Have you ever come across the name George Medhurst Ratten when reading about the history of the Chiricahua Apaches in the late 19th century? I had never heard of him or read his name until I stumbled upon a passage from “Indeh: An Apache Odyssey.” (Vision Editor: This book is famous among historians because it features accounts of the Apache elders who survived the Army’s campaign against them in the last century. The 1940s and 1950s. Ball’s interviews in Warm Springs in the 1970s are transcribed in shorthand: Chiricahua, Mescalero, and Lipan Apache elders.) The events described were previously told only through the eyes of non-Native Americans. I read this book because I was researching stories of friendship between Apaches and Americans, and Eve She was looking for information about Ball’s relationship with her informant.
Kansair, the youngest warrior, was with Geronimo when he surrendered in 1886. He recounted how, after surrendering, Geronimo, Naiche and all the warriors, women and children were put on a train with Bowie. However, the government was unsure about the treatment of the prisoners of war, so the train stopped at San Antonio and the Apaches set up camp at Fort Sam for his five weeks in Houston. They were all disarmed, did not know what to expect and were all afraid they would be killed.
George M. Ratten was a young Army packer and scout, fluent in several Apache dialects. He acted as an interpreter in the negotiations leading up to surrender and was known as a loyal friend of the Apaches. Now he had been exiled by them. As they feared, if the Apaches were attacked by the Army, they knew that Wratten would need to join the soldiers. Trying to reassure the Apaches, Ratten told Geronimo that he could not imagine an attack on unarmed men and that the tent had guns and ammunition. Geronimo must clarify this to his warriors. Finally, the prisoners were taken to Florida, accompanied by Wratten. He didn’t have to fight. This story inspired me to start researching Ratten.
One thing I discovered was that there were a few articles, but none of the biographies of the people who helped end the Apache war and played a major role in it. One of his sons, Albert Wratten, wrote an extensive manuscript about his father’s work, which was never published. He was only able to publish a condensed story of his father’s life in a collection of essays, and while some books on the Geronimo campaign mentioned George Wratten, he It was difficult to obtain information about his early life and personal life.
Wratten accompanied Gatewood (Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood was known during the Apache Wars as the leader of a Native American reconnaissance platoon), and the Apaches went on reconnaissance to Mexico as a young man. After he arrived in Florida with Apache prisoners, he went to Alabama and spent his final years at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Starting in 2017, I tried to trace several stations in Ratten’s life. I visited St. Augustine and Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida. Mount Vernon, Alabama. Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I wandered through San Carlos, Fort Bowie, and Fort Apache, and only a year later was able to obtain a copy of Albert’s Ratten manuscript for the first time. Since then, my material has accumulated. Combined with my research in archives, the Internet, and books, I’ve finally managed to write his 100-page chapter about George Wratten’s life, to be published in my book on Apache and American Friendship. .
I am finishing my friendship book in 2022 — it will be published in German in the summer of 2023.
I learned that there is not yet a book that deals exclusively with Wratten. Thanks to Linda Sanchez for her continued encouragement, I decided to write a book about this man. This will be my first publication in English.
George Wratten’s life story is colorful and not all information is easily accessible.
He was born on January 31, 1865 in Sonoma, California. His parents, George Lemon Ratten and Emily Malvina Drummond, were both of British descent. George Lemmon practiced law in New York, but soon after the Gold Rush began he abandoned his lawyer to try his luck in the gold mines of California in 1850. Unsuccessful in this, he returned to law practice. He served as city attorney at Sonoma from 1855 to 1856 and from 1859 to 1860. From 1858 to 1859 he served as attorney to General Vallejo. I was. The couple settled on an 80-acre homestead.
Sonoma played a key role in California’s struggle to become part of the United States. The Sonoma Barracks became the headquarters of a group of Americans who rebelled against the Mexican government in 1846 and declared California an independent republic. This lasted for 25 days. They designed a bear flag, but shortly after the bear flag was raised, US forces began occupying California. On July 9, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Joseph Warren raised the U.S. flag in front of the Sonoma Barracks. According to Ratten family lore, George L. Ratten was one of the first white men to fly the flag of California with the “bear insignia.” Sonoma was designated as the county seat of Sonoma County in 1850 when California was admitted as a state and the U.S. military occupation of California ended. It wasn’t until 1911 that the bear flag became the official state flag.
Following the American conquest of California and the arrival of the California Gold Rush, local businesses prospered with soldiers stationed there and miners scouring to and from the gold mines. As a result, prosperity and optimism about Sonoma’s future fueled land speculation, particularly due to poor land tenure records. This made it clear that there was more than enough work for lawyers like George L. Ratten.
According to Albert Wratten’s manuscript, George L. Wratten was a busy lawyer and a popular figure in the community. He still found time and entered the wine making business. He planted and grew vines on his 30 acres of land and in the 1860s his vineyard was a huge success.
After having two girls, Edith Malvina and Carrie Augusta (Wratten’s first boy), George Medhurst was born on January 31, 1865. He had two younger brothers, Frank Lawrence and Albert Drummond. The Ratten’s last child, Florence Laurina, died of diphtheria at two weeks of age.
George L. Wratten began to suffer from serious health problems due to bronchial and heart problems, and his business became less and less successful. Although the details are unknown, Albert Wratten wrote in his manuscript that an unnamed business partner in a vineyard enterprise cheated his grandfather and embezzled money. Because of this embezzlement, he was unable to pay his debts. Even his house wasn’t enough to settle his debts. So he left for Florence, Arizona, where he started his lawyer again. Arizona’s weather had a positive effect on his poor health. The plan was for his wife and children to stay home until he was settled.
Official documents show that George M. Wratten’s mother applied and successfully applied for permission as a “sole proprietorship” to sell agricultural products such as fruit, chicken and eggs. Ultimately, Emily M. Ratten was unable to earn his living, but he was forced to give up everything in late 1879 and move to Florence, Arizona. Yuma—to reunite with her husband.
The small frontier town of Florence in southern Arizona was one of the oldest white settlements in the area. When the Ratten family arrived in Florence, the population must have been about 900. (Vision editor: The 1880 Florentine town census records 902 of him.) Life in Florence was turbulent, with all three of George L. Ratten’s sons becoming deputy sheriffs. I got a job as The reason may be that his father did not earn enough money to support his family from practicing law.
Somewhere around 1879 or 1880, young George M. Ratten must have already begun to lose his composure. He was 14 or he was 15, adventurous and not interested in becoming a lawyer like his father. Family lore tells us that one day George L. Ratten sat down with his eldest son and told him that he should move to Grove, Arizona, where his sister Edith had moved in with her husband and worked as a dancehall girl at a salon. I suggested. George should stay with her until he finds a job or decides to move elsewhere. He gave his eldest son his $5 and George M. Ratten began the journey to Grove on foot.
Veronika Ederer received her Ph.D. She completed her PhD in Cultural Anthropology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt on the River Main in Germany. Originally from Germany, she has worked in Switzerland for several years in museums such as the Museum of the North American Indigenous Peoples in Zurich and the talented program ‘Universikum’ in Zurich. She visited Roswell, New Mexico and has traveled across the United States for her research purposes. The published author is currently working on a new book based on her research on the Apaches of the Southwest, which she shares in a condensed form for the first time in a column here.
