CHAPTER XXXIV.

FROM INDIAN TERRITORY TO ARIZONA.

SITUATION IN THE INDIAN TERRITORY IN 1885-THE UTES IN NEW MEXICO AND COLORADO-VISIT TO THE CHEYENNES AND ARAPAHOES-BEGINNINGS OF NEW APACHE TROUBLES IN ARIZONA-EARLY ARIZONA, AND EARLIEST EXPLORATIONS-ANCIENT RUINS -CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY-MINES-POPULATION.

N this chapter it will be necessary to revert to occurrences following my transfer from the command of the Department of the Columbia to that of the Missouri, and thence to that of Arizona.

In 1885, and for some time previous to that year there had been clashing between the interests of the Indians in the Indian Territory and the owners of the immense herds of cattle that roamed over their reservations. This, in the summer of 1885,

seemed ready to ripen into open hostilities. A large part of the Territory had been leased, under authority of the government,

fenced in, and to some extent stocked with cattle.

On account of this authorized occupation of the Territory by white men connected with the cattle interest, a large number were either permanently located there or moving back and forth through the country to attend to their affairs. It also gave opportunity for a large number of lawless men to travel about the Territory, the result being that many disorderly acts were committed against the persons and property of the Indians. This created a feeling of discontent, disaffection and hostility on the part of the Indians toward the white people.

As a result of these disturbances, in July, 1885, I was assigned by the President to the command of the Department of the Missouri, of which department the Indian Territory formed a part, and one-fourth of the army was placed at my disposal. Under telegraphic orders I proceeded from Vancouver, Washington, to General Sheridan's headquarters, Chicago, and thence to the Indian Territory.

Upon investigation I found that, as usual, the Indians were not entirely in the wrong. The disaffected Utes in northern New Mexico and Colorado were in a most desperate state, and only withheld from actual outbreak by the presence of troops in their midst. Six of their number had been

murdered by lawless white men, their reservation had been overrun and their game destroyed. They were nearly starving, their daily ration having been reduced to one-half a pound of beef and one-quarter of a pound of flour for each Indian. Happily this last cause of discontent was

remedied by the prompt action of the Secretary of the Interior, who immediately increased the food allowance. The hostile Apaches were at the same time threatening the frontier of southern New Mexico, and it was necessary to

keep troops in that part of the country to guard against their incursions. The extensive settlements in southern Kansas also made it necessary for a large body of troops to remain in that vicinity for their protection. Bad as

was the state

of affairs

in the Territories adjacent

to the Indian Terri-
tory, the conditions

there threatened immedi-
ate and serious hostility
between the Indian tribes
and the white people living in
that Territory and in the States

ARIZONA VEGETATION. (GIANT CACTUS).

of Texas, Kansas and Colorado. In company with Lieutenant-General Sheridan I visited the Cheyenne and Arapahoe reservations and found them in a most desperate condition. The Indians were huddled together in disagreeble camps, and were entirely beyond the control of the agent and his Indian police. Two of their prominent men had been murdered, and they were turbulent, disaffected, and on the verge of open

hostilities. As is usually the case when any disturbance occurs, there was a large number of white men with no visible means of support hovering about, and endeavoring to turn the turbulent condition of affairs to their own advantage.

While Lieutenant-General Sheridan listened to the complaints of the Indians, investigated the relationship between the Indians and the white people, and the effect produced by leasing the lands to white men, I devoted much of my attention to the condition of the troops and their proper equipment, organization, supplies, means of transportation and everything that was required to put them in proper condition for active campaigning in case United States troops were required. Fortunately I had known many of the principal Indians as a result of the campaign of 1874-5 in the southwest; also a number of the prominent Cheyenne Indians had surrendered to me in Montana in 1877 and had since been moved down to the Indian Territory. These were sent for and counseled with, and I was enabled to give them good advice which they heeded. General Sheridan had also met many prominent warriors in 1869 and subsequently.

The threatening condition of affairs was soon changed. The President revoked the cattle leases, and the Indians were soon brought under control. A very efficient officer, Captain Lee, was placed in charge of the agency. Under his able administration their condition rapidly improved. One hundred and thirty of the most active and restless of the young men were enlisted as soldiers, and performed good service under the command of competent officers. In addition to their military duties they were required to cultivate ground enough to raise all the vegetables they would require during the year. The reservation was summarily cleared of the lawless white men who infested it and peace and confidence were once more restored. The military garrisons were increased, and affairs speedily became so quiet, that the large bodies of troops which it had been necessary to call from other departments were returned to their proper stations.

As the tide of white settlers rolled westward, driving the Indians before it, the idea of setting apart the huge block of country known as the Indian Territory, where the scattered tribes of Indians could be congregated, was at the time a good one, and wise and judicious in every respect. But in 1885 the Territory had outlived its usefulness, and served merely as an impediment in the pathway of progress. Without courts of justice or public institutions, without roads or bridges or railways, it was nothing more than a dark blot in the midst of a great and progressive country. It had naturally become the refuge of outlaws and the indolent of all races and

classes, and the vices introduced in this way were rapidly destroying the Indians. Although it contained land sufficient to maintain millions of enlightened people, it was actually costing the government hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly to maintain nearly seventy-five thousand Indians who made it their home.

Being firmly convinced that such was the case, I could do no less than recommend that measures should be taken to bring about a decided change, as I believed, for the better. The recommendation contained in my annual report of 1885 was substantially as follows:

That Congress should authorize the President to appoint a commission of three experienced, competent men, empowered to treat with the different tribes; to consider all legal or just claims to titles; to grant to the Indian occupants of the territory such quantity of land in severalty as might be required for their support, but not transferable for twenty years; that their title to the remainder be so far extinguished as that it might be held in trust or sold by the government, and that a sufficient amount of the proceeds should be granted them to indemnify them for any interest they might possess in the land; that enough of said proceeds be provided to enable the Indians in the Territory to become self sustaining. The land not required for Indian occupation to be thrown open for settlement under the same laws and rules as have been applied to the public domain.

This was the same course that I had recommended before in the northwest, while in command of the Department of the Columbia, and, having demonstrated its success by actual experiment, I knew that the plan was practical, just and humane. If there have been failures in attempting to carry it out, it was because the officials appointed to treat with the Indians were inexperienced and did not understand the Indian's method of reasoning, his tastes or his ambitions; or because they were theorists, instead of being practical men, capable of inspiring confidence. I also favored the employment of a number of Indians in the army, as scouts, guides and trailers knowing from personal experience that they were endowed with many of the qualities that would make them useful. I had commanded Indians in various parts of the West for years, and, besides having found them of great value in numerous ways, never in the whole course of my acquaintance with them did I know one of them to be unfaithful to a trust.

Everything pertaining to the Department of the Missouri now being quiet, I was looking forward to a peaceful sojourn at Fort Leavenworth, which had formerly been my headquarters for several years while colonel

of the Fifth Infantry; but the wily Apaches were busily at work in a way to completely frustrate any such designs on my part. Within nine months from the time I took command of the Department of the Missouri I was assigned to the Department of Arizona, where the Apaches were devastating the country.

For many years there had been serious troubles with these Indians. They would allow themselves to be placed on reservations, and after remaining there as long as their own convenience dictated, would suddenly escape to the mountains, and from there send out raiding parties in all directions to burn, plunder and terrorize the inhabitants of the country. While the Indians still remaining at the agencies did not take active part in these hostilities they aided and abetted the actual offenders in many ways, thus enabling them to resist the troops sent against them much longer than would otherwise have been possible.

In Arizona the state of affairs was altogether different from that which had prevailed in my campaigns against the Sioux. In the north the terrible cold was the chief obstacle to success, while in Arizona the heat and want of water were equally formidable. The Apaches had for generations been accustomed to the heat, the rugged mountains, and the scarcity of water, against which the troops found it so difficult to contend, and had moved from one place to another so quickly and stealthily that the settlers could never for a moment feel sure of the safety of their lives and property. The Apaches devoted themselves with great impartiality to Arizona, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico; and the citizens of these parts of the country had become so paralyzed with terror, as to cause in many instances the abandonment of the ordinary avocations of life.

Before entering upon the history of the campaign against the Apaches, it may be interesting to glance briefly at the peculiar history and still more peculiar geographical features of the vast region the Apache so long dominated.

In prehistoric times, Arizona was probably inhabited by a very superior race, judging by the ruins of their cities, aqueducts, fortifications, etc. But the known history of the territory extends back only to the time of Narvaez's ill-starred expedition to Florida, after the failure of which Cabeza de Vaca, the treasurer of the expedition, who probably little realized the extent of his undertaking, with three companions started to walk across the continent as the only possible chance of being able to join the Spaniards in Mexico. The wanderings and adventures of these men during their tremendous pedestrian tour read like a romance. They waded