USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. II > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23
"The Mormons were desirous of opening a road to communicate with the region east and south of the Colorado, especially that the 'Lamanites' might be able to come from there and receive endowments in the temple of St. George according to prophecy. Brigham Young directed Jacob Hamblin to undertake this jour- ney, and in the Autumn of 1857, he went with a party under the guidance of a native to the Ute Ford, or Crossing of the Fathers, where Esca- lante had broken the way eighty-one years before. Successfully traversing this difficult passage, possible only at a very low stage of
25
STAGE LINES AND NAVIGATION.
water, he and his eleven companions reached the Moqui Towns in safety. Nearly every Autumn after this saw Jacob wending his way to the same region, but not always without disaster. In 1860, the party was turned back south of the river and one of their number, young Smith, was killed by the Navajos. In 1862, Jacob tried another route to reach the same locality, going to the Colorado by way of the Grand Wash, south- westerly from St. George. At the river, they built a boat and safely passed over. They then went south and east below the great chasm to the San Francisco mountains, suffering greatly for water in that arid region. Crossing the Little Colorado, they finally arrived at the towns of the Moquis. But on the return, Jacob followed the original route by way of the Crossing of the Fathers, and was thus the first white man to cir- cumtour the Grand Canyon. The next year, he went again by the Grand Wash trail, touched at Havasupai Canyon, and arrived once more among the friendly Moqui, three of whom had accompanied him back to Utah on the last trip. On this 1863 journey, he was accompanied by Lewis Greeley, a nephew of Horace Greeley, who had come down from Salt Lake with letters from Brigham Young. It was not till six years later that a crossing was made at the mouth of the Paria, now Lee's Ferry, still the chief, I might say, the only available crossing between Grand Wash and Gunnison Valley. Jacob Hamblin was the first to go that way. The river is deep and a raft or boat is necessary to transport goods."
26
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
CHAPTER II.
INDIANS-MASSACRES-OUTRAGES-RAIDS.
YUMAS, COCOPAHS AND MARICOPAS-AMOJAVES- PIMAS - FIGHT, YUMAS AND APACHE-MO- HAVES WITH MARICOPAS, PIMAS AND PAPA- GOS - INDIAN AGENTS - JOHN WALKER - ABRAHAM LYONS-EXPEDITION BY CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE-APACHES ON WARPATH-CO- CHISE-ARREST OF BY LIEUTENANT BASCOM AND ESCAPE-RETALIATION-KILLING OF H. C. GROSVENOR AND MEXICANS-ESCAPE FROM COUNTRY OF MINING MEN-BILL RHODES' FIGHT WITH APACHES-RESULTS OF OUT- RAGES ON COCHISE-KILLING OF LUMBERMEN AT CANOA-MOHAVES UNFRIENDLY-CHANGE
OF ATTITUDE ATTRIBUTED TO
MORMONS -
SUBJUGATION OF MOHAVES BY COLONEL HOFFMAN-ESTABLISHMENT OF FORT BRECK- ENRIDGE-CONDITIONS IN ARIZONA 1857 TO 1860-APACHE MURDERS AND ROBBERIES- ARIZONA A HAVEN FOR RENEGADES-FIGHT AT STEIN'S PASS-FREE THOMPSON PARTY KILLED BY COCHISE AND MANGUS COLORADO- WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL TROOPS FROM ARI- ZONA, RESULTING IN RAIDS BY INDIANS- SKILL OF APACHES IN RUNNING OFF STOCK.
About the year 1760, the Yumas, Cocopahs and Maricopas composed one tribe, known as the Coco-Maricopa tribe. They occupied the coun- try about the head of the Gulf of California, and for some distance up the Colorado River. At that time a dispute occurred, and what is now
27
INDIANS-MASSACRES-OUTRAGES-RAIDS.
known as the Cocopah tribe split off, and the secessionists were permitted to go in peace. This pacific policy soon afterward induced the party, now known as Maricopas, to secede, also; but this defection incurred the severe dis- pleasure and hostility of the remainder, who now form the Yuma tribe. Many sanguinary con- flicts ensued, when the Yumas succeeded in obtaining the aid of the Cocopahs, and, together, they gradually forced the Maricopas up the Colorado, until the Gila was reached. Knowing that the country to the north was occupied by the Amojaves, a large and warlike tribe, the re- treating Maricopas turned their steps eastward, and followed the windings of the Gila River, pursued by their relentless enemies, until they reached the Great Gila Bend. Their spies were sent across this desert and returned with the in- telligence that they had met a tribe living in well constructed and comfortable houses, cultivating the land, well clothed, and numerous and appar- ently happy. A council was called and it was agreed to send an embassy to the Pimas, to ne- gotiate a defensive and offensive alliance, and with the request that the Pimas would parcel out to them a suitable amount of land for their occu- pation. After much delav, and with true Indian circumspection, it was agreed that the Maricopas should inhabit certain lands of the Pimas; but it was made a sine qua non that the new-comers must forever renounce their warlike and hunting propensities, and dedicate themselves to tillage- for, said the Pimas, "We have no hunting grounds ; we do not wish to incur the vengeance of the Tontos, the Chimehuevis, the Apaches, and
28
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
others, by making useless raids against them; they have nothing to lose, and we have, and you must confine yourselves solely to revenging any warlike incursions made either upon us or upon yourselves. You are free to worship after your own manner, and govern yourselves according to your own laws; but you must be ready at all times to furnish a proportionate number of war- riors to protect the general weal, and, in the event of taking any booty, there shall be a fair division made by a council of sagamores, com- posed of equal numbers from each tribe, and their decision must be final."
These equitable and generous terms were ac- cepted by the Maricopas, who immediately occu- pied a portion of Pima territory, and imitated them in the construction of their dwellings and the cultivation of the land, being supplied with seed by the Pimas. In this manner the two tribes have continued together for over a hun- dred years; yet as an instance of the pertinacity with which an Indian will cling to his particular tribe and customs, although many of them have intermarried, and their villages were never more than two miles apart, and in some cases not more than four hundred yards, yet they could not con- verse with each other unless through an inter- preter. The laws, religion, manners, cere- monies, and language of the Maricopas remained quite as distinct as on the day they sought the Pima alliance, and, while they were the warmest of friends, for the period stated, frequently intermarried, were bound together by one com- mon sympathy and one common cause, had the same enemies to contend with, the same evils to
INDIANS-MASSACRES-OUTRAGES-RAIDS. 29
deplore, and the same blessings to enjoy, they were no closer at the end of that period than they were at the commencement.
In the year 1857 the Yumas, with their allies, the Apache-Mohaves, gathered a force of be- tween three hundred and four hundred warriors to attack the Maricopas and Pimas. By some means the Cocopahs, managed to convey to the Maricopas the news of this intended foray, and when the invading army approached, the Pimas and Maricopas, assisted by the Papagoes, were ready to give them battle, and, in the ensuing fight, almost all the invading party were killed. This ended all attempts on the part of the Yumas and their allies to subjugate the Mari- copas. An account of this battle is given in the first volume.
The Pimas, numbering about four hundred, the Maricopas, five hundred, and the Papagos, three hundred, were friendly to the whites and were of great assistance in keeping the hostile Apaches in check. John Walker was Indian Agent for these Indians, residing at Tucson, from 1859 to 1862, when he was succeeded by Abraham Lyons. In 1859 the sum of one thou- sand dollars was appropriated by Congress for a survey of the Pima and Maricopa lands on the Gila, and ten thousand dollars was also appro- priated for gifts in the form of implements and clothes. The survey was made by Colonel A. B. Gray, and the presents were distributed by Syl- vester Mowry before the end of the year.
Besides the growing of wheat, pumpkins, melons and other things, the Pimas to some ex- tent cultivated cotton, which they wove in a
30
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
primitive way into garments. Bartlett, in his Personal Narrative, in 1854, states that he saw cotton raised by the Pimas and Maricopas equal to the best Sea Island Cotton.
In 1857 Captain Bonneville made the first expedition against the Coyoteros and other bands of hostile Apaches. Making the mistake common to all the military at that time, he made a treaty with the Indians, which was disregarded entirely by the savages. From this time on the Apaches went upon the warpath in both the eastern and western portions of Arizona, all ex- cept the Chiricahuas under the control of Cochise. The Pinals, Tontos and the Coyoteros in Arizona and the Mimbres and Mescaleros in New Mexico, were especially dangerous. About this time the Mohaves also went on the warpath.
Cochise, the war chief of the Chiricahuas, and probably the ablest Indian whose name is linked with the early history of Arizona, had been uniformly friendly to the whites up to about the year 1859. He had a contract with the Butter- field Stage Line for supplying their station at Fort Bowie with wood, and there is no doubt but what this fierce and formidable band would have continued in amicable relations with the whites, had it not been for the stupidity of an American officer, the facts of which I now relate. A man by the name of Ward, whom C. D. Poston declares was a castoff from the Vigi- lance Committee in San Francisco, and who was, in all respects, a worthless character, was living on the Sonoita with his Mexican mistress and her son, whom Ward had adopted, when the Indians came down on his ranch during his
31
INDIANS-MASSACRES-OUTRAGES-RAIDS.
absence, drove off his stock, and kidnapped the boy, who afterwards became known as Micky Free, and who was at that time, about seven or eight years old. Ward complained to the officer commanding at Fort Buchanan and asked that the military assist him in recovering his prop- erty and the captured boy. Lieutenant Bascom, a West Pointer, was sent in command of twelve men, under Sergeant Reuben F. Barnard, with orders to proceed to Apache Pass in the Chiri- cahua Range of mountains, which, at that time, was an Overland stage station, and gather all the information he could in regard to the lost boy and the Indians who had kidnapped him. The lieutenant was recently graduated from the military school and had no knowledge whatever of Indian character. This being probably his first important command, he may have felt un- duly elated at being placed in charge of this expedition. Upon arriving at the station, he summoned Cochise's band under a white flag, for a conference, and explained to them the ob- ject of his visit. Cochise declared that neither he nor any member of his band was responsible for the depredation, but that if he was given a few days' time, he would discover what band of Indians had stolen the stock and carried off the boy, and would secure them by purchase, as was then the custom among the Indians, and restore them to the whites. This statement by Cochise was afterwards proven to be absolutely true, but Bascom did not believe it, and told Cochise and the chiefs with him that they were under arrest. Cochise drew his knife and cut a large slit through the tent and escaped to the hills, some
32
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
say with a bayonet wound in the knee. The other prisoners, variously stated from one to six, among whom was the half brother of Cochise, were held by Bascom and his party. Cochise captured three white men and from nine to ten mules belonging to the Government. One of these prisoners, a man by the name of Wal- lace, understood the Apache language thor- oughly, and, prior to this time, had been the warm personal friend of Cochise. Cochise ral- lied a large number of his warriors, and offered through Wallace, to exchange his captives for the captive Indians and to restore the stock which he had taken, which was refused. The next day this offer was repeated, Wallace and his companions urging the lieutenant to accede to it, declaring that otherwise their lives would pay the forfeit. Bascom, with unaccountable stubbornness, still refused, and hung the Apache prisoners, when Cochise tortured the white men to death in full view of the troops at the station. It seems then that Cochise attacked the station and Bascom had his hands full in defending himself and his command until re-enforcements arrived a few days later and enabled him to es- cape from his perilous position. Bascom re- signed from the army at the breaking out of the Civil War, and, according to Captain Jeffords, was killed at the battle of Val Verde, while fight- ing on the side of the Confederates.
From this time forward, Cochise was the sworn enemy of the whites, and for more than twenty years he and his tribe were at war with them. Bascom's stupidity and ignorance prob- ably cost five thousand American lives and the
33
INDIANS-MASSACRES-OUTRAGES-RAIDS.
destruction of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property.
Raphael Pumpelly, who, at the time of the breaking out of the War of Rebellion, was metallurgist at the Santa Rita Mines, in his work entitled "Across America and Asia" gives a very succinct account of the capture of Cochise and his escape, the conditions in that part of Arizona when the Federal troops were with- drawn, and also an account of his escape from the Territory, in which recital Mr. Pumpelly gives an account of some of the Indian outrages and murders that occurred at that time. He says :
"The season was promising to pass without our hacienda being troubled by the Indians, when one morning our whole herd of forty or fifty fine horses and mules was missing. There were no animals left to follow with, and the re- sult of a day's pursuit was only the finding of an old horse and two jackasses.
"Several times during the remainder of the winter and spring, we were attacked by Apaches, and our mines were the scene of more fighting than any other part of the territory.
"Aside from this, little of note occurred, until news came that the troops were to be recalled, leaving the country without any protection. The excitement was very great among the set- tlers, who were scattered over the country in such a manner as to be unable to furnish mutual assistance.
"To make the matter worse, the military be- gan an uncalled for war with the Apaches. In 3
34
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
the beginning of April, I believe, some Indians, of what tribe was not known, carried off a cow and a child belonging to a Mexican woman, living with an American. Upon the application of the latter, the commandant at Fort Buchanan dis- patched a force of seventy-five men to the nearest Apache tribe. The only interpreter to the ex- pedition was the American who was directly interested in the result.
"Arriving at Apache Pass, the home of the tribe, the Lieutenant in command raised a white flag over his tent, under the protection of which six of the principal chiefs, including Cochise, one of the leaders of the Apache nation, came to the camp, and were invited into the tent.
"A demand was made for the child and cow, to which the Indians replied, truly or falsely, that they knew nothing of the matter, and that they had not been stolen by their tribe.
"After a long parley, during which the chiefs protested the innocence of their tribe in the mat- ter, they were seized. One of the number in try- ing to escape was knocked down and pinned to the ground by a bayonet. Four others were bound, but Cochise, seizing a knife from the ground, cut his way through the canvas, and es- caped, but not without receiving, as he afterward told, three bullets fired by the outside guard.
"And this happened under a United States flag of truce. At this time three of the most powerful tribes of the nation were concentrated at Apache Pass, and when Cochise arrived among them, a war of extermination was imme- diately declared against the whites.
35
INDIANS-MASSACRES-OUTRAGES-RAIDS.
"The next day they killed some prisoners, and in retaliation the five chiefs were hung. Our troops, after being badly beaten, were obliged to return to the fort. 1714345
"In the meantime, orders came for the aban- donment of the territory by the soldiers. The country was thrown into consternation. The Apaches began to ride through it roughshod, succeeding in all their attacks. The settlers, mostly farmers, abandoned their crops, and with their families concentrated for mutual protec- tion at Tucson, Tubac and at one or two ranches.
"When, in addition to this, the news came of the beginning of the rebellion in the East, we decided that as it would be impossible to hold our mines, our only course was to remove the port- able property of the company to Tubac. We were entirely out of money, owing a considerable force of Mexican workingmen and two or three Americans, and needed means for paying for the transportation of the property, and for getting ourselves out of the country.
"As the Indians had some time before stopped all working of the mines, our stock of ore was too small to furnish the amount of silver needed to meet these demands, and our main hope lay in the possibility of collecting debts due to the company. In pursuance of this plan, I started alone but well armed to visit the Heintzelman mine, one of our principal debtors. The ride of forty miles was accomplished in safety, and I reached the house of the superintendent Mr. J. Poston, in the afternoon. Not being able to ob- tain money, for no one could afford to part with bullion, even to pay debts, I took payment in ore
36
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
worth nearly $2,000 per ton, with a little flour and calico. This was dispatched in the course of the afternoon, in charge of two of the most fearless Mexicans of the force at the mine.
"The next morning I started homeward alone, riding a horse I had bought, and driving before me the one that brought me over. I had so much trouble with the loose animal, that night found me several miles from our hacienda.
"Only those who have traveled in a country of hostile Indians, know what it is to journey by night. The uncertain light of the stars, or even of the moon, leaves open the widest field for the imagination to fill. Fancy gives life to the blackened yucca, and transforms the tall stem of the century plant into the lance of the Apache. The ear of the traveler listens anxiously to the breathing of his horse, and his eye, ever on the alert before and behind, must watch the motions of the horse's ears, and scrutinize the sand for tracks, and every object within fifty yards for the lurking-place of an Indian.
"Still, night is the least dangerous time to travel, as one is not easily seen so far as by day. But after a few night journeys, I found the men- tal tension so unbearable that I always chose the daytime, preferring to run a far greater risk of death to being made the prey of an overstrained imagination. Then, too, in such a state of society as then existed, the traveller in the dead of night approaches a solitary house, perhaps his own, with much anxiety, the often occurring massacres of the whites and Mexicans by In- dians, and the as frequent murders of the Ameri- cans by their own Mexican workmen, rendering
37
INDIANS-MASSACRES-OUTRAGES-RAIDS.
it uncertain whether he may not find only the dead bodies of his friends.
"About three miles from the hacienda, in the most rocky part of the valley, the horse in front stopped short, and both animals began to snort and show signs of fear. There could be little doubt that Indians were in the neighborhood. Both horses started off at a runaway speed, leav- ing all control over either one out of the ques- tion. Fortunately, the free horse, taking the lead, made first a long circuit and then bounded off toward the hacienda, followed by my own. After a breakneck course over stony ground, leaping rocks and cacti, down and up steep hills, and tearing through thorny bushes, with cloth- ing torn and legs pierced by the Spanish bayonet, I reached the house.
"The wagon with the ore, although due that morning, had not arrived, and this was the more remarkable as I had not seen it on the road. When noon came the next day, and the ore still had not arrived, we concluded that the Mexicans who knew well its value, had stolen it, packed it on the mules, and taken the road to Sonora.
"Acting on this supposition, Grosvenor, (H. C., superintendent of the mine), and myself mounted our horses, and, armed and provisioned for a ten days' absence, started in pursuit.
"We rode about two miles, and descended to the foot of a long hill, making a short cut to avoid the bend of the wagon-road, which for lighter grade crossed the dry bed of the stream a few hundred yards higher up.
"We were just crossing the arroyo to climb the opposite hill, when looking up we saw the
38
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
missing wagon just coming into sight and begin- ning the descent. One of the Mexicans rode a wheel mule, while the other was walking ahead of the leaders. We had evidently judged our men wrongly, and when Grosvenor proposed that we should go on and come back with them, I ob- jected, on the ground that the Mexicans, seeing us prepared for a long journey, would know at once that we had suspected them. We there- fore decided to turn back, but taking another way homeward, we immediately lost sight of the wagon. After riding a few hundred yards we dismounted at a spring, where we rested for a quarter of an hour, and then rode home.
"As the afternoon passed away without the arrival of the wagon, we supposed it had broken down, and at twilight Grosvenor proposed that we should walk out and see what caused the de- lay. I took down my hat to go, but, being en- gaged in important work, concluded not to leave it, when my friend said he would go only to a point close by, and come back if he saw nothing. It was soon dark, and the two other Americans and myself sat down to tea. By the time we left the table, Grosvenor had been out about half an hour, and we concluded to go after him.
"Accompanied by Mr. Robinson, the book- keeper, and leaving the other American to take care of the house, I walked along the Tubac road. We were both well-armed, and the full moon, just rising above the horizon behind us, lighted brilliantly the whole country. We had gone about a mile and a half, and were just beginning to ascend a long, barren hill, when, hearing the mewing of our house cat, I stopped, and, as the
39
INDIANS-MASSACRES-OUTRAGES-RAIDS.
cat came running toward us, stooped and took her in my arms.
"As I did so, my attention was attracted by her sniffing the air and fixing her eyes on some object ahead of us. Looking in the direction thus indicated, we saw near the roadside on the top of the hill, the crouching figure of a man, his form for a moment clearly defined against the starlit sky, and then disappearing behind a cactus. I dropped the cat, which bounded on ahead of us, and we cocked our pistols and walked briskly up the hill. But when we reached the cactus, the man was gone, though a dark ravine, running parallel with our road showed the direction he had probably taken. Of Grosvenor we saw nothing. Continuing our way at a rapid pace and full of anxiety, we began the long descent toward the arroyo, from which we had seen the wagon at noon. Turning a point of rocks about half-way down, we caught sight of the wagon drawn off from the road on the further side of the arroyo. The deep silence that always reigns in those mountains was un- broken, and neither mules nor men were visible. Observing something very white near the wagon, we at first took it for the reflected light of a campfire, and concluded that the Mexicans were encamped behind some rocks, and that with them we would find our friend. But it was soon evi- dent that what we saw was a heap of flour re- flecting the moonlight. Anxiously watching this and the wagon, we had approached within about twenty yards of the latter when we both started back-we had nearly trodden on a man lying in the road. My first thought was that it
40
HISTORY OF ARIZONA.
was a strange place to sleep, but he was naked and lying on his face, with his head downhill. The first idea had barely time to flash through my mind, when another followed-it was not sleep, but death.
"As we stooped down and looked closer, the truth we had both instinctively felt was evident -the murdered man was Grosvenor.
"It would be impossible to describe the in- tensity of emotion crowded into the minute that followed this discovery. For the first time, I stood an actor in a scene of death, the victim a dear friend, the murderers and the deed itself buried in mystery.
"The head of the murdered man lay in a pool of blood; two lance wounds through the throat had nearly severed it from the body, which was pierced by a dozen other thrusts. A bullet-hole in the left breast had probably caused death be- fore he was mutilated with lances. He had not moved since he fell by the shot that took his life; and as the feet were stretched out in stripping the corpse, so they remained stretched out when we found him. The body was still warm, indeed he could not have reached the spot when we left the house.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.