The argus., 1896-01-09
Personal Experiences and Rec
elections of Arizona, Dur
ing the Past Thirty
Three Years.
The establishments of Camp Ord, and
Other Matters Connected
Herewith.
BY A. Il. BASTA.
CHAPTER ".

sequent acts of Captain Barry at
Carlo, on the first and second days
of August, 1869.
During the Navajo war of '62 and
'63, which was mainly carried on by
Kit Carson, the Navajos were finally
subdued and were placed upon the
Pecos reservation, in Southeastern
New Mexico. The Coyotero Apaches
so frequently mentioned in these pa
pers, lived contiguously to the Nava-
jos and were conasant at all times of
governments conduct towards that
tribe-a tribe thought to be invinci-
BILE by the Apaches-and seeing
them completely whipped by the
troops, they too made voluntary
overtures to the military authorities
to be allowed a reservation; and
were in 1864 put on the Pecos reser-
vation along with the Navajos; here
they remained until the summer of
1867, when for good and sufficient
cause were given permission by
Gen. James H. Carleton, then COM
manding the District of New Mex
leo, to return to their own country
on the Carlo, which is thirty-five
miles west of the present Fort
Apache. However when it cane
down to the noble science of thiev-
ing, the Apaches were not in it along
with the Navajos, and as a conse-
quence' the Navajos simply "stole
the Apaches blind" 1t was for this
social peculiaritiy of the Navajos
that General Carleton allowed the
Apaches to return to their mountain
homes; the General giving them pa
pers reciting these facts, which were
to serve the Coyotero Apaches as
protection" papers.
! will now resume the thread of
my narrative. The motive and object
of this military movement was to us
at this time wholly unknown. 1t was
on the night of the 23d of July,
1869, that the first report reached
our camp that soldiers were advanc-
ing into the Apacheria. The even
ing of the oath another Apache run
ner came into camp and reported
that the soldiers were coming and
that "they covered the whole coun-
try" On the evening of the 25th
runner came in and report
ed, "there were so many soldiers
that whilst part of them were yet in
camp the head of the column would
reach to the top of the mountain"
The evening of the 26th auother
runner came in and reported 'the
troops still advancing and as near as
he could count them, thought there
were about four hundred men,"
Early the evening of the 9th, still
runner came, who said, "the
soldiers are encamped at the juno
ton of the two streams; that they
had displayed white flag to him;
and that he had talked with the in
terpreter of the expedition, who
said his party wished to see the In
dians and have a peace talk with
them" All this is given in detail in
order to demonstrate how easy it
would have been for our party, had
we been SO inclined, or in fact any
other party, to have made good their
escape, for we knew of Colonel
Green's daily movements five con-
secutive days prior to his going into
camp at the junction of the east and
west forks of the White river, on
the evening of the 9th day of July,
1869. This may appear incredible to
many, nevertheless it is true, and
for further proof of how far an In
dian can travel on foot in one day, ]
will cite the readers to the custom,
in the early days of the Colorado
Steam Navigation company at Yuma.
The Company would start one of
their steamers down the Colorado
river for Port Ysabel, at the head of
the Gulf of California, distant from
Yuma by the river one hundred and
twenty-five miles. On the third
morning after the steamer had left,
the agent at Yuma would make up a