USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. III > Part 22
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mountain and rolled rocks down on them, so they did not dare climb up the hills. He was shooting down on them with his bow and arrows and roll- ing rocks down on them and in this way he kept them from climbing the mountain. The soldiers had not seen us, for they took after my father in- stead of charging up the canyon. If they had not done this they would have gotten the rest of us. After the soldiers had marched away, my father joined us, and said that the soldiers must have killed my mother because he saw her running along on the side of the hill, and the soldiers were shooting at her, and then he could not see her any more. We all came down from the mountain then and camped in a cave, and early the next morning my father and uncle went back to try and find the body of my mother. They found her dead in a cave, full of bullet holes.
"My grandfather and grandmother were not able to run for their lives, but they hid under some thick grass all day, and when night came they came out of their hiding place and it just happened that they saw our tracks and they fol- lowed us until they overtook us.
"I cannot recollect much of what took place or just what places we went to after my mother was killed. This must have been in the year 1870. It was such actions as this on the part of the white people which led the Indians to seek vengeance on all the whites and their Indian allies, who they persuaded to go with them and kill off all the other Indians they could find. My father and uncle had never killed a soul in their lives before this happened, and had never even seen a white man, but this outrage sent them out to take vengeance. Before this we were always
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in a country where we never had any fear of dan- ger until the white man came. It was only a few miles from this place (Phoenix) where my mother was killed, and a great slaughter took place there a few years previous by the soldiers and the Pima and Maricopa Indians. The sol- diers, several hundreds of them, with the Pimas and Maricopas, accompanied by an Indian who knew the country, and who could speak the lan- guage of the Indians of that part of the country, came there under pretense of making a treaty, and camped a few miles from where there was a camp of Indians. The soldiers sent this Indian guide out to our people, and he came close to the camp and called out to the Apaches, and told them that the soldiers and the other Indians came not to fight, but wanted to make peace with the Indians who were living out in this country, and had brought many presents to them, such as calico, blankets, tobacco, and many other things which were new to them, to assure them of their friendship. Many warriors and subchiefs agreed to go down and have a talk with the soldiers and get presents from them. Only men went, and nearly all the men in the camp went down. The big chief, Dela-cha, stood on a large rock and talked to those who went across the valley to where the soldiers and Pimas and Maricopas were, and told them that they would be lucky if any one of them came back alive. I had never talked friendly with any strange people, or no one who I never saw before, and did not care for any presents from anybody, and I stayed with Dela-cha with a few men, his relations. His camp was a little ways off from the rest of us, as the custom of the Indians was for all relations to
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always camp together. The soldiers were drawn up in lines with their arms or guns when the Indians came in, and the Indians were told to sit down one by one in a row. The Pimas and Maricopas told the soldiers that they would give a piece of tobacco to one of the Apaches who would be a chief, and that that one should be shot first by the soldiers and then all the others would be shot or be killed by the Pimas and Mari- copas with the clubs and knives, and that is just what happened.
"There was a woman relative of mine whose name is Chaw-A-Thay-Jah, meaning 'Wash off a calico,' who was captured by the White Moun- tain Apaches when she was a child, and was kept by her captor until she reached womanhood, when he married her. He was a cripple, having both legs paralyzed, and couldn't walk or stand. This woman told me that she was chosen the wife of this man so that she could carry him on her back every time they had to move camp. He could only move from place to place by using his elbows and his heels. He was a good singer, however, and for this reason he was chosen to at- tend a gathering at a certain place where many were camped on a small creek. At this place there were all kinds of trees, walnut, sycamore, willow and pine trees, and they were green almost the whole year round. There were two small streams of water which never dried up, and all along the valley they planted corn, water- melons, pumpkins, and everything they wanted, and they never failed to have a good crop. They were Cibicu Apaches, different from the real White Mountain Apaches.
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"This band of Cibicu Apaches lived there for years; they made their living there, and they never asked any aid from the Government. At one time they were visited by some bands of Apaches from the northern part of the Tonto country, and one morning some one in the camp made some tizwin, which is made of sprouted corn, fermented, and when it is right to drink it will foam, and you can smell it off some dis- tance the same as beer. One of the visiting party, a good looking young man, was told to go over where they were drinking tizwin, so he went over there and stopped on the outside of a tepee, or wigwam instead of going inside to where many were drinking. Nearly all of the Indians carry their guns no matter where they go, and this young man leaned up against the tepee, and started to roll a cigarette, holding his gun be- tween his legs. When he went to light his cigar- ette, he dropped the gun on the ground. It ex- ploded and the noise so frightened a child who was playing close behind him that she fell over on her back as though shot. The mother of the child rushed out of the crowd shouting that the child had been shot to pieces, and called to her husband to go and kill the man who shot her child. Everybody had been drinking of the tiz-
win, and nearly everybody was boozed up. The husband came and picked up the gun, which was still lying on the ground, and struck the owner of it on his breast several times. The young man made no effort to defend himself, but stood abso- lutely still, smoking his cigarette. When the father was through striking him, he threw the gun at the young man, who picked it up and started back to his own camp. Before reaching
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that place, however, he turned back, holding his gun under his arm and walking very fast. Some one noticed him coming and gave warning, and the father of the child got his gun and came out of the crowd to meet the man coming towards him. Neither of them stopped until they were within easy shooting distance of each other, when each one shot so close together that their clothes were set on fire. One was shot through the fore- head, and the other through the stomach, the bul- let breaking his back. The whole camp of course was very excited, but it was decided that there should be no further trouble over the affair. The Indians did not even move their camps as was customary after an affair of this character.
"In the camp there was a medicine man who had announced that a great spirit came to him saying to call all the people together and tell them to dance day and night for forty-five days, until the two men who had been killed should come to them again, and those who had parents and relatives who had been killed could also have them returned to them if they would call their names and wish them to come back from the dead. This old crippled man sang all the dances all day and night for nearly a month.
"Some trouble maker made a report to the Indian Agent and to the Post Commander, sav- ing that the Indians at Cibicu had called all the other Indians together to make a raid on the soldiers at Fort Apache. The agent and the soldiers believed the stories which were told them about the Indians, and sent out some de- tachments of soldiers to Cibicu to arrest all the Indians who were engaged in the dances, and to bring them to the fort, especially the medicine man who was supposed to be at the head of the
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affair, and who was to be brought in in irons. These were the orders of the Indian Agent at Fort Apache to the officers who went with the soldiers. Runners came to the camp from Fort Apache and told the Indians and the medicine man, and one morning the Indians saw the sol- diers coming over the road by column. There must have been about ninety soldiers or more, and about twenty-five Apache scouts. When the soldiers reached the camp they went right through to the great wigwam where the medicine man and the singer were seated. This great wigwam had four entrances or doors where the dancers came through, and went out, until they had come through all the four entrances. The medicine man was dressed in eagle feathers, and his body was painted with all kinds of paints, as was also the man who sang for the dancers. Most of the Indian men left the wigwam, and got their guns, and went up on the foothills, the women and children having gone up farther on the tops of the hills. No one was left in the medicine lodge but the great medicine man, and when the soldiers came there they took him over to the camp. He had warned the young men not to shoot any of the soldiers, saying that if they took him away they would only put him in the guardhouse for a few months or a year, and he would not be killed because he had not done any wrong. He was taken by the soldiers and a guard put over him, and while he was seated on a rock some of the young Indians tried to get close enough to him to speak to him, but the sol- diers pulled out their guns and pistols and drove the young men back three times. The fourth time the Indians were mad, and came right
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down, not minding the threats of the soldiers, and shot down all the soldiers who were there and then they ran off to the hills. The medicine man was still sitting on the rock with his wife and child, but when his wife tried to get him to go away over the hills to where the rest had gone, he told her to go alone; that there was no use for him to go anywhere after there had been so much killing on his account, as they would kill him no matter where he went, and it was just as well for him to meet his fate where he was. Just then one of the soldiers who had hidden among some saddles came out, pulled out his pistol and shot the medicine man through the head while his wife had her arm around him. The soldier, however, did not try to kill the woman and child.
"In the meantime a sister of this medicine man, who was on a fast horse, rushed in and rounded up the whole herd of the soldiers' pack mules, which were loaded with ammunition and so on, and drove them all off through the hills towards where the Indians went. The Indian men came over to the dead soldiers and took off their arms, so that they were well prepared for war. The twenty-five Apache scouts, who were the bravest Indian bucks there were, and who were well armed and trusted by the government for their honesty and reliability as guides for the soldiers in campaigning against the Apaches, instead of fighting with the soldiers, this time turned upon them, killing nearly all of them. The Indians took the horses and pack mules with the loads of ammunition and were ready for war. Some of the Indian women went over to the soldiers' camp, and finding everybody dead, they
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took everything off them, and scalped the offi- cers.
"It was not long, however, before a large num- ber of other Apaches who had enlisted as scouts were hot on the trail of these Indians. They followed them across the Black River, passed a mining camp called McMillen, on the reserva- tion, and followed the Indians down the San Carlos river right into the Agent's building, and took them all prisoners. The soldiers took six of the head men to Fort Grant, where they were hanged, and all the rest of the Cibicu Apaches were scattered among other bands of Apaches at or near the San Carlos agency. The head chief's name was Es-skil-chus-a, meaning 'Little Heart.' I cannot remember the names of the other chiefs. That band of Cibicu Apaches was broken up and never went to live at that place again.
"One time in the fall of the year 1873, or per- haps it was 1874, a mail driver came into Fort Whipple and reported to Captain James Burns, who was in charge of the post, that a party of Apaches, who were blamed for everything which happened throughout the country, had attacked him several miles away. Captain Burns took his company, which was company G of the 5th U. S. Cavalry, and went off down on Granite Creek on the run. I went with the command, but as I was such a little fellow and could not manage the horse, one of the soldiers led the horse I was riding. I could not reach the stir- rups with my feet, and the soldier did not care very much whether I was safe or not. He ran his horse hard and the one I was on kept going just as fast. I had to hold on to the saddle with both hands, but every few hundred yards my hat
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would blow off, and the soldier would have to stop and pick it up for me. He finally swore at me and called me down with all kinds of bad words. I could not understand all he said, but I did understand something he said, and this is what it was: 'If I have any trouble with the other Apaches you will be the first one I will shoot, and you would better be careful with your old hat,' so I did not dare wear my hat on my head, but held it in my mouth until we overtook the rest of the company and rode along at a slower gait until we got to the scene of the attack, where we saw where the mail carrier had left the buckboard. He said he had had two horses on the buckboard, but had cut the harness off the one he rode in and left one on the buck- board. All the letters and papers were scat- tered as far as you could see. Captain Burns
took me and all the soldiers to hunt up the tracks of the Indians, or 'Apaches.' We scattered around for quite a distance until I happened to go in through a thick brushy place where I found a footprint. I motioned to the soldiers and they came to where I was, and they all saw it. It was very hard trailing; you could not see a horsetrack because the grass was so tall and thick, but I followed the tracks on over the foot- hills of the Granite Mountains, followed it up the mountains and saw a smoke rising over the gap. The soldiers all got together in a narrow ravine where they could go up to the camp under cover of the thick brush. When we got to the gap, every soldier was ready to fire, we could not see a soul in the camp. The fire was still burn- ing, however, and the camp outfits were still there. We followed on the trail a little distance, and came across a horse that had been left be-
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hind. It was then going on to about 5:30 or 6 o'clock, so Captain Burns ordered his men to return to where they had left their horses at the foot of the mountains. We reached the horses at about sundown, and reached the post at about midnight. This was my first scouting trip, and it did not result in much damage to either side. My own opinion is that the people who attacked the mail carrier must have been Wallapais because they made for the north, and at that time all the Apaches were prisoners of war and were held at Camps Verde and Cotton- wood under the orders of General George Crook. The Apaches have been blamed for many bloody deeds done by other Indians.
"The Yavapais and the Navajos got to fight- ing because when the Navajos would come through the country they would always take something, such as a horse, or when they came to a camp of the Yavapais and saw that the Yavapais were inferior in numbers, they would ransack the whole camp and would go on towards Kirkland Valley and come back with a drove of sheep and sometimes a herd of goats. That is the way they got started on sheep and goat rais- ing, and they always gave the white people the impression that they were friendly and peaceful and always had the respect of the government. They did not need any help, however, as they were able to support their children and educate them well, and did not need any aid from the government.
"I have often been told by old Indians how they used to ambush the Navajos when they were seen coming across the valley from Kirkland Valley with bands of sheep. The Yavapais got tired of seeing the Navajos take so much stock,
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and they wanted some themselves, so they would go and lay for the Navajos just as they were coming through the divide, and would shoot them with bows and arrows. They killed three at one time, and the rest escaped, leaving the sheep behind. Some of the Yavapais wanted to drive the sheep back to Kirkland Valley, to where they were raised, or to the owner, but their chief thought the best plan was not to do this because the soldiers might come on them with the sheep, and kill them.
"I want to say something about an Indian by the name of Yum-a-wyl-lah, who belonged to those tribes west of the Yavapais country. This man had lived a long time with the whites in Colorado. When he came back he told a great many things the rest of the Indians could not comprehend, and some of them thought he was foolish to talk about having all the land taken away from them, because they all thought then that the Indians could fight any number of sol- diers. This Indian, however, said that he had been asked a great many times about the country, what kind of a country it was, whether it was open for travel, and whether it was good for camping and settling. He told the whites that there was no way for wagons to go over, and no good camping places, no grass, and no wood to burn, but the white men said, 'We will go and see for ourselves ; it is no use to tell us that there is no way for anything to go through your country, and if we cannot go there peacefully, there are many soldiers we can call on to drive the red devils away. We are going to settle your country and it is no use to resist us, and you need not ask us to pay you either. Uncle Sam has got lots of people. They are just as
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easy to count as the leaves of the trees and you would soon get tired of counting them. The only thing to do is to be good and show the new comers that you want to be their friends. Just go over to their camps and hold out your hands to them, and they will know that you want to be friendly.' Yum-a-wyl-lah said: 'It breaks my heart to think of our beautiful country, the fine green grass, the timber, the valleys, all being
taken away from us. If we resist or try to fight these new comers, many soldiers will come and destroy our homes, so we will have no homes. There will be no game, and we will not be able to go anywhere as we used to do with all our freedom once the soldiers get us in one place. Then we will not be able to say anything but will have to do just what we are told. After we are conquered we will have no more hunting country to roam in. All these things, my brothers, make me shed tears. There will be no more signal fires on distant mountains like those we used to see at nights.'
"I have often heard some of the old Indians relate the stories which were told to them in olden times before they were driven on the reservation, about how true this talk of Yum-a- wyl-lah's was. The strong men used to shed tears when they told me about their homes in the woods and the freedom that they had to do with as they pleased.
"The first white men who went through the country were friendly to the Indians, but they warned them not to be too friendly to the parties who might follow them, as they might not be so friendly as they were.
"One time three young husky Indians went out on a hunt and came to a camp, supposing it
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to be an Indian camp, but it was a soldiers' camp, and the first thing they knew they were sur- rounded and led into the camp. They were led to the commander, twelve soldiers guarding them. None of the Indians could speak English, and the soldiers could not speak Indian lan- guage, but the soldiers led the Indians to a place where a large fire had been built and some of the soldiers laid out a large wagon sheet and mno- tioned the Indians to lie down on it. When this was done the soldiers covered them up and shook their fingers at them as much as to say that they should not pull the covers off or they would shoot. The three Indians lay there without moving until one of them raised his head to see if all the soldiers were still watching them, or were going to bed. He saw they were all lying down and could hear some of them snoring. He whispered to the others that it must be get- ting time for them to make ready for a flying escape, and told them that when he raised the canvas they were to make a run for a creek nearby which had a very wide stream flowing through it. When they were ready the cover was rolled off so noiselessly that no one noticed it, and they moved out the only entrance there was, jumped over the soldiers and were across the creek and over the bluffs before the soldiers knew they were gone.
"It must have been morning when they made their escape because when they reached the top of the hill above the camp, the living sun ap- peared in a glare of gladness to them, its fresh- ness filling them with new life, and as they gazed over the mountains and valley, which they had thought they never would see again, it said to
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them that some great spirit had taken pity on them. At that time it seemed that God was more in readiness to help those who needed it than nowadays.
"A long time afterward an old man who was a member of the said party said that he noticed while he was asleep what seemed to be a white cloud come down from above with a young baby in the midst of the cloud, who said to him: 'Rise and run, and do not fear for nothing will hurt any of you.' This man's name was Won-won- gan, which means, 'His head Like a Mound.' This party was from a camp on the west side of the Jerome Mountains.
"Another time word was sent around to every village of the Yavapais to meet for a council, and they all gathered at a place called Ka-hon-ga-te- lap-a, meaning 'Scrub Piney Spot.' This place is just above the station of Dewey, a little above the wagon road from Camp Verde to Prescott. There they came by families, all gowned in feathers and painted, with the women dressed in the same style. They danced for several days, and during the day the men went hunting deer and antelope for their feasts during the dancing times. The women prepared all kinds of food and packed it for the men to carry along when they went to war. In those days there was plenty of fresh meat to be had, and plenty of plants, also plenty of all kinds of wild seeds which the Indians ground when they were ripe. At that time the Lonesome Valley was full of animals, deer and antelope. You could see droves of antelopes for miles, and sometimes they would come to the camp. After the In- dians had danced and feasted for about two
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weeks, they set out towards Kirkland Valley to the place where many of their people had been slaughtered some months previous. They scat- tered off towards the north and saw a camp of their enemies, and waited until nearly dawn, when they made a raid upon the camp, killing nearly everyone in it. They were very much sur- prised to find when they attempted to take the scalps of their victims, that there was no hair upon their heads. They found their victims' faces were painted to resemble the warpaint of In- dians, and they were dressed in Indian costume, but it turned out to be a party of white men dis- guised as Indians who had been killing every- body they came across, both whites and Indians, and throwing the blame upon the Arizona In- dians. The party must have come across the Colorado river from California, and gotten the Piutes and Wallapais to show them across the country. These rascally white men made raids through here disguised as Indians, and threw the blame upon the Apaches. Much more could be told of such happenings where the Apaches had to take all the blame, and were called blood- thirsty people by the white men. But could it be wondered at? They had been ill-treated from the start, and made to fight for vengeance and protection for their families and their homes. Is there any man who will not try to protect his own home ?
"The Castle Creek Hot Springs was a para- dise for the Indians because there was a nice meadow of green grass, plenty of large trees for shade, and it was a place where they used to plant corn, watermelons and pumpkins. One time after the Indians had planted, and in the
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