Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-06-04
MILITARY FACTS.


 o Lieutenant Colonel George 4. Forsyth e 4th Cavalary, through General Pope il b these words "1he Lieutenant Genera
 commanding desires to express to vol e his great qualification of the successful . results obtained from the indefatigabl, r. pursuit of tie hostile Apaches bl '- Lieutenant Colonel George 4. Fursytl and his command. He believes the re suit obtained is dae to the careful man U agement of Colonel Mackenzie com D mandiuC the district of New Mexico and e Lieutenant Colonel Forsyth in keep, ing scouts in Mexico to watch the move. ments of the Indians and by arriving a;
 a special understanding for cooperation
 with the Mexican military commands l, on the border. The Lieutenant General tenders especially hIs thanks to Lieuten-
 ant Colonel Forsyth and the officers
 and men of his command and the off cers and men of Major Tupper's com
 mand who were assOclated with him. In the first place, is Tupper deserving
 of the congratulations of the General of
 the army for what be did on April 18th? We know that Tupper followed the
 Apaches for three days and four nights
 before he overlook them; that he travel
 ed day and night with the exception of
 one night; that the men of his command
 ate only four meals during the entire
 trip; that he attacked the Apaches with but thirty nine soldiers and forty-five
 scouts; that he fought for seven hours;
 that he killed seventeen bucks and Seven
 squaws because they were visible to
 those in the fight; that he captured
 seventy-four head Of stock. However
 preiudiced be may be, ID one can q ubt
 that Tupper and his command are high
 ly deserving of the congratulations of
 the General of the Army. Now let us
 see what Forsyth has done. On April
 23, with command of 300 men, he at
 tackled the Apaches near Stein's Peak.
 He fought for three and a half hours and
 then withdrew his entire command to
 get some water. There was water on
 the ground where the fight took place,
 and it was exactly wbat the Apaches
 were fighting for and successful in ob-
 taining. The Apaches, after getting as | much water as they wanted, crossed the | San Simon valley and reached the Chir- | Icahua mountains after travelling about ! thirty miles. After withdrawing and
 getting some water about seven miles
 away, Col Forsyth started in pursuit | of the Apaches but he took the back traIl | to San Carlos and did not find out that | the Apaches, after killing forty-two citi- | Zens, had not gone back to the agency l till he met Captain Gordon Of the Sixth | Cavalry. Since Forsyth followed the back trail only abOut twenty miles, of l course DO one could make any objection, for he did not reach the agency before | he found out his mistake. Ire truth Of | the matter IS, that he, with 300 men, | through ignorance or fear permitted the | Apaches to travel uDdis,uIbed dis | tance of thirty miles across Q broad lev ! el'plain. Al Eoon on April 23, Col. For ! syth attacked tie Apache near Stein's | Peak. about seven miles from the rail
 road. Why did he not send a courier Co | the station with dispatch to Maj. Perry, ! 9th Cavalry, then at Wilcox station with
 large command ready to step into the | cars at any mOmert and land near ! Stein's Peak within three hours? What
 was Forsyth's object in keeping the
 whereabouts of the Apaches concealed | from Maj. Perry? It Is only due to Col. ! Forsyth's extreme jealousy and inor- dinary selisinesS tn tt ths Apaches are
 to-day at large and ready to spill the
 blood of hundreds of citizens who help
 to support him and who are forced to
 expect protection at his hands. Forum
 ately Major Perry is an officer of foe sight and he distributed his troops in
 such a manner that 1t would have been 1 impossible for the Apaches to reach their stronghold in Mexico without fight.
 Major Perry never did receive any in-
 formation from Forsythe, but hearing of
 the Apaches at Galeyville, he started Tupper and RafTerty in pursuit and they overlook them in MeKIcO and damaged them as u'entioned above. The Indian
 scouts claimed fifty killed and wounded.
 Some squaws captured by the Mexicaus
 told Forsyth that no Indians we q
 killed at Stein's Peak. One said that
 two bucks were killed, anotler that two sGuaws were killed and a third said that
 thirteen bucks were killed, so Forsyth
 took the third squaw's story and reported
 thirteen bucks killed at Stein's Peak.
 Some of the squaws said that Tupper had killed none, some that he had killed
 seven and one said he had killed a
 bucks, so Forsyth reports that Tupper killed seven bucks, while Tupper who took no notice of anything the squaw
 said, reported the number he saw dead
 on the ground If Forsyth killed a
 single Indian he knows nothing about 1t.
 All of his dead bucks walked of in good
 health and feeling iubilant over their
 defeat of the big command that had
 made such an inClorious fight. Gen.
 Sheridan expresses his great gratihca
 ton to Forsyth for his "indefatigable
 pursuit" Forsyth made day marches
 and slept at nIght although be felt very
 very uneasy. He killed several horses
 by riding them during the day and ty ing
 them to a stake at night in camp where
 there was no water. A locomotive would
 soon hang up on the wayside If Forsyth
 should straddle it and do by it as he dii
 by his horses. By making dry camps as Forsyth did it is no trouble to kill horses. But Forsyth's pursuit was ''in- , defatigable" all the same, because he l put his name to as many ridiculous dis l patches as he possibly could. Tupper's 7 pursuit failed to be "indefatigable" be- cause he travelled day and night, with
 the excepti of one night, until he over- , took the Apaches and without losing 8 horse. Tupper would have been all . right if be had stopped where there was no water, because in that case he would
 have lost all his horses without overtak. l ing the Apaches and his pursuit would I have been truly "indefatigable" Gen l Sheridan believes the good result ob, 5 tainsd is due to the careful management . of Col. Mackenzie and Lieut. Col. For. Q syth in keeping scouts in Mexico tC