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The Death of Mangas Coloradas
While the narratives of Coloradas’ death vary significantly, there are some facts that we can say are almost certainly true based on historical record. The coherence of these narratives can then be evaluated on the basis of how much they contradict known fact, as well as by their internal coherence.
From the letters discussed above between military men posted in New Mexico and Arizona (Carleton and West, respectively), it is obvious that Coloradas was trying to establish peace talks with colonial Americans, and that West and Carleton both knew of his desire for peace (Carleton to Thomas, The War of the Rebellion 275; Carleton to West, The War of the Rebellion 147-48). By West’s own admission, and in accordance with every single narrative, Coloradas was killed by the U.S. military while under their guard. How he came into their possession and the exact reason why he was killed still remain somewhat disputed. Based on multiple testimonies from across these narratives, and from a book published by Orson Fowler entitled Human Sciences or Phrenology that includes sketches of Coloradas’s skull, it can be said with reasonable certainty that Coloradas’s head was removed after his death (which will be discussed later as something contradicted by certain narratives) and that it made its way to Fowler (Fowler 1196). Whether or not it was ever in the possession of the Smithsonian can be debated, and the Smithsonian vehemently denies this (Hutton 102), but it almost certainly was in Fowler’s possession.5 These facts paint a basic picture of what happened the night Coloradas was killed; some of the missing pieces may never be established with certainty, but an assessment of the credibility of the following narratives, using Fisher’s narrative paradigm, can provide better insight into these events.
[5] A common Apache belief was that the body will forever be as it was when deceased. Therefore, removing Coloradas’s head was dooming him to be headless for all eternity (Ball, Indeh 20; Ball, In the Days of Victorio 48). This is why the postmortem mutilation of Coloradas’s body is so significant.