The Victorio War happened.

The specific engagements that the oral accounts describe — the river crossings, the canyon battles, the raids — occurred at approximately the times and in the approximately the places that the oral accounts place them.

The military presence and the specific units that were pursuing Victorio’s band are documented in detail.

What the military records generally do not do is identify specific individual Apache fighters other than the leaders whose names the Army knew.

A dispatch reporting an engagement with Apache fighters at a specific location would note the number of fighters, the direction of their approach and withdrawal, the casualties on both sides — but it would not typically identify the specific individuals making up the Apache force, and it would certainly not have identified a woman warrior by name.