CHIEF VICTORIO

Born on the Black Range of New Mexico around 1825, Victorio was raised as a member of the Chihenne Apache.

The warrior Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists of all time, dies on October 15, 1880, in the Tres Castillos Mountains south of El Paso, Texas.

Known as Bidu-ya or Beduiat to his Apache people, Victorio was a warrior and chief of the Chihenne band of the Chiricahua Apache in what is now New Mexico.

Victorio grew up during a period of intense hostility between the native Apache Native Americans of the southwest and encroaching Mexican and American settlers. Determined to resist the loss of his homeland, Victorio began leading his small band of warriors on a long series of devastating raids against Mexican and American settlers and their communities in the 1850s.

In April 1880, Victorio was said to have led his band in the Alma Massacre, where several settlers’ homes were raided and several people killed. As a result, U.S. Army troops were sent out in force from Fort Bayard, New Mexico, to capture Victorio and his band. The soldiers outpaced Victorio to the water holes in the Sierra Diablo Mountains, and after two unsuccessful attempts to reach water, the Apache retreated into Mexico.

On October 14, 1880, Victorio and his warrios were surprised by hired Mexican sculp hunters who killed Victorio and his warriors. Only women and children survived  and were held prisoners in Chihuahua City for the next several years.