By Ruben Leyva

The 1965 book New Mexico Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary, edited by T.M. Pearce, acknowledges Mangas was the homeland of the Apache leader Mangas Coloradas, born into the Bedonkohe band of Chiricahua. Pearce suggests that naming the Mangas, New Mexico community, was likely not commemorative. However, Pearce was mistaken. This small community, which some now regard as a ghost town, had many reasons to honor Mangas Coloradas. Unlike Pearce, Robert Julyan's book The Place Names of New Mexico provides a more in-depth examination of Mangas, stating, "MANGAS (Catron; settlement; 16 miles southeast of Quemado, on Mangas Creek; Post Office as Pinoville 1905-09, as Mangas 1909-1943, mail to Datil)." Though Julyan relates to 'manga' as the Spanish word to mean 'fringe of land,' the more common translation of the word is 'sleeve.' Julyan goes on to write, "...this tiny inhabited settlement, as well as Mangas Creek and Mangas Mountain, [located] 7 miles to the south on the Continental Divide, is more likely named after Mangas Coloradas, 'red sleeves,' [the] head of the Warm Springs Apache whose territory included this region and who played a prominent role in its history." Before being called Mangas, this community was known as Pinoville, probably named after a family with the surname Pino. José María Baca (Baca Spring is 6 miles southeast of the village), along with members of the Leyva family and an American named Thompson, were among the settlement's first residents.

Edwin R. Sweeney, in his book Mangas Coloradas, provides a comprehensive biography depicting Mangas Coloradas's rise to leadership within the Chiricahua Apache culture. His conflicts with miners and the U.S. military ultimately led to his torture, death, and dismemberment by U.S. soldiers who had taken him captive at Fort McLean. He was a giant of a man by any measure and was both strong and wise. As early as 1842, he was noted in documents as one of the most influential leaders. Apache Land: From Those Who Lived It, a book by Keith J. Humphries, describes General S. W. Kearney's 1846 visit to the El Cobre mining camp in Grant County. General Kearney camped 20 miles west of El Cobre at a ranchería [settlement] of Mangas Coloradas.

On page 205 of his account, author Edwin Sweeney describes a face-to-face meeting in August 1850 with the hardworking and zealous U.S. military Captain Enoch Steen, Mangas Coloradas, and Josécito Leyva. Josécito was later referred to as Nachesoa by an enlisted U.S. soldier in the Mexican-American War, John C. Cremony, in his 1868 book Life Among the Apaches. According to Sweeney, the meeting with Steen, like that with Kearney, occurred near Santa Rita del Cobre in the present-day Silver City, New Mexico area. Steen's military records indicated that Mangas Coloradas was the Head Chief of the Gileños. At the same time, Josécito Leyva oversaw the territory between the Mimbres (Black Range) and the Rio Grande. Josécito may have been standing in for the aging Warm Springs Apache leader Cuchillo Negro, who was Mangas's counterpart to the east.

This is important because, as I explained to a dear friend, I do not directly descend from Mangas Coloradas or his son, Carl Mangus. While I trace my lineage back to the Bedonkohe-Mogollon Apache leader Mahko, it's not through the Leyva line but through Esquine [Esc-Ani, an inversion of Andrés (Silvas)]. I was then asked why my family would honor Mangas Coloradas in naming the Mangas community. The answer is simple. Mangas led a group of members from at least two Apache bands – the Chihene and the Bedonkohe. Indian Agent Michael Steck's records and abstracts of provisions refer to the group as 'Mangas Coloradas' People.' Steck, a prolific documentarian, notably distinguished the Mangas Coloradas People from the two other groups – the Coppermines and the Mimbres, who were also receiving rations at the Southern Apache Indian Agency.

Josécito's daughter, "Ishnohnn" (baptized María Norberta de los Dolores Leyva), had four children. She had one daughter, who married Roger Toclanni. According to E.W. Gifford's 1940 Anthropological Records entitled Culture Element Distributions: XII Apache-Pueblo, Roger Toclanni was born at Inadàza'i [Mescal Mountain], which is the name my family uses for the Mogollon Mountains. Gifford stated that Toclanni's birthplace was northwest of the Apache Cañada Alamosa community. Toclanni identified himself as part of the Warm Springs Apache but explained the matrilocal band identification process that often confuses many outsiders. He noted that his father belonged to the Chokonen band, while his mother was from the Nednhi band. Toclanni was born into his mother's Nednhi band but married into the Warm Springs, hence his identification as Warm Springs. Then, who did he marry?

Alicia Delgadillo's 2013 book, From Fort Marion to Fort Sill, offers a documented history of the Chiricahua Prisoners of War from 1886 to 1913. Delgadillo, with the assistance of Miriam A. Perrett and some input from author Edwin R. Sweeney, utilized historian Gillett Griswold's interviews with informants at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to publish the genealogy of several Chiricahua families. On page 73, Delgadillo notes that on March 24, 1882, seven Chiricahua from the historic Warm Springs Apache leader Loco's band enlisted to serve as Apache scouts. Among those listed is Roger(s) Toclanni. His presence highlights Toclanni's affiliation with the Warm Springs band and places him under Loco's leadership. Through Delgadillo's documentation, we find that Toclanni was married to Siki, Loco's stepdaughter, who was the daughter of Loco's third wife. This illustrates Toclanni's Warm Springs familial kinship.

But like Loco, Toclanni had three wives as well. Most agree that all three of his wives were Warm Springs Apache. Toclanni (Rogers), whose name Tu-klan-ni means "much water," first married Dolores, and the two had a daughter named Sophie. Toclanni and Dolores divorced in 1880. Delgadillo's book and oral histories support Toclanni's subsequent marriage to the sister of Chiricahua Jim Leyva. Chiricahua Jim, whose military record carries the surname, Miller, was the son of Josécito Leyva's daughter Ishnohnn. Gillett Griswold's report also documents this marriage. Unfortunately, Toclanni's second wife (Leyva) died without having given birth to a child. However, this did not sever the bonds of the family. Toclanni remained committed to his in-laws, as is the custom, until he was allowed to remarry. He would marry outside the Leyva family since no more Leyva daughters were available. But what about the Leyva's connection to Mangas Coloradas, and why does the family say we are related?

In addition to being descended from Bedonkohe ancestors, the family's intermarriage with Toclanni created an alliance that the Leyva family cherishes. In Gifford's Apache-Pueblo account, Toclanni stated through the interpreter, Mescalero Apache Percy Bigmouth, that Toclanni's "father's father was Mangas Coloradas." Thus, we can now understand the family's connection through the marriage of Josécito Leyva's granddaughter to Mangas Coloradas' grandson, forming an unbreakable bond between the families. This explains why Mangas Creek, Leyba [Leyva] Spring, and the Mangas Mountains in the Apache (Gila) National Forest in Catron County, New Mexico, are regarded as the Leyva Stronghold. My family also sees ourselves as a survivor community that evaded the exile of Chiricahua prisoners of war to Florida. We also identify as Inadàza'i-nde, meaning "Mogollon Mountain Apache People," who remained in our traditional homelands and were not part of the diaspora.