The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-07-21
The Bufehery Of Friendly Indians at
Camp Grant, arizona
DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE
Indians Who Want to Live at Peace
Not Permitted to Do So!
OFFICIAL REPORT OF LIEUT.. WHITMAN
100 Women and Children Murdered in Cold
frif Blood Under Our Flag! lel7

q. s.. Cavalry, whose command occupied
Camp Grant at the time of the butchery
After describing at length the manner il
which the Indians, to the number of 500
1 had been gathered at the camp, their in
dustry and good behavior, the pledges
made by the government of protection,
Lieutenant Whitman says:
The ranchmen in this vicinity were friend
ly and kind 10 them, and felt perfectly
secure, and had agreed with me to employ
them at a fair rate of pay to harvest their
barley. The Indians seem to have lost
their characteristic anxiety to purchase am
munition, and had, in many instances. sold
their best bows and arrows. made fire.
quent visits to their camp, and if any were
absent from count, made it my business to
know Why ,,,,-. !; t5,...tf tis "a.
Such was. the condition of things up to
the morning OF the Both of April. They
had so won ON me, that from my first idea
of treating them justly and honestly as an
officer of the army, had come to feel a
strong personal interest in helping to show
them the way to- a higher civilization.
had come to feel respect for men, who,
ignorant and naked, were still ashamed to
lie or steal, and for women who would
work cheerfully like slaves to clothe them
selves and children, but, untaught, held
their virtue above price. Aware of the
lies and hints industriously circulated by
the puerile press of. the Territory, / was
content to kno,o Ihad positive proof that
they were so. t..
| had ceased to have any fears of their
leaving here, and only dreaded for them
chat they might at any time be ordered to
do so. They frequently expressed anxiety
to hear from the General, that they might
have confidence to build for themselves
better houses, but would always say, ''You
know what we want, and if you can't see
him you can write and do for us what you
can." 1t is possible that during this time
individuals from here had visited other
bands, but that any number had ever
been out to assist in any marauding expe-
dition | know is false. n 80
THE BUTCHERY. ,..a.
On the morning of April 80 | was at
breakfast at 1880 o'clock, when dispatch |
was brought to me by sergeant of COM
pany 7, Twenty-first infantry, from Cap
tain Penn, commanding Camp Lowell, in |
forming me that a large party had left Tuc-
son on the 2Sth, with the avowed purpose |
OF killing all the Indians at this post, linn
mediately sent the two interpreters, mount
ed, to the Indian: camp, with orders to tell I
the chiefs the exact state of things, and for
them to bring their entire party inside the
post. LAS had no cavalry, and but about |
fifty infantry, (all recruits) and no other Of |
ficer, | could not leave the post to go their
defence. My messengers returned in about |
an hour, with intelligence that they
COULD FIND NO LIVING INDIANS.
Their camp was burning and the ground
strewed with their dead and mutilated We
mel and children. I Immediately mounted
q party of about twenty soldiers and cit-
zens, and sent them with the post surgeon,
with wagon, to bring in the wounded, if
any could be found. The party returned
late in the evening, having found no wound
ed, and without being able to communicate
with any of the survivors. Early the next
morning took a similar party with spades
and shoyels, and went out and buried all
the dead, I'M and Immediately about the
camp. | had the day before offered the in
or any one who could do so,
800 to 60 to the mountains and communi-
cate with them, and convince them that no
officer or soldier of the United States gov
had been concerned in the vile
and falling in this, | Thought
the act ofcaring for their dead would be an
evidence to them Of our sympathy, at least,
md the conjecture proved correct for
while at work many of them came to the
spot and indulged in their
OF GRIEF, TOO WILD TO BE
DESCRIBED.
That evening they began to come in from
III directions, singly and in small parties, so
changed in forty-eight hours as to be hardly
recognizable, during which time they had
neither eaten nor slept. Many of the men,
whose families had all been Killed, when [
spoke to them, and expressed sympathy for
hem, were obliged to turn away, unable to
speak, and too proud to show their grief.
The women whose. children had been killed
II stolen were convilsedS with grief, and
ooked to me appealmgly,s as though was
heir last hopeon earth.s Children who two 4
lays before had been full of fun and frolicd
Kept at u distance, expressing wondering
l6rror. did what could / fed them,
md talked to them, and listened patiently
% their accounts. / sent horses into the
to bripg in two badly-wounded
women, one shot through the left lung and
'ne with an arm shattered. These were
attended to, and. are doing well, and will
'ecover. Their camp was surrounded and
attacked at daybreak. So sudden and un-
expected was it, that no one was awake to Z
1--WE the alarm, and found quite a number
If ~ III r tTri.fst r-TT77I9
WOMEN. SHOT WHILE ASLEEP
beside their bundles of hay which they had
TO bring in on that morning. The
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