The Apache can endure fatigue and famine and can live without water for periods that would kill the hardiest mountaineer ...

[3] Scholar Dan Thrapp wrote of Victorio's War that "never again were [Apache] fighters in such numbers to roam and ravage that country, nor were they again to be so ably led and managed.

He was a veteran warrior and leader of the Warm Springs (Ojo Caliente in Spanish) or Chihenne band of Apaches.

A reservation at Ojo Caliente was established for Victorio and his band, and a census in 1876 recorded 916 Apache men, women, and children in residence.

[6] In the late 1870s, the U.S. government pursued the policy of concentrating all Apache bands at the San Carlos Indian Reservation in the Arizona desert.

Some of the Apaches at San Carlos were enemies of the Warm Springs band, the management of the reservation by government agents was corrupt,[7] and San Carlos was characterized by overcrowding, little grass for livestock to graze or game to hunt, bad water, and hot temperatures.

[8] The commander of the U.S. army in New Mexico, Colonel Edward Hatch, and the local commander at Ojo Caliente, Lt. Charles W. Merritt, of the 9th Cavalry (made up of African-Americans, the Buffalo Soldiers as they were called by the Apache) unsuccessfully petitioned the government in Washington, D.C. to allow Victorio a reservation at Ojo Caliente.

Following a tip from local settlers, and finding dead animal carcasses nearby, the 9th Cavalry encountered Victorio's band on May 29, 1879 in a canyon in the Mimbres Mountains.

Apache losses were unknown, the 9th Cavalry lost one man, and Beyer's force patrolled for 14 more days before returning to Fort Bayard.

[10] In July 1879, Victorio and others were charged by a civilian court in Silver City, New Mexico, with murder and horse theft.

Arriving at Ojo Caliente, 40 of Victorio's men attacked a company of the 9th Cavalry, killing 5 soldiers and 3 civilians and capturing 68 horses and mules.

Late in the afternoon, First Sergeant John Denny and another soldier, while under fire, carried Private A. Freeland to safety across four hundred yards of open ground.

[16] Lieutenant Robert Temple Emmet also received the Medal of Honor for his actions at Las Animas Canyon.

A two-day running fight in which 200 soldiers of the 9th Cavalry and 36 Indian scouts attempted to find and defeat Victorio in the northern Black Range.

Victorio crossed the border into Mexico and was followed by Major Morrow and 81 men of the 9th Cavalry and Charles B. Gatewood's Apache scouts.

Major Morrow and a strong force of the 9th Cavalry with artillery caught him at Percha Creek on the eastern slopes of the Black Range, west of Hillsboro, New Mexico.

Victorio entered the Jornada del Muerto pursued by Major Morrow with 5 companies of cavalry (~150 men) and Indian scouts.

[26] Major Morrow and much of the 9th Cavalry retired from the field, exhausted and short of horses after chasing Victorio for the previous month.

War parties sent out by Victorio raided with impunity settlements along the Rio Grande for livestock, supplies, and ammunition, killing at least 20 civilians.

The cavalry, having lost many horses, rested and resupplied during the month and prepared to take on an expanded campaign against Victorio.

His forces divided into several war bands, Victorio raged through the rugged Mogollon Mountains, killing a reported 41 civilians, including the Alma Massacre.

Rather than chasing Victorio, Grierson's strategy was to station soldiers at strategic locations, such as the infrequent waterholes in the deserts of Trans-Pecos Texas.

Grierson and three companies of African-American soldiers prevented Victorio and 125 warriors from accessing the Tinaja (waterhole) de las Palmas.

Victorio took refuge in the desert of northern Mexico, sending out two raiding parties in search of badly needed ammunition and horses.

Thirty-five Apaches en route to reinforce Victorio ambushed and killed 5 soldiers of the 10th Cavalry near the Rio Grande and Fort Quitman, Texas.

Nineteen soldiers and Captain Parker from K Troop of the 9th Cavalry, from Fort Wingate chased Nana's band of about forty to sixty Apaches into the Carrizo Canyon.

Lieutenant George R. Burnett and 15 soldiers from I Troop along with Mexican volunteers (a combined force of about 50 men) searched for Nana's warriors and found the mutilated family.

The soldiers followed the Apache trail and found Nana's group of about 40 to 60 warriors disguised as Mexicans near the foothills of the Black Range at Chuchillo Negro Creek.

Private Augustus Walley, First Sergeant Moses Williams, and Lieutenant George Burnett all received the Medal of Honor for their actions on this day.

Sergeant Brent Woods took command after a brief period of confusion and led a charge up the canyon wall against the Apaches.