The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-01-14

spect-An Assignment That This
ORcer IL Not Likely to Forget In
q Hurry. -. 49,
s .I1aiian scouts are useful, Indispensable
1insfact, In scannpai gning against certain
tribes Of the Western plains and noun
tains,' said an army officer who has
seen service all along the Western from
tier from Canada to the Mexican line and
across 1t. He told 1t to the New York
Sun. "Our regular 5oldiers are fine
fighters, as good as any ~ the world
patient, brave and enduring, and they
have no trouble in d!sposi:ig of Indians
under amy fair odds once they can bring
them to battle; but just here Is the
trouble, to catch them. The Indians, born
and bred in the"country, knowing every
foot Of it, accustomed to warfare and to
moving swiftly over wide spaces, end
hampered by no baggage train or other
inpedimenta can keep away from a
greatly superior pursuing force OF civil
llzed soldiers for a long time. If they de-
eide to fight they. are able usually to
choose their own place and time for Civ
ing battle. This is especially true of the
Apaches. who have been the most in
Veterately hostile and the hardest to deaf
with Of all the Western tribes. It Is In
the blood Of an Apache to live by rapine
and plumber, and he Is physically organ
lied and trained to that end. He can
run sixty miles day over country open
or rough, taking it as he finds it, for a
week on stretch, finding his subsistence
as he goes; can hide himself anywhere
almost that a ground lizard can, and
knows every trick of lodging or following
or getting away from an enemy
"Of all our Indians the Apaches have
been employed the most as scouts for the
regular army, and without their services
In this way the government might have
tailed to this day in making the. south
west territories, New Mexico and Ari-
iona, safely habitable for white settlers.
In first organizing this service men from
one Apache tribe were enlisted to fight
those or another tribe Later, when all
the Apache tribes had been put on reser-
Vat1ons, the Indian scouts and police were
found quite as ready to perform their
Guty with their own tribesnen as with
offenders of another tribe. When called
on to take the field against hostile In
dams they fully match them in cunning
1'u uey Know eNGry.rm move
OF the enemy, can trail him night and
day and fight him in his own fashion
when they come up with him. Almost
without exception the Apache scouts have
been loyal TO the government and have
done their duty brayely and faithfully.
But their usefulness depends greatly up
on the qualities of the officer who leads
them. They must first and foremost re-
spect him, and any suspicion of timidity
or lack Of prompt decision in his behavior
forfeits his efficient control over them,
ard may be even dangerous to his safety.
Nowhere is force Of character, pure and
simple, more appreciated and bowed to
than among Indians, and in dealing with
them in friendship or war the lack of
it Is fatal.
1T, was about the time that Gen. Crook
wound up his famous campaigns against
the ADaches that I came with my new
lieutenant's commission to Camp Bowie,
Arizona. Crook had whipped the Apaches
out and out, had killed a great many, and
had corralled all the tribes in reserva-
lions except a few warriors. q remnant
of Cochise's old band, who had refused
to surrender and had gone into the Sierra
Madres across the Mexican border. where
he could not reach them. The Apaches,
for the time being, had enough Of fight
Ing, and SO things were quiet for a while.
This gave me time to pick up some Span
ish and Apache words for use with the
Indian scouts before I was called on to
leac them anywhere. I had the chance
to go as junior officer a scouting expe-
dition or two, and so got a little the hang
Of the thing before I was assigned to the
command Of scouts myself.
1T was in early autumn that got my
first orders to go out with a. detail of
Apaches to scout the Chiricahua noun
tains southwark as far as the Mexican
line and return by way of the San ST.
mon plain. 1t was difficult country,
wholly new to me, as it was to most men
then, and, to make the thing worse, there
had just been shifting of scouts at the
post, and there was not a man in my
command that I knew except Casimiro
Grijalba, a Mexican, who acted as inter-
prefer. But of course I took my assign
ment thankfully, made my acquisitions
for ten days trip, and rode out Of the
post the next morning into the southwest
opening of Apache pass, sitting very
straight on my horse, with Grjalba rid
ing by my side and twenty Apache scouts
stringing along on foot behind.
1--WE camped that night on the San Pc
dro, and the next morning took Into the
mountains. The country after passing
the foothills was horribly rough, and
there was only one man in my command
who owned to having been in the noun
tains before. He was a half-MeXican
Apache called Durango, the least to be
trusted OF any. t1LlE Oh my men might
have fought or hunted through and
through the whole range, and known
every pass and spring and valley in it;
but that sort Of knowledge an Indian
keeps to himself, and until he knows and
trusts his commander he simply follows
iris orders and leaves him. without so
much as a hint of assistance. to find his
Dwn way I knew too much bS this time
no show a sign of hesitancy, an9, helped
by Grijalba, an admirable and l1'1st-
worthy man. I picked out my route, good
or bad, riding ahead into all sorts of
places, scanning the ground and sky for
Indian sign, and generally making a
grand bluff of knowing everything about
everything for effect upon my men. Per-
haps 1 overdid the thing, for on the third
day I began to notice a change in the
behavior Of the scouts. They had started
briskly from Camp Bowie, as pleased. ap-
,parently. as a pack of hunting dogs at
taking a trail. For the first two days,
at any time on the way, they were ready
to dart off in chase of jackrabbit or tur-
key laughing they followed and head
ed off their victim at every turn and Gsu-
ally carrying it along at the end to help
out the government rations at supper at
the bivouac. Now they had grown silent
and sullen, talking together in undertones
at our haIts md taking I'M the route a"r"''
with tile will nS less. DuranSO, the half
Mexican Apache. had the most to say
tened to his words. Casimiro Grijalba
who understood the Apache tongue and
character better than any other white
man living, was quietly attentive to what
went on in camp and on trail, but said
nothing tome of what he heard and saw.