Editing Jeff Davis County, Texas (section)

===Native Americans===

[[Prehistory|Prehistoric peoples]] camped at Phantom Lake Spring, in present-day northeastern Jeff Davis County, and may have used the springs for irrigation.<ref>{{cite web|last=Brune|first=Gunnar|title=Phantom Lake Spring|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rpp06|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 15, 2010|date=June 15, 2010}}</ref> Indian [[pictogram|pictographs]] in the Painted Comanche Camp of Limpia Canyon were discovered by the Whiting and Smith Expedition of 1849.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Painted Comanche Camp|url=http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/forts/davis/camp.html|work=Texas Beyond History|publisher=UT-Texas|access-date=December 15, 2010}}</ref>

As white migrants moved into the area, tensions with Native Americans increased. The groups competed for resources, and armed conflicts were conducted for more than two decades, especially after the Civil War. In August 1861, [[Mescalero|Mescalero Apache]] under Chief Nicolas attacked Fort Davis, driving off livestock and killing three people. In the ensuing chase by the cavalry, Nicolas ambushed the soldiers, killing them all.<ref>{{cite web|title=Indian War Engagements Involving Troops from Fort Davis|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/foda/Fort_Davis_WEB_PAGE/About_the_Fort/Indians_wars_Fort_Davis.htm#MAYS|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=December 15, 2010}}</ref>

In September 1868 at Horsehead Hills, a group of volunteer Mexican and [[buffalo soldier]]s from Fort Davis attacked and destroyed a Mescalero village to recover captives and stolen livestock. In January 1870, a group of soldiers attacked a Mescalero Apache village near Delaware Creek in the Guadalupe Mountains. In July 1880, soldiers at Tinaja de las Palmas attacked a group of Mescaleros led by [[Victorio|Chief Victorio]]. In August 1880, buffalo soldiers ambushed Victorio at Rattlesnake Springs. Victorio retreated to Mexico, where he was killed in October of that year by Mexican soldiers. The last Indian depredation in the area was at Barry Scobee Mountain in 1881.<ref>{{cite book|last=Leckie|first=William H and Shirley A|title=The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Black Cavalry in the West|year=2007|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-3840-4|pages=211–233|chapter=The Victorio War}}</ref>