Apache Campaigns - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

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Apache Campaigns: Big Dry Wash
On 6 July 1882 the San Carlos police chief, J. L. “Cibicu Charley” Colvig, and three of
his men were ambushed and killed. The culprits were White Mountain Apaches under the war
leader Natiotish who had been on the run since the Cibicu uprising. About 60 strong, they raided
into the Tonto Basin, bringing out fourteen troops of cavalry from the posts at Verde, Whipple,
McDowell, Thomas and Apache to scour the country.
One of these patrols in strength was that of Capt. Adna M. Chaffee, a troop of the Sixth
Cavalry. From the Mogollon Rim, Natiotish watched Chaffee make his way down the “Crook
Trail” connecting Forts Apache and Verde. Seven miles north of General Springs, the White
Mountain leader set an ambush in a narrow canyon on Chevelon Fork or East Clear Creek. But
Chaffee was being guided by Al Sieber, an experienced civilian scout, and Sieber warned the
captain of the trap. Unknown to the Indians, Chaffee had been reinforced during the night by two
troops of the Third Cavalry and two of the Sixth led by Maj. A. W. Evans. Although senior in
rank, Evans let Chaffee direct the fight. While one troop fired across the canyon into the Indians
to keep them busy, four others slipped around to hit the Indians on the flanks. It was the one rare
instance that the Americans were fighting Apaches in a conventional way and the U.S. Army
knew how to fight this way. The Indians were badly handled, losing between 16 and 27 men
killed, and many others wounded.
Adna Romanza Chaffee, a former first sergeant, had a distinguished record in the Civil War,
was a noted Indian campaigner, and saw active service in the Spanish-American War and took
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