Apache Campaigns - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

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5 p.m. when we stopped for supper in a canyon in Old Mexico. Knowing we were close to the
hostiles 16 of our best scouts went ahead, Darr and I with the rest about a mile in rear of
them, and the cavalry behind us two or three miles. In this order we pulled out at dark for our
fourth night march in six days.
About nine o’clock word came back to me that the hostile camp was in sight, leaving our
mules, Darr and I took the rest of the scouts up. Found the advance about a mile ahead, they
had seen fires near a small hill about two or three miles beyond. My first sergeant and three
other scouts volunteered to go and locate the camp, so off they went while the rest of us
waited. Maj. Tupper came up pretty soon and in about two hours Loco—my sergeant—came
back. It was the hostile camp, a big one, the Indians were making medicine, there were heavy
rocky hills just back of the camp where the scouts could get and at day light fire into the camp
while the cavalry charged in from the front. A few moments talk with Loco and Maj. Tupper
to settle fully the details and we separated, the Major going back to the command to move
them and I with the scouts. Darr of my regiment and one white man, his guide, was with me
besides the scouts. We marched rapidly and silently for some six miles, making a big detour to
get in rear of the camp without other incident than my stirring up a rattlesnake which rattled
and then ran. This brought us to the edge of the hills behind the camp. Here everything
cautious, coats, Indian clothing, hats in short everything which could make a mark for a shot
was left. My big white hat among the first, my first sergeant objecting to my wearing it as it
made me conspicuous. You would like that Sergeant, he took me under his especial charge,
told me to keep next to him all the while, and in short treated me very much as a small child he
was bound to protect. He’s a big, powerful, White Mountain [Apache], about 40 years old
and a fine typical Indian, has scouted with me on nearly every hard trip I’ve had down here,
and paid me the compliment the other day of saying I knew more of scouting and hostile
hunting than any other officer he ever saw.
Well, we crawled into the rocks and worked our way down toward the camp. Talk about
hunting, I’ve crawled to get a shot at a good many kinds of game first and last, but stealing on
to a camp of hostiles beats everything else for excitement. We got within eight or nine hundred
yards and then stopped to wait for the moon to go down and the Indians to stop making
medicine. We waited there pretty nearly two hours, then just as the first light came stole down
on the camp. This was the critical work. A loud noise now or a fall meant alarming the camp
and then the chances were we would have been cut off and never been able to get out. I sent
Darr with his Indians to the right and took my own to the left. His orders were not to fire until
I did unless absolutely necessary.
My party got in the rocks above and not one hundred yards from the camps. We could see
about one hundred and fifty horses and mules grazing near camp and the Indians in their
blankets near the fires. As it grew light some few Indians got up and moved around, one party
of five going towards the rocks where Darr lay. As they got up nearly to him he fired and the
ball was opened. We sent our bullets into camp as fast as guns could do it and how those
Indians did get out of bed. In a moment I saw the cavalry come over a little rise about a mile
away and on the dead run they came up to within forty or fifty yards of the hills, poured in
their fire, got a blizzard in return from rock all around where we thought there were no
hostiles. Finding it too hot to hold where they were, there wasn’t a sign of cover the Indians
having burned the grass, they drew back taking seventy-four head of Indian stock with them,
leaving one man dead on the ground, four horses killed and several wound, two men wounded.
HUACHUCA ILLUSTRATED