Apache Campaigns - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

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He was killed on 11 January 1886 by Mexican irregulars who took his Apache Scouts for
hostiles. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Crook organized what would become known as the Sierra Madre Campaign of 1883. His
first move was to coordinate with Col. Mackenzie commanding the Military District of New
Mexico and with the governors of Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico. The campaign was to cross
the borders of nations and military departments, so he thought it important to visit Albuquerque
and the Mexican provincial capitals to personally obtain the cooperation of his neighbors. He also
used the new Southern Pacific Railroad to bring troops and supplies together at Wilcox, his
jumping off point. Bourke referred to the advantages of the railroads which had not existed when
Crook last commanded the department.
...The completion of the Southern Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe systems,
and the partial completion of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, had wrought certain changes
in the condition of affairs.... In a military sense they had all been a great benefit by rendering the
transportation of troops and supplies a matter of most agreeable surprise to those who still
remembered the creaking ox-teams and prairie schooners, which formerly hauled all stores from
the banks of the distant Missouri; in a social sense they had been the means of introducing
immigration, some of which was none too good.... 100
The general was ready to move by the end of April. He would personally lead into
Mexico, on his mule “Apache,” a small strike force composed of 45-man I Troop of the Sixth
Cavalry captained by Adna R. Chaffee and lieutenanted by Frank West and William Woods
Forsyth, and 193 Indian Scouts (the White Mountain, Yuma, Mojave, and Tonto tribes being
represented) under Capt. Emmet Crawford and Lieut. Charles Gatewood. Also with the scouts
were Lieut. James O. Mackay, Third Cavalry, and civilians Al Seiber, Archie McIntosh, Mickey
Free, Severiano, and Sam Bowman. On the general’s staff were Capt. John G. Bourke, Third
Cavalry, acting adjutant-general; Lieut. G. S. Fieberger, engineer officer, aide-de-camp; Doctor
George Andrews, and Private A. F. Harmer of the General Service.
HUACHUCA ILLUSTRATED