m ^mm 1" : 1 ; :■ ''\M^ ';' i 1" mMmmmm ^ LJtiU.™ '■' ''^^-'■% r:^ :_ r ^A T? V "c^. '^oo^ "<,_ v^^ ^'^ '-i-. ,0 0, 1 V ^.-^-^ ^. -.^o^ ^. '^r>. .A ^/^xii^/ ^^^ vC^ -'^^ '^l^ c*-. V. y <- \ ' ^ -V^. A^V , > ..^'«« ^^'^ "'^ .-^".ONC.^-^, ^■^''^\X\ %. V^^ -V .0 x° ^. '^ %' •^%^^\s-.;%, *^N0^ ,xv ^ 8 . V* ' ^0 0^ .^\::'^. ^' :^mM' '\ ^^ ^'/ .v^ ^ . ^y. ^/y^mM ' -^A V^ .0 0^ 0^ o>- ./:^ v- ^ aV ^^ <~^ ■(P, .^ ,./ *^- \ym^^ ■^-f. ,= ,*-^ ^^. ^0 0^ ,^^' ^V, ..V X ^ -^ ij V ^ A ^\ V . V ' 8 « ^^ -V ^ 'r^:^: -/ -3 -0 (^' «! ^ . ^^ .i^-\ xN ^ ,0 c ^\6^ ^ o"^' o 0' .^ .0^ ' ^ ,o" sv' '/.. '^o " ^ '^ v> . ^- «. •";^ ' ' ' ^ \o^ s^ ',' o. -^o ' ,\' The White Conquest OF ARIZONA HISTORY OF THE PIONEERS By ORICK JACKSON Published by THE WEST COAST MAGAZINE The GRAFTON CO. (Inc.) Los Angeles, Cal. ^^ Copyrighted 1908. by WEST COAST MAGAZINE All rights reserved Copyright JfOct^. MAR 5 1910 eomems Advent of the First White Man Walker's Famous Expedition Other Expeditions Beginning of Indian Hostilities Ghastly Pinole Treaty Woolsey's Second Expedition A One Man Army Memorable Indian Fights Skull Valley, What a Boy's Playhouse Did, Sam Miller's Nerve, The Wickenburg Massacre Crook and His Work Names that are Familiar A Patriotic Pilgrim Three Women on the Frontier Desperate Days and Desperate Men Legend of the Hassayampa Gigantic Wildcatting Arizona's First Christmas Tree Lehigh's Folly Massacre of the Oatman Family Lee's Revenge Illustrations Famous Hassayampa River Judge N. L. Griffin Judge W. H. Kirkland Gov. Goodwin's Mansion Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Miller Gen. George Crook Joseph Ehle Col. Alex. A. Brodie, U.S.A. J. H. Lee Wales Arnold J. N. Rodenburg Danuel Hatz Famous Hassayampa River piGHT miles south of Prescott, said to have been first explored by Annanias. The legend is that anyone who drinks the water of this River will never again tell the truth, save a dollar or leave the Territory of Ariz)na. The White Conquest of Arizona By ORICK JACKSON OF ALL the subdivisions of the American Union, Arizona is the most neglected of any on the pages of history. From that memorable day in 1863, when by proclamation it was cut out from New Mexico, up to the present era, not a leaflet re- cords its vivid past, so far as official consideration goes, nor is there any probability of preserving its earlier life unless a radical reform is inaugurated. The most fascinating and the most thrilling history of the Territory is crystalized around the dark days of the earlier '6o's. But of that time what is there to au- thoritatively point to, or what official data is there to guide one in his research? Absolutely nothing. Aside from a greasy piece of ordinary newspaper about eight inches square, which heralds the birth of Arizona, and on file somewhere at the capital, and a few mouldy books containing the proceedings of the first Legisla- ture at Prescott in 1864, dry and nauseous reading only is available. On the other hand, the scenes that go with thrilling events, that cover the entry of the first white men to an unknown land, that tell the old story over of good old days on a very bad frontier, and kindred doings, all these are lacking. From the dis- position of the body politic in Arizona, the average legislator is as desirous of burying the past as he is of crucifying his own ambitions after once he has been elected to that office, and accordingly, any effort to officially and justly weave the story of the past into something definite and legitimate is obnoxious, in view TO THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA of the debt he owes his constituency who frequently have a financial string of their own to pull at, and from which their personal beacon light generally gets the biggest end of the bolt. Time and again have meri- torious measures been broached to preserve the his- torical beauties of the past, but just as often have they been shelved. With but one exception have the appeals of the pioneers been answered. That single exception is known as the Pioneer Society at Tucson. It gets, biennially, the semblance of regard in a burro appro- priation of money to "sustain" its aims and objects. Measured in service to the cause, the janitor gets the first whack at it, and the landlord who owns the room in which the ''display," as they call it, is open to all, starts in to squeal about the middle of the month for the pittance that is left, and nearly collapses when pay dav is before him in reality. Individualism in Arizona is equally lockstepped to the biethren who are in the official saddle in respect to the pioneer. One by one, as they pass over the Divide, there attends the usual obsequies, and after they are laid away, that is the end of them. Possibly a few may linger long enough in memory to recall how they ran the gauntlet in the Dra- goons, how single handed they "fit" Natchez and Nana to a standstill on the Santa Cruz, how "Bill" Jones stampeded a rancheria on the Hassayampa, and other hair-breadth adventures, but when once they are in the cold earth, the past goes with them. Get on your hands and knees and creep down the long line of mounds that cover Paulin Weaver, John Townsend, King S. Woolsey, Al. Sieber, Charlev Spen- cer, Dan O'Leary, Pat Kehoe, Willard Rice, Billy Mc- cloud, Gus Swain, Captain Joe Walker and score and scores of other brave men in the same cause. What faces you in recognition of the valiant life they fol- lowed to blaze the mountain side with trails to lead and guide those who were to follow ? So far as North- ern Arizona figures in this utter disregard of the pio- neer, even in death, it is a disgraceful fact to make public that its saviors in the days of the Apache drama are, in each and every instance, sleeping in graves that are unmarked — without even a headboard to designate who they are or where they are. Prescott and Yavapai county are the cradle of Ari- zona. It was here that the ball started to roll, and it Judge N. L. Griffin The pioneer living resident of Prescott where he arrived in 1864 THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA ii was to them that the first white man's expedition was attracted. Of the members of that expedition, only a very few remain. In a decade they will follow the wing that has gone. Appreciating how invaluable the events of the earlier days will set on the equilibrium of the present, an effort will be made in these chronicles to recall some of the noteworthy happenings of the earlier days, the period, in short, attending the combat when the Apache contested every inch of the land in- vaded, when whites fought whites, when the earth was seething in all the fury of a cataclysm, to again break through the crust of the volcano that buried everybody and everything in one way and another. The domain to be included in this brief resume is confined to that region lying north of the Gila, an area in its day that was known as Yavapai county, and embraced over 50,000 square miles of land. To secure this data, friendly intercourse has been had with a few of the generous old-time pioneers left, and to whom the writer is grateful for kindness shown and information fur- nished. ADVENT 01^ The: i^irst white man. No matter what biographers may say, or what vis- ionary writers may speculate on as to who was first to enter and become identified with Arizona, the fact is incontrovertibly established that Paulin Weaver has the honor and the distinction of being the first white man to live in Arizona. As long ago as 1830 he ex- plored alone the region lying along the Verde river, forty miles north of the present city of Prescott, and k i M J. N. Rodenburg R. RODENBURG is the man who gave Arizona their first Christ- mas tree and gathered together the people in an "old home" celebration , THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA z^ of execution, but those who are yet alive bear evidence to it in its every detail. Every desert has its oasis. When the day arrived that Arizona was to have its first Christmas tree and the birth of the Savior was to be fittinj^ly celebrated, there was evidence of much humorous curiosity among the frontiersmen as to how the plan was to be carried out. Where were the goods and wares, toys, candies and the like to be had ? And where were the children to come from to brighten the occasion, as is so custom- ary in events of this character? A census was taken and in the skirmish seven eligible "kids" were rounded up, together with a half dozen others who were still young, but grown tall. Mr. Rodenburg then got into the theological harness and, with an escort of six men, went into the woods to get the tree end of the occasion. A beautiful fir was secured, and the Indians permitted the party to return in safety. This was erected in Rodenburg's house, and thus was the ''big doings" started. A call was issued to the public for the pres- ents to ornament the tree. In that day, over forty years ago, the stores carried absolutely nothing in the line of toys or trinkets, candies or bonbons, and it was here that the first serious problem confronted the com- mittee. A big stock of brown sugar was purchased, and, with the assistance of a New Orleans negro, three kinds of black-jack were skillfully moulded. This set- tled the sweet end of the programme, the candy being encased in manilla paper bags glued together with flour paste. The tree must have illumination, so the market was searched for all the tallow candles neces- sary. These were cut in two, and after being tied to the limbs with ordinary twine, another obstacle was conquered. There was a scarcity of ribbons to give the scene the beauty and brilliancy necessary, but the bottom of every trunk was scoured among the ladies who had recently arrived from the East, and a few- bolts were donated. Various crude toys and goods were then manufactured by men conversant with the handling of implements, or skilled in such handiwork. Quite a respectable collection was secured in this man- ner, everybody contributing something that he either could manufacture or purchase. But the most import- ant consideration yet faced the committee, and that was to secure music for the event. An inventory of 38 THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA the burg disclosed that there was but one musical in- strument to be found — a violin, out of tune and minus a string. The owner was conversant with but one air — The Arkansaw Traveler. This . was humiliating to the directors, but there must be melody, and after the operator was admonished to play something half way through and then to repeat it with a change in cadence, the day arrived for the event — Arizona's first Christmas tree. The little home was jammed, and the men who usually wore hard-looking countenances and in their reckless careers were accustomed to the rougher side of human life, recalled the long ago in old New Eng- land when they, too, were young and when they also went up to get what was coming as their names were called out by the superintendent of the Sunday school. So they weakened, as it were, and each gave himself up to the spirit of the day with a joyousness that was in harmony with their lives when they were home with the old folks beyond the Rockies. Mr. Rodenburg says that electric bulbs may glow in many colors from the Christmas trees of the present day, trained voices may chant the melodies, diamonds and gilt-edged pres- ents may ornament the garments, children may devour the many colored sweets that are run out by the ton, but that old black-jack was just as good, that old tree was just as handsome, and above it all there was the genuine and the devoted spirit around that old Christ- mas tree of long ago that cannot be duplicated, be- cause, he says, we did not mix the occasion then, as they do now, with discrimination and commercialism — we gave them all a run for their money. LEHIGH'S FOLLY. No branch of the government working to subdue the Indians figured more earnestlv or terminated more disastrously than that of the Indian Bureau when the Apache was in the zenith of his freedom and lawless- ness. With instructions to the military to crush, a companion order would emanate from the administra- tion for the Indian Bureau to sugar coat with moral suasion the same red men. Thus it will be seen that the central government had two elements working directly against each other. The men with iron hands demanded the bullet, and the sentimental element placed 'I THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA 39 a Bible in the hands of their representative. At the beginning of Indian warfare in Arizona, and while President Grant was in office, Young Dent, a brother of Mrs. U. S. Grant, was sent to Prescott, with the support of the Indian Bureau behind him. He tried all known methods to pacify the Apache, and after one year's humiliation returned to Washington, chagrined and openly stating that the Indian's nature would not respond to anything except force, and the most strenu- ous article at that. But the set principles inaugurated were maintained, and after Dent had cast his shoes aside. Minister Lehigh, of Petaluma, California, stepped into them. He came and took quarters with General Crook at Fort Whipple. His arrival was a most aus- picious event in his method of pacification. The In- dian was rampant in his bloodthirsty work, and Lehigh was enthusiastic to prepare his salve and rub it in on the Indian. He got into harness, and, to his credit it must be said, he worked courageously, going among the different tribes and innoculating them with the doc- trine of Christianity. But when a lone horseman hap- pened to be going by and the animal was branded with a U. S. mark. Christian doctrine easily rubbed off, and animal and rider were taken in. The same rule would apply to a long string of freight teams ; when the In- dian believed he was strong enough to accomplish his ends, his former instruction from the Book of God, for the time being, came in for but little consideration. But Lehigh never wavered. He worked persist- ently and enthusiastically, doing some good, and like- wise considerable harm. With his chief clerk, also of the same religious persuasion, he went to Southern Arizona, as well as to visit all points in the north. He educated the Indian with kindness that was effica- cious, and especially so when it was accompanied with presents, for which the Indian had a decidedly re- ceptive nature. With this method he became known to all the tribes, and was in constant communication with them. Pat Kehoe, the noted Indian scout, in speaking of this trait of the Indian, informed the writer many years ago that this was a trick of the Apache, and he could do the same thing that Lehigh did, but, said he, "When you are alone with an Apache, after you think you have his confidence and his good will, and you want to spit, don't, for heaven's sake, turn 40 THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA your head aside the thirty-second part of an inch. If you do he will g^et the drop on you and the jig is up." Lehigh made the same mistake, and he paid for it with his life. He left on a journey from Fort Whipple with his trusted clerk one morning in a buckboard. General Cook endeavored to dissuade him from making the perilous trip, at the same time insisting that he be provided with a strong escort of cavalry, as the route he was taking was alive with Indians. Raising the cushion from the seat on the buckboard, Lehigh drew forth a Bible, and, placing it above his head, informed the general that that little Book had carried him through many a trying and dangerous locality, and that it would stop any bullet that came along. Besides, he said, the Indians knew him, and he feared them not. Three days passed and Indians were killing travelers and people on the farms. The military, as usual, got into the zone of hostilities. In passing through Bell's canyon the bodies of Lehigh and his clerk were found, the men having been murdered by the Apaches. In addition to taking his life, the Indians frightfully muti- lated Lehigh's body. Every portion of his anatomy was hacked in the most barbarous manner imaginable. His body was burned to an extent as to be almost un- recognizable. His clerk's body was not molested. The traveler of todav in going through this canyon will be attracted by a big black boulder that lies alongside the road. After b^Ing exposed to the elements for over thirty-five years, it still carries the blackened stain it received, and serves to recall the sad ending of a man of the highest impulses to do right to the uncivilized Indian, and who fell in the performance of a sacred duty. With the death of this man, the Indian Bureau received its final blow. Afterward the military fol- lowed out its plan of subjugating the Indians, and was successful in its work. MASSACRE OF THE OATMAN I^AMILY. In the drama of blood that cursed Arizona when the Apache ruled supreme, and when the Territory was about to enter the Union, a subdivision as now estab- lished, one of the most ghastly of the m.any massacres for which the unmerciful Indian was responsible was that of the slaughter of James Oatman and family while en route to California from Texas via the Butter- THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA 41 field stage route that then traversed Southern Arizona. This wanton murder of a fine family occurred in 1861 at a point midway between what is now Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, and Yuma, on the Colorado river. The spot where the lives of fourteen human beings were wiped out is to this day known as Oatman Flat. This route of travel was the only highway taken by pilgrims to the Pacific Coast in that era, for in the northern portion of Arizona there was no regular or established line, neither were there any wagon roads for vehicles, horsemen being the only travelers, as a rule. As a result of this favorable condition, the old Butterfield stage route was the means usually taken to reach the Coast, and all parties who carried house- hold goods naturally selected it, and particularly so in the winter months. Officially speaking, Arizona at this time was not created, and there were practically no white men living north of the Gila and Salt rivers. Consequently Tucson was the military seat of Arizona, or that zone bordering close to it, and hither all immi- gration was directed, coming or going. It was but a short time after this route had been opened that thousands of people were swarming across it, and this fact became known to the Apaches in the eastern as well as the western part of Arizona. Many travelers were picked oflf, and it soon became necessary to escort mail stages by soldiers drawn from Crittenden on the east and Yuma on the west. Several small par- ties, in numbers of from three to six, were massacred, and this served as a warning for others to combine at Tucson and travel as a unit. By this method the Indians were checked and travel progressed less inter- ruptedly. James Oatman, however, with his family, ventured unattended, thinking that in keeping in close touch with caravans within a few hours ahead of him he would be safe. He made the venture and lost. He had camped for the nieht in a flat but a few hundred yards oflF the main road, the ground being coated with a soft growth of green grass. As the preparations were made to go into camp for the night, two men who accompanied him were sent out in different direc- tions to gather wood. This left in the party himself, his wife, his brother-in-law, his sister-in-law, two daughters — Olive, aged seven, and Mollie, aged five 42 THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA and one-half years — his son, aged nine years, and five others, males. There were no eye witnesses of the tragedy that hurled these people into eternity. The struggle must have been a terrific one to the end, however. One of the men who went in search of wood returned to the camp and staid until he hailed the stage that passed during the night. The other man, who was likewise engaged, traveled to the nearest station and gave the alarm. When the military arrived, three were missing. They were the two young daughters and the son. Every one of the dead was frightfully mutilated. The wagons were burned and the animals taken. The scene, in short, was one of horror, and the only con- soling evidence of the struggle was the bodies of eighteen dead Indians. One of the men sent in search of fuel stated afterward that he saw the Indians ad- vancing on the camp and that they numbered at least three hundred, and were moving on at a rapid rate, some on foot and others mounted. Three days passed before the military and the civilians reached the scene. The bodies were buried near where they fell. The fate of this family was flashed to both the East and the West, and when the sad story became known it aroused new hatred for the Apaches. To secure the captive children was the momentous problem that con- fronted the men who had come on their mission of rescue. Couriers were dispatched to Yuma and to Colonel Crittenden, in command of the military near Tucson. Both these wings got into action, and with volunteers from civil life several detachments were in the field in a few days. In the meantime the eastern States were aware of the sad ending of this party and the plight of the cap- tive girls and the boy. Mr. Oatman had at one time been a minister of the Gospel, while his wife had also figured prominently in missionary work, and especially so among the Indians. Soon the church took up the work of rescue, and in all the entire nation, de- nominational as well as official, was at fever heat to eflfect the saving of the captives and the punishment of the murderers. In one of the rescue columns was one of the men of the Oatman party, and in three days after it got into the field the boy was found about twelve miles distant wandering on the desert, in a demented THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA 43 condition. He was sent to Tucson, carefully nursed, but passed away in a few weeks, without regaining his mental faculties. This incident incensed the white people there only the more, and in their frenzy to wipe out the Apaches eight men enlisted in the service of the nation with the explicit understanding that they be sent to hunt the Indians and effect the rescue of the two girls. These men were filled with the spirit of revenge, but nevertheless they were patriots of the purest type. In that day there were less than a score of unemployed Americans in Tucson, and this will give some idea of the difference between those times and these of the frenzied era we are living in at present, when philanthropy is cast aside to make way for ''every- thing in sight." After nearly three weeks had passed, one of the military columns returned to Yuma and had in their escort the youngest girl, Mollie. She had not been rescued, but was found about three miles distant from the rancheria of the Indians, wandering along the banks of the Colorado River with a bunch of tule grass in her hand, like poor, crazed Ophelia of old. At the approach of the rescue party she became alarmed and fled. With much difficulty she was captured and sent to the military post. She had been sent adrift by the Indians from their camp and left to wander, and later to die. She had lost her mind, and in her ramblings no coherent statement could be secured from her. Her relatives were living in Waco, Texas, and it was deemed advisable to send her to them via Tucson. At the lat- ter place she was placed under medical care, but the shock of her capture had shattered her young and deli- cate intellect, and after a few months at her old home in the Lone Star State she also passed away. When the news reached Southern Arizona that an- other Oatman victim had fallen, the military were roundly and unmercifully censured for not destroying the Indians when their camp was in sight, and when such a favorable opportunity was offered for the con- summation of this work at the time when Mollie Oat- man was rescued. But the brains of the military were working in another avenue — that of the rescue of the eldest daughter, Olive. The spirit of the soldier was to exterminate the Indians, but the men in command were looking ahead to save the last victim, if possible, and later to deal the final blow. The missionary ele- 44 THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA ment by this time had also taken a prominent hand in the work, and they had their representative en route. That was the poHcy of the church, a policy, in short, to vacillate — sugar coat the Indian — and for the handi- capping of justice that the frontier was blessed with in that day — the bullet — the church would supercede it with a parson on his knees and his head bent heaven- ward. By this time the entire missionary machinery of the East was working, and at the same time the military genius,, and particularly that element versed in frontier warfare and knowledge of the Indian na- ture, was fighting them at every mark in the road. This policy checked every move made, and soon a year passed, with the girl victim still in captivity. The civil- ians became desperate, and at one time it was the in- tention to call for general volunteers and petition Presi- dent Lincoln for assistance. Colonel Crittenden be- came exasperated and threatened to resign from the army, but upon the promise that his Indian policy would not be discountenanced in the future, he re- mained and again worked independently. With the assistance of two civilians, veterans of the Mexican War, a plan was outlined to effect the rescue of the girl. A former soldier of the Mexican army had de- generated into a ''squaw man" of the Chimevuavis tribe on the Colorado River, and through him it was determined to trace Olive Oatman, whether dead or alive, the medium to be the two veterans of the Mexi- can War. The military was to co-operate, and with this thread to solve the problem, the two ex-soldiers "donned" the apparel, so to speak, of the "squaw man." The play was without a hitch, and in a few months, or nearly eighteen months after the Oatman massacre, the curtain was rung down on the last act of the fright- ful drama. The Indians were betrayed by the three men who had presumably been their friends, Olive was rescued, and three of the chiefs were slaughtered in cold blood, along with thirty-two of the tribe. The poor girl had been so long in captivity and had become so accustomed to Indian manners and mode of living, that the problem of winning her back to civili- zation was a delicate task, and discretion had to be exercised to this end, so firmly molded in her young mind had become the life she had led. But in a short time she responded, and when she, too, reached Tucson, THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA 45 she had fully recovered, and with an unimpaired intel- lect. At Prescott the beginning of the end of another tragedy that was to come in later years was in process of incubation. Olive Oatman was met by the repre- sentative of a missionary society, in whose custody the military, authorized by her distant relatives, she was placed. She was taken to Texas and resided with her relatives for some years. When the Oatman massacre passed into history, and shortly after Olive had reached the age of thirteen years, again there appeared on the scene this missionary disciple and asked for the hand of this young and tender girl in marriage, which was readily consented to by her people. She was but a child. After her marriage she was taken to New Eng- land, and presumably her union was approved of by the church, from the fact of the prominence of her husband in the rescue work he was identified with in Arizona. But the man had a black heart. He traveled from pillar to post with his young bride ; in short, she was the drawing card that filled his pulpit on each and every occasion. It became a notorious proceeding, and finally the wife rebelled at the elastic manner in which she was being handled and desired to be reUeved of any further publicity in either the press or the pulpit. Again did the church come into the work of rescue, and after the eastern and northern fields had been plucked of all possible advantages, the couple left for the South, arriving at Nashville, Tennessee. Here they led for a few months a secluded Hfe, and here also was the final chapter in the woman's life enacted. She was stricken with fever, and in a short period there- after passed away from this earth that she had known for only eighteen years. What became of the man no one cares to know. lee's revenge. To provide suitable accommodations in Arizona for the military when bodies of troops were on the march, to feed the cavalry horses and to water the same, de- sirable sites were selected by the War Department in the Apache fighting days, and such places were desig- nated as ''road stations." One of these rendezvous was known by the title of the "American Ranch." It was also a stage station for the mail contractor. That gave it a distinction. Hay, grain, wood and water were 46 THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA accordingly in abundance at all times, and the way- farer knew that something was always in the larder. J. H. Lee, the owner, was from the same township that General Crook was born in, so that little incident figured as a pull at the government string, so to speak, and Lee had a "lead pipe cinch'' for a time on the good money of Uncle Sam. Mr. Lee put up a good- sized building and stocked it with "the best the market afifords." No sooner was it in full blast than the Indians appreciated the strategic importance of the place, and while the owner was away, the sole guardian was run off and the place burned to the ground. The loss was a complete one, and nothing of the value of a dollar was permitted to escape the flames. In addition over thirteen hundred dollars in cash went up in smoke. That sum was a small fortune in those days ; so, with the property loss, and the quartermaster checks, and the temporary abandonment of the station, Mr. Lee and the public appreciated the loss keenly. He attempted to rebuild and regain the prestige of the site, but the wily Indian disputed the claim. This exasper- ated the man, and he went to the limit of his credit to accomplish his purpose. In time he restored the place and the business came back. The Indians presumably had left that section, and the American Ranch became known for a long time as a peaceable locality and free from danger. But with the restocking of the place, the cultivation of the land in corn and barley and the restocking with animals, the place was turned over under lease and Mr. Lee came into town to live. The new owner was constantly assailed, and the profits of the business were eaten up in guards and protective facilities that required heavy expense to maintain. As a last resort the lessee suggested that those red devils should be "fixed," and he adopted a plan to this end. A stock of flour was shipped to the place, and one sack was carefully marked and placed in a con- venient place where the renegades could easily secure it. In the meantime the red devils were destroying proprty at a wholesale rate, and many animals were killed while grazing in the pasture adjacent. That night this sack was placed at a convenient point and the next morning it was gone. For several days there- after there were no Indians to molest the tranquility of the scene. A few days later the military came and THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA 47 began scouting the country adjacent. With Dan O'Leary at their head, they were piloted to a locaHty where he had seen their rancherie a few weeks pre- v^ious. This was the objective point of the troops. The next day the soldiers returned from their scouting. They had capured all that was left of the place, some- thing like fourteen sick Indians, and had buried twenty- four who had died the day previous. The matter was reported to the military headquarters and an investi- gation was the result. Mr. Lee was exonerated, and in the meantime the lessee had fled the country. This became known for many years as the "Little Pinole Treaty," and it was severely condemned by many peo- ple, but the majority were in favor of any method to exterminate the Indians, and nothing was more wel- come to white men than extermination of their enemies, even by means of flour doctored up with strychnine. In that era the most fiendish atrocities were committed by the Apaches, and women and children were at their mercy. Like the slo2:an of the Texan in "Remember the Alamo," so was the watchword ever ringing in the ears of the Arizonan to remember the fate of the Oat- mans ; and when Miss Pemberton was scalped, lanced and thrown over a precipice for dead, but later rescued by the troops in Southern Arizona, men became hard in their feelings because their environment was such that they could not resist in demanding an eve for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It is an established fact that livins: springs of water were time and time again poisoned by the Apaches who followed the route of the marching troops. The Pinole treaty was con- demned, and so was General Crook for reporting a few souls as killed by his men when in realty and in truth he slew hundreds. At the time when the Indian signal smoke could be traced from the Dragoon Mountains on the south to the Mogollons on the north, from the Col- orado River on the west to the Blue on the east, is there any authority to point to living or dead who can say or could have said that in ten years of the Apache inferno one single white man of the many hundreds that were shot down did not fall from a foe that was in ambush ? And then, on the other hand, is it not an established fact that of all the hundreds of Indians taken in captivity all were pampered by a sickly senti- ment? Moreover, is there one single instance of a 48 THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA white man who was captured by the Indians and per- mitted to live? There are a few men aUve today in Arizona who are cognizant of the dark days that en- shrouded this Territory when such bushwhackers as Sheerum, Natchez, Nana, Victoria, Loco, Geronimo and others of their ilk reigned, who will take off their hats to the valor of the Indians like Sitting Bull, Rain- in-the-Face, White Bear and other Northern Indians, because they fought in the open, and man for man, if the occasion called for it. * * * BEFORE the curtain falls on the last scene of the bloody Indian drama that cursed Arizona for over a decade, there is but one setting to the stage of the thrilling past. While it lasted it was in one sense of far more importance to the Territory than the preceding events that characterized the fight against the Apache, and incidentally it also gave to the fair name of Arizona for a generation afterward a fearful reputation of horror. But the Territory has emerged from the chasm that engulfed it only the more re- splendent and inviting, and the Apache no longer way- lays the lone traveler. However, the final stab the Apache thrust in his doom was that frightful event when Loco, a noted war chief of the White Mountain Indians, broke loose from his reservation at San Carlos in 1882. With over .^00 followers he raided the beau- tiful Gila Valley, and death and destruction followed. His cunning was such that none realized it until too late. Teamsters on the road were shot down, farmers in the fields picked off, and prospectors in the hills treated to the same fate. Over fifty were killed, and in one instance two young ladies on a cattle ranch were unmercifully shot down. This outbreak became of national importance, and soon the machinery of the war department at Washington was again oiled up and set in motion. Loco made for the Sierra Madre range of mountains in Mexico, which he succeeded in reaching. General Crook at this time was engaged against the Sioux, and he was again sent to Arizona. In the meantime several fights occurred while the flight of the Apache was in progress, and one of mem- orable rating was that which Captain Chaffee of the 6th cavalry, directed. But this officer was handicapped in numbers, and had it not been for the lack of water Daniel Hatz ONE of the old pioneers of Arizona who was in the thick of the early struggles of the territory. i THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA 49 for his command, there is reason to beheve he would have dealt the Indian a crushing blow. With the re-entrance of Crook the entire First regi- ment of infantry was ordered from Texas, and soon the boundary line of Mexico and the United States was alive with soldiers. So far as field operations were concerned Captain Crawford of the 3rd cavalry was practically in charge, being stationed on the line. The Americans, however, could not under treaty rights then prevailing, enter Mexican territory, hence there was an era of apathetic operations. This terminated in 1884, when a general surrender took place, and the Indians were again on the reservation, with the ex- ception of Natchez. This Indian was the son of the famous war god of the Chiricahuas — Cochise, after whom Cochise county is named. Natchez was accord- ingly the hereditary chief of this tribe, after the death of his father. He was at this time in supreme com- mand of a fearless and cruel band, and his premier, or chief of staff, was the no-less heartless Geronimo. Natchez was a fine type of man physically, standing over six feet in height, with a frame as straight and symmetrical as an arrow. With his magnificent phy- sique, he was what might be termed a "gallant," so far as his association or relation with squaws was consid- ered. He was dutiful to them, and his delight was to squat down on a blanket and play the *'coon can game" of cards or engage in conversation or favor them with personal attention. But Natchez tired soon of the hid- ing-out game and also came in and gave himself up. With a combination of ten war chiefs, and with Natchez at their head and Geronimo as the second best, these Indians asked to be sent into the mountains near San Carlos. This move was made for a purpose. They desired to mature plans for a general outbreak the following Spring, and they desired the isolation of the region to perfect their plans. They were sent to their new habitation and remained for nearly a year. In the Spring of 1885 they again took to the field in a determined outbreak, Natchez being again at the head, and Geronimo as second in command. Their strength was less than 100 fighting men, but they were the pick of the tribes. This outbreak electrified the nation, and there was everywhere a determined move on the part of the military to crush the Indians once and forever. 50 THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA Captain Crawford again took the field, and was given supreme command of the operations against the out- laws, who had again made for the Sierra Madres in Mexico. Crawford enlisted fifty-five White Mountain and forty-five Chiricahua Indians, the latter contingent all being brothers of the outlaws. With Crawford's command there were but six white officers : Dr. T. B. Davis, at present of Prescott, Arizona, as surgeon ; Lieutenant M. P. Maus, Lieutenant W. H. Shipp, Lieu- tenant S. L. Faison, Thomas Home and J. H. Harri- son, as chiefs of the Indian scouts. This make-up of white men as against one hundred wild Aoaches, and with over one-half of the latter related to the outlaws, will give one an idea of the perilous nature of the undertaking and what would result if treachery sup- planted fidelity while on the march in the mountain fastnesses of the route they were to travel. The chase was initiated under these conditions, and over eight months passed without any results being accomplished. The privations of this handful of white men were cruel in the extreme, but the spirit of Crawford was immov- ably centered to conquer, in which determination he was backed by the white officers to a man. A zigzag route of over five hundred miles in Mexico was trav- ersed by the command, most of the distance being covered on foot with mocassins as footwear, in a chain of mountains in comparison to which the Lava Beds of Oregon are a carpet. There is no region in North America, it is said, that is as rough and rugged as the Sierra Madres of Mexico, with neither trails nor wagon roads to guide. This command had additional privations to face in wading and swimming streams of water. In the heart of this chain of mountains the trail of the Indians was finally cut, and after a forced march of eighteen hours, the greater part of it being accomplished at night, the Indian camp was attacked, and captured, but without success so far as the outlaws were concerned. The camp supplies, the horses and other equipment were taken in, and one chief, Nana, with a few squaws and two bucks, but the morale of the organization was shattered. Natchez was left in the hills with nothing to eat, and soon his squaw ven- tured in offering to surrender. The tragic ending of this famous expedition, was here enacted. While Crawford was camped and his THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA 51 command was recuperating from their long and fa- tiguing pursuit, a company of Mexican soldiers ap- proached, believing (they said later) that it was the Indian rendezvous. They commenced firing when within range of the Americans, and notwithstanding they were addressed in the Mexican language, contin- ued the fusillade. In the midst of the shooting, Craw- ford jumped on top of a big boulder, and waving a white handkerchief, asked them to cease firing. A bul- let struck him over the left eye and he fell mortally wounded. Several of the Indian scouts were also hit. The entire command with the exception of Lieutenant Maus, were in favor of having a battle then and there with the Mexicans, and had it not been for the ranking officers there would have been a conflict. Crawford was taken on a litter improvised from cane poles and tied with buckskin strings, along with the wounded In- dians, and after eight days without regaining con- sciousness he passed away. Nacori, a Mexican ham- let, was reached in a few days, and the remains of Crawford were temporarily placed there. Later they were removed and taken to his native state, Nebraska, for burial. The hostile Indians in the hills continued overtures for peace, however, saying that in two months they would come to the Arizona Hne and surrender. This they did. Funnel Canyon near the line was selected for the big ''pow wow." General Crook was notified at Bowie and he came on. A three days discussion followed, and here the fine hand and smooth tongue of Geronimo figured, and henceforth no other Indian in the history of the nation became as prominently known as he. No other Indian but Geronimo had anything to say, and even Natchez was always sup- planted when any point was up for discussion. The conclusion arrived at was to surrender unconditionally to General Crook and to come into Bowie. With this understanding Crook and the military left for that military post. But in the interim, several Indian trad- ers were infesting that region, where the military were as thick as fleas, and where revenue was wholesomely diverted into their coffers when there was any Hquor to be had. These nefarious venders carried a Mexican decoction known as ''mescal," and knowing the fond- ness of the Apache for the same, they found willing 52 THE WHITE CONQUEST OF ARIZONA patrons. Besides, these Indians had plenty of Mexi- can money secured in their many raids, and the money for the fire-water was forthcoming. The effect of the Hquor was to repudiate the contract with the military and Natchez and Geronimo again took to the field, or until their drunken debauch terminated. This news created a stir in military circles at Washington, and Crook was peremptorily ordered out of Arizona. Gen- eral Miles supplanted him, and inside of ten days Ge- ronimo came in and surrendered thirty-two of his fol- lowers to Lieutenant Gatewood in charge of some In- dian scouts at the San Bernardino ranch on the border. With Gatewood was Dr. Wood, now General Wood, in the U. S. Army of the PhiHppines. Critics of Gen- eral Crook state that if at the time of the agreement to surrender he had persisted in the custom to lay down arms and other weapons the glory would have been his, instead of it all going to General Miles. With all due respect to all military men and of every rank, the credit of Geronimo's or Natchez's downfall must attach to the memory of Captain Crawford. No expedition ever undertaken on the American conti- nent against the Indians or any other foe can equal that in the Mexican march he captained, nor was there ever in the American army on the frontier a more zealous, a more determined and a cooler ofiicer. He was a trusted subaltern of Crook, and no one can gain- say that as the outcome of his magnificent work on this particular expedition, not a shot has been fired from that day to this by the Apache in Arizona. THE END. ^ <- -^f-. * r,.^\^o'' / - ^ '\^. ■ -w -o r-. « - ,\ O %.,/ -■:^^''=''-'^^- .>' '-% aX^' v. '% .-*:> ^- ■ s^<^. cP- c ^^.^' ^ (p'.^""'^ -S^-TNv -^^ .00 ^. . . ./; ^^' iv . ^- .^^ _/iv ^'^ ^^ %^' '^<-^. o"^ %*% \^^SIK^/ ^ ..*\,0^ ^^. <^' 'J . ^ ^s. 00^ -^oo^ ^".= .s?:^ ^''ci: V _ a x^ '-^ ,# %^'' % <^^"' "^ 55. ,5) •A' * rj^ '" i,'^-'^^ '^.f %^>. ^^ o 0^ .^^ -^ce. ^. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS mill III II 017 135 547 3