Apache Wars

My understanding was that the "Buffalo Soldiers" weren't cavalry but infantry.

 

Matching up......well what I mean takes nothing from the developments of stirrups, McClellan saddles etc. but to what is historically known about the riding capabilities of the Plains Indians.......it means the native was mounted on a horse of his choice, taken or acquired in trades from the horses possibly left by the Spaniards or descendants thereof that were the greatest horses in Europe of those times. The native carried little aboard the horse compared to the saddles, guns, food and supplies that soldiering would require. See this description for further info.http://historum.com/american-history/9649-us-cavalry-1866-90-a.html

now what is a Buffalo Soldier? Infantry?.....they were both infantry and cavalry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Soldier

The description of the job of the cavalry should be read in full to see what is historically remembered of the job and tasks the U.S. soldier faced when attempting to tame the west of the Plains Indians. One would have to study horse breeds, the western development of the horse to fully understand the "matching up" of horses alone. Also there needs to be some in depth study of Plains Indians culture to fully understand their internal familial and cultural specificities in order to conclude something more sophisticated than "anarchical" cultural organization. One did not necessarily triumph in evading conquest and defeat for hundreds of years by inferior horsemanship, and anarchical cultural organization as depicted by the writings I have been reading here. The first efforts at defeating the original inhabitants began with the landing of Cortez and conquistadors and took several hundred years finally culminating with the eventual but not instant success of Buffalo Soldiers of the U.S. Cavalry.

 

I just looked at http://historum.com/american-history/9649-us-cavalry-1866-90-a.html per your suggestion but the responses to the intial p[ost seem to reinforce my points, some very colorfully

 

Thanks. Always appreciate it when something I "know" is proven wrong. I hate being a source of fallacies.
Here's and intersting site, the quote below may also have some bearing on the quality of horses issue:
http://www.ushist.com/buffalo-soldiers.shtml

 

Thanks for pointing out the choice of horse the Buffalo Soldier was given, that didn't surprise me considering how long it has taken to hand to this group their earned place in history....it makes me think of events locally that have somewhat dismayed me. I live near Bear Springs/also known as Fort Wingate town/ also known as a part of Fort Wingate/formerly Fort Fauntleroy/Fort Lyons........whew..... which I brings up as there were a few Buffalo Soldiers buried there, however the government chose to move those graves to a place of honor in Sante Fe where other soldiers are buried due to the inability/lack of desire locally to honor and take care of U.S. Cavalry grave sites. I brought up the many names for this fort because over the years it has lent itself to no limit of historic confusion as said fort was also once located near San Rafael, many miles to the east of the present location and different historic accounts of the Cavalry will use possibly only one of the above names leaving the reader to try to analyze when and where the story actually took place. It is much simpler if one starts out knowing the many names that this area went by and keeping that in mind that the fort was moved from San Rafael as well. I hope all of us enjoy the coverage of new subject area Kodiak's move to Arizona may bring us as he has joined me in an arid region rich in historical accounts of the most interesting of Western Lore as he settles and adjusts to a new environment that was part of that Louisiana Purchase by which our regions were placed under the U.S. government. I hope he finds excitement and enjoyment with the new property and its adobe kingdom he can look out upon with the blessings of seclusion only one can understand by spending time in this special region. I think he has chosen well....if it will continue to remain secluded as even in my area more and more people seek the seclusion which of course precludes it eventually from it. Enjoy it Kodiak and continue sharing your finds of previous times.

 

Well, Thanks, Victor!

I chose the most remote property I could find, because after Alaska I didn't want to feel crowded. It's just a happy accident that it's an old ranch with the ruins still present. The book I mentioned in the OP details that these small ranches were inhabited by what they called "Maverickers" and he names these folks (the Noland's) specifically. A Mavericker is a guy who steals cattle from the big outfits and puts his brand on them. What you'd do is find a heifer with a calf and then brand the calf as your own, even though the heifer would have another brand. It wasn't out and out rustling, but it was pretty close.

 

Here's some more views of the old adobe on the property.

 

And two more...

 

My first thought was that the US aquired Arizona and New Mexico along with California as a result of the Mexican American war. Some of these maps do show the NE corner of New Mexico as being part of the Lousiana Purchase:
https://www.google.com/search?q=louisiana+purchase&biw=1080&bih=1768&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=89qQU62oPIe_sQSPmYDQBg&ved=0CDIQsAQ
But it looks to me like most were part of the "Mexican Cession".

 

Most of the horses should be "Pintos" ...my understanding is that they are decendants from the horses brought over from spain...pinto meaning "paint" the pintos have (usually) white splashes like a tin of paint was thrown againats them...

 

They come in all colors. Pintos were just particularly prized by Indians, so they tend to be more visible in old posed photos. If you google "wild horses" you'll see every possible color variant.

 

At some point during the mid 20th century, the word apache (pronounced ah-pash) became French slang for any dangerous looking character that one might encounter. An English translation would be hoodlum or hooligan. We can thank Hollywood for that development.

 

Not just prized...but were, like the Indians themselves, migrants from south America...they were the first horses the Indians began riding...Westerners brought in new breeds...No sign of the Australian Whaler though! World champion horse.

 

Camels originate from North America...maybe they rode those! (bit late for that...)

 

You don't see them much anymore, but the favorite horse of the Spanish was a tough little gray animal they called a "Grullo." That was what a lot of the wild horses descended from and what the Indians would have encountered first. The modern American grullo has been bred with quarter horses and is a different animal. The original grullo (which you can still see in Mexico parts of the US southwest) was smallish, barrel-headed and very tough. They have a reputation for stubbornness which probably explains why so many of them went wild. Still, once broken they are very sure-footed and smart and make great work horses, especially around cattle.

 

That's new information for me, thanks! Would have been plenty of wild crosses that don't look as sweet as the pure bred pinto...you are probably old enough to remember 'Pancho and Sisco'? Sisco had a beautiful example...

 

That's a beautiful horse!

 

Many people in the NE US would call a horse like the one Cisco is on a Paint. I think Paint and Pinto are really the same thing but we called horses with large areas of continuous color Pintos (like Little Joe Cartwright's) and ones with many smaller areas Paints.

Paints seem prettier to me.

 

I had a friend whose father had a good sized ranch in SW Colorado. They were nuts about horses! For everyday use they'd only ride a Morgan because they're really calm and had an easy ride. They won't balk at a snake or anything like that.

For actually working the cattle, they'd only ride a grullo. At one point they drove all the way down into Mexico to buy some grullos purely on a rumor that some guy down there was selling a string of them. I guess they figured their own grullos were getting inbred. They brought back a half dozen of these shaggy, bitey, little bastards and couldn't have been happier. Those grullos would actually get in and butt or kick or bite a resisting cow to make it do what the rider wanted.
It strikes me that a horse like that, with no fear of other animals, would be ideal for some Indian with a lance who wanted to go into a running herd of buffalo and make some meat.

 

In case there is interest, there are many places in New Mexico that continue to have "wild" horses.....of course an occasional tame horse is let go and mixes into the wild herd. The wild ones are Mustangs and are a problem for the BLM or state, as they have to do some control of the populations. No one can quite decide if "Mustang" denotes something that is truly wild and to be preserved or if it simply denotes a feral population taking feed away from other animals. Lots of arguments about that. One thing that is known is that most of the DNA of these wild horses show "Iberian" blood lines. I have stumbled into these wild herds several times and they range from very good confirmations to absolute ugly ones as you could imagine having never been cared for, trimmed or groomed. Most of them are generally small however with a few midsize but not many very large ones. I found them enjoyable to watch and was surprised at how they quickly ran away if they spotted you. It would be best to take binoculars to watch them seriously as they will not stay close if they smell you. Most of the ones I have seen have been in Unit 2 of our hunting proclamation......deer and elk in that area too.