Delgadito (Apache chief)

Delgadito (not to be confused with at least two homonymous Navajo chiefs) was a chief (nantan) of the Copper Mines group of Tchihende (Mimbreño) people, one of the three divisions (Tchihende, Chiricahua e Ndendahe) of central Apaches.

Life as war-leader and chief

As a young warrior and, later, as a war-leader and a chief he fought under Tchihende come Juan Josè (eventually his uncle) and Fuerte, later of their successors Mangas Coloradas (chief of the "Coppermine" Mimbreño subdivision and principal chief of the Tchihende Apaches) and Cuchillo Negro (chief of the "Warm Springs" Mimbreño subdivision, with Nana as an able lieutenant, and second-ranking chief of the Tchihende Apaches); brave warrior and wise chief, he succeeded Mangas Coloradas as chief of the "Coppermine" Mimbreños. He was involved, as a primary actor, in Apache warfare until the middle 1860’ decade, along with his coetaneus Cochise (going to be the principal chief of the Tsokanende or Chiricahua) and Nana, and with some younger leaders as Victorio, Loco, Juh, Chihuahua, Geronimo, but perhaps he never was the real principal leader of the whole Mimbreño people, since, in the meantime, younger Victorio, Mangas Coloradas’s son-in-law, did get even higher fame and prestige because of his extraordinary and overwhelming abilities as a warrior and a warlord, succeeding Cuchillo Negro as chief of "Warm Springs" Mimbreños a tutti gli effetti (so going elderly Nana to be a precious and worthy lieutenant of the same Victorio).

Many times Delgadito stood side-by-side with Mangas Coloradas and Cuchillo Negro and acted for them in dealing with Northamericans or Mexicans. After parleys during the spring, in the summer 1850, at Janos, Delgadito and some other Mimbreño and Nednhi chiefs signed a treaty with Chihuahua representatives.

In June 1851 Delgadito, Ponce and Coleto Amarillo accompanied Mangas Coloradas to Santa Rita del Cobre to meet gen. J.R. Bartlett, U.S. commissioner appointed by Washinhgton in the U.S.-Mexican border Commission, until the Apaches didn’t feel themselves disappointed and betrayed by the Anglo-American newcomers; in the same year 1851 Santa Rita del Cobre copper mines were reopened and white people (mostly miners) overran the area of Pinos Altos and Santa Rita, where Cuchillo Negro, imposing their rule and giving defence to the Mexicans according to the agreements with the Mexican Governmente. In spite of the goodwill of the chiefs (Mangas Coloradas, Cuchillo Negro, Delgadito, Ponce and Coleto Amarillo), who repeatedly had to intervene to prevent any drastic reaction by the warriors, time going on, the connections became more and more difficult until the Apaches broke them.