Page 142 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

mother’s captivity. In October of 1860, an Apache raiding party (probably Coyoteros) scooped up some of Ward’s oxen and horses and the boy. Ward tracked the party to the San Pedro River and then went to Fort Buchanan to enlist the aid of the army in securing the return of his property and the boy, mistakenly accusing the Chiricahuas of the deed.
Nothing was done about the incident until February 1, 1861, when Lieutenant Colonel Pitcairn Morrison sent Second Lieutenant George Nicholas Bascom, relatively new to the Southwest and the way of the Indians, and 54 mule-mounted men of the Sixteenth Infantry to implement the recovery. Bas- com understood that he was authorized to use whatever means necessary to resolve the situation. On February 4 the troops stopped and watered at the Butterfield station about 700 yards west of the
spring in Apache Pass. Bascom told station keeper
Charles W. Culver, his assistant, a man named
Welch (or Walsh), and driver James F. Wallace that
the 'column was headed for the Rio Grande. The
troops then camped beside the stage road in Siphon
Canyon about three-fourths of a mile east of the 2
station.
Cochise, at his permanent camp about one-half
mile north of the stage station, was aware of Bascom’s presence. He and a brother, two nephews, and his wife and two children checked at the station to ascertain the reason for the troops being in the
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locale and then proceeded to the soldiers’ camp. Bascom, unskilled in dealing with the Indians, ap- proached the issue head-on and demanded the return of Ward’s stock and the boy. Cochise claimed his people had nothing to do with the raid but of- fered to find out who had and negotiate the return of Ward’s possessions.
Bascom, acting on what he considered direct or-
ders, told Cochise that he and his family would be
held hostage until the stock and the boy were
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returned. Cochisebecameinstantlyangryandex-
ploded into action. He cut a gash in the tent wall and escaped in a fusillade of bullets. The others of his party were not so fortunate and were taken prisoner; one of the Apaches was first clubbed with a rifle and then bayoneted in the stomach. The wound did not
5
prove fatal, however, at least not directly.
Cochise apparently thought to better his bargain- ing position and, on the following day, approached the stage station and again parleyed with the three men there. Suddenly the Apaches seized the But-
terfield employees, but all except Wallace fought their way free. Welch made it all the way to the stone corral and vaulted the wall to safety. Culver was not so fortunate and took a bullet in the back just as he reached the station door. The soldiers meanwhile had struck camp in the canyon and returned to the station. ThelucklessWelchstuckhisheadoverthe wall and was killed by a trooper who thought him to be an Indian.
Through either anger or wanting greater bargain-
ing power, Cochise on the same day struck a small
wagon train camped farther east in Apache Canyon.
He took prisoner the two Americans, identified only
as Jordan and Lyons, but killed the eight Mexican
drivers. Before setting fire to the wagons, he tied at
least two of the hapless victims to the wheels. Armed
now with greater leverage, Cochise contacted Bas-
com on February 6 and offered to exchange Wallace
for the Apache’s family. Bascom refused, demand-
ing the release of all three of Cochise’s pawns.
Cochise in turn refused, and negotiations were
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broken off.
Again Cochise attempted to gain more advantage
and made plans to attack both stages due at the station that day. He had his warriors pile stacks of dry grass in the middle of the trail east of the station with the intention of using fire to block the westboundstage. Thecoachwasrunningaheadof schedule, however, and the occupants removed the minor blockade and arrived at the station at four in the afternoon without incident. The conductor, A. B. Culver, was a brother of the wounded agent. He and Bascom wisely decided to send for help from Tucson and Fort Buchanan.
The eastbound coach was not so fortunate. King Lyons, the driver, was guiding the stage up to the entrance to Apache Pass when the Indians attacked. One of the lead mules was killed, and Lyons received
o
William Buckley, super- intendent for the El Paso-Tucson division, and the passengers cut the mule from the harness, placed Lyons in the coach, and although attacked again, proceeded to make it to the station safely at two the next morning after bypassing a rock barricade and
negotiating a partially destroyed bridge.
This was the first recorded attack on a Butterfield coach by the Apaches west of the Rio Grande. The passengers included William S. Grant, a Tucson freighter, and Eighth Infantry Lieutenant John Rogers Cooke, son of Philip St. George Cooke. The
Civil Unrest and the Gathering Storm
a serious wound in the leg.