and a large body of Mexican solders to hunt
the renegades down.
The Mexican effort was assisted by several
bodies of American scouts and cavalry, who
were allowed to cross the border in pursuit of
a common enemy. Finally, on October 13,
1880, the combined forces trapped Victorio’s
band in the Tres Castillos Mountains, south of
El Paso. Anticipating what would happen
next, Colonel Terrazas summarily ordered his
erstwhile allies out of the country while Mexi-
can forces, aided by Tarahumara Indian
scouts, moved in for the kill. For two days Vic-
torio’s band fought tenaciously, but they were
finally wiped out when their ammunition
failed. The Mexicans managed to kill no less
78 men, women, and children, all of whom
were promptly scalped in exchange for boun-
ties. Another 68 Apaches were taken into cus-
tody as slaves. Victorio was among the slain,
apparently having killed himself rather than
be taken alive. However, the brutal nature of
his demise inspired Nana, a chief subordinate,
to initiate a miniature war of his own. Six
years passed before the surviving 30 members
of Victorio’s band allowed the frontier to live
in peace. But death did little to diminish Victo-
rio’s reputation as an expert frontier guerrilla,
among the Apache’s most determined.
See also
Cochise; Geronimo
Bibliography
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Dinges, Bruce J. “The Victorio Campaign of 1880:
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Ojo Calientes.New York: Oxford University Press,
1964; Thrapp, Dan L. The Conquest of Apacheria.
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Thrapp, Dan L. Victorio and the Mimbres Apaches.
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Worcester, Donald E. The Apaches: Eagles of the
Southwest.Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,
1979.VILLA, PANCHO
Villa, Pancho
(June 5, 1878–July 20, 1923)
Mexican Guerrilla
For a decade, the colorful but murderous
Francisco “Pancho” Villa symbolized the
heroic sacrifice as well as brutal excesses of
the Mexican Revolution. He is best remem-
bered for staging a daring and bloody raid
upon Columbus, New Mexico, and evading a
determined pursuit by American forces.
Doroteo Arango was born in Hacienda de
Rio Grande, San Juan del Rio, in the Mexican
state of Durango. The son of field laborers, he
matured and worked at a time when most
peasants were landless and trapped in a web
of grinding poverty. Doroteo eked out a hard-
scrabble existence after his father died, be-