May 20, 1860; Hanover, New Mexico: On 20 May 1860, Apaches attacked a mule train near the mines at Santa
Rita del Cobre, killing five Mexican herders and stealing twenty-four
mules. About a week later, they returned and stole nine mules from near
the Mimbres River. The miners and settlers in the area sent their women
and children to the relative safety of the Rio Grande settlements.
The move came just in time, for on the morning of 29 May, thirty Mexican and American inhabitants of Santa Rita Del Cobre were attacked just as they were rising. A very large band of Apaches, estimated at 400 by Confederate-captain-to-be Sherod Hunter, swarmed upon the settlement to do battle. The defenders fought courageously and eventually drove the Indians off. Eleven defenders were killed and eight wounded; Hunter believed they had killed or wounded twenty to thirty Indians.
During the battle, a messenger went for help, taking two arrows on the way out but making it to the stage station in Cooke's Canyon. From there, another rider carried the alarm to Mesilla. Samuel S. Jones and fifteen men rode out to the rescue, but the battle was over long before they arrived.
