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Frederick Webb Hodge remarked that the Eastern Apache tribe called the Mescaleros were "never regarded as so warlike" as the Apaches of Arizona. But the Mescaleros' history is one of hardship and oppression alternating with wars of revenge. They were friendly to the Spaniards until victimized, and friendly to Americans until they were betrayed again. For three hundred years Mescaleros fought the Spaniards and Mexicans. They fought Americans for forty more, before subsiding into lethargy and discouragement. Only since 1930 have the Mescaleros been able to make tribal progress.
C. L. Sonnichsen tells the story of the Mescalero Apaches from the earliest records to the modern day, from the Indian's point of view. In early days the Mescaleros moved about freely. Their principal range was between the Río Grande and the Pecos in New Mexico, but they hunted into the Staked Plains and southward into Mexico. They owned nothing and everything.
Today the Mescaleros are American citizens and own their reservation in the Tularosa country of New Mexico. While the Mescalero Apaches still struggle to retain their traditions and bridge the gap between their old life and the new, their people have made amazing progress.
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C. L. Sonnichsen (1901-1991) was Benedict Professor of English at the University of Texas, El Paso. His many books include
The Mescalero Apaches, Tucson: The Life and Times of an American City, and
Cowboys and Cattle Kings: Life on the Range Today
