Fires of Heaven [3 1/2 Diskette, HTML]

A QUESTION OF LOYALTY In the years following the Civil War, the Apache people vigorously fought to stop the Westward expansion into the Arizona and New Mexico Territories. The Apaches were born warriors--the fiercest of all the southwestern tribes, Even as youths they were taught to steal, fight and kill. It was their way of life, their culture. No other tribe of Indians could match the Apache for their tracking and scouting skills. They used movement, concealment, surprise and the land itself as if they were weapons. And indeed they were--deadly weapons that cost the lives of many whites and Mexicans. As the Apaches' attacks on unsuspecting travelers, teamsters, ranches and towns increased in number, President Grant sent companies of troops into the Territories to protect the travelers and to patrol the local ranches and towns. They had orders to subdue and control the hostiles any way they could. But to subdue and control the Apaches, one had to find them first. Therein, of course, was the problem which was the catalyst for hiring Indian scouts. Few military men believed that scouts would be effective in the fight against the Apache. The extensive use of scouts during warfare seemed to many to cast doubts about the capabilities of the regular Army. When Apaches were hired to track down and fight their own people, there was among the civilian and military population much puzzlement, disbelief and distrust. Where was their loyalty to their own? The Apache people did not live under a central government as did the whites; the tribe was broken down into subtribal groups: division, hands, and large family groups. Consequently, there was no one other than the immediate subtribal group to be loyal to. There was much intertribal jealousy and hate. Money attracted many scouts, No one thought the worse of a warrior who sold his marketable skills to the Army for pay. Money gave the warrior material wealth and wealth gave him status within his own group. To gain wealth by killing one's enemies was a virtue; to gain it by killing his own tribesmen was easily rationalized. Non-monetary reasons included a warrior's aversion to the reservation system; a scout was free to come and go. To the Apaches a reservation was a prison. As history shows--the end of the Apache wars was brought about with the help of Apache scouts and the capture of Geronimo.