The Apache Warriors: History's Most TERRIFYING Native American Fighters You Never know About скачать в хорошем качестве

The Apache Warriors: History's Most TERRIFYING Native American Fighters You Never know About

This isn’t just war. This is survival forged in fire and blood. This is terror as strategy. This is the untamed soul of the Apache Warrior. A We hadn't returned to the post a week before fresh news arose. A Mexican fighter thus engaged before noticing his foe's approach. Left unclothed, head and shoulders concealed within a bundle of yucca shoots or secatongrass, body smeared with clay or sand, moving as slippery and poisonous as the rattlesnake itself, the Apache could and did draw near within earshot of the whites, even penetrating the military camps' enclosures, where we sometimes found his tracks beside the olas or water jars. On such occasions he favored using his lance or bow, since these made no noise and half or even whole days might pass before the rigid corpse was discovered. It was this distinctive Apache trait that rendered them such a horror to all encountering them. They mastered disguise so completely one might almost tread upon a warrior thus occupied before detecting his presence. Stripped bare, with head and far up in the mountains were thoroughly known to them. The European soldiers, of any nationality, would roam about, half mad with thirst and tortured by the day's heat, or numbed by the mountain night's cold winds, unable to discern which plants held value as food and which did not. The Apache was no coward. He understood his craft, and he played his hand to suit himself. He never wasted a shot, and never lost a warrior in combat where a swift dash across the nearest ridge could spare his life and exhaust the burdened soldier attempting to catch him. Apaches in groups of two and three, even lone Apaches, were known to creep close to military stations and ranchos and conceal themselves behind some protective rock or atop some accessibly situated hill, staying there for days, observing the Americans' movements below and awaiting an opportunity to stampede livestock or murder a herder or two or ambush a wagon train. To chase them proved worse than pointless, leaving us only to inter the casualty. It was less indeed than rifle shot, from the entrance, when an Apache, lying in ambush behind a clump of palmila, pierced him through with a lance and left him dead, wallowing in his own blood. They grasped how to scatter when chased, but regrouped like the crested quail of the mountains, then hovered near the whites' flanks, proving far more dangerous when dispersed than in tight formations. This was simply the soundest military approach for the Apaches to take: wear down the foe via annoying strategies and by having them constantly vigilant. The Apaches could locate sustenance on every slope, and the springs, water holes, and creeks high in the hills were perfectly familiar to them. The Spanish crown had been forced to keep four thousand dragoons to control a tribe of bare savages, who disdained any shield against the bullets of the Castilians, who declined to fight when pursued, scattering like their own plumed quail, letting the pursuit become a phantom hunt. This happened when an official assisting the government arrived to consult the commander. He left the adjutant's office before noon and hadn't gone one thousand paces, when an Apache, waiting in ambush behind a cump of palmila, pierced him through and through with a lance and left him dead, weltering in his own blood. ‌We’d scarcely returned to post a week when fresh events stirred discussion. A Mexican conducting government work arrived to confer with the commanding officer. Departing the adjutant’s office before noon, he hadn’t gone 1,000 yards—less than rifle shot from the door—when an Apache, concealed behind a yucca clump, pierced him through the chest with a lance, leaving him dead, wallowing in his blood. Pursuit proved futile; we could only bury the victim. Apaches in pairs, trios, or even singly infiltrated near military posts and settlements, hiding behind rocks or hilltops for days to observe American movements below. They’d stampede herds, kill herders, or ambush wagon trains. Disguised with yucca shoots or sacaton grass bundles on their shoulders and mud-rubbed bodies, a warrior could remain undetected until nearly stepped upon. Their knowledge of every hillside’s food sources, springs, and mountain streams was absolute. White troops—whether sweltering in desert heat or freezing in mountain winds—wandered half-crazed with thirst, unable to distinguish edible plants. The Apache never wasted a shot and never fled a fight unless a swift ridge-crossing saved his life.#nativeamerican #nativeamerican #history #americanhistory #american #native american, #warrior culture, #tactical warfare, #military strategy, #native american history, #ancient combat, #native americans, #apache warriors, #native american culture, #indigenous history