The Marlin lever action rifle in the hands of an Apache Chief
During the Plains Wars of the last half of the 19th Century, the U.S. Army employed hundreds of volunteer Indian Scouts, first authorized by Congress in 1866. One of these, Al-Che-Say, of the White Mountain Apache, became decorated veteran of the conflict. This Medal of Honor recipient also was a fan of Marlin lever guns.
Born in 1853 Arizona Territory, the 19-year old was already a skilled warrior when he joined the U.S. Army in 1872 as part of Gen. Crook’s Expedition against the Chiricahua Apache, who were at the time on the warpath. For the next fifteen years the scout was Crook’s right arm as the government tracked the last rebel Apache into the mountains, chasing militant shaman and war-band leader Geronimo and his band into the alkali deserts of Chihuahua and the harsh forbidding terrain of the Sierra Madre Mountains.
After Geronimo’s ultimate surrender who Alchesay had helped negotiate on occasion, the two remained friends.
Alchesay said to Gen. Crook in 1886 : “They have surrendered. I don’t want you to have any bad feelings towards them. They are all good friends now…because they are all the same people – all one family with me; just like when you kill a deer, all of its parts are of the one body….No matter where you send (them) we hope to hear that you have treated them kindly….I have never told you a lie, nor have you ever told me a lie, and now I tell you that (they) really want to do what is right and live at peace….I want you to carry away in your pocket all that has been said here today.”
Retiring from the Army as a Sergeant and MOH recipient for “Gallant conduct during campaigns and engagements with Apaches” he returned home and became a successful rancher and chief of his band. He was one of only ten Native Americans recipients before WWI.
Remaining a chief until 1925, he was often photographed with a Series 1889 Marlin rifle which is currently on museum display.
