Essays

Moseying: History of the Southern Llano Estacado

Indian captive on Independence Creek
August 18, 2004

In 1866 Frank Buckalew was a captive of Lipan Apaches in a camp along the Pecos River. In the early decades of the 20th century, a book was published about his experiences, but to my knowledge it has never been reprinted. I examined a copy at the University of Texas in 1988, during a trip to research Lipan Apaches in Texas.

In 1995 I was on the Texas Nature Conservancy’s Conservation Easement on the Chandler Ranch, 25 miles south of Sheffield, building a nature trail. During a break, while sitting on a cliff that overlooked the valley of Independence Creek, I spotted an isolated grouping of sotol plants in the lowlands near the confluence of the creek and river. No other sotol plants grew in the valley, which gave rise to the question – how did the sotol get there? Being prone to flights of fancy fueled by feverish imagination, I postulated that the sotol plants marked the location of that Lipan Apache camp. I did no more trail work that afternoon, but instead wrote about a pivotal day (that might have happened) in the life of Frank Buckalew, written as if it were by Buckalew.

“Castillito has a visitor, hombre. The Kickapoo leader Noko-aht from the villages near Nacimiento has come to visit.” Magoosh, the wandering Lipan shaman, had come to the village a week ago, and had come to get me to translate. I had learned quite a bit of Apache and spoke some Spanish, as well.

I had been teaching Castillito English, but he was still learning vocabulary. Castillito spoke Spanish adequately, as did Magoosh. Magoosh could speak some English, but not fluently. He told me that Noko-aht spoke excellent English, but was having a hard time learning Spanish, and spoke no Apache.

I was 100 yards from the camp, down at the creek, with Castillito’s wife – I had to be with either her or Castillito at all times. She was enjoying showing off how strong her “slave” was, and how I would even do “women’s” work. The day before, a half dozen men returned from the San Antonio-El Paso wagon road, where they had watched the wagon trains go by. When the travelers were careless about protecting a camp, they would sneak in at night and steal what they could. To confuse matters, they would leave behind a Comanche moccasin, or some other trinket easily identifiable as Comanche. When the men had come dancing home, slapping sage-filled buckskin bags on their thighs to signify their success, Castillito’s wife had been given a cheerful calico dress during the giveaway of the spoils of the raid.

I was washing the dress, after I had pounded yucca roots with a rock and swirled them in hot water over a fire in a big iron kettle. She had owned the kettle since John Horse of the Seminole Negroes (who also lived in near Nacimiento on the headwaters of the Rio Sabinas southwest of Piedras Negras, Mexico) had given it to her for bringing the proper fever reducing plants when his son had been delirious in an illness.

In June of 1850, John Horse and Wildcat of the fullblood Seminoles had signed an agreement with Inspector General Antonio Jaurequi of the northeastern colonies of Mexico, a document that had given the Seminoles, the Seminole-Negroes, and a few Kickapoos with them, permission to settle. In the late 1840’s Bigfoot Wallace led settlers that chased the Lipans out of the Nueces River area (where I had been captured), and they now roamed the land on both sides of the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras all the way to Ojinaga.

In earlier years, Magoosh had taken some of the Lipans to live with the Mescaleros near Sierra Blanca, the first big deep-snow mountain seen when heading north along the Rio Pecos, but traveled back and forth at least once a year. After hundreds of Kickapoos (led by Noko-aht) had emigrated to the Rio Sabinas region about two years ago (after the Dove Creek fight where they soundly trounced Texas militiamen,) Magoosh kept trying to convince Castillito and other Lipan band leaders to move northwest, but Castillito believed that the canyons of the lower Pecos were safe not only from the Anglos, but also the Comanches. When I was captured, I was taken to the Rio Pecos camps, and had never seen the Rio Sabinas area of which Castillito often talked.

When Magoosh and I joined Castillito and Noko-aht, I was surprised at Noko-aht’s appearance – his hair was cut short and he wore “white-man’s” clothes and shoes. He had a vest with a pocket for his watch on a chain. On his lap was a book – “History of the United States.” Educated in a missionary’s school, Noko-aht had been instrumental in negotiating for wagons and supplies during each “removal” of the Kickapoos from Illinoi, Kansas, and the voluntary departure from the Indian Territory. Behind him, Castillito’s sotol stalk wickiup had a map spread over its sloping walls of captured wagon canvas. Castillito rolled a cigarette in a dried sotol blade base as I sat down, and after he got it going, passed it around.

“The Americans have ended their Civil War, and they will be sending out hundreds of soldiers to this area,” said Noko-aht, pointing at the map. “Some of the Seminole-Negroes and their Seminole kin are thinking about returning to Indian Territory. They have relatives there. A company of soldiers are at Fort Clark, helping them plan the move, and to accompany them back.” He gestured at me to translate, and I did the best I could. Magoosh helped, too.

“This book talks about the Americans’ sense of “manifest destiny.” They want to make all of the land between the oceans “civilized.” It talks about “the savages,” meaning us Indians, and how we are not quite as human as they. We Kickapoos want to be your middlemen, trading for anything you do not want of what you steal from the Americans. We came to Mexico to be free – and not to be asked to move along time and again just because we are not white. We will meet you above the villages, high in the mountains, when you want to trade – just send a messenger as to when.” Again I translated.

Noko-aht reached for a sotol cake – the heart of a sotol baked for three days and then mixed with whatever fruit and nuts had been available. I continued to translate for hours, well into the night. At the end, it was agreed that Castillito would bring American goods to the Rio Sabinas, and Magoosh would take one family to New Mexico for a visit to their relatives.

Frank Buckalew later went to Mexico with Castillito, and when Castillito was offered a good price for Frank by a Mexican who traded with Texans, he sold him. Buckalew eventually got home to the Nueces. On May 18th, 1873, Colonel Randall Mackenzie’s troops raided the Kickapoo and Lipan villages near Nacimiento “without consent of the Mexican authorities” and Castillito was captured. I have yet to learn more about the life of Noko-aht. Magoosh died on the Mescalero Reservation near Ruidoso, New Mexico in 1918.

Many west Texans have spent time at the Chandler Ranch campgrounds, but to my knowledge access is not allowed at this time. Look for Charlena Chandler’s wonderful book on growing up on Independence Creek, published by Texas Tech University. Pair it with Suzanne O’Bryan’s “Thoughts along the river” for a thorough immersion into the lifestyles of the Pecos Canyons. Both are superb bioregional works.