Apache Campaigns - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

all that we could do.
Our loss at Cibicu, considering the number engaged, was very heavy, as follows:
Killed, Captain E. C. Hentig, Privates Sullivan, Miller, Livingstone, Bird, Sondegros and
Sondregger; mortally wounded, Foran, who died enroute to Apache; wounded, Sergeant
McDonald (leg) and Private Berry (shoulder).
When the fight started we had sixty-eight white men, including packers. We faced, at
first, about three hundred hostiles. An hour later the Indian numbers increased to about five
hundred. By sunset there were approximately eight hundred, apparently surrounding us with
an unbreakable cordon.
* * *
When I turned out at reveille of September 1, 1881, we began to take stock in various
ways. Everyone speculated concerning the number of Indians killed in the fight. This we
never did decide exactly, but as nearly as we could determine about eighteen were killed and
as many wounded. Six of my Scouts died at Cibicu. These were the renegades who turned
against us there.
* * *
I have always believed that if the hostiles had owned one leader of consequence they
would have annihilated us.... 63
The march back to Fort Apache was a harrowing one and only the darkness saved the
column from annihilation.
The Apaches were enraged enough at the loss of their spiritual leader to even attack the
fort itself on 1 September. The attackers took possession of some outlying buildings, wounded an
infantry officer, and shot the horse on which Col. Carr was riding, before they were repulsed.
They also had cut the telegraph lines to the fort, leaving it unable to communicate with departmental
headquarters for four days.
Lieut. Cruse described the only seige of a U.S. military installation in the Southwest since
Navahos attacked Fort Defiance decades earlier. The Apaches were gathering in great numbers
around the post.
We let their wild shots go without reply. General Carr had distributed his force to
defend Apache easily. McGowan and his Infantry made a line from the reservoir to the
sawmill and pump house, across the valley of the White River east fork. It was a very thin
line, the intervals between men three or four yards. Lieutenant Gordon, who had been First
Lieutenant of Troop D under Hentig, stepped up to replace the dead man. He had part of his
troop along White River.
At the back of the barracks, covering wooded country that was rough and gashed with
arroyos, Stanton had his line. My line extended from the target range road to the hospital.
We covered the trails to San Carlos, the Cibicu, and other points.
McGowan was given the open country and long range because of his Infantry rifles.
Stanton’s was the most dangerous sector because the rough country before him was ideal in
Apache eyes for attack.
The forenoon dragged by, with only those ragged volleys at long range. Noon passed.
Near two o’clock some hostiles worked up fairly close to Stanton’s front in the brush. They
began to fire furiously, but overshot. The bullets kicked up little geysers of dust on the parade
A MAGAZINE OF THE FORT HUACHUCA MUSEUM
83