Unprotected by the army, the Mexican peasants were helpless to resist the Apache raiders, with scores carried off into captivity and hundreds more slaughtered. The desert now reclaimed the untilled fields. Cattle, sheep, mules, and goats wandered free only to fall prey to the great packs of wolves and coyotes that trailed the Apache raiding parties just as the raven shadows the predator on his rounds. Skeletons lined the roads, littered the burned haciendas, and were picked clean by scavengers in deserted villages. It was a perfect reign of terror.
The Mexican peasants found themselves defenseless against the relentless Apache raiders, resulting in many captives and countless deaths. With the absence of military protection, the once-fertile land fell into desolation, overrun by nature. Livestock roamed freely, only to be hunted down by wolves and coyotes that accompanied the raiding parties, echoing the relentless threat faced by the inhabitants.
Destruction and loss marked the landscape, where skeletons dotted the roads and ruins of burnt haciendas lay in shambles, scavenged by wildlife. In the oppressive atmosphere that prevailed, a profound reign of terror engulfed the region, leaving the villages abandoned and their inhabitants in a state of despair.
