Turtledove
Advertisement
Jason Betzinez
Historical Figure
Nationality: United States (as Apache resident, later as citizen)
Year of Birth: 1860
Year of Death: 1960
Cause of Death: Automobile accident
Religion: Dutch Reformed Church (converted from Apache traditions)
Occupation: Author of Non-Fiction, blacksmith, soldier
Spouse: Anna Heersma (d. 1959)
Children: Unnamed deceased infant
Relatives: Geronimo, Chappo (cousins)
Military Branch: United States Army
Fictional Appearances:
Southern Victory
POD: September 10, 1862
Appearance(s): How Few Remain
Type of Appearance: Direct (as "Batsinas")
Military Branch: Apache forces
(Second Mexican War)

Jason Betzinez (also spelled Bastinas) (1860-1960) was a cousin of the Apache leader Geronimo. Betzinez spent his formative years in Geronimo's company. After he was captured by the United States military, he was educated at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. While he initially resigned himself to reservation life, in the 1880s, he joined the United States Army as a scout. He had one son by Dorothy Nahwats, but doesn't appear to have had another children. He never returned to the reservation, instead becoming a blacksmith. He married Anna Heersma, a missionary, in 1925, and became an advocate for Apache rights. He published his autobiography in 1959, and died in a car accident the following year at the age of 100. His wife had died the year before.

Jason Betzinez in Southern Victory[]

Batsinas was a young cousin of Geronimo. After Geronimo briefly aligned himself with the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department under Jeb Stuart, Batsinas impressed various Confederate troops with his inquisitive nature and poisonous plant identification skills.[1] Unfortunately for the Confederates, Batsinas soon used what he learned against Stuart and his men when tensions between the Apache and the people of Cananea fell to violence. Batsinas was able to set up a trip-wire mines that proved quite destructive, killing four Confederates and injuring dozens. While Stuart was horrified by the damage Batsinas caused, he was also impressed with Batsinas' ingenuity, comparing him favorably to U.S. inventor Tom Edison.[2]

References[]

  1. How Few Remain, pg. 246, 249, mmp.
  2. Ibid., pgs. 554-555.
Advertisement