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History & Treasure · Historical fiction series

Ten lives across the Apache wars.

Move through the Mimbres, Pinos Altos, Apache Pass, Ojo Caliente, the canyon campaigns, and exile through ten long stories told from different viewpoints.

Stories grounded in the record

These stories are historical fiction. Their viewpoint characters, private thoughts, and dialogue are imagined. The major events, dates, named historical figures, and outcomes are anchored in cited sources, with a note at the end of every story. For documented history without imagined scenes, read the eighteen-part Apache history series.

Read in order for a changing view of the conflict, or choose the person and moment that interests you. The stories give Apache families, a miner, Black cavalry soldiers, a settler, a civilian rider, and a Navajo scout distinct places in the narrative.

Ten long stories

The story cycle

  1. The River Before Dawn: A Mimbres Apache Story

    A Chihenne mother tries to hold a home beside the Mimbres River as the miners' attack of December 1860 changes her family's world.

  2. The Weight of Gold: A Pinos Altos Story

    In the September 1861 fight at Pinos Altos, a fictional miner discovers how little a pouch of gold can save when the camp and its people are in danger.

  3. Water in the Pass: A Chokonen Story at Apache Spring

    A fictional Chokonen runner races between the ridges above Apache Spring as Cochise and Mangas Coloradas confront the California Column in 1862.

  4. The Spring Cannot Travel: A Warm Springs Apache Story

    A fictional Chihenne mother must move her family when the government orders Warm Springs Apache people from Ojo Caliente to San Carlos in 1877.

  5. The Ridge Above Las Animas: A Buffalo Soldier Story

    A fictional Ninth Cavalry private follows Victorio's trail into Las Animas Canyon and learns how difficult it is to bring a troop out alive.

  6. The Cattle at Tularosa: A Settler's Story of Sergeant Jordan

    A fictional woman at old Fort Tularosa faces Victorio's May 1880 attack while Sergeant George Jordan and Ninth Cavalry soldiers defend the settlement and its herd.

  7. Nana's Long Ride: A Warm Springs Apache Story

    A fictional young survivor follows Nana through New Mexico in 1881, hoping the old leader's dangerous ride will lead him to family scattered after Tres Castillos.

  8. The Warning at Gavilan: A Cowboy's Story

    A fictional rider in George Daly's 1881 posse must face Lieutenant Smith's ignored warning and the cost of the ambush at Gavilan Canyon.

  9. The First Ravine: A Navajo Scout's Story at Little Dry Creek

    A fictional Navajo scout reacts when Josanie's party ambushes Lieutenant Fountain's cavalry column between Big and Little Dry Creek in December 1885.

  10. The Train to the Sea: An Apache Mother's Story of Exile

    A fictional Apache mother and daughter reach Fort Marion in 1886, where imprisonment and a boarding-school removal test what they can keep of home.

Explore the story settings

Open the zoomable Apache Wars map to find the Mimbres, Pinos Altos, Apache Pass, Ojo Caliente, Las Animas, Fort Tularosa, Gavilan, Little Dry Creek, and the places of exile. The map explains where historic locations remain uncertain.

Follow the factual history

Explore the Grant County Apache history hub for researched chapters on Chihenne leaders, named battles, Fort Bayard, Victorio, Nana, and the 1885–86 imprisonment. The Alma history series follows the 1880 Roberts ranch defense through an eyewitness interview and a descendant's photographs. The Native American History collection offers wider context.

Further reading · Randy Salars

Related Apache themed Kindle books

These contemporary Kindle books cover Apache themed subjects. They are further reading, not primary evidence for the historical claims in these articles. Each Store page links to its Amazon purchase listing.

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