Captured By The Apache: How The Apache Handled Adultery And Hermann's First Death

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas! We're in a series about the Wild West and the story of an 11 year old boy who was captured by an Apache war party from his family's farm in 1870.

In the last post Hermann learned how the Apache acquired honey because he was the one lowered to the cave opening in the cliff to gather it.

Life in the camp was grueling because of the exhaustive warrior training and he was devastated by the news that his family had been killed.(Not true but that's what he'd been told)

Life was becoming somewhat routine

But at least he was getting used to the culture and lifestyle and it was peaceful in the camp. He had been on one raiding party where alot of horses were taken and he was shot at but not wounded and other than that close call his raiding party experience was fairly uneventful.

That was about to change drastically.

The chief, Carnoviste, was getting together another raiding party down into the white settlements. This time it was not just to steal horses but to "kill as many Palefaces as possible." That's how the chief announced their mission.

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This time it was bizarre from the start because of one of their warriors, Tusciwhoski, was having a rocky time in his marriage. Well, that might be an understatement.

Hermann didn't understand the Apache ways yet as far as marriage vows but he found out it was not good to be sleeping around on your husband. Or at least getting caught doing it.

The traditional penalty for a wife's adultery

Tusciwhoski's wife was caught by him in adultery with a Mexican trader. He killed the trader and as was the punishment for adultery in Apache culture he cut off his wife's nose. That was the traditional punishment for such an offense. I'm guessing it was a rare offense?

Dang. How would you like to go around with no nose? I think you would have to have it covered all the time so all the dust and everything wouldn't go right into your sinuses.

But anyway, Tusciwhoski was miserable and announced that he would die that day. When they were mounting up to leave he said "I will never come back. I am going to die." On the ride he was silent, never said a word.

When they got to Kickapoo Springs they spied a well dressed white man on a nice horse, he was a couple hundred yards away. Tusciwhoski said "I will get that man!"

I envision Tusciwhoski looking something like this:

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Remember the post about how the shields were made? The hard, smooth side was always facing out and the hair side faced the warrior.

But Tusciwhoski was holding the hairy side out and the chief told him that it was disrespectful to hold it with the hair side out and that the Great Spirit would not assist a warrior who would be so un-reverential.

By the way, this was the first time Hermann mentioned any spiritual references regarding the tribe. At any rate, Tusciwhoski stated "The white man and I must both die." And he took off riding toward him.

The shootout

The tribe all just watched, transfixed, as Tusciwhoski charged the white man and when they got close to each other Tusciwhoski started shooting with his Winchester rifle and the man shot back with his Colt .44 pistol. Tusciwhoski fell off his horse and the man started to ride away but then fell off his horse too.

They rushed up to the white man who attempted to get up several times and tried to shoot but he was too wounded and fell face down, dead. They found four bullet holes in his chest from the Winchester. They didn't take his scalp because he had stood his ground and showed no fear.

From everything I've read about the Apache and Comanche, about the only way to earn their respect was to be brave and courageous.

He was carrying a large amount of silver in his saddlebags and a roll of paper money. They tore up the paper money, not knowing the value of it, took the pistol and silver and went to examine Tusciwhoski's body.

He'd been shot three times in the chest and when they turned him over he had three torn areas where the bullets had passed through his back. Oh, and they'd also passed through the hair side of his shield. The chief was right.

Hermann witnesses his first burial

They wrapped his body in buffalo robes, placed his weapons beside him, and buried him in a small cave. Then they killed his horse and placed the horse near the opening of the cave.

This is the first burial of a warrior that Hermann had seen. He didn't really understand about the horse and that most warriors were one with their horse.

Hermann struggles to process it all

Here was two brave men who just killed each other because....they were supposed to? They were meant to? He couldn't really grasp why this had to be done.

But this was his life now. He kept hammering these thoughts into his head... he couldn't escape. He was Apache now. Apache killed white people because white people killed Apache. He knew he would be expected to kill or he would be killed.

Hermann hasn't lost his compassion yet but he feels it slipping away. In the next post the raiding party becomes a bloody affair.

Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas