon escaped and joined Geronimo in Mexico. He kept his band out of the hands of the Army for about a year but surrendered in March 1886. He was sent to Fort Marion, Fla., and in 1894, he was moved to Fort Sill where he died at the age of 96.

A thought has crossed my mind while writing these last two blog posts concerning Geronimo, Chief Loco, and Chief Nana. These men spent their last years as POWs at Fort Sill at the same time. Did they get along? Did they put aside their difference and “coexist” or did they just stick to their area? One site I looked at noted that one of Geronimo’s sisters was married to Chief Nana.

This is something I am sure somebody has written about but I simply haven’t come across those answers yet. Perhaps somebody reading this has and can share that.

Next time, I’ll be down the road at Apache South Cemetery.