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Depending on who is telling the story, the details surrounding Coloradas’s death vary, and it is extremely unlikely that the true sequence of events will ever be known definitively. This study attempts to bring a new perspective on the credibility of these accounts through use of Fisher’s narrative paradigm. Most work done on Coloradas’s death primarily considers Conner’s and military accounts in their depiction of this event. While the Apache stories are mentioned, generally it is only in passing, and rarely are they evaluated as credible compared to the other accounts and, indeed, are often held in greater suspicion. As McManigell-Grijalva writes, “the bar for disenfranchised people to (re)tell their own histories in juxtaposition with dominant narratives is set high” (54). The analysis in this paper seeks to give an account that is enriched by the fuller inclusion and evaluation of Apache narratives, and their evaluation through a non-traditional method of rhetorical analysis. Fisher’s paradigm allows for the consideration of the Apache stories on equal footing with the others and can be used to show their greater reliability. It provides a new lens through which to view this event; one that, while perhaps still Eurocentric, differs from traditional rhetorical analysis in ways that coincide with what is called for from Native scholars in the field.
Fisher’s paradigm gives us a means to discredit stories where the narrators are untruthful, incoherent, or have something to lose, as in all of the miner and military accounts, which are rife with inconsistencies; their narrators are not trustworthy, and the narrations are marred by professional self-interest. It is the opinion of this analysis that the Apache stories are, by far, more credible than the others, and that the telling of this story cannot be done ethically without giving priority to Native accounts. While readers of this paper may not come to that same conclusion, the importance of including Apache narratives in any analysis of this event cannot be denied. Their presence brings important context that must be present if readers are to fully “realize the enormity of the conflict and endeavor to form [their] own opinion as to what may have happened” (Myers 2). In future readings of the case of Mangas Coloradas’s death, the Apache accounts should be viewed as at least as credible as the others, and arguably more so; the information that they provide should be given significant consideration when evaluating the details of Coloradas’s death.