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Show 444 LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN INDIAN HISTORY dians of all tribes. Yet, of all these, there were at the time comparatively few who could be considered as hostiles.3*4 His arrangements having all been completed, General Miles selected Captain H. W. Lawton, 4th cavalry, to command a force designated for the pursuit of the hostiles south of the Mexican border. ‘‘Lawton,’’ says General Miles, ‘‘as a young officer had rendered distinguished services in the Civil War and most excellent Services in Indian campaigns on the frontier in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico—a resolute, brave officer, active and ambitious. He was a giant in stature and a man of great energy and endurance. He was afterward the most distinguished general in Cuba and the Philippines, where he was killed. At that time he was the ideal leader of a body of brave, active men.”? Lieutenants Johnston, Finley, Benson, Brown, Walsh, and Smith, efficient officers, were ordered to report to Lawton. For Lawton’s command, General Miles selected one hundred of the best soldiers that could be found in the department, all expert riflemen, and a small number of scouts and guides. Assistant Surgeon Leonard Wood, a young athlete from Harvard, was directed to accompan y the command. The commands having been organized, General Miles awaited developments on the part of the hostiles, not knowing at that time in what district they were located. The Indian position was soon disclosed by their making a raid from Mexico into southwes tern » On the Trail of Geronimo: ‘The Indian wars in ad been for years attracting public attention. country would carry us bac en the Indians and the white race in that remote region by the Spaniards, fifty years before the landed at Plymouth Rock. The Apaches believed themselves to be the pilgrims first and superior man. They excelled in activity, cunning, endurance and eruelty. They recognized no force or authority superior to their own. Led by Magnus-Colorado, Cochise, Victor10, and later by Geronimo, Natchez, Chato, and Magnus, they kept that whole General Crook Country in a state of terror. had been for years trying to subjugate them and bring them under control, and finally, on April 1st, 1886, he asked to be relieved from command of that department. On April 2nd, I was, by Prestdent Cleveland, assigned to the command. It seemed a very undesirable duty t ing. Under a military rule at that time, I had jue prived of my personal staff officers and was obliged to go to Arizona I knew but few of the officers or troops serving in that department and less of the topography of the country. I had, however, followed the history of those hostilities and traced the movements of the Indians on the military maps. On arriving at Ft. Bowie, Arizona, I assumed the command of the department and divided the country up into districts of observation, making the post com manders responsible for keeping their districts clear of hostile Indians.’’ CAMPAIGNS 445 Arizona. They were pursued by troops under Captain Lebo, Lieutenants P. H. Clarke, H. C. Benson, Captain Hatfield, and Lieutenants Brown, Walsh, and Brett. In their encounters with the Indians the latter were always defeated but made good their escape. The troops, however, kept constantly upon their trail and the pursuit was carried on into New Mexico and Mexico. Captain Lawton followed them into Mexico, to the Yaqui country, two hundred miles south of the boundary. This pursuit was kept up for five months by the several commands until finally the Indians were worn out and in condition for surrender. A wounded warrior brought word to General Miles of the great distress in which the hostiles found themselves. This Indian, in charge of Lieutenant Gatewood, was sent by General Miles to the hostile camp with a demand for surrender. In the meantime Lawton was also in communication with Geronimo, who sent word to Lawton that he would surrender to the highest authority. This was finally accomplished.?* 865 Miles, General Nelson A., On the Trail of Geronimo, in Cosmopolitan, 1911: ‘‘This was communicated to me and I answered that if he sent assurance that he was acting in good faith I would go down to meet him near the Mexican border. He sent his brother to Fort Bowie, Arizona, as an earnest of his honest intentions, and for eleven days his camp marched north near the troops of Cap- tain Lawton. I went down to Skeleton Canyon, near the Mexican line, and there met Captain Lawton’s command with the Indians camped a short distance away. Geronimo came to me to ask what disposition would be made of him in case he Surrendered. He said that if they were all to be killed, he might just as well die fighting. He prayed only that we would spare his life and those of his people. He was told that he must surrender as a prisoner of war and accept what disposition the government deemed best to make of him and his followers; that we did not kill our prisoners; that their future would depend upon the orders of the president at Washington. He was informed that I had directed Colonel Wade to move all the Indians at the Apache agency in northern Arizona out of the Territory; that he and his people would be removed; that Indian depredations and atrocities must end forever in that country. He was in no position to dictate terms. I explained to him the folly of contending against the military with all its advantages of communication and ee While watching a corporal use the heliograph and flash a message in , ew Seconds by the sun’s rays, a day’s journey for his horse, he was struck wi sve and amazement. He sent an Indian runner to Natchez, who remained ou " the mountains, to tell him that he was in the presence of a power he a understand, and that Natchez was to come in and come quick. He a or Stated that he had seen these flashes on the mountain peaks, but thought 2 ey were spirits and not men. They then formally surrendered and placed peor phe under our control. The day following I took Geronimo and Natchez . rh others of the principal men, with the escort of a troop of cavalry, a wing a march of sixty-five miles to Ft. Bowie, Captain Lawton following three i later with the rest of the Indians. A small band, under Magnus, that gh out, was pursued for weeks by Lieutenant C. E. Johnston, and finally me Poi by troops under Captain Charles L. Cooper. Thus the country was ee pie © devastating and terrifying presence of the Apaches. . . Their fina |