Massai
Encyclopedia
Massai was a member of the Mimbres band of Chiricahua
Apache
. He was warrior who escaped from a train that was sending the scouts and renegades to Florida to be held with Geronimo
and Chihuahua.
Born to White Cloud and Little Star at Mescal Mountain, Arizona, near Globe
. He later married a local Chiricahua and they had two children.
Massai later met Geronimo, who was recruiting Apache to fight American settlers and soldiers. Massai and Gray Lizard agreed to join Geronimo, who instructed them to lay in supplies of arms, food, and ammunition. Other sources state that Massai also served the United States government on two separate occasions, once in 1880 and and the other in 1885, as an Apache Scout. Upon traveling to meet Geronimo's forces, the two were informed that Geronimo had been arrested. Both men were arrested by Chiricahua Apache Scouts and disarmed. Massai was placed onto a prison train as a prisoner of war along with Gray Lizard, who voluntarily agreed to accompany Massai, together with the remaining Chiricahua Apache who had either been captured or had surrendered to the army. This included the Apache Scouts, who were now deemed expendable and undesirable.
Massai and a friend, a Tonkawa
named Gray Lizard, later escaped from the prison train near Saint Louis, Missouri. The two men walked some 1,200 miles back to the Mescalero Apache tribal area, crossing the Pecos River
, and Capitan Gap
. Near Sierra Blanca, New Mexico, the two men encountered a group of Mescalero
Apache. Several days later, the two parted at Three Rivers
, never to see each other again. Gray Lizard departed for Mescal Mountain and the San Carlos Indian Reservation near present-day Globe, Arizona
, while Massai stayed on the run, raiding along what is today the New Mexico-Arizona border, and periodically taking refuge across the border in Mexico. His name appeared in San Carlos Agency reports from 1887 to 1890. He later kidnapped and married (c.1887) a Mescalero Apache girl named Zan-a-go-li-che and took her home to his family at Mescal Mountain. Massai and Zanagoliche had six children together.
Massai's later life and death are the subject of some dispute. One account states that in 1906, Massai, after contracting tuberculosis, took his wife and their children back to their home with the Mescaleros in New Mexico. Along the way he was killed, west of the town of San Marcial, New Mexico, between Socorro
and Hot Springs, in San Juan Canyon, by a posse, though no evidence of Massai's death was ever produced. Another account states that Massai escaped over the border to Mexico, eventually settling in the Sierra Madre
mountains with a group of rebellious Chiricahuas who had refused to surrender with Geronimo.
Massai was portrayed by Burt Lancaster
in the 1954 film Apache
.
Chiricahua
Chiricahua are a group of Apache Native Americans who live in the Southwest United States. At the time of European encounter, they were living in 15 million acres of territory in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona in the United States, and in northern Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico...
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...
. He was warrior who escaped from a train that was sending the scouts and renegades to Florida to be held with Geronimo
Geronimo
Geronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars. Allegedly, "Geronimo" was the name given to him during a Mexican incident...
and Chihuahua.
Born to White Cloud and Little Star at Mescal Mountain, Arizona, near Globe
Globe, Arizona
Globe has an arid climate, characterized by hot summers and moderate to warm winters. Globe's arid climate is somewhat tempered by its elevation, however, leading to slightly cooler temperatures and slightly more precipitation than Phoenix or Yuma....
. He later married a local Chiricahua and they had two children.
Massai later met Geronimo, who was recruiting Apache to fight American settlers and soldiers. Massai and Gray Lizard agreed to join Geronimo, who instructed them to lay in supplies of arms, food, and ammunition. Other sources state that Massai also served the United States government on two separate occasions, once in 1880 and and the other in 1885, as an Apache Scout. Upon traveling to meet Geronimo's forces, the two were informed that Geronimo had been arrested. Both men were arrested by Chiricahua Apache Scouts and disarmed. Massai was placed onto a prison train as a prisoner of war along with Gray Lizard, who voluntarily agreed to accompany Massai, together with the remaining Chiricahua Apache who had either been captured or had surrendered to the army. This included the Apache Scouts, who were now deemed expendable and undesirable.
Massai and a friend, a Tonkawa
Tonkawa
The Tickanwa•tic Tribe , better known as the Tonkawa , are a Native American people indigenous to present-day Oklahoma and Texas. They once spoke the now-extinct Tonkawa language believed to have been a language isolate not related to any other indigenous tongues...
named Gray Lizard, later escaped from the prison train near Saint Louis, Missouri. The two men walked some 1,200 miles back to the Mescalero Apache tribal area, crossing the Pecos River
Pecos River
The headwaters of the Pecos River are located north of Pecos, New Mexico, United States, at an elevation of over 12,000 feet on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County. The river flows for through the eastern portion of that state and neighboring Texas before it...
, and Capitan Gap
Capitan Mountains
The Capitan Mountains are a mountain range in Lincoln County, in south-central New Mexico in the southwestern United States. The range is about 20 miles long from east to west and about 6 miles wide, formed from a large, elongated granite intrusion similar to the round one that produced Carrizo...
. Near Sierra Blanca, New Mexico, the two men encountered a group of Mescalero
Mescalero
Mescalero is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation in southcentral New Mexico...
Apache. Several days later, the two parted at Three Rivers
Three Rivers, New Mexico
Three Rivers is an unincorporated community in Otero County, United States. Its elevation is 4,570 feet .-Notable people:*Virginia Klinekole, first female president of the Mescalero Apache, 1959*Sara Misquez, president of the Mescalero Apache...
, never to see each other again. Gray Lizard departed for Mescal Mountain and the San Carlos Indian Reservation near present-day Globe, Arizona
Globe, Arizona
Globe has an arid climate, characterized by hot summers and moderate to warm winters. Globe's arid climate is somewhat tempered by its elevation, however, leading to slightly cooler temperatures and slightly more precipitation than Phoenix or Yuma....
, while Massai stayed on the run, raiding along what is today the New Mexico-Arizona border, and periodically taking refuge across the border in Mexico. His name appeared in San Carlos Agency reports from 1887 to 1890. He later kidnapped and married (c.1887) a Mescalero Apache girl named Zan-a-go-li-che and took her home to his family at Mescal Mountain. Massai and Zanagoliche had six children together.
Massai's later life and death are the subject of some dispute. One account states that in 1906, Massai, after contracting tuberculosis, took his wife and their children back to their home with the Mescaleros in New Mexico. Along the way he was killed, west of the town of San Marcial, New Mexico, between Socorro
Socorro, New Mexico
Socorro is a city in Socorro County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It stands in the Rio Grande Valley at an elevation of . The population was 9,051 at the 2010 census...
and Hot Springs, in San Juan Canyon, by a posse, though no evidence of Massai's death was ever produced. Another account states that Massai escaped over the border to Mexico, eventually settling in the Sierra Madre
Sierra Madre Occidental
The Sierra Madre Occidental is a mountain range in western Mexico.-Setting:The range runs north to south, from just south of the Sonora–Arizona border southeast through eastern Sonora, western Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, Nayarit, Jalisco, Aguascalientes to Guanajuato, where it joins...
mountains with a group of rebellious Chiricahuas who had refused to surrender with Geronimo.
Massai was portrayed by Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
in the 1954 film Apache
Apache (film)
-Plot:Following the surrender of Geronimo, Massai, the last Apache warrior is captured and scheduled for transportation to a Florida reservation. On the way he manages to escape and heads for his homeland to win back his girl and settle down to grow crops...
.
See Also
- Apache KidThe Apache Kid (Haskay-bay-nay-natyl)Has-kay-bay-nay-ntayl , better known as the Apache Kid, was a White Mountain Apache scout, and later a renegade, active in the American states of Arizona and New Mexico, and the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua in the late 19th and possibly the early 20th centuries.He was probably born in the...
- Kelvin Grade MassacreKelvin Grade MassacreThe Kelvin Grade Massacre was an incident that occurred in November of 1889 when a group of Apache renegades escaped from police custody near Globe, Arizona. The escape resulted in the deaths of two policemen and it triggered one of the largest manhunts in the history of Arizona...
- Renegade period of the Apache WarsRenegade period of the Apache WarsThe Renegade period of the Apache Wars refers to the conflicts between the United States and the Apache people who left the reservation system between 1879 and 1886, and renegade Apaches who lived in northern Mexico into the 1920s. Chief Victorio and the medicine man Geronimo were perhaps the best...