Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-17


them better when
they wouldn't. All
his predecessors had found their methods
too slow for so nimble an enemy. Precipi-
tous mountains, jagged and impossible can
yons and scorching deserts all aided the In
dians and hampered the troops. Finally
the Government selected Crook, despite the
fact that be was then only Lieutenant
Colonel, and gave him command of that
dismal department on his brevet rank of
General; sent him regiment of cavalry to
replace one that had had some years of un-
lucky experiences in the territory, and the
General himself took the field and prac-
tically taught the new troopers how to
tackle mountain Indians. He had learned
the trick years before the War of the Rebel
lion. Tribe after tribe and band after
band did he whip into submission and
finally in "A they were nearly all gathered
into great reservations and there remained
out in the mountains of Northeastern
Arizona only few scattered par
ties, prominent among them being
the adherents of two bull-headed
chiefs known as Eskiminzin and Eskeltet-
see. These "hostiles" were nearly all of
the Tonto and Sierra Blanco tribes.
TRAILING INDIANS.
All the spring and summer of IA the Gen
eral had scouting parties of cavalry, each
with its complement of Indian allies for
traiIers, and its little train OF pack mules
hunting through the mountains for these re-
calcitrants, and the orders were, when we
found them, to fight it out then and there.
The two northeasternmoSt stations of the
troops were at that time Camp Verde-some
so miles, by road, east of Prescott, and
Camp Apache, down among the foothills of
the Mogollon range of mountains, and it
was from these points that the detachments
sailed forth on their raids. They also
served as guards for the great Verde and
San Carlos reservations, where thousands of
the once fierce and untamable Apaches we're
now living in apparent peace and content
ment. The older officers renamed in gar.
rison with the infantry and the young
sters" were kept az the tireless work.
I was then First Lieutenant of K troop
of the Fifth Cavalry and stationed at
Verde. We had had some lively fights with
the Apaches along the Black Mesa and
down in the Tonto Basin in May and June,
aud then came a summers rest during
which we hardly had scout. Early in the
autumn, however, 1t was demonstrated that
the renegades, reinforced by some young
men from the reservations were again show
ing in the mountains 10 the southeast of US,
and once more the cavalry were called on to
find and fight them.
I had been making a survey of the mill
tary reservation at Camp Verde and was
busy with nv maps one warm October after
noon when some herders came riding in to
the post and reported to the commanding
officer that war party OF Apaches had
swooped down from the "Red Rock coun-
try northeast of us two days before and had
run off a lot of their cattle. They had
trailed them, supposing at first the cattle
had merely stampeded and strayed but
Tonic moecasin prints soon told the story,
and they came back to give the alarm and
beg that their beef might be recaptured.
A FoRTY-MILE RIDE.
The marauders had big start of course.
but could not go very fast. They had taken
a course indicating that they were making
for the neighborhood of Snow Lake. over
towards the Colorado Chiquito, and in half
an hour 1 was in the saddle and galloping
up the Verde Valley to the Indian reserva-
tion 20 miles away. My orders were to
find nv comrade Lieutenant SCHUYLER. who
was there in command, get Is or 20 Indian
scouts, and return to the post as soon as
possible. Meantime Colonel Mason and
Lieutenant Eaton would organize a party
to be ready to start at day break on the
morrow.
Unluckily, the scouts wanted were gone
and instead of the Apache-MohaYes who
had been my trailers earlier in the season
and good ones too-Schuyler had nothing
to offer but some ApacheYumas whom 1
did not know at all and whom he could not
especially recommend. Even thev were out
hunting somewhere, but he could have them
sent for, armed and equipped and hurried
down TO the garrison that evening. We
turned about, therefore, NV horse and /
and trotted back to the post, arriving there
soon after sunset with appetites for supper,
you may be sure, after our 40 mile iaunt
Meantime 20 men from a and K troops
had been selected, and with Lieutenant
. Eaton for second in command old Harry
Hawes for packmaster, and the Apache Yu-
mas for scouts and trailers was ordered to
start at dawn and recapture the cattle and
''larrup" the cattle thieves. Late that night
while Eaton and l were writing our home
letters sometimes our officers and men
never wrote again after these affairs) we
heard clatter of hoofs coming up the hill
behind our adobe quarters, and the Apache
Yumas arrived. They were given some
thing to eat and place to camp for the
night and then we, too, turned in for a
snooze.
At $3.50 in the morning we were up again,
dressed in our rough and serviceable mount
ain rig, and at 5-just as the trumpets were
sounding first call for reveille we filed out
from the corrals forded the Verde river
and rode swiftly away northeastward. NV
purpose was to go as far as Arnold's ranch;
bivouac there until dusk; then begin the as
cent of the mountains when the sharpest
eyed lookouts of the Indians could not see
us. OF course all the reservations knew by
o. this time that a party was going out, and
that our scouts were most reluctant to 90
with us.
ROUGH RIDING.
Winding up the valley of Beaver creek in
the early morning, we had reached the
ranch at 8 o'clock and unsaddied in the
prove at the edge of the stream. Here we
hid all day long while Eaton and 1 had
talk with Wales Arnold, the owner, about
the trail over the mountains. There was
fair road, but a very roundabout one, leav-
ing the valley some miles to the north and
making a wide circuit, sweeping around
east of us to Stoneman's Lake, some 40 miles
away.
Just at dusk we saddled, mounted and
with "good. luck to you" from Arnold and
his ranch people, away we went. There
was no moon and, though crisp starlit
night, it was very dark when we began our
climb up the rocky sides of the first canyon
and the ascent Of the range. Riding in
. Arizona for mountain scouting PURPOSES