peach trees in American History

Peach trees in American History

fiction
edward w Pritchard

Billy the kid- talking

Well here's a story I remember that always makes me sad.

There was an old Indian who hung around Fort Sumner about the time they was fixing to hang me there.[circa 1880]. A couple of times before they arrested me that old Indian and I would drink together. He once had been a chief of some kind; course all Indians by that time in New Mexico were ex-chiefs.

Anyway the chief says that in 1864 his people the Navaho's were fighting the American soldiers for their ancient homeland and were losing badly. The Indians were cold and starving and Kit Carson, who had been the Indians friend, was leading troops to annihilate the remaining Navaho's who were not willing to live on the reservations. Carson had been a good friend of the Indians before but now he was a soldier and was under orders to just about the worst General in the Union Army, General Carleton, who wanted all the Indians dead. Carleton was an ambition and ruthless leader and had come to New Mexico to make a name for himself fighting Confederate soldiers, but they had all left for Texas and General Carleton was taking out his wrath on the Indians through Kit Carson.

It's the usual story of what happens when American Indians fight professional soldiers and pretty soon very few Indians are left except followers of Manuelito. The Indians respected Kit Carson and several times they came to him to negotiate a treaty, but each time General Carlton would stonewall any proposal for peace. Carson had lived among the Indians  and once been informally married to one. Despite Carson's protest General Carlton ordered Carson to find the followers of Manuelito and destroy any wealth or resources they had and to kill any one who would not surrender to the reservations.

The only real resource the Navaho Indians had by this time was 5,000 peach trees out in their secret valley. The trees had been grown since the early days of the Indians trading with the Spanish a couple of hundred years earlier. The peach trees were the Navaho's prized possession.

Carson burned and destroyed all the peach trees. The Indian warriors never forgave Kit Carson for burning those trees.

That old Navaho chief said to me that when the rank and file American soldiers went back home after the Civil War ended to Illinois, Indiana and Ohio several them took peach seeds with them and nurtured them so they could be planted back in the Midwest. He said if you are in any of those three states and eat a sweet peach it is flavored with the tears of those ancient Navaho Indians.

After that story, said Billy the Kid "if I had to shoot a white man in New Mexico", continued Billy, "I always imagined he was one of those soldiers who rode with Kit Carson who had burned down those Peach trees. "
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