Capitan Chiquito

Part history, part biography, and part memoir, John Paul Hartman’s Capitan Chiquito is an informed, occasionally entertaining, and sometimes problematic story that revolves around Chief Capitan Chiquito, a leader of the Aravaipa band of Apaches during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Hartman became intrigued with Apache history and Chiquito’s story after marrying the chief’s great granddaughter, Velma Bullis, and moving to the San Carlos Indian reservation in southeastern Arizona, where he also worked as the emergency room supervisor at the San Carlos Apache Hospital from 1992 until 2015. As history, Capitan Chiquito proceeds chronologically through a century of Apache history, beginning in the 1820s. In a series of brief chapters, Hartman presents an informed account of the Apache experience, but too often relies on extended quotes from secondary sources to tell that story. The biographical thread focuses on the life and experience of Capitan Chiquito, who at various points in his life was a political leader, warrior, army scout, farmer, and healer. When so much has been written about famed Apache figures such as Geronimo and Cochise, Hartman’s effort to direct attention to a lesser-known individual such as Chiquito is laudable. At times this thread is substantive and illuminating, providing insight into the lives of Apaches during this transformative period of their history. However, frequently this thread is quite thin, apparently because there is so little concrete information about Chiquito himself. In some chapters he scarcely appears and the focus is on others about whom more is known and who likely had an impact on Chiquito’s life and people. As a result, Hartman frequently resorts to considering what might have happened to Chiquito or what he probably did. At times this proves frustrating.

Art history · Biography · Memoir · Archaeology and Natural History · History · Indigenous Cultures and Socio-Education · Latin American history and culture