, 1888-07-21
CAUGHT BY BUN FLASHES.
Use of the HcIIograph In Gen. Miles
Apache Campaign.


Apache mpa
AT this stage of the campaign Gen.
Miles decided to make use of the signal
service, and to this end requested the
chief signal officer to provide him with a
detail of men from the corps to report to
the commanding general Of the depart
ment of Arizona for military signal duty
in the field. Signal stations were located
on the highest peaks along the line of
communication. Each station was equip
ped with from two to four operators, ac-
cording to the amount of business which
passed through it. In addition to these
operators there were lookout men who
swept the surrounding country and
neighboring peaks with powerful field
glasses. While on duty operators and
lookout men were guarded by a detach-
ment of infantry, the numerical strength
Of which depended upon the location Of
the station, having reference to its liabil-
ity to attack by hostiles.
Messages were transmitted from peak
to peak and down into the valleys by
what is known as the photographic system
of signals. The heliograph, or sun
writer, consists of an arrangement of
mirrors mounted on a tripod, and SO
adjusted as to enable the operator to
throw a flash of reflected sunlight on a
distant point with mathematical exact
ness. In making signals long and short
sun flashes take the place of the dots
and clashes" of the magnetic sounder,
the same call being used for both instru-
ments. In q clear atmosphere signals
made by this instrument can be easily
read by the naked eye at a distance of
eighty miles, and by an expert operator
at the rate of fifteen words per minute.
To and fro across the valleys and
lower mountain ranges fitted the mes
sages which told of the recent where
abouts of the hostiles, and close upon the
heels of those messages came others or
dering the troops in pursuit.
l presume it would be a difficult task
to try to imagine the surprise that the
Indians felt when they suddenly saw that
they could not move without finding that
almost Immediately their trail would be
cut by scouting cavalry. They saw the
light of the Photograph flashing across the
valleys, but they did not at first compre-
bend its true significance. At last they
began to associate those flashes with the
fact that they were constantly being
pressed and harassed, and within two
weeks from the date Of the establishment
Of the Photograph they fed southwark
across the Sonora border, there to remain
until chased back again by Capt. Lawton
TO the place of surrender.
For nearly two months following the
flight of the hostiles into Mexico not a
sound came back from the shadows Of
the Sierra Madres, into whose depths pur-
sued and pursuers had disappeared. At
last, on a ~soorching not morning near the
close of August, a Mexican courier gal
Hoped into Bisbee-a mining town near
the border-with the Intelligence that
Geronimo and band were In the mount
aims about twelve miles from Fronteras,
Mex, wishing to treat with the authori-
ties of Sonora.
There was a ~heliograph station at Bis
bee, and the information furnished by
the 'Greaser" was flashed promptly to
Fort Bowie, seventy-five miles away.
Within two hour from lifetime of. the
arrival of the Mexican courier at Bisbee
five troops of cavalry were making
forced marches on Fronteras. When
Geronimo had escaped from the net that
the. United States troops sought to
around him at Fronteras, and was flying
eastward, pursued by all the cavalry in
the field, a whisper passed along the line
ld NEGOTIATIONS "a DCCl OptL6u lOOh-
ing to the surrender of the hostiles.
Consequently all signal men were on the
dptoe of expectancy.
One evening, about the list of August,
the operators at u station in the Swiss
helm mountains were nodding lazily
under the shelter of their tent fly, when
suddenly from the highest peak in the
Chiricahua range came the flash of n
heliograph, and the following message
was received:
''Send a blackboard to meet me at
Scott Whites ranch. 1 shall be in
Bowe tonight. and shall bring some In
dams with me-"
This is the modest manner in which
Gen. Miles announced the surrender of
Geronimo. That the employment of the
Photograph was a most important factor
in bringing the campaign to a speedy and
successful issue is generally conceded
Sergt. Whitney in Louisville Courier
Journal.