On June 8, a company of the 4th Cavalry taking part in the pursuit of Geronimo was camped in Guadalupe Canyon when a courier arrived with news that the Apaches were heading in the direction of Cloverdale and Skeleton Canyon, and with instructions to proceed at once to intercept them. A nine-man detail was left behind to guard the camp and supply train. With the officers departed, the discipline of the remaining soldiers dissipated, and they withdrew the picket on an adjacent hill that provided a commanding view of the area.
At noon, as lunch was being served, the soldiers “were surprised by a thundering volley from the hills nearby.” Sergeant Neihaus, the detail's NCO, was immediately felled by a bullet in his forehead as he ate his biscuit and bacon. A soldier who came upon the scene later described what he found: “Poor old Sergeant Neihaus was propped up against a tree, the scalp ripped off his head, and two or three chunks of bacon gripped tight between his teeth – a gory, grinning satyr of what had been a kindly, lovable man. Moriarty, a recruit, lay on his back with his abdomen slashed open and bunches of hay stuck in the cuts.”
In all, the Apache killed five soldiers and made off with two horses and five mules, along with the camp stores the soldiers were guarding.
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