TRAILING APACHES. 



Capt. F. K. Upham, U. S. A. 



Fort Goodwin was one of the old time 

 military posts on the extreme fron- 

 tier. Located on the head waters 

 of the Gila, it was nearly 200 miles from 

 the nearest settlement, and perhaps 40 

 or 5 o miles, by trail, from the next military 

 post on the San Pedro. It was one of a 

 chain of such posts which had been estab- 

 lished for the protection of the southwest- 

 ern border; owing to the weakness and 

 isolation of all, however, they were fre- 

 quently unable to perform this service 

 effectively. In fact the troops some- 

 times found it difficult to protect them- 

 selves. Having no regular mail com- 

 munication, and being cut off from 

 civilization, it was not strange that we 

 of the army gradually came to consider 

 ourselves as out of the world and for- 

 gotten. Yet at the period of which I 

 am writing — the years immediately fol- 

 lowing the close of the war of the rebel- 

 lion — there was little time to think of 

 ourselves or surroundings. 



The grandly picturesque scenery, the 

 river, the foothills, the mountains close 

 at hand, but fading into a background 

 of iridescence — these were our environ- 

 ment. We were in the heart of the 

 Apache country, and from the higher 

 points surrounding the post these sav- 

 ages closely watched the movements of 

 the soldiers, or of the supply trains as 

 they moved cautiously, with strong 

 guards, over the dusty roads which de- 

 viously wound across the divides and 

 through the valleys between New Mex- 

 ico and Tucson. Indian scouts were 

 always on the trail, ready to convey in- 

 formation to the larger and more distant 

 bands, or to descend like birds of prey 

 upon any traveling party whose weakness 

 was an invitation to pillage, or to glory 

 in the taking of scalps. 



Our garrison was a small one — too 

 small at times to insure security had the 

 enemy known our weakness. Especially 

 was there danger for those who remain- 

 ed at the post while scouting parties 

 were out. Three companies of infantry 

 and one troop of cavalry made up the 

 entire command. The duty, on both 



officers and men, was hard and with 

 little pleasure to relieve it. Our orders 

 were to "keep the surrounding country 

 thoroughly scouted ;" and to perform 

 this some of us were almost constantly 

 out. This was especially the case with 

 the cavalry troop in which I was a 

 lieutenant ; and the greater part of my 

 time was spent in the saddle. Yet 

 active as was the service in those days, 

 there are few of those who took part in 

 it, and still live, who do not now recall 

 its memories pleasantly. It was not all 

 hard, and not all bad. 



"Taps" had been sounded, and I had 

 hastened to bed, tired with a day of 

 active duty. I may add, parenthetic- 

 ally, that it could not well have been a 

 day of idleness, when it is considered 

 that at that time, the army had to build 

 its own quarters — and sorry quarters 

 most of them were — furnish its own fuel, 

 and, largely, supply its wants in many 

 other ways ; besides the purely military 

 work of drills, inspections, etc. I was 

 hardly between my blankets when the 

 commanding officer came to my quar- 

 ters and informed me that a "tame 

 Apache " — one who had been captured 

 from a distant tribe some years before 

 — had just returned from the Aripiva 

 Canyon, about forty miles away, with 

 the information that he had " located " 

 the band of hostiles, which as we already 

 knew, had recently plundered and burn- 

 ed a train coming out of Sonora. They 

 had killed, scalped, and mutilated the 

 body of every person with the train. 

 My captain was absent, and I was the 

 only officer with the troop. I was ordered 

 to take the troop and move out at once, 

 under cover of the night, in order 

 that my movements might not be seen 

 by the Apaches. It was expected that 

 I could reach the hostiles by the follow- 

 ing night, and make preparations to 

 attack them at daybreak. 



Accustomed to receiving orders in 

 this way, preparations were quickly 

 made, and midnight found the doctor 

 and myself leading the little column of 

 about 50 troopers with three days' 



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