As historian Robert Utley summarized the first six months of the Geronimo Campaign: “The Sierra Madre campaign of 1885 was an exhausting and profitless struggle against heat, insects, hunger, thirst, and fatigue.” General George Crook had nothing to show for his troops’ exertions, and decided to give them some much needed rest and to prepare for a more extended campaign in Mexico than originally anticipated. In October he summoned Captain Emmet Crawford and Major Wirt Davis back to Fort Bowie to refit and prepare for another assault on the Sierra Madres.
The Army resupplied by making purchases. The Apaches resupplied by making raids. By November 1885, the fugitives were woefully short of cartridges for their Winchester and Springfield rifles, ammunition that could not be found in Mexico. Moreover, the poverty stricken Mexican peasants in Sonora had little left to steal. Thus, in early November Josannie, Chihuahua's brother and a war leader who had once served as an Army scout, reentered the United States and began a raid in the Florida Mountains of New Mexico with 10-12 warriors. The raiders killed three scouts and two civilians before seeming to disappear across the border. A semblance of tranquility began to return to the Territory after three weeks of silence. Then on November 23, the officer in charge of Fort Apache, Lieutenant James Lockett, reported to Crook that hostiles had been seen within four miles of the outpost. He stated that was going in pursuit.
Then the telegraph went dead.
Crook waited impatiently for reports, yet when they arrived, they reported disaster. On November 24 Josannie’s war party killed two civilians who managed the reservation’s beef herd. Their wrath next fell upon the reservation itself, where they killed 20 White Mountain Apaches, sparing only the women and children, whom they abducted.
[And yes, I recognize this post doesn't necessarily fit with the spirit of Thanksgiving. Sorry, I can't help the date. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!]
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| Josannie, an Apache war captain in Geronimo's renegade band. |
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