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History & Treasure · Interactive atlas

Apache Wars: places, campaigns, and consequences

Explore the Mimbres, Black Range, Alma, the borderlands, and the distant places of Apache imprisonment. Named present-day roads, communities, and terrain help orient the historical record.

Read the documented history · Read the ten stories · Explore Alma

How to read this map

Colored points mark modern reference locations. Translucent circles mark an approximate vicinity or region; their centers are not claims about exact battle positions, homes, graves, or archaeological sites. Dashed connections show sequence and relationship, not surveyed travel routes. This is an interpretive historical atlas, not a navigation guide. Town and landmark labels identify present-day geography and appear as you zoom in. Solid magenta lines with white borders trace selected modern roads from New Mexico DOT and Forest Service GIS; they are separate from the dashed historical sequence lines. A mapped road does not establish current access or driving conditions. Open any place for its source and related articles.

Loading map… The place directory below remains available.

Magenta lines show mapped modern roads. Select one to focus on its corridor.

Choose a campaign sequence to see its interpreted connections.

Historic mine layer hidden. Turn it on to explore old mining districts and their sourced profiles.

Base maps: © OpenStreetMap contributors; optional USGS The National Map (United States). Town coordinates: OpenStreetMap place data, checked September 2026. Road overlays: NMDOT and US Forest Service GIS, retrieved September 2026. Modern map features do not establish historic locations.

Town and landmark names labeled on this map

Silver City, Pinos Altos, Bayard, Hurley, Santa Clara, Hanover, Fierro, Arenas Valley, Tyrone, San Lorenzo, Mimbres, Cliff, Gila, Buckhorn, Redrock, White Signal, Hachita, Alma, Glenwood, Pleasanton, Mogollon, Mule Creek, Reserve, Aragon, Apache Creek, Cruzville, Luna, Quemado, Pie Town, Datil, Magdalena, Monticello, Beaverhead, Gila Cliff Dwellings, Gila Hot Springs, Lake Roberts, Roberts Park, Kingston, Hillsboro, Lake Valley, Deming, Lordsburg, Truth or Consequences, Socorro, Tularosa.

Historic mines included in the optional layer

Markers indicate approximate district vicinities, not mine portals or permission to enter.

Modern roads traced on this map
  • US 180 — Regional highway through Silver City, Cliff, Glenwood, and Alma. Agency GIS source ↗
  • NM 15 · Silver City to Gila Cliff Dwellings — Mountain road from Silver City toward Gila Cliff Dwellings. Agency GIS source ↗
  • NM 35 · Mimbres and Lake Roberts — Connection from the Mimbres valley to Lake Roberts and NM 15. Agency GIS source ↗
  • NM 52 · Magdalena and Black Range — State road south from US 60 toward the Monticello and Black Range country. Agency GIS source ↗
  • NM 142 · Monticello — State-road approach to Monticello from the Rio Grande valley. Agency GIS source ↗
  • NM 152 · Kingston and Hillsboro — State highway between the Silver City area, Kingston, Hillsboro, and I-25. Agency GIS source ↗
  • NM 27 · Lake Valley — State road from NM 152 through the Lake Valley area. Agency GIS source ↗
  • NM 435 · Reserve — Short state route south from Reserve toward the Beaverhead road. Agency GIS source ↗
  • NM 159 · Bursum Road — Mapped NM 159 corridor from US 180 past Mogollon toward the forest boundary. Agency GIS source ↗
  • Bursum Road · Forest Road 28 — Forest Service continuation of Bursum Road east of the NM 159 section. Agency GIS source ↗
  • FR 140 · Post Canyon — Forest Road 140 / Post Canyon Road northwest of Monticello, near the NM 52 corridor. Agency GIS source ↗
  • FR 150 · North Star Road — Forest road north from NM 35 into the Gila country. Agency GIS source ↗
  • FR 141 · Reserve–Beaverhead Road — Forest road from the NM 435 side toward Beaverhead. Agency GIS source ↗
  • Roberts Park Road · Catron C-003 — Mapped county road west of US 180 toward Roberts Park. Agency GIS source ↗
  • Saddle Rock Canyon Road — County GNT-4-21 from US 180 and Forest Road 118 up the canyon. Agency GIS source ↗
  • Redrock Road · Grant GNT-4-24 — Mapped Redrock Road corridor in the Burro Mountains. Agency GIS source ↗
  • Tyrone–Thompson Road · Grant GNT-4-2 — Mapped Tyrone Road corridor south of the Burro Mountains. Agency GIS source ↗

These lines show the mapped corridor, not legal access, passability, or a historical travel route. Check current NMDOT and Forest Service conditions before traveling.

Places and routes in context

The Mimbres River and Ojo Caliente were lived homelands, not simply campaign settings. The mining settlements at Pinos Altos and Alma, the military posts at Fort Bayard, Fort West, Fort McLane, and Fort Cummings, and the landscapes of the Black Range and Apache Pass belong to different dates and different histories. A modern county boundary cannot describe the whole conflict.

The dated engagements shown here include the 1860 Mimbres attack, Pinos Altos in 1861, Apache Pass in 1862, Las Animas Canyon in 1879, the Cooney Mine and Alma attacks in 1880, Fort Tularosa in 1880, Nana’s 1881 campaign at Carrizo and Gavilan, and the 1885 Little Dry Creek ambush. Victorio’s campaign extended through New Mexico, West Texas, and Chihuahua to Tres Castillos. Geronimo and Naiche’s final campaign reached across the borderlands before the 1886 surrender near Skeleton Canyon.

The map also follows forced relocation from Warm Springs to San Carlos and later imprisonment in Florida, Alabama, and Oklahoma. “Route” lines join selected places and moments. They do not imply that all Apache people, cavalry columns, or civilians took the same path.

Sources and precision

Place descriptions cite the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, National Park Service Warm Springs history, U.S. Army campaign study, Fort Huachuca Museum history, and Agnes Meader Snyder’s oral history. Town and post coordinates are modern map anchors. The map deliberately uses broad circles where a historic site is uncertain. Read how we map events without erasing context for the limits of this method.

Modern roads and the Roberts places

The road layer traces US 180; NM 15 toward Gila Cliff Dwellings; NM 35 by Lake Roberts; NM 52, NM 142, and Forest Road 140 near Monticello; NM 152 through Kingston and Hillsboro; NM 27 near Lake Valley; NM 435 at Reserve; NM 159 and its Forest Road 28 Bursum Road continuation; Forest Roads 150 and 141; Roberts Park Road (Catron C-003), Saddle Rock Canyon Road, Redrock Road, and Tyrone–Thompson Road. Roberts Park Flat is a named topographic place southwest of Alma; the county road and Forest Service mapping show the Roberts Park Road corridor. The separate Roberts cabin marker is moved west of Alma and US 180 as requested by the family, but its exact 1880 footprint remains unverified. Lake Roberts near NM 35 is a different place.

Silver City in the regional landscape

For the town’s own history before and after the war years, read the six-part History of Silver City series. It follows the older San Vicente springs, mining settlement, rail economy, Chihuahua Hill, flood, and surviving districts.

Read every connected article

Documented history: 18 articles

Historical fiction: 10 stories

Alma and the Roberts family: 3 articles