the service and reemploy him in another department. I had requested to have this man transferred to the Department of Arizona and also had asked permission to take with me one other man, a faithful, intelligent messenger. But these official requests having been disapproved, in accordance with the authority then existing I discharged from the service the general service clerk, and took him at my own expense to the Department of Arizona, where I had him reëmployed. I started on the morning of the 7th of April and reached Bowie Station, Arizona, April 12.

Very few of the troops in that department had ever served under my command and therefore I was not as familiar with the personnel of the command as I would have desired. Arriving practically alone and undertaking a campaign in a territory of the topography of which I had no personal knowledge any more than I had of the habits and disposition of the merciless savages, the enterprise seemed to be quite difficult.

At Bowie Station, on the Southern Pacific Railroad, I found a battalion of the Second Cavalry encamped, and in a very unsatisfactory condition. They appeared to be not only discouraged but thoroughly disheartened. They had been in the field a long time doing most disagreeable and hazardous duty, and appeared to have very little hope of ultimate success. The citizens and settlers located in that district of country were the most terror-stricken people I had ever seen in any part of the United States. The settlers were

afraid to travel during the daytime, and never felt safe either night or day

FORT BOWIE, ARIZONA.

hundreds of years the Apache had been at war with the civilized races: first with the Spaniards, then with the Mexicans, and still later with the United States authorities.

Under a treaty or agreement between our government and Mexico, permission was granted by the Mexican government for our troops to pursue hostile Indians into the territory of Mexico. This arrangement resulted most satisfactorily as it enabled our troops to pursue the Indians without giving them any rest and also to act in concert with the Mexican troops. I found Governor Louis Torres, governor of Sonora and subsequently a general in the Mexican army, a most agreeable gentleman and efficient executive. His assistance and coöperation was most agreeable and beneficial. I was also fortunate in having the friendship of the distinguished diplomat, Senor Don Matias Romero, who has so long and ably represented his government in Washington as minister of that republic.

I also wish to acknowledge the able assistance received from Governor Ross of New Mexico, formerly a United States Senator from Kansas, and Governor Zulick of Arizona, for assistance and coöperation, as well as that of Mr. L. P. Hughes, then a citizen of that territory and now its governor.

From Bowie Station I went to Fort Bowie, where I established my headquarters. This little military post was situated in a pass of the mountains formerly known as Apache Pass, near what was called Cochise's stronghold in the mountains, which was a favorite resort of the Apaches for many years. The cemetery near that military station contains the remains of a large number of people, both men and women, who had been killed in that vicinity. Among the victims were people who had traveled on the stage, prospectors, ranchmen, and soldiers who had been waylaid and killed, or captured and then tortured to a cruel and merciless death. My first duty was to reorganize the commands, and if possible inspire activity and confidence in the troops, and give the settlers assurances of protection. To this end I divided the territory of New Mexico and Arizona into districts of observation, placing the territory near each military post under the supervision of its commanding officer, with instructions to make his immediate district untenable for any band of Indians that might invade it. The whole aspect of the country was that of cheerlessness, doubt and uncertainty. The territory roamed over by these Indians was at least six hundred miles in extent north and south and three hundred and fifty miles east and west. This territory, comprised within the Rocky and Sierra Madre Mountains, was the most barren and desolate region on the continent.

These Apaches were perhaps the most expert mountain climbers in the world. By their training, by their habits of life and the necessities of their

existence they were a strong, lithe, powerful people, with a singular lung power which enabled them to climb those high altitudes without accident and with very little fatigue. The mountains were rugged and precipitous. and the valleys narrow and in many places destitute of water. If there had been a large number of Indians where a strong body of troops could have been brought against them, the problem would have been simple and easy of solution; but to undertake to subjugate a small band that moved with the greatest rapidity from one inaccessible point to another was more difficult.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THE ARIZONA CAMPAIGN. (I.)

PROBLEM PRESENTED BY THE SITUATION-OPINIONS OF CITIZENS-THE OBSTACLES TO SUCCESS
PRESENTED BY THE NATURAL CONDITIONS-AID FROM THE SIGNAL CORPS AT WASHING-
TON-THE HELIOSTAT-ARRANGEMENT OF STATIONS-NUMBER OF MESSAGES SENT-

DISTRICTS OF OBSERVATION - CAPTAIN LAWTON CAPTAIN WOOD
OTHER OFFICERS OF THE COMMAND-BREAKING OUT OF HOSTILES
-DETAILS OF THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE APACHES.

UCH being the circumstances the problem that presented itself to me was this: There were forty thousand Indians in New Mexico and Arizona the main portion of whom were peaceable and well disposed, yet in nearly all the different tribes there were disaffected and turbulent elements ready to assume hostilities if an opportunity occurred, or if the hostiles then at large were not brought under control. Over a vast area of country of rugged mountains and narrow valleys, with water only at scattered points and difficult to find and obtain, roamed one of the most desperate, cruel and hardy bands of outlaws that ever infested any country, who were to be hunted down and captured. A few criminals will keep the entire police force of the great city of London occupied; and, as a matter of fact, it has always been found most difficult to arrest the leaders in any particular field of crime.

The mountain labyrinths of the Apaches may be compared to the criminal dens and slums of London, though on an immensely greater scale, and the outlaws to be tracked and subdued, for cunning, strength and ferocity have never been surpassed in the annals of either savage or civilized crime. A band of Indians that had roamed over that country for generations believed themselves to be masters and unconquerable, and many of the white people living in that country also believed it to be impossible to run them down and capture them. I was advised by many well-informed people of the uselessness of undertaking to subjugate the hostiles as, they stated, it had been tried for so many years without success. "Those Indians could go over mountain country better than white men; "they could signal from one mountain range to another;" "they could

conceal themselves;" and "when they turned upon their enemy they were utterly ruthless and cruel."

I listened to all this with a degree of patience, and the only reply that suggested itself was that though all that was said about their skill and enterprise and energy was true, yet with our superior intelligence and modern appliances we ought and would be able to counteract, equal, or surpass all the advantages possessed by the savages. As to the rapidity of their movements, we had the power of steam to aid us in moving troops, munitions and provisions, and the telegraph for communication. As to their being able to signal by the use of fire and smoke and the flashes of some bright piece of metal for a short distance, I thought we could not only equal, but far surpass them in a short time.

I had it in my mind to utilize for our benefit and their discomfiture, the very elements that had been the greatest obstacles in that whole country to their subjugation, namely, the high mountain ranges, the glaring, burning sunlight, and an atmosphere void of moisture. I therefore requested the chief signal officer at Washington, General Hazen, to send me a corps of skilled officers and men, and the best instruments and appliances that were attainable. I also directed my engineer officer to block out the country in such a way that we might establish a network of points of observation and communication over that entire country. Posts were established over the country most frequented by the Apaches, a district some two hundred miles wide by three hundred miles long, north and south. On the high mountain peaks of this region, I posted strong guards of infantry supplied with casks of water and provisions enough to last them for thirty days in case of siege. They were provided with the best field glasses and telescopes that could be obtained, and also with the best heliostats.

The heliostat is a little invention of an English officer which had been used in India many years before. My attention was first directed to it nearly twenty years ago when in the office of the chief signal officer of the army, General Myer, who then had six of these instruments. As they were not being used, I suggested that he send them to me at the cantonment on the Yellowstone, now Fort Keogh, Montana, and I there established the first line in this country, from Fort Keogh to Fort Custer. I afterward used them experimentally in the Department of the Columbia between Vancouver Barracks and Mount Hood a distance in an air line of fifty miles. I now determined to test them to their full extent and make practical use of them in the Department of Arizona.