History Lessons

Fort Stanton Live! — The fort’s annual celebration of living history, hosted by Fort Stanton, Inc./Fort Stanton Foundation, is 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Aug. 6-8, at Fort Stanton, 20 miles northeast of Ruidoso on Hwy 220. The event features a Wild West Show, Civil War reenactments, Buffalo Soldiers, Mountain Men, food, vendors and live entertainment. No pets or alcohol allowed. Admission is free; donations accepted. Information: (575) 354-0341 or fortstanton.com.
Fort Stanton was established and built in 1855 by troopers of the 1st Dragoon Regiment to serve as a base of operations against the Mescalero Apache Indians. The site served various purposes through 1995.

Concordia Ghost Tours — Concordia Heritage Association and Paso Del Norte Paranormal Society host a ghost tour 8 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, at historic Concordia Cemetery. The walking tour begins at the Yandell entrance, and is of the haunted sites where people have reported seeing a Lady in White, and other ghostly apparitions. Bring recording equipment, cameras, extra batteries, flashlight, comfortable walking (closed toe) shoes, and be a ghost hunter as well. Reservations required. Cost: $10; All ages welcome Reservations/information: 1-877-GHOST-10 or elpasoghosttours.com.
A special midnight Ghost Tour is midnight to 3 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 21. Age 13 and older welcome; age 17 and under must be accompanied by adult. Bring cameras and flashlights. Cost: $10, plus tax.
Other ghost tours:
• Learn about the paranormal and hauntings at Cohen Stadium Friday, Aug. 13, after the Diablos game at 7:05 p.m. Cost: $20 (includes reserved seating in the Hard Ball Cafe).
• A Downtown Ghost Tour is 8 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14. Walk on top of a confederate cemetery, see where John Wesley Hardin died, and investigate one of downtown’s haunted hotels. Cost: $10.
Patrons can win ghost tour tickets by visiting the society’s booth 8 to 10 p.m. every Friday in August during Alfresco Fridays in Arts Festival Plaza.

History Notes — The monthly program is 1 to 2 p.m. the second Thursday of each month at the Branigan Cultural Center, 501 N. Main, north end of the Downtown Mall in Las Cruces. Admission is free. Information: (575) 541-2154 or las-cruces.org/museums
The programs are informal discussions on local and regional history led by staff and volunteers. The Thursday, Aug. 12, topic is ‘Early Schools in Las Cruces.”

John Wesley Hardin’s Demise — The Concordia Heritage Association’s John Wesley Hardin “Secret Society” annual commemoration is 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19, at Concordia Cemetery. The event marks the infamous gunslinger’s 1895 fatal shooting with a special gravesite ceremony and reenactment by Six Guns and Shady Ladies and historians. There will also be the annual “Toast to John Wesley,” at the hour of his demise 104 years ago. Raffle prizes and entertainment also offered. Bring folding chair, flashlight and closed-toe shoes. Admission: $5; $2 military, students and seniors; free for children under 12.
The historic Central El Paso cemetery is between Yandell and Gateway West east of Copia. Proceeds from the event benefit the preservation and restoration of the cemetery. Information: 581-7920 or concordiacemetery.org.
Hardin moved to El Paso in 1895 after his release from prison. He was shot to death in Aug. 19, 1895, by Constable John Selman. Hardin was 42, and claimed to have killed 30 men.

Fort Bayard Birthday — Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society celebrates the forts 143rd birthday beginning with a walking tour of the Commanding Officer’s home at 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 22 in historic in Fort Bayard, N.M. (6 miles east of Silver City off Highway 180). This year’s theme is “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and features a game played with vintage equipment at 2 p.m. Information: (575) 956-3294 or (307) 640-3012.
Lunch available for a nominal fee 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. (includes hot dogs, chips, peanuts and crackerjacks and birthday cake), followed by the presentation “1920s Baseball in the Southwest” by Dr. Lynn Bevilla at 1 p.m. Children’s games also featured.

Fort Bayard Weekly Tours — Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society hosts free guided tours of the historic fort 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays through September at Fort Bayard National Historic Landmark, 6 miles east of Silver City, N.M. Society members will tell about the beginnings of Fort Bayard in 1866, the Buffalo Soldiers, and history including famous and non-famous residents its medical history. Entrance to the Commanding Officer’s home and 1939 New Deal Theater included. All ages and leashed dogs welcome. Wear walking shoes. Donations welcome; gift shop available. Information: fortbayard.org or fortbayardhistoricpreservationsociety.org

Fort Selden State Monument — The monument, in Radium Springs 13 miles north of Las Cruces, is open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Monday (closed Tuesday). Admission is $3; (ages 16 and under free). Sunday admission for New Mexico residents is $1. Information: (575) 526-8911 or nmmonuments.org.
Fort Selden was a 19th-century adobe fort established to protect early settlers from Indian raids. The monument seeks to preserve the remaining ruins and has a visitors center with exhibits of military life at the post. From Las Cruces, take I-25 north to Exit 19.

El Paso Museum of History — 510 N. Santa Fe. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Mondays. Admission is free. Information: 351-3588. For exhibit and special event information, see “At the Museum” listing.

Old Fort Bliss — Building 5051, corner of Pershing and Pleasanton Roads, Fort Bliss. The Old West days of the “Soldiers of the Pass” are relived through replicas of the original adobe fort buildings and military artifacts, Magoffinsville Post 1854 to 1868. Admission: free. Hours: Daily 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Information: 568-3137.

Chamizal National Memorial — 800 S. San Marcial. The National Park Service operates the memorial on land once claimed by Mexico as part of a decades-long dispute over the international boundary. A similar park in Juárez lies across the Rio Grande, whose shifting nature in earlier years triggered the dispute. The visitor center has an exhibit on the history of the Chamizal dispute, including a video presentation. Park grounds and picnic area open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily; visitors center open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday. Admission is free. Information: 532-7273.
Free ranger guided tours and interpretive programs at are offered at 10 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. The tours last 45 minutes to an hour and consist of walking short distances on the park grounds, as well as visiting various museum exhibits and displays located in the visitor center. Interpretive programs will include U.S./Mexico history and treaties, Cordova Island, the park’s mural Nuestra Herencia by Carlos Flores, the establishment of the Memorial, and a variety of other items related to the borderland community.
Storytime with Georgia Askew is 10 a.m. the third Thursday of the month. Reservations required for both programs.
“Drop In Saturdays’ arts and crafts program for ages 5-11 and their chaperones are 10:30 a.m. the third Saturday of the month. Programs limited to 20 people on a first-come basis. Admission is free.

Los Portales Museum and Visitor Center — 1521 San Elizario Road. The museum is operated by the San Elizario Genealogy and Historical Society, and is housed in an 1850s Territorial-style building across from the San Elizario church. It offers gifts, family trees, historical artifacts and the veterans’ room, as well as information on the “First Thanksgiving” and the Salt War of 1877. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. Information: 851-1682.

Mission Trail — Three historic churches lie within eight miles of each other in El Paso County’s Mission Valley.
• Mission Ysleta — Spanish and Tigua Indian refugees from northern New Mexico founded the community in the 1680s. The first mission was built in 1692 and rebuilt completely in both the 18th and 19th centuries. The current structure was built in 1851. It’s near Zaragoza and Alameda on the Tigua Reservation. Information: 851-9997 (El Paso Mission Trail Association).
• Mission Socorro — The first adobe structure in Socorro was built in 1692, and like nearby Mission Ysleta, was destroyed by floods in later centuries. The current structure dates back to 1843, with additions completed in 1873. It’s off Socorro Road two miles southeast of Ysleta.
• San Elizario Chapel — Established in 1789 as a Spanish presidio, or fort, to protect the Camino Real, San Elizario was the first county seat of El Paso. The church was built in 1877, replacing a church built about 25 years earlier. Technically, San Elizario Chapel is a presidio church, not a mission. It’s on the San Elizario plaza, off Socorro Road, 5.5 miles southeast of Socorro Mission. Nearby is the famous jail that Billy the Kid reportedly broke into to rescue a friend. Group tours are available. For San Elizario tour information, call 851-1682.

Concordia Heritage Association — Anyone interested in learning about, preserving and promoting history is invited to join the association, which meets at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month, at Zion Lutheran Church, 2800 Pershing. Information: 581-7920.
The nonprofit group takes care of Concordia Cemetery, home to over 60,000 famous, infamous and other eternal residents. The association also helps people locate ancestors buried there and researches requests related to the historic burial ground that once was the home of rancher Hugh Stephenson and his wife, Doña Juana Ascarate de Stephenson.
The group also sponsors the annual Walk Through History in October at Concordia Cemetery as well as other events involving characters from El Paso’s past, particularly those buried at Concordia.

Shakespeare Ghost Town — The small pioneer settlement and mining town on the trail to California is just south of Lordsburg, N.M. Information: (575) 542-9034 or shakespeareghostown.com.
Guided tours take about 2 hours. Admission is $4 ($3 ages 6-12). Special events, which include live reenactments, are $1 extra.
Tours are offered at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Aug. 7-8 and 21-22.
To get there: From Lordsburg, take the Main Street exit (Exit 22) from Interstate 10 and turn south. Follow signs to Shakespeare.

Racking Up History column by Bill Rakocy

Apache kidnapping
of ranch boy part
of NM?western lore

One of the most fascinating tales of Western Native American lore deals with Geronimo’s capture of Jimmy “Santiago” McKinn Sept. 11, 1885. The young boy — around age 11 at the time — lived in the Mimbres Valley with his hardscrabble rancher family.
Taking such young captives, male or female, was an “Indian regular act.” Native Americans, being overly practical, used these young as servants and family companions. In the ensuing months of his capture and indoctrination into the Apache and war style, Jimmy adapted very well.
Local newspapers, area historian Jerry Eagan and other Western writers have researched and covered this fascinating tale of a young Irish-American boy who became thoroughly indoctrinated into the Apache way of life.
According to the Silver City Enterprise, Apache signal fires in the Florida Mountains were reported in Deming, indicating Apache attacks. In Georgetown, two Mexican workmen were killed.
Original reports said that both sons of John McKinn, including Martin, age 17, had been killed by Apaches. But it turned out that Santiago was missing, with no evidence of his death.
In March 1886, Gen. George Crook accepted Geronimo’s surrender in Sonora, Mexico. Among the handful of warriors, women and children was a mysterious boy.
This was the first hint that the abducted McKinn boy had possibly been found. Capt. John Bourke, an aide to Gen. Crook, reported that he’d seen a lad he learned was “Santiago” McKinn. The place was Canyon de los Embudos, Sonora, Mexico. We know what happened next thanks to reports from Bourke, reporter Fletcher Lummis of the L.A. Times, and C.S. Fly, a photographer from Tombstone, Arizona Territory. Fly had accompanied Crook into Mexico in hopes of photographing the famous Geronimo. Others in the group later escaped, but somehow Crook managed to hold on to the young captive.
Lummis reported:
“Santiago McKinn, the 11-year-old white boy, the Apaches’ prisoner taken with Geronimo’s band, will be sent home tomorrow. It is learned that his parents were not killed, but reside at Hot Springs, at Hunter’s, N.M., near the railroad from Deming to Silver City. During his half-year of captivity, the lad had grown fully Indianized. He joins their sports, and will have nothing to do with the whites. He understands English and Spanish, but can hardly be induced to speak in either. He has learned the Apache language and talks it exclusively.”
Lummis later filed this dispatch: “Santiago McKinn, their 11-year-old white captive, was sent home to-day. He would not leave the camp with a white man, and had to be brought into the fort by Chiricahuas. He bawled badly when told that he was to be taken back to his parents, and said he always wanted to stay with the Indians.”
The Silver City Enterprise later reported on April 9, 1886:
• John McKinn went to Deming to meet his boy.
• His son appeared in deplorable condition.
• Though very poor, the father had to pay the train fare for his son’s return.
• A local clothing store took the boy in and outfitted him in new clothes.
• Jimmy was overjoyed to see his dad, whom he recognized.
• The boy, the “Lion of the Hour,” was greeted by a large crowd.
• He answered questions in Spanish and reply “no sabe” to English questions.
• He answered every question.
• After capturing him, the Indians traveled two days and nights without rest.
• When asked how he liked to eat horseflesh (cooked) he responded, “It is good when you are hungry.”
For a fuller story of Jimmy McKinn, read Jerry Eagan’s account at http://www.desertexposure.com/200611/200611_apacheria_mckinn_captive.html.

A similar tale of abduction

The abduction of red-haired, blue-eyed Charlie McComas, then 6, by Apaches March 28, 1883, following the murder of his parents, remains one of the unsolved mysteries of the days when Fort Bayard troopers guarded the Butterfield Trail against hostile Native Americans, who lurked in the Black Range and Mogollon mountains to pounce on unwary settlers and miners moving westward after the Civil War.
In May 1938, members of an archaeological expedition into Mexico discovered a tribe of Apaches believed to have escaped from the United States after the surrender of Geronimo. The leader of the “lost” tribe was a red-haired, blue-eyed white man approaching his 60s, whom they believed to be Charlie McComas. Whether or not their suspicion was correct could not be proved. The leader of the tribe recalled nothing of any prior life, recalling only the way of the Native American, ever fleeing from the wrath of the white man.

Bill Rakocy is an El Paso artist and
historian. Information: 584-9716.

August 2010

History Lessons

Racking Up History column by Bill Rakocy

See also: At the Museum

Menu of this month's listings, stories and columns

Racking Up History column by Bill Rakocy

Apache kidnapping
of ranch boy part
of NM?western lore

El Paso Scene MONTHLY
This month's listings, stories and columns

August 2010

History Lessons

Racking Up History column by Bill Rakocy

See also: At the Museum

Menu of this month's listings, stories and columns

Racking Up History column by Bill Rakocy

Apache kidnapping of ranch boy part of NM?western lore

El Paso Scene MONTHLY This month's listings, stories and columns

Apache kidnapping
of ranch boy part
of NM?western lore

El Paso Scene MONTHLY
This month's listings, stories and columns