The Apache War 1871-1873

The Apache Indians of the Southwest resisted the advance of the white American settlers and US troops. They constantly made swift raids and then retreated to their mountain hideouts. After the slaughter of more than 100 Apache, mostly women and children, at the Camp Grant Massacre, the Indians went on the warpath in great numbers. In 1871, US general George Crook (1829-90), who state that the Indians would have to be defeated before peace could be arranged, took charge of American troops stationed in the New Mexico and Arizona territories, split them into small squads, and sent them out to capture or kill the Apache. He led forces against the Chiricahua Apache chief Cochise (1815?-1874), who finally signed a treaty of peace in 1872 and agreed that his people would live on an Indian reservation. Other Apache under Chiefs Victorio (d. 1880) and Geronimo (1829-1909) fought on, but they were continually harried by army troops and suffered shortages of food and ammunition. Worn out by the fighting, the Indians capitulated in April 1873, and were sent to live on the San Carlos reservation in Arizona. Peace was only temporary, for the Apache loathed the restrictions of reservation life and were angry because the whites did not adhere to agreements. After a few years the Indians began to break out of the reservations and resume marauding.

References

Dictionary of Wars, 25.

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