But it was no use. Geronimo had been thoroughly frightened by the stories told him. Now his party traveled afoot, over country where horses and mules could not travel. In three days the trails had split and had become impossible, and the scouts had to give up.
So the command turned back. When they arrived at Bowie on April 3, this 1886, they learned that General Crook was no longer the commander in Arizona!
XXVIII
THE END OF THE TRAIL
That was a stunning blow to the Crook men. The general had been relieved of his command on April 2, at his own request.
As far as might be learned by the rank and file, and the pack service, the President had not approved of the terms upon which Geronimo had surrendered; but by this time Geronimo had fled again. Then the dispatches from General Sheridan, commanding the Army, to General Crook, had somewhat questioned the wisdom of the general’s methods in depending upon the scouts, and suggested that he now make no more campaigns for a while, but try to protect the border with his troops.
The general had replied that he still believed his methods were the best, under the conditions; that he had been using the troops, to protect the border; and that it had been impossible to hold Geronimo as a prisoner and not break the promise given him.
To attack Geronimo in camp had likewise been impossible of success.
“It may be, however, that I am too much wedded to my own views in this matter,” the general was said to have added, “and as I have spent nearly eight years of the hardest work of my life in this department, I respectfully request that I may now be relieved from its command.”