Delgadito was a chief of the Copper Mines group of Tchihende people, one of the three divisions of central Apaches.
Life as war-leader and chief
As a young warrior and, later, as a war-leader and a chief he fought under Tchihende come Juan Josè and Fuerte, later of their successors Mangas Coloradas and Cuchillo Negro ; brave warrior and wise chief, he succeeded Mangas Coloradas as chief of the "Coppermine" Mimbreños. He was involved, as a primary actor, in Apache warfare until the middle 1860’ decade, along with his coetaneus Cochise and Nana, and with some younger leaders as Victorio, Loco, Juh, Chihuahua, Geronimo, but perhaps he never was the real principal leader of the whole Mimbreño people, since, in the meantime, younger Victorio, Mangas Coloradas’s son-in-law, did get even higher fame and prestige because of his extraordinary and overwhelming abilities as a warrior and a warlord, succeeding Cuchillo Negro as chief of "Warm Springs" Mimbreños a tutti gli effetti. Many times Delgadito stood side-by-side with Mangas Coloradas and Cuchillo Negro and acted for them in dealing with Northamericans or Mexicans. After parleys during the spring, in the summer 1850, at Janos, Delgadito and some other Mimbreño and Nednhi chiefs signed a treaty with Chihuahua representatives. In June 1851 Delgadito, Ponce and Coleto Amarillo accompanied Mangas Coloradas to Santa Rita del Cobre to meet gen. J.R. Bartlett, U.S. commissioner appointed by Washinhgton in the U.S.-Mexican border Commission, until the Apaches didn’t feel themselves disappointed and betrayed by the Anglo-American newcomers; in the same year 1851Santa Rita del Cobre copper mines were reopened and white people overran the area of Pinos Altos and Santa Rita, where Cuchillo Negro, imposing their rule and giving defence to the Mexicans according to the agreements with the Mexican Governmente. In spite of the goodwill of the chiefs, who repeatedly had to intervene to prevent any drastic reaction by the warriors, time going on, the connections became more and more difficult until the Apaches broke them.
