Herbert Dean Ely

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Peralta!

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Even now the name Peralta stirs the imagination of people in the southwestern deserts

of Arizona and New Mexico. The aristocratic Peralta family of northern Sonora, who ruled their empire of mining, cattle, and lumber from Sonora to California, left their mark on the early history of the Southwest. But then, and even to this day, the only item of genuine interest to Sonoran Desert dwellers was the mining. Gold mining. For a hundred years after the Jesuit and Franciscan padres forced Indian laborers to work their mines, the Peraltas continued to reap the gold from the land of the Yavapai and Apache tribes. Until driven out by the Yavapai, the Peralta family had been the controlling economic force in what is now Arizona.

       Then, during the period of 1848 to 1854, after the Mexican-American war, events led to the Gadsden Purchase of what is now the southern portion of the state of Arizona. Prior to that purchase, Don Miguel Peralta, with financing and military support from Antonio de Lopez de Santa Anna, President of Mexico, embarked on a large expedition to the old mines in what is now Arizona to retrieve as much gold as possible before that Gadsden Purchase became fact. That endeavor was almost successful.

       Realizing that the Yavapai and their allies, the Apache, were about to attack in retaliation for their mistreatment and lack of due respect, the Peralta expedition made a desperate run to save their lives and their gold. The Yavapai and the Apache trapped them just northwest of Superstition Mountain in a box canyon now known as "Massacre Ground". The Peralta miners and their Mexican cavalry all died, save one, Lieutenant Diego DaVia. Somehow, a day or so after the slaughter, an injured Lieutenant Diego DaVia pulled himself from under his dead horse and, with his mind reeling from the horror of what he had just survived, walked away.

       High on a hillside overlooking the tragic scene, the great Yavapai warrior O hi Cama and a young shaman of the Apache watched him make his way out of that canyon. They marveled at his survival and feared his medicine. O hi Cama remembered him well as the very capable and brave soldier. He referred to Lieutenant DaVia as "Dead Man Who Walks Away". Thus, would Lieutenant Diego DaVia be forever known among the Yavapai and Apache and avoided by those warriors who knew his story. Lieutenant Diego DaVia became "Dead Man Who Walks Away".

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      This is the story of the Peralta and the massacre.

 

       Part II is the story of the survivor and the Dutchman's gold.

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By Herbert Ely             CLICK TO PURCHASE  $22.95
Page Count: 268
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Publish Date: October 17, 2023
Imprint: Milford House Press
Genre: Fiction/Westerns

FICTION / Westerns
FICTION / Adventure
FICTION / Historical