Fort Sill Apache
Fort Sill Apache is the federally recognized tribe of the Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache in Oklahoma. The Fort Sill Apache are headquartered in Apache, Oklahoma with about 650 enrolled members. Their tribal jurisdiction spans Caddo, Comanche, and Grady counties in Oklahoma.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Sill_Apache_Tribe
In 1894, the Fort Sill Apache Tribe was moved to Oklahoma after nearly a decade of imprisonment and exile at U.S. Army installations in Florida and Alabama. Today’s Fort Sill Apache members are survivors and descendants of the Chiricahua Apache tribe. Their original territory covered much of what is now the American Southwest, along the United States border with Mexico, including eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. The Tribe’s location in Apache, Oklahoma is the direct result of the United States Congress, which passed a special provision enabling the federal government to relocate the Chiricahua prisoners of war to southwestern Oklahoma. The Chiricahua were the last American Indian group to be relocated to Indian Territory.
Upon arrival the prisoners of war were told that the fort would become their permanent home and the military reservation was enlarged to accommodate that purpose. Following the allotment of surrounding Indian lands, local non-Indian politicians, business leaders, and U.S. Army officials continued to push for the presence of the military near Lawton. The Chiricahua were pressured to leave Fort Sill as a condition for their freedom. While many held out for return to their homeland or allotment at Fort Sill, eventually, leaders of the Mescalero Apache Reservation (in New Mexico), urged by government agents, invited the Chiricahua to relocate to their reservation.
About one-third of the Tribe continued to demand the lands they had been promised. Finally, a compromise between the Indian Bureau and the War Department led to the settling of those Fort Sill Apache who had declined joining the Mescaleros in 1913. They were assigned land on unused (dead) allotments from the old Kiowa-Comanche-Apache Reservation near Fort Sill. Approximately eighty-one individuals, about twenty families, were eventually released as prisoners of war in 1914 and resettled on small allotments of farmland scattered around Apache and Fletcher, Oklahoma.
In the mid-1970s a land claim was settled and the Fort Sill Apache Tribe approved a constitution. They acquired small bits of land in Oklahoma and also in its home territory within New Mexico and Arizona. A lawsuit claiming that the Fort Sill Apache Tribe was improperly granted rights in Oklahoma was settled with acknowledgement of the rights of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe within the Tribe’s home territory in New Mexico.
http://fortsillapache-nsn.gov/history-traditional-culture/recent-history/
Jeff Haozous (Chairman)
Tel: (580) 588-2298
Fax: (580) 588-3133
43187 US HIGHWAY 281
Apache, OK73006-8038
Website: http://fortsillapache-nsn.gov/
The Fort Sill Apache Tribe is composed of Chiricahua Apache, who were made up of 4 bands:
- Chihende (Chinde, Chihenne – ‘Red Painted People’, known as Warm Springs Apache Band or Gila Apaches, Eastern Chiricahua)
- Chukunende (Chokonende, Chokonen – ‘Ridge of the Mountainside People’, known as Chiricahua Band, proper or Central Chiricahua)
- Nde’ndai (Ndénai, Nednai, Ndé’ndai – ‘Enemy People’, ‘People who make trouble’, sometimes known as Pinery Apache Band, known as Sierre Madre Apaches, Southern Chiricahua)
- Bidánku (Bedonkohe – ‘In Front of the End People’, Bi-da-a-naka-enda – ‘Standing in front of the enemy’, sometimes known as Bronco Apache Band, known as Mogollon Apaches or Gila Apaches, Northeastern Chiricahua)
The Apache are southern Athabaskan-speaking peoples who migrated many centuries ago from the subarctic to the southwestern region of what would become the United States. The Chiricahua settled in southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico of the present-day United States, and northern Sonora, and northern Chihuahua of present-day Mexico. By the late 19th century, the Chiricahua Apache territory encompassed an estimated 15 millions acres.[3]
In 1886 to break up the Apache Wars and resistance to European-American settlement, the US federal government took the Chiricahua into custody as prisoners of war and seized their land. The Army forcibly removed 400 members of the tribe from the Fort Apache and San Carlos Reservations in present-day Arizona,[3] and transported them to U.S. Army installations in Alabama and Florida.[2] Some warriors were held at Fort Pickens in Florida. Their ledger drawings are held in a collection by the Smithsonian Institution.
many of the Apache Scouts who serve in the capture of Geronimo were arrested by the order of General Miles forced on the same train as Geronimo was on, the Apache Scouts came from the Tonto, Pinal, Aravaipa, Apache Pecks, Chiricahua, San Carlos, White Mountain Apache bands, some of the Apache Scouts where also Apache chiefs were from different Apache bands.
In 1894, the US Congress passed a special provision to allow the Chiricahua to be relocated to Indian Territory. They were the last Indian tribe to be relocated into what is now Oklahoma.[2] When the Chiricahua arrived at Fort Sill, they had been promised the lands surrounding the fort as theirs to settle. Local non-Indians resisted Apache settlement, and the tribe was pressured to leave. Many wanted to return to their traditional lands in the Southwest, and the Mescalero Apache offered them land on their reservation.
A third of the Chiricahua stayed in Indian Territory, demanding that the US fulfill its promise to give them the Fort Sill lands. As a compromise, the government gave the remaining Chiricahua land which it had classified as surplus after allotment of tribal lands to individual households under the Dawes Act, on the nearby Kiowa–Comanche–Apache Reservation. In 1914, the US government finally released 84 individuals from prisoner status and granted them household allotment lands around Fletcher and Apache, Oklahoma.[2]
The Fort Sill Apache struggled for survival in the ensuing years in the economically depressed areas of southwestern Oklahoma. The tribe seized the opportunity afforded by Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936. Persevering through the difficulty of satisfying documentation requirements for tribal continuity, they were recognized by the federal government (Department of Interior) as a tribe in 1976.[2]
The first chairperson, elected in 1976, was Mildred Cleghorn, one of the last Chiricahua Apache born under “prisoner of war” status.[2] She was an educator and traditional doll maker, and was regarded as a cultural leader among the elders.[8] She served as tribal chairperson until 1995 and focused on sustaining history and traditional Chiricahua culture.[8]
Allan Houser was the first Fort Sill Apache child to be born free. He became one of the most celebrated Native American sculptors of the 20th century. His sons, Bob Haozous and Philip Haozous, are successful sculptors today and are both enrolled members of the tribe.
The Fort Sill Apache are headquartered in Apache, Oklahoma with about 650 enrolled members. Their tribal jurisdiction spans Caddo, Comanche, and Grady counties in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Office
43187 US Hwy 281
Apache, OK 73006
New Mexico Office
20885 Frontage Rd
Deming, NM 88030
The Apache are southern Athabaskan-speaking peoples who migrated many centuries ago from the subarctic to the southwestern region of what would become the United States.
Today the Fort Sill Apache are vibrant and prosperous. The tribe operates its a housing program, the Fort Sill Apache Industries,[1] and the Fort Sill Apache Casino in Lawton.[5] Other Fort Sill Apache companies include, Fort Sill Apache New Mexico and Apache Homelands Entertainment Center in New Mexico. The tribe’s 2008 economic impact was $10 million.[6] It also works with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to abate illegal dumping, encourage recycling, train certified water operators, and to educate the public about environmental issues.[7]
Jeff Haozous (Chairman)
Tel: (580) 588-2298
Fax: (580) 588-3133
43187 US HIGHWAY 281
Apache, OK73006-8038
Website: http://fortsillapache-nsn.gov/
or
New Mexico Office
20885 Frontage Rd
Deming, NM 88030
Phone: 575-544-0073
Fax: 575-544-0224
Toll Free: 877-826-0726