Arizona weekly citizen., 1896-02-29
REMINIS cENCEs.
Personal Experiences And Recolec-
lions OF Arizona, Daring The
Past Thtrty-Three Years.
BY A. F. BAnTA, IN ARGUS.

BY A. F. BAnTA, IN ARGUS.
Early in the spring Of 20, Gen. E. o
c. Ord left his headquarters ut Angel Is.
land, Bay Ct San Francisco, CAL, to make
tour OF inspection of al. the military
posts in Arizona. In the meantime, the
name Of the Jew camp was changed from
Camp Ord to that of Camp Mogollon
Upon the return of General Ord to
California, he was ordered to the Rio
Grsnde. and Mayor-Gen. George ii.
Thomas assigned to the Department oil
the Pacific: the military districts oil
Arizona were abolished, and the terri
tory made separate department, with
Observation-Disclosures. George Stone
man assigned to the command OF this
Department. 10 sffecting the above
changes, 1t necessitated an exchange o.
the Eighth Cavalry, then serving 10
Arizona. and the THIRD Cavalry, Serving
10 New Mexico. The five companies OF
the Eighth serving in Northern Arlzona
and under Mayor (Brevet-Brigadier) Al
eEander. left Fort " nipple IN April oil
20, the writer as guide, for Fort Wiz,
gate, N. NJ. 1t was while returning
from this trip, that made my so-cslled
famous ride" bringing back with me
$4,000 for Col. G. G. Bean o. Pr ecott.
AS 20 the ride, l refer you to Capt
Fl. w. Hardy, and the little money affair
to Colonel Bean.] On our trip, we me,
the Third Cavalry at Bear ST. rings, and
he weather being stormy, both com
mands remained here three days. While
in this camp, General Ord, with I'D es,
cort commanded by Lieutenant F. K
Upham, accompanied by the late Dr.
John Q. Handy, came into camp, inspect
ed the outfit, stopped over one night,
and then left for Fort Whipple.
After returning from my New Mexico
trip, and sometime In July, General
Stoneman sent for me to come to his
quarters-then In tents, as were also all
headquarters. Stonem6n asked me il |
could find Camp Mogollou. / replied
that II could try" The Generals reply
was: "Then go, take these dispatches to
Col. John Green, and after you get to
Camp MOgollon, take party and look
out wagon road from that post to OLD
Camp Supply, on the Colorado Chiqui-
to-" one mile above the present town of
HolbrooB. The dis patches, by general
ordere," again changed the name of the
new post from Moaollon to Camp Thorn
as, and upon the arrival of Stoneman at
the post on bis generals tour OF inspection,
another general order" was promulgat-
ed, changing the name from Camp
Thomas, to that OF Camp AT ache, and
then, by Gen. Geo. Crook to "Fort
a nh asn 10 . l. q
day.
Before closing these "Reminiscences
desire to put on record, another das-
tardly act committed by the whites,
caused long bloody Apache war on our
southern corder. What follows is
known to many in the territory, but the
authentic details are known but to one
80 far as ! know. Lieutenant Bascom of
the California Volunteers, under the
segis of the white flag induced Mangos
Colorsdos Red Sleeve), his son Cochise
and three braves to enter bis camp un-
der the pretext Of talking peace"
They were put In the guard house, the
only sdobe house in the camp, aud the
guard instructed, "if they make a move
shoot EN-" The poor fellows lie down
sgsinst the rear wall of the guard house,
and all went we'll until about o'clock
a. m. when one of the "off duty" men,
in order to csuse the Indians to move,
took big stone and going behind the
house, threw it with all his force against
the building where the csptives were ly-
ing. The impact Of the rock caused the
hnlf-Rsleep Indians to make the desired
movement, when their treacherous
guards as per orders from Bascom, fred
upon them killing all but the young
OOchise who made bis miraculous es-
cape. Cochise made his way to the
tribe Of Maneos Colorado, and reported
what mad occurred. He and his band
took an oath before their gods, to devote
their lives to vengence, ard his name be-
came terror throughout all Southern
Ariz ona. This dsstsrdly act of l. cut.
Bascom cost hundreds Of innocent
lives and millions OF government
money before Cochiee was finally
pIscsted by Gen. D. o. Howard at Co.
chise's stronghold in the Dragons. How
we'll Cochise carried out his scheme of
sworn vengeance, leave to all those
who are cogniz mt Of the facts. 1 have
perhaps needlessly drawn this thing
out and been too circumstsntlsl, but
it will be seen that the elimination of
the continued events herein related.
vera the final result of how, why, and
when Fort Apache was established.