The true northerner., 1886-10-28

Extracts from Gen. Miles Re-
port to the War De-
partment.
Experience OF the Troops on the Trail
Three Days without
RatiOns.
Washington special

wv oohihBboh opoclhi
The controversy as to what assurance
Gen. Miles gave Geronimo and his band
is settled by the following, which is Gen.
Miles own language, and is an extract
from his last annual report:
The efforts of a small party of Indians
to get through the lines south of Bowie,
near the boundary, and their action in not
committing any depredatIons, indicated q
desire to surrender or get past the troops
TO the agency. When near Fronteras
there was some communication between
the Indians and the local authorities re-
garding terms of peace, but it amounted
to nothing, as the Indians would not place
themselves in the hands of the Mexicans.
At the request of Captain Lawton joined
his command on the evening Of September
3, at Skeleton Canyon, n fayorite resort of
the Indians in former years, and well suited
by name and tradition TO witness the clos
ing scenes of such an Indian war. While
en- route to join Lawtons command. Gero-
nimo had sent his own brother with the in
terpreter to Fort Bowie to see me, and if
not as hostage, as an assurance Of their
submission and desire to surrender, and as
nm earnest of good faith. Soon after
reaching Lawton's command, Geronimo
came into our camp and dismount-
ed then, coming forward unarmed,
he recounted his grievance, and the
cause of his leaving the reservation.
Immediately before and after the surrender
several official communications were re-
ceived regarding these Indians, but their
surrender was IN accordance with measures
l had taken and directions given to bring it
about months before, and the direct result
of the intrepid zeal and indefatigable
efforts OF the troops in the field; when they
surrendered they had not ammunition
enough to make another fight. At the time
referred TO / did not suppose that the In
dians who surrendered or were captured
would in any marked degree be considered
different from those hostile Indians who
had in the past surrendered to others and
TO myself in other parts of the country.
Such men as NatcheZ and GeIonimo occupy
the same status as Red Cloud, who led the
Fort Fetterman massacre; Chief Joseph,
Rain in the Face, Spotted Eagle, Sitting
Bull and thousands of others, many Of
whom have burned and mutilated their liv-
ing victims.
The report gives in some detail and very
graphically accounts of the experience of
the troops in pursuing the Indians and of
the fighting that occurred. In speaking of
one Of the pursuits through Arizona he
says:
In this pursuit Lieut.. Brett displayed
great energy and determination. The In
dians, going over the roughesl mountains,
breaking down one set of horses, would
abandon them and pass straight over the
highest ranges and steal others in the VAL
leys below, while the troops, in order 10 pur-
sue them, were obliged to send their horses
aroun the impossible mountain heights
and follow the trail on foot, climbing in
the ascent and sliding in the descent. He
went at one time twenty-six hours without
halt and was without water during eighteen
hours in the int nse heat of that season.
OF Capt. Lawtons pursuit he says:
From that time Capt. Lawton, with fresh
command, assumed the arduous and diff
cult task of pursuing them continuously
through the broken mountainous country
of Sonora for nearly three months
a portion of the command leading ON the
trail were without rations five days, three
days being the longest continuous peri d.
! They subsisted on two or three deer killed
! by the scouts and mule meat without SALT
Gen. Miles meant, from the first, to get
| oil the dangerous Indians out of the two
/ Territories, as is shown by the following
extract:
Soon after assuming command of the
! department, | became convinced that there
could be no permanent peace or lasting
/ settlement of the chronic condition OF the
warfare that had for centuries afflicted the
territories now comprising Arizona and
New Mexico and the bordering Mexican
states until the hostile Apache Indians then
on the war-path were captured or de-
stroyed, and those at the agencies entirely
removed from that mountainous region.
The trails they had made in past years
showed that their raids had been from the
agency through the settlements and back
again to that source of evil, and every few
years their boys became full-hedged war
ricrs, who, in order TO achieve distinction
according to the traditions and practices of
their fathers, were compelled to commit
savage acts of devastation.
Mangus' Band Captured.
Washington dispatch.l
/ - IL Z