Apache Campaigns - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

faucets, and they were held back until their turn came to be watered.
Despite the efforts of two men to restrain each horse, it was not an infrequent thing for
them to plunge their heads in the water barrel quite up to their ears in their eagerness to slake
their intolerable thirst. It was half-past one in the morning before the last animal had been
watered, and then the command turned in for a much needed rest. 81
On the morning of the 25th, the command resumed the pursuit, following a trail across the
San Simon valley into the Chiricahua range, and camping at 10:00 p.m. at Turkey Creek near
Galeyville where the hostiles had been reported to be in the vicinity. In camp they were joined 30
minutes later by Captain Chaffee’s troop of the 6th Cavalry and Lieut West’s Indian scouts.
Captain Chaffee’s command, being under the orders of the Department of Arizona, would strike
out on their own in the morning while Forsyth, under the command of the District of New
Mexico, would strike south on a rough march of some 40 miles, going into a dry camp at 9:30.
But they would be beaten to the quarry by quick reaction forces out of the Department of
Arizona.
The alarm was raised in Arizona on the 22d and at midnight Captain Tullius C. Tupper
with his Troop G, 6 th Cavalry, two officers and 32 men, and Lieutenant Stephen C. Mills, 12 th
Infantry, commanding Company D of Indian Scouts, set out from Fort Huachuca to intercept the
renegades. At the same time, Captain William A. Rafferty was decamping from Fort Bowie with
his Company M, 6 th Cavalry, Company B of Indian Scouts commanded by Lieutenant F. J. A.
Darr, 12 th Infantry, and a pack train. Civilian scouts Al Sieber, Pat Kehoe, and Rohner, and two
surgeons rounded out the force. The two forces converged in the vicinity of Galeyville where
they learned from citizens that the Apaches had been in the area. Tupper, by virtue of his brevet
rank of major earned during the Civil War, took command of the provisional squadron.
According to Tom Horn, another of the civilian scouts and never a reliable source,
Tupper was anxious to “get a lick at the Indians,” so much so that he was willing to risk his
commission by illegally crossing into Mexico. He was particularly interested in capturing a pony
for his daughter. 82 Tupper crossed the border after them and brought them into action about
twenty miles into Mexico on 28 April, in the Las Animas mountains. But the battle was indecisive;
Tupper had to withdraw before running out of ammunition. The number of Apaches killed
could have been between six and fourteen.
Tupper reported his version of the battle from Fort Huachuca on 8 May 1882, to Major
Perry, 6th Cavalry, at Willcox:
I have the honor to report that in compliance with your telegram of Apr. 21" received
by me about 8 P.M. 22" I marched that night with my Troop “G” 6' Cav, consisting of two
officers and 32 men, and Co “D” Indian Scouts—One officer and 20 men with Pack trains.
Loaded on cars at Contention soon after sunrise 23" and arrived at San Simon Station of
S.P.R.R. that night—unloaded, and went into Camp there about 10 P.M. under orders to
patrol R.R. re —copy of orders attached.
We were pulled down to Benson by regular passenger train, and arrived in time for the
passenger train on S.P. road, but they refused to take us, and my men and Indians were
obliged to loaf around in that whiskey hole until about noon 23". The accommodations
provided for my men on the S.P. road were not fit for a decent pack of dogs. About sundown,
24" a citizen named Babcock arrived at San Simon from Galeyville, and reported a large
number of hostile Indians in Chiricahua Mts. I forwarded the dispatch he brought with my
statement to you that I would march at once. Directed by you, by wire, to push on, and
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HUACHUCA ILLUSTRATED