Today in Manhunting History -- May 17, 1885: Geronimo Escapes

The two days after the confronation at Turkey Creek passed without word from Crook.  The Apaches grew increasingly apprehensive, assuming the worst as each hour passed.

On Sunday, May 17, Lieutenant Davis was umpiring a baseball game at Fort Apache while awaiting the response from Crook that would never come.  At about 4PM, his interpreter and a scout interrupted to report that Geronimo and an unknown number of Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apaches had fled the reservation in the middle of the night.  Davis attempted to send another telegram to Captain Pierce, but was unable to get a message through.  It was not until noon the next day that a break in the line was discovered – the fleeing Apaches had cut the line where it passed through the foliage of a tree and cleverly tied the ends tautly together with a leather thong to hide the break – and repaired.

Once higher headquarters was informed of the Apaches’ flight Davis began preparing his scouts for the pursuit.  Speed was essential, for if Geronimo and his band made it to the Mexican frontier, he would be nearly impossible to corner.  They left with a detachment of regular troops from Fort Apache in the afternoon, but as daylight faded and dusk transformed the desert sky into darkness, the advance slowed to a crawl lest they stumble into an ambush while following an uncertain trail. 

They marched through the night.  At dawn the detachment reached a ridge above the valley of Eagle Creek.  The scouts pointed to the opposite side of the valley, and looking through their field glasses, Davis and the other officers could see the dust raised by the fugitives’ ponies ascending a ridge some 15-20 miles ahead.

Geronimo had escaped. 

Realizing that further pursuit was useless – it was later discovered that the hostiles had traveled 90 miles without halting – Lieutenant Davis turned back.  A long campaign in Mexico lay ahead, and he needed to wire General Crook for instructions.

Over the days to come, as news spread that 120 Apaches under Geronimo were on the loose, “something like mass hysteria gripped the citizens of Arizona and New Mexico,”  and America's first strategic manhunt would commence.