USA > Arizona > History of Arizona, Vol. V > Part 16
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done, having acted upon one of the first great laws of nature.
"The general commanding is quite sure you cannot have fully considered the effect of your two general orders, and he directs you to recon- sider and modify them, and make no war on Indians not in hostility with the settlers, and that you aid the Indian department as far as possible in co-operating with its agents. That Indians steal when they find property on which they can lay their hands is not surprising, under the state of affairs now existing in Arizona. This, of course, is much to be regretted, but it is not a matter for which the military authori- ties are responsible, and the general is not dis- posed to authorize an indiscriminate warfare on whole tribes on a suspicion that some of their members, or some of another tribe, perhaps, have committed theft.
"I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"JOHN P. SHERBURNE, "Assistant Adjutant General."
"Brevet Brigadier General J. I. GREGG, Colonel 8th U. S. Cavalry, Com'dg Dis- tricts of Prescott and Upper Colorado, Fort Whipple, A. T.
"Official :
"JOHN P. SHERBURNE, A. A. G."
Under the orders of his superior officer, Gen- eral Gregg was compelled to modify his orders in reference to hostile Indians, thus leaving the settlers of Northern Arizona at the mercy of predatory bands, who did not fail to kill, plun-
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der and destroy whenever and wherever it was to their advantage to do so. For his interfer- ence with General Gregg, General McDowell was severely criticised by Governor McCormick who in this controversy supported General Gregg.
In his second annual report, dated September 14th, 1867, General McDowell gives the follow- ing resumé of Military and Indian Affairs in Arizona :
"ARIZONA.
"11. DISTRICT OF TUCSON - Camp Goodwin, on the upper Gila; Camp Bowie, Apache Pass; Camp Wall, Upper San Pedro; Camp Tubac, Tubac; Camp Lowell, Tucson; Camp Grant, Lower San Pedro. The camps of this district have afforded as fair a measure of protection to the settlements as the circum- stances have admitted.
"The most active operations have been in the southern part against Cochese's band of Apaches, who continued to keep up active hos- tilities against the southern settlements, and have, during the past year, killed many citizens and destroyed much property. The expeditions sent out from Camp Wallen have been success- ful, and have partially and temporarily checked the inroads of the Indians.
"The southern part of the Territory has been at certain seasons of the year subject to inter- mittent fevers to such an extent as to prostrate a large part of the force, and cause many changes to be made in the camps, in the hope of getting to a healthy site.
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"Camp Wallen seems, at last, to have been made comfortable and healthy, the labor of the men on the ruins of an old Mexican house hav- ing given them sufficient shelter for themselves and their supplies.
"The remainder of the force in the southern part of the Territory has been temporarily quartered, free of expense, in houses in Tubac, which the owners were glad to offer for the in- creased protection they would receive from the troops being relieved from having to build themselves shelters.
"General Crittenden has recommended the building of the permanent camp near the site of old Fort Buchanan, where there are many adobes, made before the war, and which can be used in new buildings. It is proposed to com- mence this in November next, the labor to be done chiefly by the men with the materials at hand. When built, the post at Tubac will be discontinued.
"There has been much complaint as to the in- sufficient shelters heretofore provided for the troops in Arizona, but the recent order from the War Department on the subject of shelters for troops has only been anticipated in the orders from these and division headquarters.
"The troops have been required to make tem- porary shelters for themselves and their sup- plies by their own labor with the materials at hand. The principal difficulty in southern Ari- zona arises from the scarcity of timber and lumber.
"At Camp Grant the commanding officer made, without authority, an impracticable
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treaty with some of the Indians near the sta- tion. General Crittenden subsequently saw the Indians, and made a new agreement with them, which they broke in a few days after making it. Some of them have, however, since come in and submitted to military control.
"In order to give a greater force at other points, I endeavored to break up this camp, but found the need of it so great that it had to be continued, and the commanding officer has been authorized to make adobe shelters for his com- mand to the extent necessary for a post of this character.
"Camp Goodwin is intended as a guard for such of the Indians as submit themselves to mili- tary control in that part of the Territory. It has been found very difficult to retain the In- dians on even a reservation of the extent of the one at this post. There are frequent charges made by persons at a distance, of depredations committed by these Indians, who, it is said, steal away, and rob or murder, as has been their cus- tom. The commanding officer denies this, and has shown, at least in one instance, that these charges are not true. It will undoubtedly take much time to break up the habits of generations, and those who expect an immediate cessation of all hostilities or molestations from these people are most likely to be disappointed.
"I am still, however, convinced that mere force will not so soon accomplish the subjuga- tion of these mountain robbers, as force and care of those who profess to submit, combined.
"The transportation of supplies to this sec- tion of the Territory has heretofore been a
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heavy item of expense, even under the most favorable circumstances. Last year it was enormously so; but this has had the effect to produce much competition this year, and the price is nearly two-thirds less than it was, but this has been done by contractors who expect to send their trains from the coast of the Gulf of California through Sonora.
"It is much to be desired that Mexico should be induced to make a port of entry at Libertad, so that the freighters should have no difficulty in using that port to disembark their stores. It would then be supplied with lighters, and all facilities necessary, and which are now wanting at that place, for a port.
"12. DISTRICT OF THE VERDE- Camp McDowell .- The troops at this post were employed with good effect by Brevet Lieu- tenant-Colonel Sanford in two very important and entirely successful combats with the hos- tile Apaches, killing and capturing a large number, and destroying large quantities of their property.
"Wishing to follow up his successes, and force the Apaches in this district to submit, I en- deavored to establish a camp in the heart of their mountain fastnesses, and gave orders to that effect last autumn; but owing to many cir- cumstances I have thus far failed to get accom- plished my purpose, and have to postpone it till a more favorable opportunity.
"Besides the important successes of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Sanford, some others have been obtained by other parties from this camp, one by the Pima and Maricopa scouts.
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"Twice, lately, the Indians near this camp have sent in word to the commanding officer that they wish to be at peace with the whites. But they have so little confidence in us, and we so little in them, that it is difficult to say whether anything positive is likely to come of their ap- plication. I have instructed the commanding officer that if they will submit to military con- trol they will be provided for.
"Ninety of the one hundred Indian scouts al- lowed this department have been allotted to the districts of the Verde and Tucson. The com- manders of each bear witness to their efficiency in hunting, trailing, and fighting the Apaches. They have proved most valuable auxiliaries to the regular troops. Their peculiar knowledge of the country and habits of the Apaches makes them, in some capacity, indispensable. I wish that authority could be had for a still greater number. They are a cheap and effective force for local purposes. There is also in Arizona a class of men who are, on some accounts and for some purposes, even better than the Indians- those who were born there or have been a long time in the country. They would not be well suited to army life and discipline, particularly under the officers who are now in the Territory, who are unacquainted with it or its inhabitants ; but who, were they employed for a few months at a time, or for some particular service, and under the lead of some of their own number, would be of great use in the peculiar kind of warfare which has to be carried on in that country.
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"Many of the settlers would, I have reason to believe be willing to go out for an expedition, could they be furnished with ammunition, food and transportation. Many have done so with- out any aid, and I think it well worth the while to obtain authority to furnish these supplies for any parties whose services any district com- mander may accept for an expedition against the Indians.
"13. DISTRICT OF PRESCOTT-Camp Lincoln, on the upper Verde; Camp McPherson, La Paz road; Fort Whipple, Prescott .- The two cavalry companies in this district have done excellent service against the hostile Indians, and killed and captured a large number, and destroyed much of their (to them) valuable property.
"In one of the combats Captain J. W. Will- iams, eighth cavalry, was badly wounded. I regret the loss of the services of this gallant and most effective officer, and am glad to learn that his wound is not so serious as at first reported.
"The commander of this district, actuated by some motive I have not been able to appreciate, issued orders declaring war on all Indians in his command, save those employed with the troops, or on a reservation on the Colorado river. This unnecessary act was as impolitic as it was un- just, for we had more enemies than we had troops to combat them. He was therefore re- quired to reconsider and modify his orders, and only war on hostile Indians.
"As his subsequent conduct was unsoldierly, and caused a good deal of correspondence, and has affected the public service in his district, I
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submit herewith a special report in the case, in connection with the despatch of Mr. Dent, superintendent of Indian affairs for Arizona, dated March 5, 1867.
"14. DISTRICT OF THE UPPER COLO- RADO-Camp Mohave; Camp El Dorado .- The Indians in this district, as mentioned in my last report, have been brought into hostility with the whites; whether necessarily or un- necessarily-as it was not by any act of any one in the military service, is no longer a question.
"They have done much damage, and have kept employed a large part of the force I had hoped to employ elsewhere. They have also affected with a spirit of hostility the Piutes heretofore friendly, and there is danger of this hostility extending up the Colorado and to the Salt Lake and Los Angeles road.
"I have sent as large a force as possible to re-enforce Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Price, commanding the district, and he has now nearly five hundred men, and was by the last account about to take the field, with good prospect of success. The country is, however, very much broken, and the Indians very active, and have become well armed; and it is not at all improb- able the colonel may have to take much longer time than I have allowed him before he succeeds in his campaign.
"That he might have as large a force as pos- sible, I have temporarily attached Major Clen- denin, with a company of cavalry under orders for Camp McDowell, to his command; and as the mining operations seemed to have been, at least for the present, suspended or abandoned
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at El Dorado, and the trade to Salt Lake, by way of the Colorado, seemed to be broken off, and the company at El Dorado was suffering where it was, and the troops were needed for active field operations elsewhere, I authorized him to with- draw all the company except a small guard, and use it in his approaching campaign.
"15. DISTRICT OF THE LOWER COLORADO-Fort Yuma .- This district con- tains the principal depot for receiving and for- warding the supplies to the country north of the Gila, and the reserve supply for the whole Territory. During the year the depot was ac- cidentally burned, and with it a large quantity of public property. For fear that the troops might be depending on some of the supplies thus lost, a steamer was engaged to take to the mouth of the river such articles as the place seemed to be most likely in need of. They have arrived as have other cargoes sent by sailing vessels, and no danger is now felt of the troops being in want by reason of the accident. The depot is being rebuilt.
"The company of artillery ordered from Fort Yuma, to obtain a force to go to Sitka, leaves this post with but a single company of infantry, from which a detachment is kept up at old Fort Gaston, on the Colorado river, a few miles above the Gila.
"16. I am continually receiving complaints of the insufficient number of troops provided for the defense of the settlements against the hostile Indians. The governors of Nevada and Arizona have been earnest in their representa- V-17
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tions that more troops should be sent to their State and Territory. As I have sent all I have -which I know is a full share of what has been sent to the Pacific Coast-the question of in- creased military force for this country is one for the War Department to determine, with reference to the strength of the army and its needs elsewhere. I can only say that an addi- tional force would be of great benefit to this country ; is much needed, and that it would be good economy to employ it. I am, however, constrained to say that, for Arizona, I think it far preferable that a temporary irregular force be authorized to be retained, in the same way as is provided by law for the Indian scouts.
"17. The hostilities in that country are made by Indians who live in the mountainous parts of the Territory, where nature has combined everything to favor the life of murder and rapine they lead. They require a peculiar kind of warfare, and a peculiar force to carry it on successfully.
"It is not so much a large force as an active one that is needed. It is more like hunting wild animals than any kind of regular warfare. The Indians are seldom in large bodies, and never take any risk. They move with great celerity, unencumbered with any baggage, and when out on their forays can seldom be overtaken. When they are, and are pressed, they give way and dis- perse among the mountains and ravines, so that it is impossible to follow them. The most that is done in such cases is to cause them to abandon any animals they may be carrying off. They can only be successfully fought by troops who
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carry on an offensive warfare against them, who do not wait till they have attacked, for in such cases but little is ever accomplished, but who fight them in their own way; take no bag- gage, move by night, and hide during the day; creep upon their camps, and rush upon them by surprise. When this is done, no matter by how few or how many, they always fly, and then, seek to do what damage they can by firing from some safe cover. In these cases, it is in the first few minutes that everything is done.
"In view of this, and of the great expense it requires to obtain these few minutes, it is, I think, the highest economy to place in the hands of those who have to improve them, the best arms we have, some repeating rifle that will give them from five to fifteen shots without loading.
"18. The need of sending off immediately to the scene of Indian hostilities all the men that were sent to me has made it necessary to send companies to the field as soon as they were or- ganized, and in all cases with an insufficient number of officers, and many times with officers of other companies or corps. This, and the mistaken notion many men have that California is filled with gold, which they will be able to pick up in the first stream they come to, or that it ex- ists in such quantities and in such conditions that a man can soon gather it and become wealthy, together with the hard service required of the troops in this Indian hunting, have combined to cause many desertions. The evil, which has be- come serious, is beyond my control, nor can I charge it upon any one.
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"I send herewith the reports of successful Indian combats, and copies of the orders an- nouncing them to the department.
"I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"IRVIN McDOWELL,
"Brevet Major General, Commanding Depart- ment.
"Brevet Major General J. B. FRY,
"Assistant Adjutant General, Headq'trs Mil. Div. of the Pacific, San Francisco, Cal."
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CHAPTER XII. THE MILITARY (Continued).
MAJOR GENERAL HALLECK'S REPORT FOR 1867- 68-DESCRIBES CONDITIONS IN ARIZONA - URGES THAT MORE TROOPS BE SENT TO ARI- ZONA-EXPEDITIONS AGAINST HOSTILE IN- DIANS-FREQUENT DESERTIONS OF SOLDIERS -REPORT OF BRIGADIER GENERAL THOMAS E. DEVIN OF EXPEDITION AGAINST THE HOS- TILES.
Under date of September 22nd, 1868, Major General H. W. Halleck, who had succeeded General McDowell in command of the Pacific, made his report to the Secretary of War, in which report he had the following to say in regard to conditions in Arizona :
"This Territory has an area of some 104,000 square miles. There are no very reliable data in regard to its population, but a means of var- ious estimates would place it at about 8,000 whites and 15,000 Indians. The military force in the Territory consists of two full regiments of infantry, and nine companies of cavalry; in all 29 companies that is, nearly one-half of all the troops in the division available for ser- vice in the field. Nevertheless, considerable dissatisfaction has been shown by the inhabi- tants because more troops were not sent to that Territory. This could not be done by me from the small force at my disposal without depriving other States and Territories of their propor-
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tionate share of protection in places where Indian hostilities existed or were threatened.
"These troops in Arizona are distributed as follows: At Fort Mojave, two companies for the protection of the depot, with outposts on the road to San Bernardino; at Camp Willow Grove, two companies for the protection of the road from Mojave to Fort Whipple, and opera- tions against the hostile Hualapais; at Fort Whipple, two companies for defending depot and operations against the Apaches; at Camp McPherson, one company to protect road and mail from La Paz to Prescott; at La Paz, one company for duty at Indian reservation; at Camp Lincoln, two companies to protect set- tlers on the Verde, and operate against Apaches east of that river; at Camp McDowell and the outpost of Camp Reno, five companies to guard depot and operate against Apaches between the Verde and Salinas rivers ; at Fort Yuma (in an appended footnote General Halleck says: Fort Yuma is in the State of California, but is in- cluded in the military district of Arizona), one company to guard main depot of supplies; at Camp Lowell, Tucson, one company to guard depot of supplies for southern Arizona ; at Camp Grant, three companies to protect roads and settlements, and to operate against Apaches; at Camp Goodwin, three companies to protect roads and settlements, and to operate against Apaches; at Camp Bowie, one company to guard an important pass and check hostile incursions by Indians from New Mexico; at Camp Wallen, two companies. This post was established to prevent hostile incursions by the Sonora
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Apaches, and especially by the band of Cochise. As it had signally failed to accomplish either of these objects, it is probable that its location was not judicious. At Camp Crittenden, three companies. The troops were removed from Tubac to this place as being a more healthy position. They are intended for general opera- tions against Apaches in southern Arizona.
"The locations of these several posts were determined by General McDowell after fre- quent personal visits to all parts of that Terri- tory, and after consultations with officers fully acquainted with the topography of the country, and of large experience in operations against the Apaches. They should, therefore, be changed only after mature deliberation and upon the most satisfactory evidence that their location is erroneous. I have interfered only to prevent what I considered too great a divi- sion and scattering of our forces. To properly locate a military post in an Indian country, an officer should have a knowledge of the topog- raphy of the country, the dangers threatened, and the means of averting or surmounting them. As General McDowell possessed this knowledge in a remarkable degree, I have felt the less dis- posed to change or overrule any distribution of troops in Arizona which he proposed or ordered.
"In northern Arizona the troops under Gen- erals Devin, Price and Alexander have been, during the past year, actively engaged in scouts, and their operations have been attended with very considerable success. Much of the coun- try lying between Verde and Salinas rivers, heretofore unknown, has been explored, and
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Apaches shown that we can now penetrate to their secret haunts and homes. As soon as proper depots of supplies can be established, these explorations will be renewed with every prospect of favorable results.
"The efficiency of the forces south of the Gila has not been so manifest, and their operations have been less successful.
"The details of the military operations in Arizona during the past year are given in the several reports forwarded through department headquarters. Arizona has been greatly mis- represented, even by its own people. It has been described as a wonderfully rich mineral coun- try, abounding in lodes and mines of gold and silver, of such surpassing wealth, that any man who could work them could, in a few months, accumulate a fortune of millions. But these mines of fabulous wealth, if they really exist, are as yet undeveloped, and perhaps undiscov- ered. I do not mean to say there are no val- uable mines in Arizona, but simply that the products of these mines have never equalled the sanguine anticipations and representations of their owners, and that the failure of expected dividends to anxious stockholders has not been entirely due to the want of military protection, as is so commonly alleged. But this Territory has interests and resources other than its min- erals, and I have little doubt that in a few years its agricultural products will far exceed in value the yield of its mines of gold, silver, and copper, however rich they may prove to be. In many parts of the country the soil is exceed- ingly rich, and crops of all kinds are most
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abundant. Its climate is favorable for the growth of most kinds of grain and fruits, and its grass lands are so extensive and rich that the traveler is surprised to learn that the beef and mutton consumed is mostly obtained from Texas and California, and still more that much of the bread eaten is made of flour imported from Cali- fornia and Sonora. There can be little doubt that when the Territory shall receive an immi- gration of thrifty farmers, it will become one of the most prosperous countries on the Pacific slope. But farmers and stockraisers are ever more exposed to Indian depredations, and re- quire more military protection in a country infested by hostile Indians, than miners in the development of their mines. The farmer's wealth consists in his cattle and crops; and if these are destroyed, he is often utterly ruined. The miner's principal wealth is in his mines, which the Indians cannot destroy, although they may cripple his operations for a time by rob- bing him of his work animals, tools, and his supplies. Notwithstanding the too frequent raids of Apaches, and the ruin which they have caused to many ranches, the farming interest in Arizona has made considerable progress within the last two years. Many posts are now mainly supplied by the products of the country, and at prices nearly fifty per cent less than formerly.
"It will be seen from this summary that, while there is a considerable military force in the territory, the number available for scouts and field operations is small, and that this field force cannot be increased without leaving un- protected many necessary depots of supplies
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and important mining and agricultural dis- tricts. I, therefore, respectfully and most urgently repeat my recommendation of last year, that an additional force of one or two regi- ments of infantry be sent to this division for service in Arizona. The troops now there will be able to hold their present positions and to make gradual advances upon the enemy until he is finally subdued or destroyed. But this process must be a slow one. With the addi- tional troops asked for, the operation will be greatly facilitated, the desired result attained in less time, and the total cost of the war greatly diminished.
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