Elfego Baca: American Hero - Research Paper Example

? 28 November Elfego Baca: Biography Elfego Baca was born in the year 1865. Various anecdotes are popular about his birth one of which actually happens to be an accident, which is this; “It is said that his mother, almost nine months pregnant, was playing ball, jumped into the air, came down hard, and Elfego entered the game!  His entry into law enforcement, and the beginning of becoming a legend in his own time, began at age nineteen was almost as dramatic” (McCafferty). Various positive outcomes are also associated with the birth of Elfego Baca which include the discovery of silver toward Socorro’s west in the year 1867and the establishment of the railway channels for transport and travel. Elfego Baca’s Help for the Hispanic Community Elfego Baca’s political efforts can be estimated from the fact that he held a whole range of public offices that included but were not limited to the country clerk, the Socorro superintendent County, the Sierra Counties, and Socorro’s district attorney. Various writers have identified Elfego Baca as a peacemaker. Elfego Baca has been recognized as the “best peace officer Socorro ever had” (Thrapp 50). Elfego Baca has been America’s official representative of the Victoriano Huerta’s government from the year 1913 till the year 1916. That was while the Mexican Revolution was in progress. This post got Elfego Baca indicted for the criminal conspiracy as Jose Ines Salazar, the Mexican general had escaped from prison. Elfego Baca’s case was defended by Octaviano Larrazolo who was both a politician and a layer from the New Mexico which also led to spread of the name of Elfego Baca amongst the Southwestern residents. In the year 1912, when New Mexico attained the status of a state, Elfego Baca ran as a Republican for the Congress unsuccessfully. However, as a result of his immense tendency to turn the votes out among the people of the Hispanic population, Elfego Baca remained a very popular political figure. Sometimes, Elfego Baca worked like a private detective. He worked with Bronson Cutting who was the longtime Senator of the New Mexico. Elfego Baca offered the political investigation services for him and also wrote a column in Spanish on weekly basis in which he praised the work of Bronson Cutting. His praise represented the praise of the whole population of the local Hispanics for Cutting’s work. In spite of the decline in his health, Elfego Baca tried to run for the governor. However, he could not manage to get the nomination of the Democratic Party for district attorney in the year 1944. At the time when Elfego Baca rendered these services, the Hispanics were far less popular in the US as they are today. They were not adequately represented in the media or the literature. The lack of popularity of the Hispanics of his time was one of the factors that differentiated Elfego Baca from the rest of his countrymen. Over the passage of time, Elfego Baca was represented in the media and literature for all of the aforementioned reasons in general and the famous gun battle with the 80 cowboys that is indeed, the single most severe gunshot battles in the history of the US in particular. “Baca also stood out as a rare example of a Latino hero at time when Hispanics were rarely seen on American TV. Elfego Baca proved popular enough to be recut and released theatrically outside the United States” (“Swamp Fox And”). Elfego Baca’s famous gun battle with 80 cowboys Elfego Baca was in the West’s greatest gunfight from 29 October 1884 to 31 October 1884 at Frisco. He was fighting opposite to 80 to 84 cowboys in total. At that time, Elfego Baca was no more than 19 years old. Elfego Baca entered Frisco as a Deputy Sheriff upon an electioneering visit. There, he located Charlie McCarty who was a cowboy and was shooting a plaza. Elfego Baca captured him and resolved to escort McCarty for trial to Socorro since the justice of the peace had declared retaliation from the Slaughter cowboys if McCarty’s trial is held in Frisco. The cowboys thought of Elfego Baca as a potential threat for all Americans. Elfego Baca took refuge in Geronimo Armijo’s house who was a local resident. “The house had thick log walls and a sunken dirt floor, providing protection for the bullets that were being fired in his direction” (McCafferty). Shortly, a severe shootout erupted in which as many as 80 cowboys participated. Young Parham was the leader of the cowboys from the Slaughter’s ranch. Under his leadership, the cowboys rode into the town and asked Elfego Baca to release McCarty without any delay. Rather than backing off, Elfego Baca exchanged gunshots with the cowboys. The cowboys shot up to around 4000 rounds on the house where Elfego Baca was hiding, though the exact number of rounds that were fired is still unknown. Elfego Baca not only managed to escape all the rounds that were fired at him but also fired rounds at the cowboys, thus killing four of his enemies along with leaving eight more injured. The encounter between Elfego Baca and the cowboys came to an end when the cowboys failed to obtain more ammunition. Young Parham lost his life because of excessive injuries thus caused. As soon as their supply of ammunition depleted, the cowboys retreated. It was a very intense gunshot fight between Elfego Baca and the cowboys that took up to 36 hours from the time of commencement till its end. McCarty whom Elfego Baca had arrested completed his sentence in the jail for having disturbed peace and his drunkenness, though McCarty was later released from the jail. The cowboys tried to execute a legal action against Elfego Baca using the murder of their four comrades as a reason. Elfego Baca was indicted for murdering a cowboy in May 1885. Why Elfego Baca is not very well-known? Elfego Baca is far less well-known in the USA as compared to others like Billy the Kid or Wyatt Earp. “Most of us have heard of the old western tales of Billy the Kid and others, but for Carton County, located in Western New Mexico, the Elfego Baca legend lives above the rest. Much effort has been given to find the early land deeds to locate the spot where the above story takes place. This effort has been given so that a memorial can be established” (“One Man, One War”). Most people who know about him know him because of the fact that Elfego Baca was able to survive against 80 cowboys in the massive gunshot. Elfego Baca being not so popular is a bit odd because of the fact that the “famous Tombstone shootout rather fairly matched four men against five, involved less than a dozen rounds fired all together, and lasted only three-fourths of a minute... while the "Frisco War” pitted a single person against something over eighty armed antagonists, hundreds or thousands of shots were exchanged, and the confrontation lasted over thirty-three hours!” (“Elfego Baca Memorial”). Apart from that, not much is known about him. Apart from the gunshot event, some people also know Elfego Baca for having beaten two murder raps that emerged out of fracas. It is indeed demeaning in a way that an individual who offered his own life for the sake of others gets branded in the literature as just another skilled gunfighter.The most fundamental reason behind his lack of popularity is the fact that he was a Hispanic. Traditionally, racism has been an important part of the American culture and it made a lot of difference to what race or ethnicity an individual belonged for his efforts to be recognized by the historians. It is often said that Hispanics have had no heroes in the history which is one of the ways the racism for the Hispanics reflects in the general perception. Those who say so either do not know about Elfego Baca or they tend to think that most of the facts recorded about the life of Elfego Baca are merely fabricated arguments rather than facts. “Elfego Baca has been relegated by history to be remembered, if at all, as simply another in a long list of ho-hum frontier gunfighters, and no researcher who digs into the Chicano civil rights movement will find a trace of evidence that he ever lived” (Sager 9). Indeed, had Elfego Baca been a White American rather than a Hispanic, he would have been more popular than he is today. Besides, Elfego Baca was a patient of post traumatic dtress disorder (PTSD). In spite of his depression, his illness never came in the way of his splendid and courageous activities that provides a proof of his heroism. “Yet, instead of leading to acclaim for his courage in so often rising above the effects of the PTSD, the behavior contributed to by the disorder made Elfego into a figure to ridicule, and the butt of jokes and scorn” (Sager 13). It is, in part, a tragedy that Elfego Baca got most of the fame that he enjoys today after he passed away in the year 1945. During the 1950’s, there was a growing interest among the literary scholars and the historians to record the great works and efforts of the heroes of the old-west and that was when most of the efforts of Elfego Baca got their attention. In the year 1958, a movie was released by the Walt Disney Studios with the title “The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca” (“Elfego Baca Golf Shoot”). In this movie, the title role was played by Robert Loggia, whereas other actors in the cast included Alan Hale, James Coburn, and Annette Funicello. In the year 1962, two more 1959 television anthology episodes were combined by the Walt Disney in a feature film that was released with the title “Six Gun Law” in England. In addition to the movies, several comic books were also written about Elfego Baca that happened to be the prime source of information about Elfego Baca among the young generation. The US saw the high-water years in terms of interest in the western things during the two decades of 1950s and 1960s whereas the interest of the Europeans in the frontier west of the US has continued to be very strong till date. Comic books that discuss specific adventures of Elfego Baca’s life can still be easily located in the book stores in such countries as Netherlands. Although Elfego Baca did not remain as popular in the history of the US as he deserved to be, yet the legend never died as the interest in the Socorro lawman is still alive. However, today, Elfego Baca is being discussed more by the historians and authors as compared to the movie makers or the screenwriters. “Howard Bryan and the noted New Mexico author, Rudolfo A. Anaya teamed up for Incredible Elfego Baca: Good Man, Bad Man of the Old West which takes a more historical look at the New Mexico hero” (“Elfego Baca Golf Shoot”). The substance of Elfego Baca begins with the fact that he went over his own life to protect the Hispanic settlers against the atrocities. Elfego Baca has not been granted the honor that a man of his caliber, strength and courage deserves. The authors today are realizing this fact and have acknowledged it in their own books as well, as one author writes, “To be restored to his rightful place so long after his death in 1945, he needs an advocate. That’s why I decided to write this book. I figured that if Elfego Baca had enough bravado to pin a fake sheriff’s badge to his shirt and set out to right the wrongs being inflicted on the Mexican settlers before he hit the age of twenty, I was bold enough to name myself as his mouthpiece” (Sager 10). Elfego Baca was undoubtedly one of the most courageous heroes in the history of America and more needs to be documented about him in the contemporary media and literature so that the young generation knows about him and gains inspiration from him. Works Cited: “Elfego Baca Golf Shoot.” N.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. . “Elfego Baca Memorial.” N.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. . McCafferty, Regis. “Elfego Baca and the Cowboys. N.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. . “One Man, One War.” 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. . Sager, Stan. IViva Elfego!: The Case for Elfego Baca, Hispanic Hero. Sunstone Press. 2008, Print. “Swamp Fox And Elfego Baca, The: Legendary Heroes.” N.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. . Thrapp, Dan L. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, Volume 1: A-F. U of Nebraska Press, 1988. Print. Read More