striking in person, being well over six feet tall,
broad-shouldered, and powerfully built. Da-
soda-hae may have built his reputation upon
cruelty, but he was also distinguished by high
intelligence, generosity, and tribal diplomacy,
traits that culminated in his elevation to chief
in 1840. Around that time he also changed his
name to Mangas Coloradas (Red Sleeves).
Mindful of tribal diplomacy and eager to keep
his influence strong among other Chiricahua
bands, he married his daughters off carefully
and counted noted warriors Cochiseand Vic-
torioamong his sons-in-law.
True to the traditions of his people, Mangas
continued the policy of raiding Mexican farms
and villages in search of horses, plunder, and
women. After 1821, so desperate were Mexi-
can authorities to contain the Apaches that
they offered a $100 bounty on any Apache
scalp brought in. By this time American set-
tlers and prospectors were beginning to test
the waters of western migration. In 1837, a
party of miners under John Johnson invited a
party of Apaches to a feast, only to slaughter
them and redeem their scalps for money. An
enraged Mangas promptly retaliated by
sweeping through the region, killing an esti-
mated 22 civilians before his thirst for blood
was slaked. In the summer of 1846, greater
numbers of Americans arrived in New Mexico
under Gen. Stephen W. Kearney, who con-
quered that territory for the United States at
the onset of the Mexican-American War. Sur-
prisingly, Mangas held no grudge against the
invaders and even offered to assist them in
their war against Mexico, but Kearney de-
clined. Nonetheless, Mangas sought peaceful
relations with the newcomers, signed a treaty
to that effect, and resumed preying upon Mex-
ican settlements.
After gold was discovered in 1850, the
sheer number of white miners, prospectors,
and fortune-seekers began intruding upon tra-
ditional Apache hunting grounds. Seeking to
keep the peace, Mangas approached one
group in April 1851 and offered to show them
where precious metals could be found if they
would leave his native Santa Rita region
alone. They responded by capturing the chief,
tying him up, and horsewhipping him. In the
face of such humiliation, Mangas became the
sworn enemy of white settlers throughout
Apache lands. For nearly a decade his braves
swooped down upon unsuspecting wagon
trains, stagecoaches, and settlements, killing
and scalping innumerable people. The situa-
tion grew so untenable that, at one point, the
hard-nosed Col. Edwin V. Sumner recom-
mended abandoning New Mexico altogether!
The onset of the Civil War in 1861 only in-
creased Apache resolve. Numerous garrisons
of army troops, never large, were withdrawn
to participate in fighting back east. Mangas
and other chiefs mistakenly attributed this re-
treat to their own brutal activities. Further-
more, when several of Cochise’s relatives
were killed by Lt. George M. Bascom, the infu-
riated Cochise threw his weight behind Man-
gas’s forces. The two bands were so effective
at terrorizing travel throughout the Lower
Southwest that a military expedition had to
be scraped together in California to oppose
them. Unfortunately for the Apaches, the
leader was Col. James H. Carleton, a gruff, no-
nonsense officer with little patience for In-
dian warfare. As his column advanced into
southeastern Arizona through a strategic gap
called Apache Pass, he was ambushed by
Mangas, Cochise, and other bands on July 15,- The Apaches fought fiercely, firing from
behind every available rock and gully on both
sides of the pass. The advance guard, com-
manded by Capt. Thomas Roberts, was hard-
pressed at first, but the arrival of cavalry and
two army howitzers eventually drove off the
raiders. In the course of subsequent skirmish-
ing, Mangas sustained a serious stomach
wound and was evacuated by Cochise to the
Mexican village of Janos. Cochise reputedly
warned the local doctor to heal Mangas or he
would torch the entire town. Mangas, though
in his seventies, was still a powerful man and
made a full recovery.
Within months, it became apparent that
there was little even the fierce Apaches could
do to rid themselves of the innumerable white
MANGASCOLORADAS