Apache Warrior by Herman Wendleborg Hansen.
The Battle of Ojo Caliente Canyon in New Mexico was an engagement of the Jicarilla War on April 8, 1854. Combatants were Jicarilla Apache warriors and their Ute allies against the United States Army. The war began in 1849 when the Apache and Ute began raiding against settlers on the Santa Fe Trail. When the U.S. Army retaliated, it resulted in a series of battles and campaigns.
The Battle of Ojo Caliente Canyon was fought just over a week after the Battle of Cieneguilla, New Mexico, on March 30, 1854. In that battle, 22 soldiers were killed, and another 36 were wounded, forcing the army to retreat.
However, Lieutenant Colonel Philip St. George Cooke of the 2nd Dragoons Regiment immediately pursued the Jicarilla into Apacheria with the help of 32 Pueblo Indian and Mexican scouts under Captain James H. Quinn, with Kit Carson as the principal guide. On April 8, a large force of about 200 American cavalrymen, 100 men of the 3rd Infantry, and 32 scouts found Jicarilla Chief Chacon and his warriors in Ojo Caliente Canyon.
Leading the attack, Commander Philip St. George Cooke defeated about 150 warriors, killing five of them and wounding six others without sustaining any casualties to his command. Dispersing in small bands, the Jicarilla evaded further pursuit, but many died in the extreme cold weather. Several rock-covered graves are reportedly in the area.
Ojo Caliente, New Mexica Area Landscape.
After the Ojo Caliente battle, the war was mostly over except for minor raids and skirmishes over the next several months.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated May 2025.
Also See:
Apache – Fiercest Warriors of the Southwest
Indian Wars, Battles & Massacres
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