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| 1742 Chiricahua Apache Nation - Bonito, Chiricahua Chief |
Considered being part of the Eastern Apaches (which include also the Mescalero, Jicarilla, Lipan, and Kiowa Apache), Chiricahua were, as other Apaches, a collection of bands which shared a common area, language, customs, and intertwined family relations. At the time they encountered Europeans, they were living in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona in the United States, and in northern Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico, but today there are only two Chiricahua federally recognized tribes in the United States: the Fort Sill Apache Tribe (near Apache, Oklahoma); and the Chiricahua tribe located on the Mescalero Apache reservation (near Ruidoso, New Mexico).
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| 1743 Chiricahua Apache Nation - Hattie Tom |
The bands that are grouped under the Chiricahua term today had much history together: they intermarried and lived alongside each other, and they also occasionally fought with each other. They formed short-term as well as longer alliances that have caused scholars to classify them as one people. From the beginning of European American/Apache relations, there was conflict between them, as they competed for land and other resources, and had very different cultures. The "hotest" period of the conflict was between 1863 and 1886, when Chiricahua waged almost constant war against US settlers and the Army. The best-known warrior leader of the renegades, although he was not considered a 'chief', was Geronimo. He and Naiche led together many of the resisters during those last few years of freedom.
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