By Ruben Leyva
My Ph.D. program research centers on the rhetorics of Apache identity and asks, "What is an Apache?" I can confidently tell you Apache bands were fluid and their interrelationships complex. Bands developed from marriages with other groups and the need for traditional and non-traditional resources. The Apache traveled seasonally for plant foods, wild game, and rations. Nation-state government interference was also responsible for the Apache movement. This story illustrates how the same Apache band was documented in multiple locations and assigned different band identifiers, sometimes according to landmarks. ?
In 1790, the bands of Gila Apache, under the leadership of Jasquienelté, agreed to peace with Spanish Commander-in-Chief Ugarte's administration. My 6th-great grandfather, Josef Leyva (Tanchintijué), accompanied Apache leaders Jasquenelté and Campanita to Santa Fe to meet Governor Concha in 1792.
Before relocating to Sabinal, Concha gave the leaders gifts and directed them to gather their people from the Black Range and Greater Gila. Concha promised to meet with the leaders the following month. The Apache committed to peacefully engaging in agriculture and raising livestock in the farming community at Sabinal. Though the new Apache farming community did not last, they maintained their knowledge of agrarianism and husbandry after abandoning Sabinal in 1794.
My family returned to their traditional mountainous homelands and subsistence economy. Spanish officials' intent on ruling the region continued to coax Apache leaders to peace at presidios. The late author, William B. Griffen, registered Josef's presence in 1803 at the San Elizario Presidio in modern El Paso County, Texas. From 1810 to 1812, Josef received tools and successfully farmed near the peace establishment in Janos, Chihuahua, where he and others received a land grant to farm. Josef's daughter, Rita Leyva, nicknamed Onorata, had a son, Josef Ignacio Leyva, whose Apache name was Nachesoa - my 4th Great-grandfather. In July 1815, Josécito married El Compa's daughter, Soledad Pisago (documented as Soledad Ydalgo in Spanish records).
In 1816, Josef was recorded as living in Bavispe, Sonora. This is an excellent example of the unique social structure within matrilocal Apache society, where the groom and sometimes the groom's family relocated to their new relatives. In this case, Josef was documented where Soledad's Blue Mountain Apache relatives lived. She also strongly connected with her uncle, Pisago Cabezon's community, who lived near the Gila and San Francisco Rivers in New Mexico. The Pisagos joined through marriage with the Compa family, identified as Blue Mountain Apache, before and after peace was dissolved with Mexican officials, leading to the family's departure from Janos.
In 1837, my Leyva family became enigmatic following the killing of the prominent Compa family leaders in Hidalgo County. Josécito lived along the Rio Grande River between the Black Range and the San Andres Mountains, where various agave species were gathered. His territory extended from Socorro south to El Paso. Using Griffen's research, the leader Cibolito's territory, the "Doña Ana (New Mexico) Area," adjoined Josécito's. Griffen groups Josécito's parents, Rita and Fermin Rede, in Utmost Good Faith with Cibolito's band. In his interview with the late Eve Ball on February 9, 1972, Percy Bigmouth, a Mescalero Apache, confirmed the identity of my family's "Blue Mountain Band," our territory, and our affiliation with the Mimbres Apache.
Despite the passing years, we exist as an Apache band without a reservation or a seat at the table when decisions are made about our homelands. For this reason, the Gila Apache, also known as the Chihene Nde Nation, where I am a tribal historian living in Las Cruces, has petitioned the Bureau of Indian Affairs for acknowledgment. For details, visit https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/ofa/404-chnnnm-nm ?
