Victorio

Victorio (* 1825 in Ojo Caliente in today's New Mexico ; † 14. October 1880 in Tres Castillos Hills in Mexico ) was a leader of the Chihenne - Apaches , the eastern Chiricahua formed group. He was called Victorio by the whites, he called himself Bidu-ya or Beduiat . Victorio was an advocate of peace until the US Army relocated his tribe to the San Carlos Reservation in 1877. From then on he became a rebel and leader of about 250 warriors.

Among these warriors, in addition to Chihenne, were Bedonkohe and some Comanche . In addition, around 250 Mescalero Apache , among which there were around 60 to 80 warriors, had joined the Chihenne chief under their chief Caballero. In his endeavors he particularly trusted his sister Lozen and the chief Nana of the Chihenne group of the Chiricahua Apaches.

After daring military expeditions to New Mexico and Texas, where the warriors looted, killed and tortured, they repeatedly withdrew to their safe bases in Mexico. 2,000 American soldiers, 2,000 Mexican soldiers, hundreds of volunteers and several Indian auxiliaries from the Tarahumara , Pima and the famous Chiricahua scouts hunted the Apaches mercilessly. On October 14, 1880, Victorio was captured at Tres Castillos in Chihuahua and killed along with 78 Apaches, most of them warriors. 68 women and children were captured by the Mexicans and sold into slavery in Mexico.

Some warriors who were absent as scouts survived the battle and undertook a daring, foolhardy and murderous raid under Nana to seek revenge ("Nana's Raid").

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This article is based on the article Victorio ( Memento from July 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) from the free encyclopedia Indianer Wiki ( Memento from March 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) and is under Creative Commons by-sa 3.0 . A list of the authors was available in the Indian Wiki ( Memento from July 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).