Chiricahua - Bands

Bands

Since the "band" as a unit was much more important than "tribe" in Chiricahua culture, the Chiricahua had no name for themselves (autonym) as a people. The name Chiricahua is most likely the Spanish rendering of the Opata word Chiguicagui (‘mountain of the wild turkey’). The Chiricahua tribal territory encompassed today´s SE Arizona, SW New Mexico, NE Sonora and NW Chihuahua. The Chiricahua range extended to the east as far as the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico and to the west as far as the San Pedro River Valley in Arizona, north of Magdalena just below present day Hwy I-40 corridor in New Mexico and with the town Ciudad Madera (276 km northwest of the state capital, Chihuahua, and 536 km southwest of Ciudad Juárez (formerly known as Paso del Norte) on the Mexico–United States border), as their southernmost range.

According to Morris E. Opler (1941), the Chiricahuas consisted of three bands:

• Chíhéne or Chííhénee’ 'Red Paint People' (also known as the Eastern Chiricahua, Warm Springs Apache, Gileños, Ojo Caliente Apache, Coppermine Apache, Copper Mine, Mimbreños, Mimbres, Mogollones, Tcihende),
• Ch’úk’ánéń or Ch’uuk’anén (also known as the Central Chiricahua, Ch’ók’ánéń, Cochise Apache, Chiricahua proper, Chiricaguis, Tcokanene), or the Sunrise People;
• Ndé’indaaí or Nédnaa’í 'Enemy People' known as the Southern Chiricahua, Chiricahua proper, Pinery Apache, Ne’na’i), or "those ahead at the end".

Schroeder (1947) lists five bands:

• Mogollon
• Copper Mine
• Mimbres
• Warm Spring
• Chiricahua proper

The Chiricahua-Warm Springs Fort Sill Apache tribe in Oklahoma say they have four bands in Fort Sill:

• Chíhéne (also known as the Warm Springs band, Chinde),
• Chukunen (also known as the Chiricahua band, Chokonende),
• Bidánku (also known as Bidanku, Bedonkohe (?), Bronco),
• Ndéndai (also known as Ndénai, Nednai).

Today they use the word Chidikáágu (derived from the Spanish word Chiricahua) to refer to the Chiricahua in general, and the word Indé, to refer to the Apache in general.

Other sources list these and additional bands:

• Chokonen (Chu-ku-nde - ‘Ridge of the Mountainside People’, proper or Central Chiricahua)
  • Chokonen (lived west of Safford, Arizona, along the upper reaches of the Gila River, along the San Francisco River in the north to the Mogollon Mountains in New Mexico in the east and the San Simon Valley to the southwest, northeastern local group)
  • Chihuicahui (lived in SE Arizona in the Huachuca Mountains west of the San Pedro River, in the northwest along a line of today's Benson, Johnson, Willcox, and north along the San Simon River to east of SW New Mexico, controlled the southern Pinaleno, Winchester, Dos Cabezas, Chiricahua, Dragoon and Mule Mountains, southwestern local group)
  • Dzilmora (lived in the Alamo Hueco, Little Hatchet and Big Hatchet Mountains in SW New Mexico, southeastern local group)
  • Animas (lived south of the Rio Gila, and west of the San Simon Valley in the Peloncillo Mountains along the Arizona-New Mexico border south to the Guadalupe Canyon and eastward in the Animas Valley and Animas Mountains in SW New Mexico, southern local group)
  • local group (lived in NE Sonora and adjacent Arizona, in Guadalupe Canyon, along the San Bernardino River, northwestern parts of the Sierra San Luis, in the Batepito Valley with the Sierra Pitaycachi, east of Fronteras, as their stronghold)
  • local group (lived east of Fronteras in der Sierra Pilares de Teras in Sonora)
  • local group (lived in the Sierra de los Ajos northeast of the Sonora River, along the Bavispe River towards Fronteras in the north)
• Bedonkohe (Bi-dan-ku - ‘In Front of the End People’, Bi-da-a-naka-enda - ‘Standing in front of the enemy’, often called Mogollon, Gila Apaches, Northeastern Chiricahua, lived in the Mogollon Mountains and Tularosa Mountains between the San Francisco River in the West and the Gila River to the southeast in west New Mexico)
• Chihenne (Chi-he-nde - ‘Red Painted People’, often called Copper Mine, Warm Springs, Mimbres, Gila Apaches, Eastern Chiricahua)
  • Warm Springs (Spanish: Ojo Caliente - Hot Springs)
    • northern Warm Springs (lived in the northeast of the Bedonkohe in the Datil, Magdalena and Socorro Mountains, the Plains of San Agustin, and from today's Quemado east toward the Rio Grande, northern local group)
    • southern Warm Springs (Warm Springs proper, settled around Ojo Caliente near the present-day Monticello, between the Cuchillo Negro Creek and the Animas Creek, controlled the San Mateo and Negretta Mountains as well as the Black Range west of the Rio Grande to the Rio Gila, used the hot springs around the vicinity of Truth or Consequences - hence called Warm Springs or Ojo Caliente Apaches, southern local group)
  • Gila / Gileños
    • Copper Mines (lived southwest of the Gila River, centered around the Santa Lucia Springs in the Little Burro and Big Burro Mountains, controlled the Pinos Altos Mountains, Pyramid Mountains and the vicinity of Santa Rita del Cobre along the Mimbres River in the east - hence called Copper Mine Apaches, western local group)
    • Mimbres /Mimbreños (lived in southeast-central New Mexico, between the Mimbres River and the Rio Grande up in the Mimbres Mountains and the Cook's Range - hence called Mimbres Apaches, eastern local group)
    • local group (lived in southern New Mexico in the Pyramid Mountains and Florida Mountains (called by the Chihenne Dzlnokone - Long Hanging Mountain) moved to the Rio Grande in the east and south to the Mexican border, southern local group)

• Nednhi (Ndé'ndai - ‘Enemy People’, ‘People who make trouble’, often called Bronco Apaches, Sierre Madre Apaches,Southern Chiricahua)
  • Janeros (lived in NW Chihuahua, SE Arizona and NE Sonora in the Animas Mountains, Florida Mountains, south into the Sierra San Luis, Sierra del Tigre, Sierra de Carcay, Sierra de Boca Grande, west beyond the Aros River to Bavispe, east along the Janos River and Casas Grandes River toward the Lake Guzmán in the northern part of the Guzmán Basin and traded at the presidio of Janos, likely called Dzilthdaklizhéndé - ‘Blue Mountain People’, northern local group)
  • Carrizaleños (lived exclusively in Chihuahua, between the presidios of Janos in the west and Carrizal and Lake Santa Maria in the east, south toward Corralitos, Casas Grandes and Agua Nuevas 60 miles (97 km) north of Chihuahua, controlled the southern part of the Guzmán Basin, and the mountains along the Casas Grandes, Santa Maria and Carmen River, likely called Tsebekinéndé - ‘Stone House People’ or ‘Rock House People’, southeastern local group)
  • Pinaleños (lived south of Bavispe, between the Bavispe River and Aros River in NE Sonora and NW Chihuahua, controlled the Sierra Huachinera, Sierra de los Alisos and Sierra Nacori Chico, the mountains had a large stock of pine forest – hence they were called Pinery Apaches, southwestern local group).

The Chokonen, Chihenne, Nednhi and Bedonkohe had probably up to three other local groups, named respectively after their leader or the area they inhabited. By the end of the 19th century, the surviving Apache no longer remembered such groups. They may have been annihilated (like the Pinaleño-Nednhi) or had joined more mighty local groups (the remnant of the Carrizaleños-Nedhni camped together with their northern kin, the Janero-Nednhi).

The Carrizaleňo-Nednhi shared overlapping territory in the surroundings of Casas Grandes and Agua Nuevas with the Tsebekinéndé, a southern Mescalero band (which was often called Aguas Nuevas by the Spanish). The Spanish referred to the Apache band by the same name of Tsebekinéndé. These two different Apache bands were often confused with each other. (Similar confusion arose over distinguishing the Janeros-Nednhi of the Chiricahua (Dzilthdaklizhéndé) and the Dzithinahndé of the Mescalero).