Geronimo's Vanishing Act

In 1884, trouble erupted among the peaceful White Mountain, Apache tired of being hungry and living like captives.  Geronimo slipped into Mexico along with 74 warriors to avoid arrest.  At this same time General Crook, named "Grey Wolf" by the Apache was reassigned to Arizona where the Apache trusted him.  He decided it was time to get tough with the corrupt Indian Agents but along with that he punished Apache for domestic abuse and drunkenness.

General Crook and his Apache Scouts

Crook was prepared to deal with the war leaders in the Sierra Madre by recruiting companies of tough, wild Apache scouts to track the warriors down.  Along with 193 Apache scouts and the cooperation of Mexico, Crook went into the Sierra Madre destroying Apache camps.  When the Apache began to surrender, Geronimo appeared among them.   That didn't last long as he led 42 warriors and 92 women and children back into Mexico.  The same scenario happened again the next year.  Geronimo talked peace with Crook in March of 1886, but the very next day he vanished again with 20 warriors and their families.

The next year, Crook was replaced by General Miles, who sent 5000 troops against the warring raiders.  Miles made two important decisions - one was harsh and unjust, one offered peace.  First Miles rounded up all the reservation Apache and Apache scouts who aided Crook and sent them to Florida so they could not aid Geronimo again.  Second, he met with Geronimo in September 1886 to talk peace.  Geronimo's acceptance was the end of the Apache wars along with his reign in the Apache tribe.

The Indian Rights Association along with General Crook protested the living conditions in Florida and the separation from their Apache families.  Eventually the men were reunited with their wives and children in 1887.  In 1894 they were sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma where Geronimo died in 1902, still hoping to get back to his beloved Southwest.

Next time...the Dwindling Reservations
__________________________________
Today in Pioneer History:  "On March 5, 1815, Franz Anton Mesmer, a German physician who pioneered the medical field of hypnotic therapy, dies in obscurity in Meersburg, Swabia (now Germany)

Who were the Civilized Ones?

In the Southwest, guerrilla war between the white settlers and the Apache had become long and bloody in the 1860s.  Cochise and Mangsr Coloradas had allied together and with 700 of their warriors, ambushed and ravaged the Southwest until the Gila River country in southern Arizona was cleared of all ranchers - except for one.  Pete Kitchen turned his hilltop adobe ranch house into a fortress and dealt out punishment and grief to the Apache raiders until they left him alone. 

There was another idea - Thomas Jeffords dealt with the problem by talking.  Jeffords was a six-foot New Yorker with a flaming red beard.  As superintendent of mail between Fort Bowie and Tucson, he had lost 14 drivers in just 16 months.  He had had enough.  He rode alone to Cochise's mountain stronghold where the only reason he wasn't killed was because he startled the Apache by his confidence.  Jeffords dropped his guns and requested to speak to Cochise.  Cochise was a courageous kind of guy and found the same in Jeffords.  They formed an immediate friendship with Jeffords staying on with Cochise for several days.  After that, the Apache never again attacked one of Jeffords drivers. 

The war between whites and Apaches went on however.  Mangas Coloradas was weary of battles and certain of coming defeat when we went to talk with General Joseph West in 1863.  He wanted peace - what he got was murdered.  Cochise doubled his raids, yet wanted peace as well.  The adds against him were too great.  In 1871, 128 unarmed Apache were massacred by a mob of Arizonans.  Humanitarians in the East wanted a stop to the slaughter on both sides.

Who were the uncivilized???


Next Time - Was peace possible?
______________________________
Today on Pioneer History: "On November 20, 1843,  the growing community along the banks of the Missouri River adopts the more impressive St. Joseph as its name. It was established as the Blacksnake Hills trading post in 1826, and as with many early western towns, St. Joseph began as a fur trading post. 

Prescott Honors Captain Joe

Joseph Walker continued to keep a small cabin near Prescott, Arizona.  In 1864, he led Governor Goodwin and other officials on a tour of the Little Colorado River basin. He was 66 years old.

Walker returned to California and spent several months on his ranch, returning to Prescott to lead private explorations, visiting the country along the south rim of the Grand Canyon where he had been so curious 30 years before. 

At the 4th of July celebration in 1866, the new Governor McCormick said, "The real pioneer is seldom a man of words or seeker of notoriety...Walker is one of a few who has experience so rich and valuable and worthy of public presentation."

Walker left Arizona for good and returned to the family ranch in California in 1867. 

Picture of Captain Walker by Matthew Brady circa 1860...


Next time...The Victory Lap

____________________________

On This Day in History:  On January 28, 1855, the Panama Railway, which carried thousands of unruly miners to California via the dense jungles of Central America, dispatches its first train across the Isthmus of Panama.  (Nothing newsworthy happened on January 29th :) 

Civilized Arizona?

Arizona had 1000 people at the Prescott diggings by1864.  Prescott was rough, even as mining camps go.  They prohibited Asians and Mexicans from filing claims, and  working or living in the district. A committee was established to determine who was and who was not a Mexican.  Bigotry was rampant, even in the 20th century.  Prescott prided itself as being the "Only White Man's Town in Arizona".  Without Joseph Walker, the Indian situation worsened and whites suffered from Indian attacks.  The Indians, who were used to someone fair and reasonable like Captain Walker, were lost.

The Arizona Miner, a weekly newspaper established in Prescott in 1864, pretty much told the mood:
"We see no other way than to eliminate the savage race on the Pacific Coast and the sooner the better for this country.  The Indian race has served its day and generation, and will eventually be studied as an extinct species of man, as naturalists now study the dinosaurs." 

What a sad thought that consumed these people - to exterminate a people and their culture because they didn't care to understand or integrate that culture.  What we lost to ignorance can never be regained. Is that what civilization is all about?  Civilized people don't exterminate another people - how is that civilized?  Gheesh...

Next time:  Prescott honors Captain Joe

 _________________________

Today in History:  On January 27, 1888, the National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, DC for "the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge."

Walker's New Plan

During those 3 months, Walker had not lost a man and only 2 or 3 were wounded by the Apache, none seriously.  Six Apache were killed.  Walker's party was no closer to Arizona than before so Walker devised a new plan - kidnap Chief Mangas.  Now Mangas was about 6'4" - 6'7" by all historical accounts.  The plan:  if white men were allowed to pass through Apache territory without harm, Mangas would be released unharmed. 

Walker did kidnap Mangas, but the military disregarded Walker's plan and killed Mangas.  After that, the military sent troops to kill some 20 Apache.  Walker left Fort McLane  in disgust.

Walker's party stopped to explore the upper waters of the San Francisco River and then on to Tucson in April of 1863.  They came to present day Phoenix and then on to Prescott. By Christmas of 1863, there were so many newcomers in the area that Walker had had enough and relinquished command of the party.  He is recorded as saying "We opened the door and held it open for civilization and now civilization will do the rest."

Next time...Civilized Arizona?

---------------------------------------------
Today in History:  On January 22, 1870, pursuing American soldiers badly beat Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife (Mountain Star) and his people as they make a desperate bid for freedom. In doing so, the soldiers effectively crushed the so-called Dull Knife Outbreak in Wyoming/Montana.

After The Gold Rush

The expedition back to the gold site was small - only 12 and Captain Joe Walker.  As they crossed the Colorado below the Virgin River, Walker led the men directly to the gulch on the Colorado where 23

years before Ralston had found the gold.  However, this time there was no gold.  In fact, no notable discoveries were ever found in the area.

The left the Little Colorado in the fall, going to Albuquerque and then on to Colorado remaining in Denver for 6 months before returning to New Mexico in late summer 1862. 

There were some modest gold found in the Denver and Pike's Peak area -but Walker and his men did not find any of it.

100,000 would-be miners swarmed into Colorado from 1859-1861.  In 1862 Walker led his men out of Colorado and headed to southern Arizona to look for gold there.  Walker had obtained a military pass which identified his party and allowed them free travel in Arizona territory.  While going to New Mexico to get a similar pass for that territory, they were stopped by cavalry and whatever was said between them, Walker was never interfered with again.  His men said "the old captain had outfaced the young officer". 

Next time...One Last Hurrah

__________________________________

This Day in History:  On January 12, 1838,After his Mormon bank fails in the Panic of 1837, Joseph Smith flees Kirtland, Ohio, to avoid arrest and heads for Missouri to rebuild his religious community.