Apache Campaigns - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

Sixth Cavalry.
Their course brought them into the Peloncillo Range which separates Arizona and New
Mexico. Here, in Horseshoe Canyon on 23 April 1882, they ran into patrols from Lieut. Col.
George Alexander Forsyth’s squadron, five troops [C, G, F, M and H] of the Fourth Cavalry and
Indian Scouts. The battle was pitched and Forsyth lost five dead and seven wounded before the
Apaches melted away, heading for Mexico. Forsyth, relying on a the interrogation of a captured
squaw, reported that thirteen of the enemy had been killed.
On the morning of 23 April, Forsyth ordered Lieutenant D.N. McDonald, one of his 4th
Cavalry officers, to reconnoiter the southeast end of the Stein’s Pass range to see if he could cut
any Indian trails. His patrol was made up of six mounted scouts from Fort Craig, two enlisted
men, and Yuma Bill, an Apache scout who was considered their most experienced and reliable
man. Forsyth also had a six-man dismounted patrol of Indian scouts combing the foothills of the
range.
McDonald first struck a trail of about ten Indians walking north toward the Gila River.
About an hour later, McDonald sent one of his enlisted men back to the main force with the word
that he had discovered another fifteen Indians on the trail, leading a mule and two horses.
When McDonald was about 16 miles from the main column, having moved around the
southern tip of the range and moving in a northwesterly direction up the west side, he was
ambushed. Forsyth later wrote that he “saw one of the Indian scouts, still nearly a mile away,
riding at full speed for our column, lashing his horse at every stride and digging his heels into his
sides with desperate energy, his long black hair waving wildly behind him, as he came towards
us.” The messenger breathlessly reported the ambush which killed Yuma Bill and three other
scouts. McDonald was in a desperate situation trying to hold off the attacking hostiles. Forsyth
said the command reacted immediately. “Instantly the bugles rang out, ‘Left turn, trot,’ and a few
seconds later, ‘Gallop,’ and the command was speeding to the rescue.”
They rode at the gallop “en echelon,” five troops almost abreast, for sixteen miles through
arroyas, mesquite and creosote, sending up a large cloud of sand. Lieutenant Mason shouted to
Forsyth that they would kill the horses at this pace. He had confidence in the horses procured for
his regiment and answered, “They must live till we reach McDonald.” As they neared the base
of the Peloncillo range, they spotted McDonald racing toward them, waving his carbine. The
lieutentant later related his adventure and it was published in Forsyth’s account. He begins:
I was ordered to take my six apache scouts, including Yuma Bill, who was given me at
my especial request, together with a corporal from my own troop, strike directly into the
mountains, and search for a fresh trail of the hostiles, while the main command pushed out of
the foot hills and across the plain toward Richmond, a little settlement on the Gila River. Risk
of the few for the good of the many in the military service is good for the many, but occasionally
tough on the few. However, we struck into the heart of the range almost due north, and
soon discovered the old Indian trail. It ran through the heaviest part of the mountains, passing
over terribly rough places and through narrow gorges, where the chances for an ambuscade
were so great that I experienced considerable difficulty in compelling the scouts to go forward.
I changed the usual Indian tactics of following trail in file to sending one Indian, Yuma Bill,
ahead, and scattering the rest right and left about one hundred yards apart, while I rode
within a few yards of Bill, watching them all, and indicating to the flankers, when the trail led
into a particularly dangerous place, to sweep our around and try to look in behind the position
as far as possible to discover if an ambuscade were laid. All such movements were made at
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HUACHUCA ILLUSTRATED