John Gregory Bourke - On the Border with Crook: General George Crook, the American Indian Wars, and Life on the American Frontier

GENERAL GEORGE CROOK.

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eISBN: 978-1-62873-902-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-62636-543-8

Printed in the United States of America

TO FRANCIS PARKMAN,

whose learned and graceful pen has illustrated the History, Traditions, Wonders and Resources of the Great West, this volume,descriptive of the trials and tribulations, hopes and fears of brave officers and enlisted men of the regular Army, who did so much to conquer and develop the empire beyond the Missouri,is affectionately inscribed by his admirer and friend,

JOHN G. BOURKE.

Omaha, Nebraska,

August 12, 1891.

T HERE is an old saying in the army which teaches that you can never know a man until after having made a scout with him in bad weather. All the good qualities and bad in the human makeup force their way to the surface under the stimulus of privation and danger, and it not infrequently happens that the comrade who at the military post was most popular, by reason of charm of manner and geniality, returns from this trial sadly lowered in the estimation of his fellows, and that he who in the garrison was most retiring, self-composed, and least anxious to make a display of glittering uniform, has swept all before him by the evidence he has given of fortitude, equanimity, courage, coolness, and good judgment under circumstances of danger and distress. But, whether the maxim be true or false, it is hardly too much for me to claim a hearing while I recall all that I know of a man with whom for more than fifteen years, it was my fortune to be intimately associated in all the changing vicissitudes which constituted service on the border of yesterday, which has vanished never to return.

It is not my purpose to write a biography of my late friend and commandersuch a task I leave for others to whom it may be more congenial; speaking for myself, I am compelled to say that it is always difficult for me to peruse biography of any kind, especially military, and that which I do not care to read I do not care to ask others to read. In the present volume, there will be found collected descriptions of the regions in which the major portion of General Crooks Indian work was carried on; the people, both red and white, with whom he was brought into contact; the difficulties with which he had to contend, and the manner in which he overcame them; and a short sketch of the principles guiding him in his justly famous intercourse with the various tribesfrom British America to Mexico, from the Missouri River to the Pacific Oceansubjugated by him and afterwards placed under his charge.

A military service of nearly forty consecutive yearsall of which, excepting the portion spent in the civil war, had been face to face with the most difficult problems of the Indian question, and with the fiercest and most astute of all the tribes of savages encountered by the Caucasian in his conquering advance across the continentmade General Crook in every way worthy of the eulogy pronounced upon him by the grizzled old veteran, General William T. Sherman, upon hearing of his death, that he was the greatest Indian-fighter and manager the army of the United States ever had.

In all the campaigns which made the name of George Crook a beacon of hope to the settler and a terror to the tribes in hostility, as well as in all the efforts which he so successfully made for the elevation of the red man in the path of civilization and which showed that Crook was not a brutal soldier with no instincts save those for slaughter, but possessed of wonderful tenderness and commiseration for the vanquished as well as a most intelligent appreciation of the needs and capabilities of the aborigines, I was by his side, a member of his military staff, and thus obtained an insight into the charms and powers of a character which equalled that of any of the noble sons of whom our country is so justly proud.

OLD CAMP GRANT ON THE RIO SAN PEDRODAILY ROUTINE OF LIFEARCHITECTURE OF THE GILASOLDIERS AS LABORERSTHE MESCAL AND ITS USESDRINK AND GAMBLINGRATTLESNAKE BITES AND THE GOLONDRINA WEEDSODA LAKE AND THE DEATH VALLEYFELMER AND HIS RANCH

STRANGE VISITORSSOME APACHE CUSTOMSMEXICAN CAPTIVESSPEEDY AND THE GHOSTTHE ATTACK UPON KENNEDY AND ISRAELS TRAINFINDING THE BODIESTHE DEAD APACHEA FRONTIER BURIALHOW LIEUTENANT YEATON RECEIVED HIS DEATH WOUNDON THE TRAIL WITH LIEUTENANT CUSHINGREVENGE IS SWEET

THE RETURN TO CAMP GRANTLANCED TO DEATH BY APACHESTHE KILLING OF MILLER AND TAPPANCOMPANY QUARTERSAPACHE CAPTIVESTHE CLOUD-BURSTAPACHE CORN-FIELDSMEETING COLONEL SANFORDENTRAPPED IN AN APACHE AMBUSCADEAN OLD-TIMERS REMINISCENCES OF TUCSONFUNERAL CROSSES ON THE ROADSIDEPADRE EUSEBIO KINOFIRST VIEW OF TUCSONTHE SHOO FLY RESTAURANT

SOME OF THE FRIENDS MET IN OLD TUCSONJACK LONGHIS DIVORCEMARSHAL DUFFIELD AND WACO BILLTHEM ERES MEE VISITIN KEE-YARDJUDGE TITUS AND CHARLES O. BROWNHOW DUFFIELD WAS KILLEDUNCLE BILLY N AND HIS THREE GLASS EYESAL GARRETTDOCTOR SEMIG AND LIEUTENANT SHERWOODDON ESTEVAN OCHOABISHOP SALPOINTEPETE KITCHEN AND HIS RANCH

THE DIVERSIONS OF TUCSONTHE GAMBLING SALOONSBOB CRANDALL AND HIS DIAMONDSLAP-JACK BILLYTIGHT-ROPE WALKERSTHE THEATRETHE DUEASBAILESTHE NEWSPAPERSSTAGE-DRIVERS

TUCSON INCIDENTSTHE FIESTASTHE RUINED MISSION CHURCH OF SAN XAVIER DEL BACGOVERNOR SAFFORDARIZONA MINESAPACHE RAIDSCAMP GRANT MASSACRETHE KILLING OF LIEUTENANT CUSHING

GENERAL CROOK AND THE APACHESCROOKS PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICSPOINTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE APACHESTHEIR SKILL IN WARFOODS AND MODES OF COOKINGMEDICINE MENTHEIR POWER AND INFLUENCE

CROOKS FIRST MOVEMENTS AGAINST THE APACHESTHE SCOUTSMIRAGESTHE FLORAL WEALTH OF ARIZONARUNNING IN UPON THE HOSTILE APACHESAN ADVENTURE WITH BEARSCROOKS TALK WITH THE APACHESTHE GREAT MOGOLLON PLATEAUTHE TONTO BASINMONTEZUMAS WELLCLIFF DWELLINGSTHE PACK TRAINS

THE PICTURESQUE TOWN OF PRESCOTTTHE APACHES ACTIVE NEAR PRESCOTTTOMMY BYRNE AND THE HUALPAISTHIEVING INDIAN AGENTSTHE MOJAVES, PI-UTES AND AVA-SUPAISTHE TRAVELS OF FATHERS ESCALANTE AND GARCESTHE GODS OF THE HUALPAISTHE LORING MASSACREHOW PHIL DWYER DIED AND WAS BURIEDTHE INDIAN MURDERERS AT CAMP DATE CREEK PLAN TO KILL CROOKMASON JUMPS THE RENEGADES AT THE MUCHOS CAONESDELTCHE AND CHA-LIPUN GIVE TROUBLETHE KILLING OF BOB WHITNEY