PROGRESS TOWARD CIVILIZATION—DEATH OF PACER, 1875
On the return of the delegation the Apache in good faith commenced to learn the ways of civilization and to earn their own living. Their agent reports:
The Apache were very attentive, working themselves with the hoe. Apache John, a chief, is especially deserving of mention. He worked hard, had all the weeds hoed out, and in addition, to his corn has a fine crop of watermelons, some of which he brought me as a present. It was a very nice sight to see one who a few months ago was regarded as a wild and dangerous man drive up in his wagon (I had given him one) and unload from it a number of fine melons of his own cultivation and raising (Report, 70).
The next year, 1874, started out with even more encouraging prospects. The Apache chiefs worked in their own fields as an example to their people, and at the request of Pacer a school was established among them by A. J. Standing, who, like Battey and Haworth, was a Quaker. All went well until summer, when the Cheyenne, Comanche, and a part of the Kiowa took up arms in defense of their hunting grounds, as already narrated, more or less involving the other tribes, and putting a complete stop to the work of civilization. By direction of the agent the Apache, at the beginning of the trouble, repaired to the friendly camp at Fort Sill, where during all the disturbance they maintained their loyalty and kept the peace, and afterward used their good offices to bring about the surrender of the hostiles, as they had done previously in 1869 (Report, 71).
Pacer, head chief of the Apache, died in the summer of 1875. He was a man of considerable ability and is frequently mentioned in the official reports of the period, as well as by Battey. He had been the consistent advocate of friendly relations with the whites, and on his death was given a civilized burial, at the request of his people, as had been done in the case of Kicking-bird, the Kiowa chief, who died shortly before (Report, 72).