Memorandum of the recent escape of Loco’s band of
Chiricahua Indians from the San Carlo Reservation, Arizona, and
their pursuit into Mexico.
On the 17th of April last, Juh (the chief of the band of Chiricahuas
which broke out in September, 1881) returned secretly from Mexico with
some 60 of his band to the San Carlos Reservation and compelled the
remainder of the Chiricahuas under Loco, consisting of about 40 men and
300 women and children, to leave the reservation.
They left on the night of April 18, 1882, killing the Indian chief of
police, Sterling, and the police sergeant. They proceeded towards Fort
Thomas, killing ten men, women, and children on Eagle Creek, and the
murder of other citizens in the same valley was reported.
Lieutenant-Colonel Schofield, Sixth Cavalry, with two troops of his
regiment from Fort Thomas, pursued the band, and part of the command
under Lieutenant Sands overtook the fugitives and pursued them for three
miles, but getting out of ammunition returned.
On the 20th of April, Captain Gordon, Sixth Cavalry, with 119 men
(including an Indian scout company), left Fort Grant to intercept the
band should they go out by Eagle Creek or Clifton.
The commanding officer District of New Mexico (Colonel Mackenzie) having
been advised of the trouble, Lieutenant-Colonel Forsyth, with four
troops of the Fourth Cavalry, at Sepor, N. Mex., were on the alert to
co-operate.
General McDowell ordered Harris’s troop of the First Cavalry to report to
General Willcox, and immediate steps were taken to use all the troops in
the Department of Arizona available.
On the 25th of April the General of the Army, then in San Francisco,
telegraphed suggesting that a regiment of infantry from Texas might be
ordered to report to Colonel Mackenzie to patrol the line of the
Southern Pacific Railroad, so as to leave the troops in Arizona and New
Mexico free to take the field.
The General also instructed General McDowell that Loco’s band should be
attacked wherever found, without regard to relative numbers.
Alarming reports were received of the loss of life, &c., from the
depredation of the Chiricahuas, but many of the reports proved to be
considerably exaggerated.
On the 24th of April, Lieutenant-Colonel Forsyth, with his command, found
the hostiles in an impregnable position in Stein’s Peak Range, New
Mexico, where he attacked and fought them with a loss of 5 men killed
and 5 men wounded, killing 2 Indians and wounding a number.
On the 26th April, General McDowell repeated a dispatch from General
Willcox stating that Captain Overton, Sixth Cavalry, reported the
Indians had killed many people along the Upper Gila, and that he was
pushing forward on trail of main body towards Doubtful Cañon in Stein’s
Peak Range.
On the 26th, General Sheridan reported that Colonel Forsyth had a force
of about 500 men (Fourth Cavalry and scouts) with him, and that he and
Captain Tupper, with two troops Sixth Cavalry, was close on trail of the
Indians. General Sheridan said he could send Third Cavalry at any
moment.
April 28, General Willcox repeated by telegraph that the actual outbreak
could be handled with the force in the department, but that as there
were indications of fresh outbreaks reported, an additional regiment of
cavalry and one of infantry should be sent. He also, on the same day,
gave the strength of the troops in the Department of Arizona as 613
cavalry and 487 infantry.
On the 28th April, Captain Tupper, with Troops G and M, Sixth Cavalry,
struck the Indians about 35 miles east of Cloverdale, and had a
desperate fight with them, killing
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12 or 15 Indians, including Loco’s son, and
capturing 70 head of stock. The fight lasted from daybreak till noon.
Captain Tupper lost 1 man killed and 2 wounded.
Colonel Forsyth and Captain Tupper united; then continued the pursuit of
the Indians towards Mexico.
May 2, General McDowell telegraphed that the governor of Arizona had
called upon General Willcox for protection for the settlements, and that
he therefore thought that General Willcox would need the additional
troops asked for.
The First Infantry and Third Cavalry were thereupon definitely ordered to
Arizona (General Orders of April 29 and May 1, from District of
Missouri), and the Seventh Infantry, in Department of Dakota, was
ordered to be held in readiness.
May 3, 1882, General Sheridan telegraphed that 13 Indians were killed in
Captain Tupper’s fight; that the Indians had crossed into Mexico and
that Colonel Garcia with a column of Mexican troops had attacked the
Indians, killing 78 and capturing 33. Colonel Forsyth returned to Sepor,
N. Mex., from the pursuit of the Indians on the 4th of May, having kept
up the pursuit of Loco’s band until he received reliable intelligence of
the practical annihilation by the Mexican troops under Garcia.
Colonel Forsyth reported the number of Indians killed from April 25 to 29
as 98 (including the 78 killed by the Mexicans).
June 3, General Sheridan telegraphed that a dispatch from General Fuero
(commanding the Mexican forces in Chihuahua) to General Pope informed
him that Juh’s band of Apaches were defeated by the Mexican forces at
Bosque de Santiago, May 25, with loss of 37 Indians killed and 10
captured, and this, with the losses of Loco’s band in previous fights,
practically finishes up the renegades from San Carlos.
June 5, General McDowell telegraphed that it was reported that various
small parties of Indians were in the Whitestone, Dragoon, Huachuca and
Chiricahua Mountains, and that troops from Forts Huachuca, Bowie, and
Camp Price have been hunting them, while the San Pedro Valley and
crossing of the Gila towards the San Carlos Reservation was guarded by
troops from Forts Grant and Thomas.
No further disturbances at the San Carlos Reservation have been
reported.
Upon the arrival of the First Infantry and Third Cavalry, they were
distributed to the most exposed posts in Arizona.
On the 2d May (in response to a House resolution) the aggregate number of
troops available in the Department of Arizona, after the arrival of the
First Infantry and Third Cavalry, was stated to be 2,377
(approximate).
GEO D. RUGGLES,
Acting
Adjutant-General.
