Don Santiago Kirker
Don Santiago Kirker

Don Santiago Kirker

James (Santiago) Kirker, merchant, Indian fighter, and frontiersman, was born near Belfast, Ireland, on December 2, 1793. But between 1839 and 1846 he entered into four contracts with governors of Chihuahua to fight Apache, Comanche, and Navajo Indians. With his private company of Delaware and Shawnee Indians and border adventurers, he was very successful in killing hostile Indians. Under his first contract he was promised $100,000, and under the others he was promised pay according to the number of captives and scalps that he delivered. Between contracts he operated in the Sierra Madre as a border lord, sustained by his personal followers as a law unto himself, fighting or trading alternately with the Apaches or the Mexicans. At one time he was called the "King of New Mexico." In 1846 the Chihuahua government was no longer able to pay Kirker for Apache scalps and offered him instead the rank of colonel in the Mexican army. He refused, and, with a 10,000-peso price on his head as an enemy of the state, went north to join Col. Alexander Doniphan and his First Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers. Doniphan made him forager, guide, interpreter, and scout for his campaign through northern Mexico. His intimate knowledge of Mexican character, country, and resources made him very valuable to the invaders, and when he returned to the United States with the regiment he was received with much acclaim. In 1848 Kirker served as guide, interpreter, and spy for the campaign of Maj. William W. Reynolds and the Third Regiment of Missouri Mounted Volunteers against the Apache and Utah Indians. In 1849 he guided a train of Forty-niners across the plains to New Mexico. In 1850 he reached California, without his family, and settled in Contra Costa County near what is known now as Kirker Pass and Kirker Creek. He died in 1853 and was buried by his Delawares in Somersville Cemetery. Don Santiago QuerQuer, as he is called in Mexican records, was a large, agile man, a superb horseman who dressed in fringed Mexican leather and carried an assortment of weapons. He spoke and wrote Spanish fluently and knew a number of Indian languages. He was known throughout the West for his fearlessness. During his lifetime, Kirker was described as a man of great enterprise and vision. After his death, however, his name faded from memory. The unfavorable picture of him that later emerged came from a novel by Thomas Mayne Reid, The Scalp Hunters; or Romantic Adventures in Northern Mexico (1851), in which Kirker was portrayed as a villain. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fki54 Image Description: Black and white image shows Don Santiago Kirker. He wears what appears to be a leather or suede jacket with a vest and white shirt underneath. The vest has a pattern of scattered stars or dots and at his neck a tie. His arms are crossed in front of his chest in a very relaxed manner. His face is slightly facing away but his eyes look directly into the lens. He has long hair parted at the side and past his ears, with a dark mustache along with his dark eyebrows to adorn his face. Kirker has wrinkles near his eyes nose and mouth and loose skin near his neck due to his age.

Area: Out of Area / Out of Area

Source: El Paso County Historical Society

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Comments

Add a comment
Thank you for your comment

Report this entry

Choose the most important reason for this report

Your name

Your email address

Optional detail

Thank you for your report

More from the same community-collection

Family 2015

Family Reunion Milledgeville Ga 7/18/2015 - McCarthy Morgan and ...

Cruz Pinon - 1951

Cruz Pinon at Fort Lee, Virginia - in the year 1951.

Wedding Photograph - Jesus & Angela Hermosillo - 1941

Wedding Photograph - Jesus & Angela Hermosillo - 1941 - City of ...

Message of Hope

Speech by My Daddy done in 1927 in Milledgeville Ga

Julieta Castillo - 1956

In 1956 I went to Chihuahua City to a celebration and my ...

David T Howard High School Graduation Class 1963

David T Howard High School Graduation Class 1963 with Walt ...

McCarthy & Margaret's Grand Baby

Savannah Grace Galimore McCarthy & Margaret's Grand Baby

McCarthy & Margaret Grand Baby

Nathan Seymore Resides in Jacksonville Fl with Parents Tanu & ...

Jesus G. Maesse - 1977

Son of Julieta Castillo--year of photograph -1977. Photograph of ...

Son - Daughter and Me

Outside of U.S. Embassy - left to right- Ronald Darrell, Louise ...

Family Affair

Grammy & Savannah

First Communion - 1950 - 1959

Brooklyn New York - Saint Peter & Paul Church - 1950's. Jose ...

Brothers Playing Music Together - 1957

Brothers playing music together - the year was 1957. This was ...

Chinea Graduation - 1971

Jose L. Chinea Graduation - 1971 - Voc H.S. - Tomas C. Ongay, ...

Luis Muñoz Rivera Park - 2009

Visiting Puerto Rico in Luis Muñoz Rivera Park. Maricruz Chinea ...

El Morro Puerto Rico - 2009

Maricruz Chinea and Jose Chinea visiting Puerto Rico.

Carmen Gloria Candelar - 2009

Jose Chinea's mother in Puerto Rico.

Chinea Family - 2014

Arlington - Texas --left to right - Mari D. Garcia, Crystal M. ...

Jose Gabriel Chinea and Crystal M. Chinea - 2014

Jose Gabriel Chinea and Crystal M. Chinea - 2014 - Ft Worth ...

Cacique Indians - 2009

Display of Cacique Indians in Puerto Rico. Maricruz Chinea ...

Cacique Indian - 2009

Arecibo - Puerto Rico - 2009 Jose Chinea stands next to a ...

Robert Lujan - 1953

Robert Lujan in Korea in the year 1953. Resident of El Paso, ...

home.search_collection