Chico Velasquez

Chico Velasquez (died 1854) was a leader of the Jicarilla Apache and Ute people. He was originally closely associated with the Jicarilla and was blamed for attacks on Americans in the early part of the Jicarilla War. Velasquez met with American leaders in 1850 and promised not to take up arms against Americans and Mexicans. By 1854 he was working with the American governor of New Mexico David Meriwether to recover stolen American livestock. As reward for searching for a fugitive murderer, Velasquez was given an embroidered gray coat, but that coat and blankets given to the Ute at the same time were infected with smallpox. The disease killed Velasquez and many other Ute and was one of the causes of the Fort Pueblo Massacre.

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