Bascom Affair

When different groups of people fail to understand each other, ignorance and intolerance of cultural differences often leads to war. How many times in the past have a few individuals made choices which affect an entire population? Such is the case of an incident that started with a boy disappearing and ended with the demise of a traditional lifestyle for the last free-roaming Native Americans known as the Chiricahua Apaches.

In the winter of 1861, at Apache Pass, north of the Chiricahua mountains in Southeast Arizona, a drama unfolded that sparked the Apache Wars of America's southwest. Though there had been isolated instances of violence between the Apache people and the new Americans arriving to the area, all-out war did not ignite until an unfortunate situation developed between two men who clearly did not understand each other.

Last updated: July 10, 2021

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