By Ruben Leyva

On February 6, 1691, Fray Marcos de Loyola, living in Chinapa near present-day Arizpe, Sonora, wrote a letter appealing for help from the Governor of Nuevo Mexico, Diego de Vargas. Fray Loyola expressed concerns about hostile Native Americans troubling the settlement. There is evidence of non-Apachean hunter-gatherers in the Southwest who were allied with the Apache. Loyola was knowledgeable about the political structures of the Native tribes existing on both sides of the contemporary U.S.-Mexican border, from east of El Paso to southeastern Arizona.

These Natives, likely descendants of the 14th-century pueblos from southern New Mexico and northern Mexico, were recognized as distinct groups by the Spanish. They included the Suma, Jocome, Jano, Jumano, Chinarra, Concho, and Manso tribes. Loyola informed Vargas that the Manso tribe was the most dominant among them. Many years earlier, he had baptized the Manso leader, Captain Chiquito. Because of this relationship and their "authority," the Manso could pacify the unruly alliance of the Jocome, Jano, and Suma tribes. According to Loyola, Vargas could resolve the unrest by sending two Spanish-speaking Mansos from El Paso to Chinapa. This letter outlines the scope of the region's Indigenous Peoples, which today is recognized as a shared Native American territory.

On March 20, 1691, six Mansos set out for Chinapa with mules and supplies. By April 16, 1691, the team had reached Janos, Chihuahua. They learned Jano, Jocome, Pima [O'odham], Soba, and Suma had confederated with the Gila Apache. The Gila Apache were the Chiricahua Apache we know today. Based on this, the plans to negotiate peace were abandoned. Governor Vargas asserted in 1691 that the region's Manso, Suma, and Apache intermarried. This was not a new occurrence. Intermarriage is substantiated by the church records at the Mission of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe del Paso del Norte over a decade earlier.

Captain Chiquito's successors would probably have been the Christian Manso leader Luis Xptiano [Christiano] or his son, the Suma, Diego Chiniquita. However, both were captured, jailed, and publicly hanged for leading the 1684 Rebellion of Natives at El Paso—this left room for new leaders. Spanish Captain Fernández of the Janos presidio identified El Capitan Jano and El Tabovo of the Jocome as the new leaders of the collective. Interestingly, neither leader identified as part of the more dominant Manso group. Not much is heard of El Capitan Jano after this; however, his people continued to travel collectively with the other divisions and the Apache.

Juana Entocuani (alternately spelled Igua/Ytocuan/Toquane) and her late husband, Diego Chiniquita, had led the women, children, and elders to the safety of Captain Chiquito's ranchería before Diego and his father, Luis Christiano, were captured, jailed, and killed. Chiquito's ranchería was some distance from the Guadalupe Mission. The Mission was located in today's Juarez, Chihuahua. Juana played a significant role in the escape of many families and was a mother of four and the godmother to orphaned Native children. She was a well-respected leader who was considered a headwoman in the resistance over the prior decade.

In 1695, El Tabovo, the great leader, seems to have spoken for all divisions, including Juana's, at a meeting with the Apache. The meeting was held in the Pinaleño Mountains (Dził Nnilchi' Diyiléé) west of today's New Mexico border near Safford, Arizona. El Salinero, the Apache leader, listened to El Tabovo's tale of resistance against Spanish rule, which had lasted for over ten years. The Apache of El Salinero sympathized with El Tabovo's cause. El Tabovo, who was ill, requested that El Salinero allow his people to merge with the Salinero Apache. El Salinero agreed. Professor Matthew Babcock, PhD author of Apache Adaptation to Hispanic Rule (2016), wrote, "Within a few weeks, after El Tabovo's brother left the band, El Salinero became the recognized leader...of this unified band..." Not long after solidifying this bond, the Spanish troops of Lieutenant Antonio de Solis would attack the newly merged Salineros.

In the raid on El Salinero's community in the San Simón Valley, both El Tabovo and El Salinero were killed. Exemplifying the brutal strategies used to suppress resistance, 44 women and children were captured. Among the captives was an older woman, a 'known conspirator.' She was shot and hanged with another woman and three Jocome men. This known conspirator was no other than Juana Entocuani, my 8th great-grandmother. Juana had always told her children about the importance of the resistance and the family's sacrifices. Her youngest son, Diego Chiniquita Jr., AKA Diego Manuel, embraced his Salinero Apache identity. Years later, he was recorded in church records at El Paso under the name Diego Manuel Sisneros. The family stories suggest that the Christian records corrupted his name, documenting him as an Apache with the surname 'Sisneros' rather than Salineros.

The remnants of tribes and families like mine were absorbed into Apache bands, taking with them their local material cultures. But who were the Salineros? In the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 10, the late anthropologist Morris E. Opler discusses three groups of Salineros. Opler asserts the title 'salineros' relates to the gatherers and traders of salt. The first two groups are associated with the Natagé Apache in the Pecos region east of the Rio Grande, the modern-day Mescalero Apache people.

Opler identifies a third group, citing Albert H. Schroeder, who proposes that a more westerly group of Salinero may have been Gila Apache, residing in the Gallo-Mangas Mountain region south of the Zuni salt lakes. This aligns with my family's oral histories. In 1909, the Leyva family, descendants of this westerly band, co-founded the Mangas community near Mangas Mountain in Catron County, New Mexico, naming it after the historic leader Mangas Coloradas. The Gallo, Mangas, Mogollon, and Sierra Madre Mountains remain our Mogollon Apache (Bedonkohe-Ndendahe) spiritual homes. We adapted to imposed changes and still understand who we are today.

Dr. Deni Seymour, PhD, a historian, author, and anthropologist, has extensively researched my people. In her article "A Ranchería in the Gran Apachería" (2004), she references Beckett and Corbett's 1990 study on the Manso Indians, noting, "...it must be remembered that descendants of many of the formerly missionized Manso can still trace their lineage today." This describes my family.

In the same article, Seymour documents artifacts reflecting the presence of non-Apachean Indigenous Peoples in the El Paso region living in that ranchería. She explains how Apache in this region differ in their material culture from other Apache groups due to the integration of local tribes such as the Manso, Suma, Jocome, Jano, and others. My family agrees with Dr. Seymour's observations. This article highlights the transformative effects of Spanish colonization and Apache-ization on my family. Born in 1652, our matriarch, Juana Entocuani, represents a powerful force of resistance. Her legacy endures.