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

McGinty Club

McGinty Club picnic, probably in Alamogordo. The McGinties were ...

Debbie Reynolds and Rick Kern

Photo: Debbie Reynolds and Rick Kern in Las Vegas -- 1993. ...

Group of People and Stage Coach

The image probably dates from the 1900s. It shows a group of ...

Mt. Cristo Rey

This cross can be observed when close to approaching the top of ...

Livery Stable

The image shows a livery stable, with the words Ghost Town on ...

Railroad to or from El Paso

A railroad is on its way to or from El Paso in 1960. The exact ...

George Maloof and Children

SCA Member George Maloof and his two children, Khalil and Helen, ...

Joe Gomez All Star Baseball Team

Photo of 1962 Main Valley Babe Ruth All Star Baseball Team ...

Joe Gomez Most Valuable Player 1960 Little League

Photo receiving Most Valuable Player trophy 1960 Fort Bliss ...

Lauren Gomez Barlow water polo/Joe Gomez's granddaughter

Joe Gomez's granddaughter, Lauren Barlow, water polo at Hanford ...

Aaron Gomez with wife, Linda

Photo of Aaron and Linda Gomez (Joe Gomez's son)

Carmen and Pete Gomez 11

Photo of Joe Gomez sister Carmen and youngest brother, Pete 2d

Pedro Gomez and Ernestina Gomez

Joe Gomez's aunt, Ernestina Gomez with Joe's father, Pedro Gomez ...

Joe Gomez 1963

Joe Gomez 1963 at football banquet

Members of the HOST FAMILY PROGRAM FT. BLISS

(L-R) DR. RICHARD TIMMER, MRS. KLAUSE (HERTA) KURTH, MRS. R. ...

WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MOUNMENT

WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MOUNMENT, NEW MEXICO

TRINTY SITE -WHITE SANDS, NEW MEXICO

TRINTY SITE- THIS IS THE SITE WHERE THE 1ST ATOM BOMB WAS TESTED ...

TRINTY SITE, WHITE SANDS, NEW MEXICO

ONCE A YEAR, TRINTY SITE IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. IT IS ON US GOV. ...

MODEL OF THE 1ST ATOM BOMB

TRINTY SITE AT WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, NEW MEXICO. THIS IS A ...

TRINTY SITE,WHITE SANDS NAT. MONUMENT

THIS IS A US MILITARY SITE, GUARDED & RESTRICTED. IT IS OPEN TO ...

Killbourne Hole

Kilbourne Hole/Aden Crater Volcanoes

Library Honors Sgt. Apuan at Pebble Beach

El Paso Public Library Information Senior Specialist Chuck Apuan ...

Sunset at White Sands - 2015

The White Sands National Monument is a U.S. National Monument ...

home.search_collection