Eskiminzin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Eskiminzin
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| Eskiminzin "Men Stand in Line for Him" | |
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| Aravaipa Apache leader | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1828 near the Pinal Mountains, born as a Pinaleño Apache |
| Died | 1894 San Carlos Reservation |
| Known for | establishing the San Carlos Reservation |
Eskiminzin (Ndee biyati' / Nnee biyati': "Men Stand in Line for Him"; or Hashkebansiziin, Hàckíbáínzín - "Angry, Men Stand in Line for Him", 1828–1894) was a local group chief of the Aravaipa band of the San Carlos group of the Western Apache during the Apache Wars.
He was born about 1828 near the Pinal Mountains as a Pinaleño/Pinal Apache. Through marriage into the Aravaipa, he became one of them and later their chief. He desired a lasting peace between the indigenous peoples of America and the whites.
In 1871, Eskiminzin and the Pinaleño/Pinal band of the San Carlos Apaches under Capitán Chiquito accepted an offer by the US Government to settle down and plant crops in the vicinity of Camp Grant, a fort near modern-day Tucson, Arizona. The plan was short-lived; on April 30, 1871, a band of anti-Apache American civilians under William S. Oury, Mexican civilians under Jesús María Elías, and Tohono O'odham warriors under their chief Francisco Galerita launched a merciless assault on the settlement without warning.
The attack became known as the Camp Grant massacre, with 144 occupants killed. Twenty-nine children had been captured and were sold into slavery in Mexico by the Tohono O'odham and the Mexicans themselves. Eskiminzin was unfortunate enough to survive the tragedy. However, later in life he was suspected of sheltering his son-in-law the Apache Kid, was imprisoned without a trial, and soon after his release, died, a broken man, in 1894.
