We Fought with Hoo [Juh]? An Apache Family Story By Ruben Leyva, Gila Apache, PhD Student, University of New Mexico

"I Fought with Geronimo," an autobiography by Jason Betzinez published in 1959, has gained acclaim for its detailed depiction of the life of an Apache who resisted U.S. occupation and survived captivity. Betzinez, a Warm Springs-Chihenne (Chíhéne) band member from the present-day Black Range in New Mexico, trained under the Apache leader Geronimo. He later served as an Apache Scout in exchange for pay and temporary relief from reservation life. In 1886, Geronimo, Betzinez, and many others were taken as prisoners to Florida, Alabama, and finally to Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Betzinez, in his autobiography, recounts the story of his family, focusing on old Mak-ho, Geronimo's grandfather, a respected Bedonkohe (Bidankú) band leader. The Bedonkohe band is one of the four major Apache bands, as was the Chihenne. Mak-ho upheld peaceful relationships with Mexicans and aided fellow Apache, sharing his crops and livestock with them. The relations between the Apache and the settlements were established through treaties long before the U.S.-Mexican War. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war with Mexico, failed to acknowledge prior Apache treaties.

Betzinez introduces 'Hoo' [Juh], whose name Dr. Ana María Alonso's research identifies as Lino Leyva. Juh, a young Apache known as Tandinbilnojui (Long Neck), was a respected leader within the third Apache band, the Nednhi (Nednai), meaning "Enemy People." He was renowned for his spiritual power and strategic prowess, often compared to the Warm Springs-Chihenne Apache leader Victorio. Juh married Geronimo's sister, Ishton. Over time, my Bedonkohe and Nednhi family established an unbreakable bond under names like Gila, Mogollón, and Coppermine Apache. We collectively referred to ourselves as "Ndé-n'dáa-he," which means "Standing before the enemy" in Apache. The Ndé-ndáa-he were considered wild and untamable and dubbed Bronco Apache by Mexicans.

According to Betzinez, Geronimo led a small group of Bedonkohe-Ndé-n'dáa-he. His brother-in-law Juh led a much larger group of Nednhi-Ndé-n'dáa-he. In 1876, Juh and Geronimo resided at the Chiricahua Apache Indian Agency in Cochise County, Arizona. In May, August V. Kautz, a famous Army General, received his orders from the U.S. to close the Chiricahua Reservation and relocate the Chiricahuas to the San Carlos Agency. Kautz does not mention the Chihenne band, who lived east at the Hot Springs Reservation near the Rio Grande River. Of the nearly 600 Apache the U.S. sought to relocate, 325 belonged to the fourth band, the Chokonen (Ch'úk'ánén). The remaining Apache are documented as Nednhi and Bedonkohe.

Juh and Geronimo promised the Indian Agent John P. Clum they would relocate after collecting their people. This did not occur. Instead, Geronimo separated from Juh in Mexico and made his way to the Hot Springs Reservation, committing atrocities the entire way. Juh remained in Mexico, where his secret basecamp or stronghold was in the Sierra Madre Occidental. Agent Clum and his Indian police were assigned to travel to the Hot Springs to retrieve Geronimo and begin the consolidation of the Chíhéne at San Carlos. Victorio and Loco, Chíhene leaders at the Hot Springs, found relocating from their homeland unpalatable.

My second great-grandfather, Francisco de Jesús Leyva, was among the Ndé-ndáa-he arrested with Geronimo at the Hot Springs Reservation and taken to San Carlos on May 20, 1877. A month prior, Indian Agent Shaw, assigned to the Hot Springs Reservation, had been ordered to conduct his first census of Apache living there. According to Shaw's census, Francisco was married and had one child.

Shaw noted in his correspondence with federal officials that his census was incomplete. Francisco briefly returned to the Hot Springs from Mexico before being apprehended by Clum. Church records show that he took his newborn to Mexico, where the child was baptized on April 9, 1877. The recorded godfather, Perfecto Fierro, is likely a descendant of Soldado Fiero, believed by some to be Fuerte. If Fuerte were indeed Mangas Coloradas, as many speculate, this baptism would link his family with the Leyva family. Mangus Coloradas' son Mangus appears on Shaw's census. Agent Clum reported that the group had returned with stolen livestock two days before his arrival at the Hot Springs.

On September 2, 1877, 310 Apaches participated in a breakout from San Carlos, including the leaders Gordo, Francisco, Victorio, Mangus, and Loco. They headed north into present Catron County, New Mexico. In September, a message made it to General Kautz that Loco and the others desired to surrender at Fort Wingate. Fort Wingate is about 12 miles southeast of Gallup, New Mexico. A small envoy was sent from Fort Wingate south for 90 miles to Mangas Mountain, where Francisco's brother José Leyva's family lived. This domain is in the present community of Mangas, where the family still lives today. Leyba Spring can be located on Google Maps.

They negotiated with Colonel Edward Hatch at Fort Wingate, ensuring their temporary return to the Hot Springs. But this stay didn't last long. Loco's people at the Hot Springs were ordered back to the San Carlos Agency in September 1878. Victorio, Francisco, and 20-plus others resisted. Upon being ordered to the Mescalero Agency, Victorio and the others fled to the mountains. Ultimately, Victorio surrendered at the Mescalero Agency but later led the outbreak in August 1879. He and many of his warriors were killed in battle on October 14-15, 1880, at Tres Castillos in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Juh's youngest son, Asa Daklugie, was born around 1877 and lived in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, from 1895 to 1913. During that time, Francisco visited him. Francisco probably intended to visit his uncle, Pedro Jose Leyva. Pedro Jose, a prisoner of war, died in 1895 before Francisco arrived. He was 70.

Francisco told Daklugie how his older brothers had been captured and taken to Chihuahua and later Mexico City. Francisco never again heard from the two brothers. Similarly, Francisco was enslaved and brought to Baja, California, before escaping. Francisco and Daklugie probably exchanged symbolic gifts, as is our custom. On February 6, 1941, Francisco died in Chihuahua, Mexico, at age 97. His cousin, Daklugie, died in 1955 at the Mescalero Apache Reservation.