James Kirker was a pioneering Indian fighter and mining boss in Southwest New Mexico and n
James Kirker was a pioneering Indian fighter and mining boss in Southwest New Mexico and northern Mexico, known for leading scalp-bounty campaigns against Apaches [4][2]. Arriving at Chihuahua, he worked as a boss at Guadalupe Calvo, a mining hacienda belonging to an English company [3]. He then joined McKnight at the Santa Rita copper mines, transporting copper to Chihuahua while repulsing frequent Indian attacks on his pack-mule trains, soon gaining a reputation as an Indian fighter [2][7]. Chihuahua officials offered him a $50 bounty per Apache scalp, so he raised a company of Shawnee, Delaware, and frontiersmen, attacking Apache camps at night and becoming known by the name "Santiago" [4][5][6]. Louis, then to California in 1850, and died in San Francisco the following year [1][8].
Sources
- In the Mexican war in 1846 Kirker came… (1889)In the Mexican war in 1846 Kirker came to New Mexico and joined Col. Donaphan’s regiment. Remaining with the volunteers until the close of the war he went with them to St. Louis, and afterwards to California,…
- Silver City Enterprise — 1888-1890 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1889-11-22 (1889)er, requested him to come and go in with him. With much regret he left his Eng- lish friends to join the first good friend *he had after his arrival in America. At that time, this was the most fearful …
- Arriving at Chihuahua, Kirker went to… (1889)Arriving at Chihuahua, Kirker went to Guadalupe Calvo, a mining hacienda in the southern part of the state, belonging to an Eng- lish company, where he was employed as a boss for two years. Meantime, McKnight ob…
- Silver City Enterprise — 1888-1890 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1889-11-22 (1889)co the following year. He raised a large and respectable family. Three of his sons live near Pinos Altos, in Grant County, one daughter died in Mesilla in 1860, and the other is married to a kell known Am…
- Finally, after a consultation with Mc-… (1889)Finally, after a consultation with Mc- Knight, he went to work and raised a company, composed of Shawnee and Delaware Indians, and some select American and Mexican fron- tiersmen. This proved to be a very efficient…
- Silver City Enterprise — 1888-1890 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1889-11-22 (1889)on the pack- mule train going or coming from the mines; but Kirker was so successful in repulsing them that he soon acquired a reputation as an Indian fighter, and some of the principal men of Chi- huahua…
- The whole country at the time was kept in… (1889)The whole country at the time was kept in commotion by Indian depredations; to the in- habitants they were a holy terror, and every trip they made there was an attack on the pack- mule train going or coming …
- Silver City Enterprise — 1888-1890 (full OCR, Internet Archive) — 1889-11-22 (1889)locking in to see and participate in the ( 27 ) howling jollification, until the city was literally suffocated with the surging masses of humanity. McKnight subsequently bought the silver mining hacienda at C…