THE APACHE CAMPAIGN OF 1885-1886

By Comrade Clarence Chrisman

(Continued from last issue)
 

In the May Winners of the West an error was made in quoting the dispatch of General Miles. It should have read, in part, as follows:

"Too much credit cannot be given to the troops for their courage, fortitude, and tireless endurance. Those gratifying results of the campaign, fraught with extreme hardships and difficulties, are due to their most laborious and dangerous service."

Also an error was made in the date of his taking command. It should have been April, 1886, instead of May.

The words of the General as quoted above should be treasured by every survivor of the campaign, as they come from a man who knew soldiers thoroughly, a man who also was not much given to meaningless sentiment

Taking into consideration the topography and extent of the territory covered, the extreme climatic conditions, the number of troops engaged, the length of actual service in the field and distances marched, the campaign of which I am writing should go down in history as one of the great epics of the ages. And I hope that my readers will not consider me egotistic if I suggest that it would be a most gracious and fitting gesture on the part of the Government if it should bestow a distinguished service medal on each and every survivor of the campaign. For surely no human being ever rendered a greater service to humanity and civilization than the boys in blue who followed their leaders so faithfully through the trying years of 1885-1886 over the sunbaked plains icy mountains of the Southwest.

The regular army soldiers of the 80's were wonderful men, and those of this and other campaigns against the wily Apache excelled in their ability to make long and arduous marches, and to take care of themselves in the most inhospitable and dangerous surroundings. One cause of their excellence was no doubt due to the fact that for several years prior to the campaign there had been numerous desertions, a sort of weeding-out process, and those that remained were men who could stand the gaff, men of blood and iron.

Immediately upon taking charge of the campaign, General Miles ordered out all available troops, and dispersed them in such a way as to form a veritable ring of steel around the hostiles. The territory assigned to the companies of the 13th infantry was the northeast segment of this circle, the southwestern part of New Mexico, the birth place and former habitat of the notorious Geronimo.

In guarding this section, our companies were shunted back and forth like the shuttle of a sewing machine. Upon consulting my diary, I find that we marched close to one thousand miles and made some 56 camps, sometimes camping at the same place five or six different times. Thus we became pretty well acquainted with the territory covered, and became quite expert in the matter of making and breaking camp.

When word would come that the hostiles were headed in our direction, detachments consisting of a non-com and five or six men would be sent out to protect the ranches in the vicinity. And there they would be welcomed with open arms, and shown every courtesy. At most of these ranches the men would be given at least one meal a day, dinner usually, and surely the cooks must have enjoyed seeing them eat, for never were good meals more appreciated.

Along in the spring of 1886, Geronimo headed for his old stamping ground the Mogollon mountains, and the following is a quotation of what he said of this period of the campaign, as it appears in the book, Geronimo's Story of His Life, as set forth by Mr. S. M. Barrett:

"Soon General Miles was made commander of all the western posts, and troops trailed us continually. They were led by Captain Lawton, who had good scouts. The Mexican soldiers also became more active and more numerous. We had skirmishes almost every day, and so we finally decided to break up into small bands. With six men and four women I made for the range of mountains near Hot Springs, New Mexico. We passed many cattle ranches, but had no trouble with the cowboys. We killed cattle to eat whenever we were in need of food, but we frequently suffered greatly for water. At one time we had no water for two days and nights, and our horses almost died from thirst. We ranged the mountains of New Mexico for some time, then thinking perhaps the troops had left Mexico, we returned. On our return through Old Mexico we attacked every Mexican found, even for no reason than to kill. We believed they had asked the United States troops to come down to Mexico to fight us."

If Geronimo had concluded to go a little farther north, instead of turning back to Old Mexico, the prophesy of Sergeant Maguire might have been fulfilled, and there would have been plenty of fighting for us. But I assure my readers that had he and his followers shown any signs of wanting to start something they would have met with a warm reception. For by this time, we were thoroughly hardened field soldiers, and almost every man was either a marksman or a sharpshooter. I am pretty sure that I myself was about the worst shot in the Company, as I had never become even a marksman, but even at that I don't think Geronimo have cared to have me draw a bead on him. Besides shooting targets, we had by this time had much experience in shooting at moving objects, such as deer and antelope. And those old single-fire Springfield rifles, with their long bottle-necked 45 caliber cartridges could certainly send a ball a whizzing. And it was goodbye on anything it happened to hit. Each man carried a web belt of fifty of those death-dealers; and although we scarcely feared a night attack, we nevertheless, when in the immdiate vicinity of the hostiles, slept with these belts encircling our waists, and the good old trusty Long Tom snuggling beside us at the edge of our blankets.        (To be continued)