The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 24, July 1920 - April, 1921 Page: 302
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The, Southwestern- Iistorical Quarterly
suffering both from Indians, who made their escape into Sonora,
and from Mexican bandits. The savages consisted mainly, how-
ever, of stray bands belonging to the Lipan, Comanche, Apache,
and Kickapoo tribes, who found shelter in the mountains of
Coahuila and Chihuahua. A great many horses and sheep were
raised on the frontiers of northwest Texas and of New Mexico;
but the ravages of these Indians made such occupations extremely
perilous. Indeed, the reports alleged that many of the ranches
had been entirely broken up. Thousands of stock were stolen,
killed and scattered; frequent murders occurred, and several
women and children were carried away into captivity.
The general situation can probably be best set forth by the tes-
timony of three officials of the United States army who were sta-
tioned on this frontier. Lieutenant Colonel W. R. Shafter, who
had been at Fort Clark, Texas, since 1867, testified in 1878 that
there was hardly a family which had dwelt for any length of time
in the region without having sacrificed a member to the savages.24
William Steele, who was Adjutant General of the State of Texas
at the time, stated that fifty-seven Indian parties had killed forty
citizens of Texas between 1875 and 1878.26 Colonel Hatch of
New Mexico reported in 1879 that twenty-five persons had re-
cently been massacred by Mexican Indians, who had purchased
arms, ammunition and supplies from the frontier towns of Chi-
huahua, and that fourteen soldiers and scouts had been killed in
pursuit of the raiders.26
The policy of the Mexican government in regard to these raids
was ineffective, and in the eyes of the government of the United
States, dilatory and indifferent. The historian may explain the
Mexican attitude by the inability of the national government of
Mexico to enforce its will upon the frontier governments; by
hatred and suspicion felt toward the United States because of
former aggressions; by the fact that the Indians in question had
for the most part escaped from reservations on the northern side
of the boundary, and that such Indians had often inflicted in-
juries upon Mexico; by the exasperation which the formation of
Mexican revolutionary parties on American soil occasioned; and,
"4"Texas Frontier Troubles," p. 23.
"Ibid., p. 48.
"Summarized in Hunter to Zamacona, Nov. 7, 1879, Ho. Em. Doo. No.
1, 46 Cong., 3 Sess. (Ser. 1951), pp. 780-781.302
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 24, July 1920 - April, 1921, periodical, 1921; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101078/m1/308/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.