For other conflicts involving the Apache see Apache War (disambiguation).

The Jicarilla War began in 1849 and was fought between the Jicarilla

Jicarilla Apache

Jicarilla Apache refers to the members of the Jicarilla Apache Nation currently living in New Mexico and speaking a Southern Athabaskan language...

 Apache

Apache

Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...

s and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 military in New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

. Ute warrior

Warrior

A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...

s also played a significant role in the conflict as they were allied with the Jicarillas. The war started when the Apaches and Utes began raiding against settlers on the Santa Fe Trail

Santa Fe Trail

The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1822 by William Becknell, it served as a vital commercial and military highway until the introduction of the railroad to Santa Fe in 1880...

. Eventually, in 1853, the American army retaliated which resulted in a series of battles and campaigns that ended in 1854 when a large military expedition managed to quell most of the violence. However, some minor skirmishing contiuned into 1855.

War

Dolores Gunnerson argues that "the Jicarillas would have transfered their allegiance to the Americans and served them as faithfully as they had served the Spaniards if the Anglos had been willing to accept them as "friends" and allies. She further states that "the Jicarilla were at war with the United States for only a year and a half and spent nearly all that period eluding the troops rather than fighting."

The war began in 1849 when a wagon of settlers was killed by a band of Jicarillas and Utes. The event, sometimes referred to as the White Massacre

White Massacre

The White Massacre was an engagement between American settlers and a band of hostile Utes and Jicarilla Apaches that occurred in northeastern New Mexico on October 28, 1849. In October, 1849, James White, a merchant who plied his trade between Independence, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico, was...

 received considerable publicity at the time and did much to prejudice the Anglo population against the tribe. A year later a group of mail

Mail

Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

 carriers were killed in what is called the Wagon Mound Massacre. Various incidents in the next half decade would raise the tensions between the Americans and the Jicarillas, leading both sides to increasingly mistrust the other until the winter of 1853 to 1854 when the army began operations.

In February of 1854 a government beef contractor near Fort Union, New Mexico reported to the army that several of his cattle had been stolen by the Jicarillas so in response, a troop of dragoon

Dragoon

The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...

s from the 2nd Cavalry were sent to retrieve the stolen property. On March 5, Lieutenant Bell encountered a group of warriors under Chief

Tribal chief

A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...

 Lobo Blanco, out on the Canadian River

Canadian River

The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and most of Oklahoma....

. It was uncertain whether Lobo Blanco and his followers were responsible for the stolen property but the army had long suspected Lobo Blanco's band of killing white and Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 settlers. A battle then ensued which left the chief and four of his warriors dead while the Americans lost two men. On the next day, the conflict escalated when a band of Jicarillas and Utes raided a herd or cattle near Fort Union, killing two herdsmen in the process. After that the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 1st Cavalry Regiment launched an expedition into Apacheria. The first engagement was fought on March 30 when First Lieutenant

First Lieutenant

First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...

 John Davidson

John Davidson (general)

John Wynn Davidson was a brigadier general in the United States Army during the American Civil War and an American Indian fighter. In 1866, he received brevet grade appointments as a major general of volunteers and in the regular U.S. Army for his Civil War service,-Biography:Davidson was born in...

's launched an unauthorized attack on a Jicarilla village near the present day Pilar

Pilar, New Mexico

Pilar is a small unincorporated town in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. It is located on the Rio Grande....

, New Mexico.

In the subsequent Battle of Cieneguilla

Battle of Cieneguilla

The Battle of Cieneguilla was an engagement of the Jicarilla War involving a group of Jicarilla Apaches, their Ute allies, and the American 1st Cavalry Regiment on March 30, 1854 near what is now Pilar, New Mexico...

, sixty American cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

men fought an estimated 250 Apaches and Ute warrior

Warrior

A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...

s under the war chief

Tribal chief

A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...

 Flechas Rayada

Flechas Rayada

Flechas Rayada or Stripped Arrows was a Jicarilla Apache chief that the band that defeated the First Regiment of Dragoons in the Battle of Cieneguilla.-References:...

. Fighting began at around 8:00 am and lasted for over three hours, by the end of which, twenty-two soldiers were killed and another thirty-six were wounded. Davidson's command was forced to retreat having inflicted about twenty deaths on the native force. A week later, on April 8, a large force of about 200 American cavalrymen, 100 men of the 3rd Infantry, and thirty-two scouts, found the Jicarillas of Chief Chacon

Chacón

Chacón is a name that may refer to:*Alex Pineda Chacón, a coach for the Atlanta Silverbacks*Antonio Chacón, a flamenco singer*Arturo Prat, a Chilean naval officer*Arturo Chacón Cruz, a Mexican tenor*Carme Chacón, a Catalan politician...

 in Ojo Caliente Canyon

Ojo Caliente, New Mexico

Ojo Caliente is a small unincorporated community in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. It lies along U.S. Route 285 near the Rio Grande. The state capital, Santa Fe lies south of Ojo Caliente, which sits between Espanola and Taos, approximately 50 miles southeast of Ghost Ranch. The community...

. During the battle

Battle of Ojo Caliente Canyon

The Battle of Ojo Caliente Canyon, or simply the Battle of Ojo Caliante was an engagement of the Jicarilla War on April 8, 1854. Combatants were Jicarilla Apache warriors, and their Ute allies, against the United States Army...

 that followed, commander Philip St. George Cooke

Philip St. George Cooke

Philip St. George Cooke was a career United States Army cavalry officer who served as a Union General in the American Civil War. He is noted for his authorship of an Army cavalry manual, and is sometimes called the "Father of the U.S...

 defeated about 150 warriors, killing five of them and wounding six others without sustaining any casualties to his own command. The Jicarillas where dispersed at that point and without a camp many of them died in the extreme cold weather. The battle was also notable for having involved Kit Carson

Kit Carson

Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a Mountain man and trapper in the West. Carson explored the west to California, and north through the Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married...

, who guided the American army during the expedition, and First Lieutenant

First Lieutenant

First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...

 George Sykes

George Sykes

George Sykes was a career United States Army officer and a Union General during the American Civil War.-Early life:...

, who later commanded the Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac

The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...

 in the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. After the Ojo Caliente battle the war was mostly over with the exception of a few smaller raids and skirmishes over the next several months.