Chiricahua

“ There were no troops stationed on the Chiricahua reservation to keep the unruly young bucks in order, or protect the honest and well-meaning savages from the rapacity of the white vultures who flocked around them, selling vile whiskey in open day. All the troubles of the Chiricahuas can be traced to this sale of intoxicating fluids to them by worthless white men. ”

“ Again, when the ranch was opened the Indians were bad in the vicinity and had been actively hostile for some time. The ranch is on a part of the old Chiricahua reservation that was once the home and hunting grounds of the tribe of Chiricahua Apaches, the most bold and warlike of all the southwest Indians. Cochise was their greatest warrior, but he was only one among many able Apache chieftains. He was at one time the friend of the white man, but treachery aroused his hatred and caused him to seek revenge on every white man that crossed his path. ”

“ The Apache scouts passed the time agreeably enough in gambling with the Chiricahuas, whom they fleeced unmercifully, winning hundreds of dollars in gold, silver, and paper at the games of monte, conquien, tzi-chis, and mushka.
The attractive pools of the Bávispe wooed groups of white soldiers and packers, and nearly the whole strength of the Chiricahua women and children, who disported in the refreshing waters with the agility and grace of nereids and tritons. The modesty of the Apaches of both sexes, under all circumstances, is praiseworthy. ”

“ Everybody in Arizona knows that. You see it yourself, Cheemie. You read the talking papers. The talking papers of Mexico say that the Chiricahua from Arizona are sneaking down there and stealing cattle. That is true. Even Gatewood is getting afraid. He is losing Chiricahua all the time; they go somewhere and his counts are always different. I think he will move to Fort Apache. It is only twelve miles, and he will be safer.
“The Geronimo Chiricahua see that the San Carlos Apaches and the White Mountains are unhappy, with two fathers bossing them. So they trade their goods for whiskey and guns. ”

“ The time, he said, had come to see whether he or this man Sparks administered the law in Chiricahua.
The pair of Rangers arrived on the morning train, on the day following the disaster. They went straight from the depot to the water-swept ravine. Before noon they caught twelve Mexicans, some of them in the very act of robbery, others with damning evidence against them. They took the prisoners to the Chiricahua jail, then went back to the scene of devastation. They busied themselves in bringing order and in caring for the refugees and the sick. ”

“ The Chiricahua have no police, no soldiers, no anything over them; they do as they please. This is not fair, the White Mountains think. Did you know that Major Brown and Lieutenant Bourke have been to see Cochise? ”

“ The eldest said that her people had been astounded and dismayed when they saw the long line of Apache scouts rushing in upon them; they would be still more disconcerted when they learned that our guide was “Peaches,” as familiar as themselves with every nook in strongholds so long regarded as inaccessible. Nearly all the Chiricahua warriors were absent raiding in Sonora and Chihuahua. This young squaw was positive that the Chiricahuas would give up without further fighting, since the Americans had secured all the advantages of position. ”

“ Agents prove dishonest, the Indians are not encouraged to work, and are robbed of their rations.
The Chiricahuas are generally peaceful, although Mexico complains that stock is being stolen and run across the border into the reservation. Chief Cochise, who has kept his word with General Howard, dies in 1874. Taza his son succeeds him, as leader of the Chiricahua peace party, until his death in 1876.
In April, 1876, whiskey is sold to some Chiricahuas, at a stage station on the reservation. A fight ensues, and killings occur. The great majority of the Chiricahuas refuse to join in any outbreak. ”

“ All were anxious for a fight which should bring this Chiricahua trouble to an end; we had an abundance of ammunition and a sufficiency of rations for a pursuit of several days and nights, the moon being at its full.
Shortly after dark Crawford and his command came into camp. They had “jumped” “Bonito’s” and “Chato’s” rancherías, killing nine and capturing five—two boys, two girls, and one young woman, the daughter of “Bonito,” without loss to our side. From the dead Chiricahuas had been taken four nickel-plated, breech-loading Winchester repeating rifles, and one Colt’s revolver, new model. ”

“ Camps had been changed frequently, for the Chiricahuas did not remain long in any one spot. He had not seen Red-head in several months. According to Nah-che the soldiers were getting more numerous, and were fighting all the Apaches—the Chiricahuas and the Tontos and the Yavapais or Apache-Mohaves and the Mogollons: all who would not settle down at peace like the White Mountains and the Warm Springs.
Part of the winter had been spent in Mexico, but just now the camp had been located again amidst the Chiricahua Mountains. Most of the warriors were out on a big raid, under Cochise and Geronimo. ”

“ The old and the little ones could not walk. The Chiricahuas had many ponies and donkeys grazing in the different cañons. Why not remain one week longer? “Loco” and all the other Chiricahuas would then have arrived; all the ponies would be gathered up; a plenty of mescal and pony-meat on hand, and the march could be made securely and safely. But if General Crook left the Sierra Madre, the Mexicans would come in to catch and kill the remnant of the band, with whom “Hieronymo,” would cast his fortunes. ”

“ The Chiricahuas had plenty of horses and cattle, but little food of a vegetable character. They were finely provided with sixteen-shooting breech-loading rifles, but were getting short of ammunition, and had made their recent raid into Arizona, hoping to replenish their supply of cartridges. Dissensions had broken out among the chiefs, some of whom, he thought, would be glad to return to the reservation. In making raids they counted upon riding from sixty to seventy-five miles a day as they stole fresh [16] horses all the time and killed those abandoned. ”

“ One small party of eleven (11) hostile Chiricahuas, during the period from November 15th, 1885, to the present date, has killed twenty-one (21) friendly Apaches living in peace upon the reservation, and no less than twenty-five (25) white men, women, and children. This bloody raid has been conducted through a country filled with regular troops, militia, and “rangers,”—and at a loss to the enemy, so far as can be shown, of only one man, whose head is now at Fort Apache. ”

“ The Chiricahuas are now on the San Carlos reservation, far removed from their stronghold, surrounded by all the available forces of the United States army and a thousand faithful Indian allies. The future of these Chiricahuas, who will henceforth disappear from the view of the world, can be fairly estimated by that of the other Apache Indians. Little over five years ago, the whole Apache race was at war with the whites; but six thousand of them were subdued by General Crook, and placed on the San Carlos reservation, since which time there have been few outbreaks, and these of short duration. ”

“ Arizona whitetail deer are numerous in the Chiricahuas, and in the monument, where they are protected, they become accustomed to man and are frequently seen. Coatimundi and peccary are increasing in numbers. Rodents are common, as are birds of many species. ”

“ We marched back as rapidly as the condition of the stock and the strength of the women and children would permit. We found the country depopulated for a distance of one hundred miles from the Apache stronghold. The Chiricahuas insist that they have always lived in the Sierra Madre, and that even when the main body went on the reservation some remained behind in the mountains. Of those who now go out, there are a number who state that they have never been on the reservation. ”

“ They have ramified among the other Apaches to such an extent that it is impossible to exercise jurisdiction over them without exercising it over the others as well. At the same time trusted Indians of the peaceful bands are better enabled to keep the scattered Chiricahuas under constant surveillance, while the incentive to industry and good conduct which the material prosperity of the settled Apaches brings to the notice of the Chiricahuas is so palpable that it is hardly worth while to allude to it. ”

“ Nearly all the tribes have been brought into the United States reservations except the Chiricahuas, whose haunts were the almost inaccessible fastnesses of the Sierra Madre Mountains in Northwestern Chihuahua and Northeastern Sonora, where rocky gorges, deep canons, and pine-crested heights gave them ample security. With their homes in this vast wilderness, whose solitudes were ever penetrated by whites or Mexicans until last year, they have ravaged the territory on both sides the border line ever since it was first inhabited by a Christian population. ”

“ The nights remained cool and refreshing throughout the trip, and, after the daily march or climb, soothed to the calmest rest.
On the 5th of May the column reached the feeble, broken-down towns of Bávispe and Basaraca. The condition of the inhabitants was deplorable. Superstition, illiteracy, and bad [50] government had done their worst, and, even had not the Chiricahuas kept them in mortal terror, it is doubtful whether they would have had energy enough to profit by the natural advantages, mineral and agricultural, of their immediate vicinity. ”

“ If they came upon scattered parties of the hostiles they would attack boldly, kill as many as they could, and take the rest back, prisoners, to San Carlos. Should the Chiricahuas be intrenched in a strong position, they would engage them, but do nothing rash, until reinforced by the rest of the command. General Crook told them they must be careful not to kill women or children, and that all who surrendered should be taken back to the reservation and made to work for their own living like white people. ”

“ On the 24th of May the march back to the San Carlos began. All the old Chiricahuas were piled on mules, donkeys, and ponies; so were the weak little children and feeble women. The great majority streamed along on foot, nearly all wearing garlands of cotton-wood foliage to screen them from the sun. The distance travelled was not great, and camp was made by noon. ”

“ The Chiricahuas were followed with such sleuth-like pertinacity that even the endurance of the red men found its limit. The hardy old chief was given no time to rest or recruit; his followers were forced to keep moving until they yielded. But, even when reduced to such straits, Geronimo succeeded in making terms with his captors. ”

“ Within a few years, 4500 Indians were concentrated at San Carlos. The Chiricahuas, unsettled and forever yearning to get back to the scene of their marauding along the emigrant road to the southward and in Mexico, constantly were slipping away from the reservation by individuals and by bands, and their highway usually was up the river. In the early eighties the settlers along the Gila lived forever in terror of the savage foe. The military was efficient. ”

“ On several occasions a number of them returned to the San Carlos, or pretended to do so, but the recesses of the Sierra Madre always afforded shelter to small bands of renegades of the type of “Ka-e-tan-ne,” who despised the white man as a liar and scorned him as a foe. The unfortunate policy adopted by the Government towards the “Warm Springs” Apaches of New Mexico, who were closely related to the Chiricahuas, had an unhealthy effect upon the latter and upon all the other bands. ”

“ If you come you will not be harmed, but if you do not come you will be killed.”
This set the Chiricahuas on the cliff to thinking. Evidently now that they had found their best camping-place occupied, and so many of the other Chiricahuas surrendered, they did not know quite what to do. As Frank Monach remarked: “That’s a heap joke. Expect we look mighty comfortable, at our little love-feast.”
Within about an hour, the Apaches came down. It was Geronimo, all right—he, and Nah-che, and Chato, and thirty-three warriors. ”

“ We found six Mexican captives,—five women and one child,—taken in Chihuahua early in May. They are now with the command. These women say they were captured near the Mexican Central Railroad, at a place called Carmen. They further state that when the Chiricahuas discovered that the Apache scouts were in the country they became greatly alarmed, and abandoned on the trail the three hundred head of cattle they were driving away from points in Western Chihuahua. The cattle were afterward picked up and driven off by a body of Mexicans. ”

“ Here no human foe could hope to conquer them. Notwithstanding this security of position, “Peaches” asserted that the Chiricahuas never relaxed vigilance. No fires were allowed at night, and all cooking was done at midday. Sentinels lurked in every crag, and bands of bold raiders kept the foot-hills thoroughly explored. Crossing [67] Bávispe, the trail zigzagged up the vertical slope of a promontory nearly a thousand feet above the level of the water. Perspiration streamed from every brow, and mules and horses panted, sweated, and coughed ”

“ Some of the Chiricahuas then mounted and rode away, and not long after a body of Indians came galloping up. A powerfully-built man, fully armed with rifle, revolvers and knife, dismounted and first took Jefferds by the hand, and then turned and frankly greeted the General. The details of that interview, of the stay of the treaty-party in the stronghold as Cochise's guests, for two days ”