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San Carlos Apache - Arizona (U.S.)

Native American

image by Donald Healy, 31 January 2008

The band
The flag
Variant flag

See also:

The Band

map image by Peter Orenski based on input from Don Healy

San Carlos Apache - Arizona

The largest of the Apache reservations, covering some 1,900,000 acres, is the San Carlos Reservation east of Phoenix, Arizona. The great Chief Cochise was taken there, along with his followers, after his surrender in 1873 (GAI, 122-123). Geronimo led his followers away from this reservation when they broke for freedom from the oppression of the U.S. military in 1881 and 1884 [see Chirakawa & Warm Springs Bands of Apache of the Fort Sill Reservation].

The Apache bands on the reservation include the Aravaipa, Chirikawa, Coyotero, Mimbreno, Mogollon, Piñaleno, San Carlos, and Tonto (ibid.. 123). Their reservation was created in 1871 and reduced five separate times to accommodate white miners seeking copper and silver, and Mormons whose need for water led to the reduction around the Gila Valley.

The Flag

The San Carlos Apache place their tribal seal on a white background to create a tribal flag. The seal celebrates the natural beauty of the lands of the San Carlos Apache and the major economic resources of its residents. The seal is circular, surrounded by a serrated black edge and a red ring. An inner white ring with an orange border shows “APACHE TRIBE” and “SAN CARLOS RESERVATION”, separated by five-pointed stars, all in black. Central to the seal is a geographic tableau of the reservation showing the mountains, a lake, and two plants of the reservation-the piñón pine and the saguaro cactus-all in natural colors. Below this scene is a Hereford steer’s head, signifying the importance of cattle ranching to the Apache. Next to the head are mining symbols, a pick and shovel on one side, and a piece of peridotite ore on the other.

A second version of this flag hangs in the “Gallery of Nations” at the Indian Center Museum, part of the Mid-America All-Indian Center in Wichita, Kansas. This version, supplied to the museum by the San Carlos Apache Nation, bears a red outline map of the reservation behind the seal, as on another Apache flag [see White Mountain Apache]. A red border around the flag separates four colored bars, one on each edge of the flag-the left bar is yellow, the top is white, the bottom is dark green, and the right is black.

© Donald Healy 2008
information provided by Peter Orenski, 31 January 2008

Variant flag

image by Don Healy

On the white background is a white map of San Carlos bordered by red. In the center of the map is a seal.

Mason Kaye, 6 July 2004