Page 183 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

Mangas was shot several times by two guards and
8 killed
After Mangas was shot, Daniel Ellis Conner claimed that he salvaged a wooden trinket carried by Mangas. Witnesses claimed that Mangas’s oversize head was first scalped (by John J, Wright), then cut off and the flesh stripped (by a Doctor Sturgeon)
reason, Fort West was ordered abandoned on Christmas Day 1863. The command left in two sec- tions on January 1 and 8 after stripping the post of all usable hardware. The Apaches torched the
14
The attacks on General Carleton’s men in Apache Pass signaled that the important water source there required constant protection if his vedettes and citizensweretohaveuncontestedaccesstoit. The military presence, established by Captain Thomas L. Roberts in July 1862, became Fort Bowie and was destined for expansion into a large installation that would remain active until 1892. Perhaps because the Apaches waged no similar contest against the California Column in Cooke’s Canyon or at the spring, the Apaches’ concentration in the area went unrecognized for a few months.
Certainly Carleton recognized the necessity for
strategic installations to secure access to the water
sources and guard the much used roads. On April
3, 1863, he established Fort McRae near present-
day Truth or Consequences. The Fort was named
for Captain Alexander McRae, killed February 21
the previous year, when he unsuccessfully defended
his battery against a desperate Confederate charge
that turned the tide of battle at Valverde. Captain
Henry A. Greene was the first commander at this
15 installation.
Following the murder of Mangas Coloradas and
the intensification of the war with his people, it is
likely that at least a detachment of men was stationed
at Cooke’s Spring to guarantee access to the water.
If not, there should have been. On July 11, 1863,
Sergeant E. W. Hoyt was in command of a six-man
detail freighting four mule-drawn wagons headed
for Las Cruces. The Apaches attacked them in
Cooke’s Canyon. It must have been a severe fight,
for although the soldiers suffered 4 men wounded
and abandoned 3 of the wagons and 19 mules, they
claimed to have killed 4 Indians and wounded
16 others.
A sizable Apache force must have been operating in the vicinity. The following day, Captain Albert H. French, with 27 men, attacked a superior force near Fort Thorn. Of the 60 Apaches, French claimed the
and that the skull was sent to a New
Following the killing of Mangas Coloradas, the
buildings before the soldiers were out of sight.
Fort Cummings:
A Guardian of the Road
York museum. soldiers lost no time in perpetrating more revenge
on his people.
McCleave were sent before first light to Pinos Altos where the other Apaches were awaiting Mangas’s return. In two separate ambushes on January 19, 11 Indians were killed, including Mangas’s son, and his widow (Mangas’s) 1
the Apaches (Table 12 2).
And on it went, raid,
Captains Shirland and William A.
was wounded.
series of sharp skirmishes between the troops and
counterattack, ambush, and retaliation. Walker and
his party, however, made it safely to Tucson.
General West left Captain McCleave in command
at the fort and and returned to his Mesilla head-
13 quarters.
Table2. ResultsofskirmishesbetweenU.S. Troops and the Apaches
January20 9Indianskilled,severalwounded January29 20Indianskilled,15wounded
1 soldier killed, 1 Sergeant wounded March 22 and actions related thereto:
June 15 June 20
July 4 July 11
July 19
July 24
28 Indians killed, many wounded
2 soldiers wounded, 1 mortally
1 soldier killed, 1 civilian killed
2 soldiers killed, 2 civilians killed
2 soldiers killed, 2 civilians wounded 4 Indians killed
4 Indians killed, several wounded 4 soldiers killed
6 Indians killed, several wounded 1 soldier killed, several wounded 3 Indians killed, several wounded 4 soldiers killed
Indian losses unknown
1 soldier killed, 1 wounded
The violence in the mountains spelled a short life for Fort West, or perhaps it was a show of pique by General Carleton because of his and General West’s increasingly sharp differences. For whatever
This led to a
Chapter 6
1
169