Apache Prisoner | What it's Like to be Kidnapped by the Most TERRIFYING Indian Tribe

welcome Dayton dead guys today are stories about what it would be like to be captured by and live among the Apache specifically we are going to follow Herman Lehmann after his capture at just 11 years old in 1870 he will forget all about his old world as over the course of nine years he has to fight for survival in his place among the Indians but before we get started I research historical topics I find interesting and explain them in a way I would to my friends if that is your kind of thing please subscribe and leave a like on the video If you really like it share it it supports me and it will help grow the channel but let's get to our story it's May 1870. Herman's mother sends him his brother Willie and his sister Caroline and other families Wheat Field to scare away the birds after a job well done the kid sat down in the field to play by the time they saw them they were already surrounded Herman later recalled quote when we saw their hideous painted faces we were terribly frightened and some of us pulled for the house Willie was caught right where he was sitting Caroline ran toward the house the Indians shouted her several times and she fell they chased me for a distance caught me I yelled and fought manfully when the chief konaviste laid hold upon me and a real scrap was pulled off right there the Indians slapped me choked me beat me tore my clothes off I thought he was going to kill me end quote the Apaches trip both boys naked and threw them on the backs of their horses the boys were cut up as the raiding party stampeded through Briar's thorns and Cat Claws and the endless ride left them sunburned thinking back to the time Herman wrote quote death just then would have been a relief to me end quote this is a dangerous world and not that long ago in 1870 the Apache and Comanche still roamed the plains murders and kidnappings of settlers in the frontier were still a regular occurrence his story comes down to us through a book nine years among the Indians in which Herman Lehman himself tells his story of survival decades later after they were captured Hermann and Willie were painted and dressed as Apache and then separated Willie's group ran into a group of Texas Rangers while the Rangers pursued the group The Horse Willy was on was weakening and the Apache riding with him threw him off to lighten the load and escape the Rangers either didn't see Willie or they thought he was an Indian Child because he was dressed like one either way he was left on his own at just eight or nine years old he was able to make his way to a road and after failing to wave down a few Travelers he eventually was able to hitch a ride to a nearby town and make his way home Herman was not so lucky he was forced to eat raw meat which made him vomit regularly this display he's the chief carnivise day and he was regularly beaten to keep him from running away the Apache telemus family is dead all killed in the raid they also tie him to Stakes face down with his arms stretched out and they put a large Stone on his back to keep him from moving as they sleep Herman was afraid tortured and he believed everyone he loved was dead night after night they traveled in the same manner for weeks sometimes they would go days without food Herman became more accustomed to raw meat and over time did seemed the Apache were kinder to him until they reached the village there in a frightening scene where guns are firing and people are shouting and dancing all around Herman is grabbed the Apache forcefully pierce his ears with Hot Irons cut his hair and beat him until he passes out when Herman woke the next day he had been bathed and oiled confused he looked around he saw an Apache and he was taken to a feast on the ground where a blanket had been spread in front of him was sun-baked bread roasted meat and raw meat as he sat there the Apache just stared at him he had to make a choice Hermann writes quote either on account of my extreme hunger or Divine Providence I seized the raw meat and began to eat that pleased the Indians and they immediately began to Pat me had I first touched the cooked food the bread the Palencia and the roasted meat the food of civilized man I would likely have been tortured to death end quote the Apache were elated they cheered and made it clear Herman had pleased them they even gave Herman an Apache name Enda meaning white boy it wasn't a clever name but Herman was happy to have not been killed he became a servant to carnavista fetching water lighting his pipe and taking care of his daily needs he was also forced to wrestle with Apache boys Herman was Scrappy in the Apache liked that about him Herman was growing more accepted by the Apache but he still lived in Terror at one point he was entrusted to watch over a small herd of horses at his lowest moment alone he would just sit there in a prairie and cry he wrote about what he was feeling quote civilized people call it homesickness I would sit there on my pony and cry I never cried while I was being tortured nor when I ran the gauntlet nor when I nearly drowned in all those times I gave a yell of defiance or a snarl of Vengeance but now in my loneliness and desolation I could weep a new thought struck me and my tears vanished a smile fitted over my face I made up my mind to escape end quote Herman grabbed a water bag and took off on the horse allotted to him he headed east at Gallup it didn't take long for the tribe to notice they'd been expecting this it was a test he had a head start but his horse tripped and he was overtaken by his pursuers he was tied and dragged back to Camp the tribe held Council but again they decided not to kill him they forced him to sleep tied up for a while but during the day they assigned boys to him to keep him company he starts to feel less lonely over time he learned the language and carnavista's wife laughing eyes lavished him with affection she had no son of her own and as an 11 year old boy Herman welcomed the motherly tenderness the Apache began to teach him valuable skills like how to make a bow in arrows and maybe most importantly how to make a shield out of buffalo skin part of this may have just been to shoot at him which they do to check to see if the shield works after a while they start taking him on raids at first he is just fodder the Apache come across the horse they want to steal but are not sure where the ranchers are send Herman he's Expendable but when he kept on being successful he started to gain some respect while with a war party Herman and a group of Apache come across four Mexican Buffalo Hunters on foot they charged after them a few made their way toward cover but one panicked and fled out in the open the Apache captured him in Spanish he tells the Apache where his Camp is and that it's empty going for supplies the Apache left the Mexican with Herman to watch as the war party approached the camp men inside opened fire it was a trap upon hearing gunshots the captured Mexican begins throwing rocks at 11 year old Hermann Herman fired his Arrow at him hitting him in the arm and the man surrenders seeing that the camp is a bit more defended than they had been led to believe the Apache retreated back to where Hermann was keeping the Mexican he tells konavisti about the Mexican throwing rocks at him and he goes into a rage and orders Herman to kill him Herman raised his bow and set an arrow through the man's heart it's the first person he ever killed not satisfied carnoviste orders Herman to take the man's scalp fearing punishment he does that too for the Apache he was one of them now and for Herman there was no turning back as Herman was sinking into his new life among the Apache the world was changing around him he was captured in 1870 at the height of the Indian wars in the west with each passing season the Americans gained a stronger foothold and established their presence more and more it wasn't uncommon for the Apache to go to reservations even for a short time as they would be forced there by the Americans the growing pressure seemed constant as they were consistently working to avoid Rangers soldiers and the Mexican rulales the condensed space led to Common tension between the Apache and the Comanche battles were common but so were trees for peace gambling was actually a common solution Herman would race Comanche Boys on Horseback or be forced to wrestle them these would be starting points for negotiation between groups even rival Apache Vance would fight each other over resources and territory and as these larger forces played themselves out one small thing will play a constant role in the background although the Apache had told him different Herman's Family was alive when he saw his sister fall in the field she was only playing dead and as they rode off with Willie and Herman they were never able to kill his family for the entire time Hermann was gone his mother would never stop looking for him checking every Ford and reservation for word on a white boy among the Indians but let's get back to Harman after three years with the Apache Herman was one of them he feared and hated white people he hardly remembered his old life and had forgotten his old name in native language during those years he had chances to escape but that wasn't what he wanted anymore he wanted to be a respected member of the tribe in an incident with Texas Rangers will give him an opportunity to earn that when Herman was 14 he was with a small party of patchy that were caught off guard by Texas Rangers Herman fled along with some others but his horse was shot and when it fell it landed on top of him he pleaded for his friends to help him but seeing he was trapped they took his bow and ran off without him Harmon thought the Rangers would kill him but when they ran up to him they noticed he was white seeing him trapped the Rangers agreed to go after the fleeing Apache and come back for Herman the Rangers made it only a couple hundred yards before returning to the spot where Herman was trapped under the horse but he was gone vanished one of the Rangers Thomas P Gillespie related the story years later to a magazine he wrote of Herman's Escape quote at this they were puzzled Beyond expression the scene of the fight in the chase was an open plane with nothing to obstruct the view for miles and from the moment the horse was killed until they returned to the spot they'd been in full view of the surroundings and the boy could not have gotten away without their having seen him make the start there were a few scattering mesquites but none large enough to offer concealment the grass was green and seven or eight inches high and into this he must have crawled and secreted himself the search began and in a short time the entire company came up and all joined in the hunt every Square rod for a mile around was gone over and every Bush and tuft of grass was examined but the boy was nowhere to be found and we gave up the search as hopeless and went away completely mystified as to what had become of him end quote the Apache may be the most elusive group to have ever lived in three years Herman had mastered the skill Herman had managed to drag himself out from under the horse staying low to the ground he crawled until he found a depression in the field concealed himself with grass and stayed hidden until they left with his group of Apaches having fled Herman is all alone with no supplies and no horse he traveled 300 miles by himself to make it back to his tribe I know I said this before but he is only 14 years old when he makes it back he is looked at by his tribe like a ghost his comrades had told a story to his tribe that Herman had been killed and that they had buried him seeing that they had lied and in reality abandoned him carnoviste instead made Herman a petty Chief in the tribe he had gained his respect but all good things come to an end in just a few short years the amount of white encroachment on the territory was obvious the presence of the American Military made life very difficult for the Apache they look for new territory someplace they hope the white people would never go they found safer lands but they were Barren and didn't have enough food to support them in one case they found a perfect spot there was plenty of water in game but occasionally they would also find a strange yellow metal carnoviste wisely knew there was no long-term solution there the Americans would come at one point the military was able to force the Apache to the Fort Sill reservation oddly a Comanche the famous Quanah Parker was the one who persuaded them to surrender to the military they were there for a short time but hating the treatment there they attempt one last run for freedom in the middle of the night the Apache fled the reservation not nicely they killed several soldiers on the way out but they travel 100 miles west to make their final stand against the soldiers pursuing them and they make sure work of it quote the Indians decoyed them off on a route where there was no water we knew what the consequences would be so at the spring we filled up our water bags and pursued the soldiers soon we began to find dead horses on the way then We Came Upon A man nearly famished for water he was stripped scalped and cut into pieces we followed and found eight others and they shared the same fate as the first mentioned these soldiers passed close to the water but it was in a deep hole and the Indians kept it covered up we saw from the direction the other soldiers were traveling that they would all perish on the dry sand so we went back to the right trail of our people we found them at the Spring end quote initially the Apache thought that they were free but the problem now was one they had faced before they couldn't stay here the land was uninhabitable there wasn't enough water or game the Apache the group had found there were already in a deplorable condition half starving and cold they stayed for a short time but it was clear they would all die if they continued down this course after holding Council the band decided to return to Fort Sill a choice that will spell their Doom one nice thing about reservation was that getting whiskey was pretty easy one bad thing was that getting whiskey was pretty easy the bands that exist here although they are mostly Apache don't all get along tribes are not just one people they are groups with a similar language and culture and sometimes they fight one group in particular fought with Herman's band a lot they would torment them especially one of the medicine men one night the Rival Band came to visit our group after a big party Hermann calls it a carousel they demanded to be given Whiskey and a fight breaks out between the two groups one of our Apache was wounded honor demands the blood be repaid so our group goes to the Rival camp and steals their beer another larger fight breaks out and it has to be broken up by the soldiers now the authorities are involved and Herman's group knows that punishment is coming they don't want to deal with that so they plan to run away again but before they do another ship and a whiskey comes in staying one more night couldn't hurt anybody right that Carousel was the worst I've ever witnessed Herman describes a scene of drunken Madness women literally fighting each other over infidelity result in the death of several of them in a riled up State the men attacked the Rival ban before packing up all their materials their horses can carry and booking it off reservation for the Plains region a day later the Rival ban catches up to them they fend off the attackers and as they Retreat our Apache pursue them but the attack was a ruse they were run right into an ambush quote Indians seem to rise up out of the ground and fired us all of our comrades were killed we turned and were treated slowly a kind of running fight to within a quarter mile of Camp two or three came up with us and we had a hand-to-hand combat Lance's Spears and tomahawks flew Lively for a while but I was too busy to take much notice of what was going on around me end quote in the middle of the battle carnevista steps in to stop a warrior attacking Herman with a spear in the process he has run through himself by the Rival band's medicine man at this Herman has left a Face-Off against the man alone Herman already feared this man and he was always told medicine men couldn't be killed quote when carnaviste fell this medicine man came toward me with a Winchester and waving his shield he said to me this is your last day for now you die I ran behind a big rock and replied you or may end quote seeing the medicine man go after Herman the remaining Apache having dispatched the rest of the enemy head for the camp Herman is just 15 years old they were confident their medicine man would be able to win and rejoin them in a moment Herman was armed with a bow so we have an awkward situation where both are circling a big rock trying to get off a shot rounds from the Winchester or ricocheting off the Rocks just missing Herman then after circling the rock three or four times Herman is able to get a shot off of this bow it hits home right under the shield of the medicine man he lay on the ground bleeding begging for mercy Herman put one more arrow in his heart Herman grabbed his gun in all of his ammo before running off to hide killing a medicine man was a big deal the Rival Apache would be after him Harman sat on a Mountaintop thinking for hours after the body of the medicine man was discovered the Rival Apache search form all of the men in his band were dead and there was no joining another they would know he had killed the medicine man one of them would come for him no matter what band he joined he would never be safe with the Apache again so he made a decision after the search party had left he snuck back into Camp gathered all the supplies he could carry and managed to steal the fastest horse they had the beautiful gray stallion with nowhere to go Herman rides off to survive in the wilderness alone with everyone who's been killed the rest of the Apache wanting him dead and fearing the white people Herman had no real viable options he traveled for many days before finding a narrow Canyon with a stream and cottonwood trees there was game and he was able to use a cavern in the canyon walls as a shelter he stayed there for eight months all alone except for his horse you can't stay like this forever eventually he got his push one night during a full moon he's in a shelter and as he was trying to sleep he keeps hearing voices he thinks it is just his mind playing tricks on himself they are faint then he hears a loud laugh and his heart drops Herman creeps out of his cave in a few hundred yards down the canyon he sees a fire and edit human shapes are moving around in the darkness using rocks for cover he makes his way closer to investigate they are Apache and he knows each and every one of them they know he killed the medicine man and if they find him they will kill him Hermann quietly gathered as much as he could pack on his horse and then he rode away this time riding north into the range of the Buffalo Comanche territory it was time to take his chances with them at this point in the story Herman is still only around 15 years old and like many 15 year olds he doesn't have a great plan he intends to find a Comanche Village ask them if he can join their tribe and hopefully not get murdered the Comanche often like to murder trust passers and they are very good at it so there is some risk oh and he doesn't speak the language he intends to use hand gestures and expression to get his point across and just hope someone there knows ASL or I guess nasl no one is going to get that joke Herman has no idea how or when he is going to find the Comanche but one creepy night lets him know that he's getting close quote one night I could hear wild animals running and a scream of something like a panther but I did not think there was that kind of animal it didn't sound right then the Wolves began to hound and they did not sound exactly right I was pretty sure Indians were near but the imitations were not of my tribe I lay perfectly still listening rattlesnakes seem more numerous than usual I could hear them rattling all around the whole Animal World seemed to be disturbed I silently secured my horse to run my equipment and stole away in the Darkness next morning I saw many Indian signs I must have been close to a large party end quote I don't blame him for not wanting to meet the Comanche that way but his way wasn't much better now that he knows they're in the area it doesn't take him long to track them he stalks them for a while and one night he sneaks into their Camp he sees a group of Warriors seated around a campfire telling stories laughing and joking he watches them and he knows how a little laughter there was among the Apache he musters up all of his courage and just walks in among them not expecting a visitor it takes the Comanche moment to realize what has happened then seemingly all at once the Warriors jump up to their feet let out a war group and run away Herman just stands there in the fire light like an idiot he writes quote I must have been a vicious looking Indian long dangling hair uncouth and unkept there I stood wondering if they would come back and try to kill me end quote in a short time they do come back charging and yelling unable to speak the language Herman tries to make signs that he's peaceful he is sure they're going to kill him one Fierce old woman breaks in front of the men gesturing for them to do so but before they do another Comanche comes forward he speaks some Apache and they were able to communicate Herman tells them his story about how he was born white and became an Apache that he loves the Indian and hates the white man that his tribe was killed and that the Apache had forsaken him and that now he wanted to become a Comanche amazingly one of the Comanche she remembered him Herman had beaten him years earlier in one of the horse races carnavista used to make him do the Comanche welcomed him to stay the night it was his first night with people in as much as a year over the next few days Herman travels with the Comanche before they reach the main body of the tribe Herman makes his case to the chief to become one of them the chief made Hermann promise to perform all the duties of a Comanche Warrior protect the tribe and obey the chief in all things in both peace and War he was even given a Comanche name monticena and for a while things were good Herman went on Rage with the Comanche he battled the Tonkawa and the American soldiers as he swore he would do but the same issue that plagued the Apache was true for the Comanche the American Juggernaut was encroaching again Kawana Parker was a voice of reason the options were to starve as the Americans killed all the Buffalo or resigned to reservation after enough time it was clear the Indian way of life was over then they agreed to go it was there that Herman would be reunited with his family his white family in his time with the Comanche Hermann developed a close relationship with many but was literally adopted into the family of quanta Parker he treated him like a son while on reservation and he lived with them for a couple years it was notable that a white man was living among the Comanche on reservation and word slowly got out amazingly after nine years Herman's mother never stopped looking for her son she had intentionally found herself in the company of General reynoldaus McKenzie he knew of a white boy at the Comanche reservation and agreed to have him sent down to her Herman however did not agree to be sent down he was a Comanche through and through and needed some convincing Herman also believed his family was dead it's what the Apache had told him he didn't want to leave but Quanah pressed him to do so he promised that he could come back and live with him if it wasn't his family but he believed life would be better for Herman there than relying on the government on the reservation escorted by soldiers Herman made his way to Loyal Valley Texas where his family lived he said that when he left the wagon 300 people had gathered to greet him they all spoke a language he didn't understand they all looked at him he recalled quote quite a crowd of people gathered around and among them was my mother but I didn't know her the years of savagery which had passed over my head had erased from my memory end quote neither Herman nor his family recognized each other at first they had thought they made a mistake but then his brother Willie and his sister Mina found a scar on his arm from where she had cut him with a hatchet when they were kids as they examined it Herman wrote what happened in his mind quote the dark curtain of Oblivion which had been drawn so long was pulled back into me there came a recollection of my early childhood I was restored I recognized my brother and sister and remembered them as my Playmates in a far distant past then somebody kept saying Herman Herman and that name had a familiar sound it then occurred to me that that was my own name slowly but surely the Mist began to clear away I knew I'd found my people but I was an Indian and I did not like them because they were pale faces end quote it took months maybe years the timeline isn't clear in the text but after a long time Herman is able to rejoin his family there were some quirks initially he tried to escape a lot his brother Willie had to stay around him and chase him down and bring him back he also refused to sleep on a bed preferring the ground he got a kick out of dressing like a Comanche and doing War whoops and brandishing his bow at the neighborhood kids but eventually the love of his family won him over they broke through and he was able to more or less move on with the normal life but what of the Comanche well that's kind of a fun way to end the story when Herman was 17 two years before he was reunited with his family Tawana Parker's family adopted him up until Herman Lehman's death he was still considered and treated as a full member of their family visiting them frequently and treated that way accordingly he was even enrolled as a full member of the Comanche tribe and received tribal benefits from the government in the end he rejoined his family but he never lost the Comanches [Music] thanks for watching the video I hope that you enjoyed it and you come back to check out some of the other ones on the channel if you have any questions comments or ideas for future videos please send them in and we'll hopefully get to all those foreign

Channel: Dates and Dead Guys

Views: 784,302

Keywords: Apache, Arizona, Cochise, Comanche, Empire of the Summer Moon, Geronimo, History, Indians, Mexico, Native Americans, New Mexico, Top 10, Weird History, Man Hunt, Hide and Seek, Sierra Madre, Reservation, San Carlos, Wild West, History Channel, Diabolical, Old West, Raid, Aztec, Apache Kid, Massai, Herman Lehmann, Quanah Parker, cowboys

Id: 9QFraau6MTI

Length: 26min 55sec (1615 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 25 2023