On the Border with Crook

by John Gregory Bourke

One of the Chiricahuas had a silver watch which he called “Chi-go-na-ay” (Sun), an evidence that he had a good idea of its purpose. Nearly every one wore “medicine” of some kind: either little buckskin bags of the Hoddentin of the Tule, the feathers of the red-bird or of the woodpecker, the head of a quail, the claws of a prairie dog, or silver crescents; “medicine” cords—“Izze-kloth”—were also worn. I stopped alongside of a young Tubal Cain and watched him hammering a Mexican dollar between two stones, and when he had reduced it to the proper fineness he began to stamp and incise ornamentation upon it with a sharp-pointed knife and a stone for a hammer. Nearly all the little girls advanced to the edge of our camp and gazed in mute admiration upon Charlie Roberts, evincing their good opinion in such an unmistakable manner that the young gentleman at once became the guy of the packers. “Geronimo” and his warriors remained up in their village all day, debating the idea of an unconditional surrender.

The next morning (March 27th) “Chihuahua” sent a secret message to General Crook, to say that he was certain all the Chiricahuas would soon come in and surrender; but whether they did or not, he would surrender his own band at noon and come down into our camp. “Ka-e-ten-na” and “Alchise” had been busy at work among the hostiles, dividing their councils, exciting their hopes, and enhancing their fears; could General Crook have promised them immunity for the past, they would have come down the previous evening, when “Chihuahua” had first sent word of his intention to give up without condition, but General Crook did not care to have “Chihuahua” leave the hostiles at once; he thought he could be more useful by remaining in the village for a day or two as a leaven to foment distrust of “Geronimo” and start a disintegration and demoralization of the band. “Ka-e-ten-na” told General Crook that all the previous night “Geronimo” kept his warriors ready for any act of treachery on our part, and that during the talk of the 25th they were prepared to shoot the moment an attempt should be made to seize their leaders. It was scarcely noon when “Geronimo,” “Chihuahua,” “Nachita,” “Kutli,” and one other buck came in and said they wanted to talk. “Nané” toddled after them, but he was so old and feeble that we did not count him. Our people gathered under the sycamores in the ravine, while “Geronimo” seated himself under a mulberry, both he and “Kutli” having their faces blackened with pounded galena. “Chihuahua” spoke as follows: “I am very glad to see you, General Crook, and have this talk with you. It is as you say: we are always in danger out here. I hope that from this on we may live better with our families, and not do any more harm to anybody. I am anxious to behave. I think that the Sun is looking down upon me, and the Earth is listening. I am thinking better. It seems to me that I have seen the one who makes the rain and sends the winds, or he must have sent you to this place. I surrender myself to you, because I believe in you and you do not deceive us. You must be our God; I am satisfied with all that you do. You must be the one who makes the green pastures, who sends the rain, who commands the winds. You must be the one who sends the fresh fruits that come on the trees every year. There are many men in the world who are big chiefs and command many people, but you, I think, are the greatest of them all. I want you to be a father to me and treat me as your son. I want you to have pity on me. There is no doubt that all you do is right, because all you say is true. I trust in all you say; you do not deceive; all the things you tell us are facts. I am now in your hands. I place myself at your disposition to dispose of as you please. I shake your hand. I want to come right into your camp with my family and stay with you. I don’t want to stay away at a distance. I want to be right where you are. I have roamed these mountains from water to water. Never have I found the place where I could see my father or mother until to-day. I see you, my father. I surrender to you now, and I don’t want any more bad feeling or bad talk. I am going over to stay with you in your camp.

“Whenever a man raises anything, even a dog, he thinks well of it, and tries to raise it up, and treats it well. So I want you to feel towards me, and be good to me, and don’t let people say bad things about me. Now I surrender to you and go with you. When we are travelling together on the road or anywhere else, I hope you’ll talk to me once in a while. I think a great deal of ‘Alchise’ and ‘Ka-e-ten-na’; they think a great deal of me. I hope some day to be all the same as their brother. [Shakes hands.] How long will it be before I can live with these friends?”

Despatches were sent ahead to Bowie to inform General Sheridan of the conference and its results; the Chiricahuas had considered three propositions: one, their own, that they be allowed to return to the reservation unharmed; the second, from General Crook, that they be placed in confinement for a term of years at a distance from the Agency, and that, if their families so desired, they be permitted to accompany them, leaving “Nané,” who was old and superannuated, at Camp Apache; or, that they return to the war-path and fight it out. “Mangas,” with thirteen of the Chiricahuas, six of them warriors, was not with “Geronimo,” having left him some months previously and never reunited with him. He (General Crook) asked that instructions be sent him with as little delay as possible.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE EFFECTS OF BAD WHISKEY UPON SAVAGE INDIANS—THE WRETCH TRIBOLLET—SOME OF THE CHIRICAHUAS SLIP AWAY FROM MAUS DURING A RAINY NIGHT—THE BURIAL OF CAPTAIN CRAWFORD—CROOK’S TERMS DISAPPROVED IN WASHINGTON—CROOK ASKS TO BE RELIEVED FROM COMMAND IN ARIZONA—“GERONIMO” INDUCED TO COME IN BY THE CHIRICAHUA AMBASSADORS, “KI-E-TA” AND “MARTINEZ”—TREACHERY SHOWN IN THE TREATMENT OF THE WELL-BEHAVED MEMBERS OF THE CHIRICAHUA APACHE BAND.

“Alchise” and “Ka-e-ten-na” came and awakened General Crook before it was yet daylight of March 28th and informed him that “Nachita,” one of the Chiricahua chiefs, was so drunk he couldn’t stand up and was lying prone on the ground; other Chiricahuas were also drunk, but none so drunk as “Nachita.” Whiskey had been sold them by a rascal named Tribollet who lived on the San Bernardino ranch on the Mexican side of the line, about four hundred yards from the boundary. These Indians asked permission to take a squad of their soldiers and guard Tribollet and his men to keep them from selling any more of the soul-destroying stuff to the Chiricahuas. A beautiful commentary upon the civilization of the white man! When we reached Cajon Bonito, the woods and grass were on fire; four or five Chiricahua mules, already saddled, were wandering about without riders. Pretty soon we came upon “Geronimo,” “Kuthli,” and three other Chiricahua warriors riding on two mules, all drunk as lords. It seemed to me a great shame that armies could not carry with them an atmosphere of military law which would have justified the hanging of the wretch Tribollet as a foe to human society. Upon arriving at San Bernardino Springs, Mr. Frank Leslie informed me that he had seen this man Tribollet sell thirty dollars’ worth of mescal in less than one hour—all to Chiricahuas—and upon being remonstrated with, the wretch boasted that he could have sold one hundred dollars’ worth that day at ten dollars a gallon in silver. That night, during a drizzling rain, a part of the Chiricahuas—those who had been drinking Tribollet’s whiskey—stole out from Maus’s camp and betook themselves again to the mountains, frightened, as was afterward learned, by the lies told them by Tribollet and the men at his ranch. Two of the warriors upon sobering up returned voluntarily, and there is no doubt at all that, had General Crook not been relieved from the command of the Department of Arizona, he could have sent out runners from among their own people and brought back the last one without a shot being fired. Before being stampeded by the lies and vile whiskey of wicked men whose only mode of livelihood was from the vices, weaknesses, or perils of the human race, all the Chiricahuas—drunk or sober—were in the best of humor and were quietly herding their ponies just outside of Maus’s camp.

“Chihuahua,” and the eighty others who remained with Maus, reached Fort Bowie on the second day of April, 1886, under command of Lieutenant Faison, Lieutenant Maus having started in pursuit of “Geronimo,” and followed him for a long distance, but unsuccessfully. As “Chihuahua” and his people were coming into Bowie, the remains of the gallant Captain Emmet Crawford were en route to the railroad station to be transported to Nebraska for interment. Every honor was shown them which could indicate the loving tenderness of comrades who had known Crawford in life, and could not forget his valor, nobleness, and high-minded character. General Crook, Colonel Beaumont, Lieutenant Neal, and all other officers present at the post attended in a body. Two companies of the First Infantry, commanded, respectively, by Captain Markland and Lieutenant Benjamin, formed the escort for one-half the distance—seven miles; they then turned over the casket to the care of two companies of the Eighth Infantry, commanded by Captain Savage and Lieutenant Smiley. The detachment of Apache scouts, commanded by Lieutenant Macdonald, Fourth Cavalry, was drawn up in line at the station to serve as a guard of honor; and standing in a group, with uncovered heads, were the officers and soldiers of the Eighth Infantry, Second and Fourth Cavalry, there on duty—Whitney, Porter, Surgeon R. H. White, Ames, Betts, Worth, Hubert, and many others.

Having been detailed, in company with Captain Charles Morton, Third Cavalry, to conduct the remains to the city of Kearney, Nebraska, and there see to their interment, my official relations with the Department of Arizona terminated. I will insert, from the published official correspondence of General Crook, a few extracts to throw a light upon the history of the Chiricahuas. Lieutenant Macdonald informed me, while at Bowie, that the “medicine men” present with his Indian scouts had been dancing and talking with the spirits, who had responded that “Geronimo” would surely return, as he had been stampeded while drunk, and by bad white men. Under date of March 30, 1886, General Sheridan telegraphed to Crook:

“You are confidentially informed that your telegram of March 29th is received. The President cannot assent to the surrender of the hostiles on the terms of their imprisonment East for two years, with the understanding of their return to the reservation. He instructs you to enter again into negotiations on the terms of their unconditional surrender, only sparing their lives. In the meantime, and on the receipt of this order, you are directed to take every precaution against the escape of the hostiles, which must not be allowed under any circumstances. You must make at once such disposition of your troops as will insure against further hostilities, by completing the destruction of the hostiles, unless these terms are acceded to.”