I was born Francisco "Pancho" Chaviz in Bernallilo County, New Mexico Territory to sharecroppers. My grandfather; a dirt farmer and later my father worked the coal mines in Gallup. I was raised 65 miles from the settlement of Santa Fe which means Holy Faith.
When I was 17 I joined the U.S. Army. We were on patrol one day when we saw a wagon train being attacked. We chased the indians away. We buried the dead and took the survivors back to the fort.
I saw this pretty girl and I knew she was the one girl I had to get close to. We fell in love after about a year. When my enlistment was up, we were married. We moved west to a town called Chloride, AZ where we settled. She became a school marm and I worked in the mines.
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Gunfighters