Arizona weekly citizen., 1891-05-23
APACHES.

question; the Imperative cravings OF the
stomach admit ofvery ecant ceremony;
SO took John Ward in to dinner and
provided him With all the comforts of
q home.
At bed time he asked me if be might
sleep in the front room by the fire; to
which reluctantly consented, taking
good care to lock and bar the door be
tween us.
The next morning after breakfast l
gave John Ward some grub and advised
him to push on to Fort Buchanan on
the Sonoita, where he could probably get
some employment.
He went on to the Sonit3 and took up
a ranch, form ng temporary partnership
with Mexican woman, according to
he customs Of the country at that time.
She had little boy who also appear
ed to be partly of Celtic descent, as he
had a red lead and was nicknamed
"Micky Free"
This probably formed the only matri
monial tie between John Ward and the
Mexican woman.
In the course CT time John Ward got
hay contract, wagon and few yoke
Of oxen and appeared to be thriving al
Uncle Sans expense.
Fort Buchanan was garriscned oy d
portionlof the first regiment Of Dragons
Of which Blake was colonel, Enoch
Stein, maj IF, and Robt. Ewsll, captain
The most of the men were Germans and
could not mount horse wi; b u. q step
ladder.
In the early part of 1858, John Ward
got drunk and beat his stepson aiicky
Free until he ran away to Sonora. Ward
became so blind drunk that he could
not find his oxen; SO he went to the Fort
and complained to Major stein, the
commanding officer, that the Apaches
had stolen his oxen and carried off his
woman's boy.
Major Stein was very good man, and
very capable OF running a saw mill il
Missouri, where he came from.
Major Stein listened To John Wards
tale of woe, and ordered out q detach
ment OF LIST Dragons under Lieut.. Bas
comb, L. S. a., 10 pursue thu Apac5. 6
and recover Micky Free and the oxt n
Bascomb was fine looking young fel.
low, a Kentuckian, West Pointer, and
Of course gentleman; but he WAS un-
fortunately fool; although his uncle
Preacher Bascomh, OF Lexington was
accounted very eminent cleTgl man d
the Presbyter az church. This is a very
iifferent family from Bascomb, Of the
confederate Y roads.
Well. Lieutenant Bascomb's command
pursued some Apaches, who had been
raidIng in Sonora, into the MILESTONE
mountains, where they called a parley.
The Apaches were summoned to
camp under white flag, and, feeling
..erfectly Innocent of having committed
any crime AGAINST the Americans, fear
iessly presented themselves before
Lieutenant Bascomb and has boys in
blue.
They positively denied having seen
the boy or stolen the oxen, and they told
the truth, as was vel known afterwards
but the Lieutenant was not satisfied and
ordered them seized and executed, Co
chise only making his escape by great
bravery.
Four Apache chiefs were seized and
tied.
Cochise lin the Apache dialect, Woodl
managed to get held Of knife which he
had concealed, cut his bonds and escap-
ed.
The Apache war lnaugurated by Co
chise lasted about fourteen years, dur
~, L. y - L.
Territory was retarded, properly destroy
ed and innocent lives sacrificed beyond
computation.
Cochise was a very brave leader, and
having wrecked a terrible vengeance for
the treachery Of the American troops to
the Apaches, died in peace at the Indian
Agency in the Chiracahua Mountains,
in 1874.
Captain Jeffords and Fred Hughes
were with him in his last years.
The war thus inaueurated and con-
Quoted by this Apache Chieftian has
scarcely any parallel in the horrors in
re Indian warfare.
The men, women and killed, the prop
friy destroyed and the detriment TO the
settlement of Arizona can not be com
puted. The cost of the war against Co.
chise would have purchased John Ward
q string OF yokes OF oxen reaching from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, ans as for
his woman's son Micky Free, he after
wards became an Indian scout and in
terpreter and about as Infamous n
scOundrel Is those who generally adorn
that profession. ] am On very friendly
terms with him and ell his family, and
OF Il -. %
his character or of his step father, John
Ward, but TO vindiC ate hist, ry.
esprit du corps" in the army is a
bea ntifnl sentiment, it adorns chivRlry
and hides shame.
The suppression of the History Of
the Apaches," by the Boulangier of the
United States army, illustrates the
esprit 6u corps" The Apaches have
no historian or he could record deeds Of
daring, of chivalry, of bravery no: sung
by Homer, AID / shall certainly never
become cir defender as [ consider
them set of blood thirsty ecroundrels,
made so by wrong.
CHARLES d. PosToH,
P. S. "The History of the Apaches"
was written for the Commanding Gen.
eral Of Arizona five years ago, commenc-
ing with the first accounts OF the Span
iards IN 1913, and terminating with the
surrender of Geronimo, but it's publica-
ZION was considered detrimental to mill
tary prestige, and it Was consequently
suppressed.
There is great deal of manuscript in
the Society OF Arizona Pioneers" and
CO. in H. 4
b 1t the truth has &, ne ally been sup
pressed at Official sources aud the
Apaches have no historian.
1t is an exceedingly dlstasteful sub
lect, affording only a bloody field Of
horrors: and il the government will pay
Indian depreciation claims according to
the Act Of Congress approved 3rd Of
March, 1891, it will be the first honora