The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke Volume 1: November 20, 1872--July 28, 1876

Background

17 A pachería is the vast area encompassing what is now Arizona, most of New Mexico, and portions of the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua. It is so called because it is the traditional land of the Western Apaches. For centuries, the Apaches had fought the people of the south, first the Spaniards, and then the Mexicans. Their initial contact with U.S. soldiers in 1846, however, was cordial. The United States was then at war with Mexico, and because of their own hatred for the Mexicans, the Apaches assumed the Americans must have some good qualities. In fact, when a U.S. expeditionary force crossed Apachería en route to Mexican-held California, the great Apache chief Mangas Coloradas suggested to the American commander, Brig. Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny,1 that they should combine forces, and invade Sonora and Chihuahua. Kearny declined, and continued on his march. Trouble appears to have begun with the discovery of gold in California. Apaches were disturbed by the large number of Background 1. Stephen Watts Kearny (1794-1848), army officer, explorer, and Mexican War hero, gave his name to Fort Kearny, Nebraska. The Fort Kearny, Wyoming, so frequently mentioned by Bourke in this volume, refers to Fort Phil Kearny named for Bvt. Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny, killed at Chantilly, Virginia, in 1862. Bourke and others have tended to erroneously render the name as “Kearney.” There is no second “e.” Heitman, Historical Register, 1:586, 2:514, 533. 18 ARIZONA: 1872–1875 Americans crossing their country en route to the gold fields. Additionally, because the Mexican jurisdictions offered a bounty on Apache scalps, some of these gold seekers offset their expenses by scalp hunting. The situation worsened early in 1851, when a boundary commission entered Apachería with a military escort. Mangas Coloradas’ reaction seems to have been mixed. Initially outraged at the military presence, he ultimately realized that his warriors’ bows and arrows were no match for the soldiers’ firearms, and therefore expressed a guarded friendship. Nevertheless, trouble broke out when one band ran off a herd of cattle belonging to a mining camp not far from the boundary commission’s camp. A detachment of soldiers pursued, and after a fight, recovered the cattle. As more Americans settled the Territory of New Mexico (which then included Arizona), clashes erupted between the settlers and the Apaches. The temptation to plunder isolated ranches was too great for the Apaches, who had already established a raiding economy by their depredations against the Mexicans. Some Americans fueled it by wantonly killing any Indian they saw. The problem was exacerbated by a rotgut alcohol known as “Taos lightning,” provided to the Indians not only by unscrupulous traders, but by settlers who used it to purchase protection from marauding bands. The government in Washington appeared largely uninterested in the problem, and different authorities often were at odds with each other over the gravity of the situation, and possible solutions. Already jealousy between civil and military authorities—a prominent theme in Bourke’s diaries two decades later—was hindering attempts to control the situation. Efforts to force the freedom-loving Apaches onto reservations, while in some cases successful, by and large made matters worse. In the late 1850s, the Apaches stole large herds of Mexican stock for sale in the United States, and large herds of U.S. stock for sale in Mexico. By 1860, they were in a full-scale war with both countries. They not only plundered, but also took captives for ransom. The abduction of a boy named Felix Ward2 in 1860, would have lasting repercussions. Determined to get him back, Second Lt. George Bascom and a detachment of soldiers met with a band of Chiricahua 2. Felix Ward ultimately became a guide for the military, under the assumed name of Mickey Free. BACKGROUND 19 warriors under Cochise, son-in-law and protégé of Mangas Coloradas, at Apache Pass, on February 4, 1861. When Cochise denied any knowledge of the boy, Bascom had the Indians surrounded and informed them they would be hostages until Felix was returned. Pulling a knife, Cochise managed to slash his way out, but six of his warriors were seized. After a couple of days, Cochise appeared and advised Bascom that he had other prisoners to exchange, and was working to obtain Felix’s release from the Apache band that held him. Bascom agreed, but the arrival of...