On the Border with Crook

by John Gregory Bourke

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST “GERONIMO”—THE CROPS RAISED BY THE APACHES—THE PURSUIT OF THE HOSTILES—THE HARD WORK OF THE TROOPS—EFFICIENT AND FAITHFUL SERVICE OF THE CHIRICAHUA SCOUTS—WAR DANCES AND SPIRIT DANCES—CAPTAIN CRAWFORD KILLED—A VISIT TO THE HOSTILE STRONGHOLD—A “NERVY” PHOTOGRAPHER—A WHITE BOY CAPTIVE AMONG THE APACHES—“ALCHISE’S” AND “KA-E-TEN-NA’S” GOOD WORK—“GERONIMO” SURRENDERS TO CROOK.

To show that Apaches will work under anything like proper encouragement, the reader has only to peruse these extracts from the annual report of Captain F. E. Pierce, who succeeded Captain Emmet Crawford:

“They have about eleven hundred acres under cultivation, and have raised about 700,000 lbs. of barley and an equal amount of corn. They have delivered to the Post Quartermaster here 60,000 lbs. of barley and 60,000 lbs. to the agency, have hauled 66,000 lbs. to Thomas and about 180,000 lbs. to Globe, and still have about 330,000 lbs. on hand. Since they have been hauling barley to Thomas and Globe, however, where they receive fair prices, they feel much better. It gives them an opportunity to get out and mingle with people of the world, and get an idea of the manner of transacting business and a chance to make purchases at considerably less rates than if they bought of the Indian traders at San Carlos. The people at Globe are particularly kind to them, and, so far as I can learn, deal justly with them, and the more respectable ones will not permit the unprincipled to impose upon them or maltreat them in any way. The Indians also conduct themselves properly, and all citizens with whom I have conversed speak very highly of their conduct while in Globe. About a dozen are now regularly employed there at various kinds of work; and they are encouraged as much as possible to seek work with citizens, as they thereby learn much that will be of benefit to them in the future. Shortly after the Chiricahua outbreak, word was sent to the head of each band that General Crook wanted two hundred more scouts to take the field, and all who wished to go were invited to appear here next morning. It is difficult to say how many reported, but almost every able-bodied man came. It was difficult to tell which ones to take when all were so eager to go. But a body of as fine men was selected as could well be secured in any country. They repeatedly told me they meant fight; that they intended to do the best they could, and reports from the field show that they have made good their promises. Sixteen hundred White Mountain Indians have been entirely self-sustaining for nearly three years.”

The Indians at the White Mountains, according to the official reports, were doing remarkably well.

“At this date there have been 700,000 pounds of hay and 65,000 pounds of barley purchased by the Quartermaster. Of course, the amount of hay which will yet be furnished by them will be regulated by the amount required, which will be in all about 1,800,000 pounds. As near as I can judge, the total yield of barley will be about 80,000 pounds, or about double the quantity produced last year. If no misfortune happens the crops, the yield of corn for this year should fully reach 3,500,000 pounds, including that retained by the Indians for their own consumption and for seed.

“Cantelopes, watermelons, muskmelons, beans, and pumpkins are raised by them to a considerable extent, but only for their own consumption, there being no market for this class of produce.

“A few of the Indians—principally Chiricahuas—are delivering wood on the contract at the post of Fort Apache. I have no doubt that more would engage in it if it were not for the fact that the White Mountain Apaches have no wagons for hauling it.”

It would take many more pages than I care to devote to the subject to properly describe the awful consequences of the official blunder, which in this case was certainly worse than a crime, shown in the bickerings and jealousies between the representatives of the War and Interior Departments, which culminated in the “Geronimo” outbreak of May, 1885. Those of my readers who have followed this recital need no assurances that the country was as rough as rocks and ravines, deep cañons and mountain streams, could make it; neither do they need to be assured that the trail of the retreating Chiricahuas was reddened with the blood of the innocent and unsuspecting settlers, or that the pursuit made by the troops was energetic, untiring, and, although often baffled, finally successful. No more arduous and faithful work was ever done by any military commands than was performed by those of Emmet Crawford, Lieutenant Britton Davis, Frank L. Bennett, Lieutenant M. W. Day, Surgeon Bermingham, and Major Wirt Davis in tracking the scattered fragments of the “Geronimo” party over rocks and across country soaked with the heavy rains of summer which obliterated trails as fast as made. The work done by “Chato” and the Chiricahuas who had remained on the reservation was of an inestimable value, and was fittingly recognized by General Crook, Captain Crawford, and the other officers in command of them.

Thirty-nine white people were killed in New Mexico and thirty four in Arizona, as established in official reports; in addition to these there were numbers of friendly Apaches killed by the renegades, notably in the raid made by the latter during the month of November, 1885, to the villages near Camp Apache, when they killed twelve of the friendlies and carried off six women and children captive. The White Mountain Apaches killed one of the hostile Chiricahuas and cut off his head. On the 23d of June, 1885, one of the hostile Chiricahua women was killed and fifteen women and children captured in an engagement in the Bavispe Mountains, northeast of Opata (Sonora, Mexico), by Chiricahua Apache scouts under command of Captain Crawford; these prisoners reported that one of their warriors had been shot through the knee-joint in this affair, but was carried off before the troops could seize him. July 29, 1885, two of the hostile Chiricahua bucks were ambushed and killed in the Hoya Mountains, Sonora, by the detachment of Apache scouts with Major Wirt Davis’s command. August 7, 1885, five of the hostile Chiricahuas were killed (three bucks, one squaw, and one boy fifteen years old) by the Apache scouts of Wirt Davis’s command, who likewise captured fifteen women and children in the same engagement (northeast of the little town of Nacori, Sonora, Mexico). On the 22d of September, 1885, the same scouts killed another Chiricahua in the mountains near Bavispe.