September 10, 1979; Hillsboro, New Mexico: Mimbres Apaches under Victorio and Nana bolted from the Mescalero Reservation, where they had long contended that they did not want to live. Heading west to their preferred territory around Ojo Caliente between the San Mateo and Black Ranges, they attacked men of the Ninth Cavalry, killed civilians, and stole horses. On 4 September the raiders turned south and disappeared into the Black Range.
Despite frantic searching by the army, Victorio's whereabouts were unknown for six days. On 10 September, he suddenly reappeared near the mining camp of Lake Valley, east of the Black Range and about seventeen miles south of present-day Hillsboro, New Mexico. With his marauding Apaches, Victorio descended on the ranch of H. D. McEver. The unsuspecting cowboys didn't have a chance, and seven men were quickly killed. Meanwhile, other Apaches killed two more civilians at nearby Arroyo Seco. As quickly as they had appeared, the Indians were gone. A few weeks later, in October, they returned to burn the McEver ranch to the ground, possibly because the army frequently used it as a base of operations.
