Page:Life among the Apaches.djvu/204

 and re-establishing the peace, security and productiveness of the two Territories. After much deliberation, and years subsequent to the incidents narrated, it is my conviction that the many signal triumphs obtained over the Apaches and Navajoes could only have been achieved by Californian soldiers, who seem gifted in a special manner with the address and ability to contend advantageously against them. This assertion has been so frequently admitted by the resident populations that it is not deemed necessary to dilate further than mention the names of such men as Roberts, McCleave, Fritz, Shirland, the two Greens, Tidball, Whitlock, Thayer, Pettis, and many others, who rendered good service and compassed the security and peace of the two Territories during their term of service. With the retirement of the Californian troops another series of robberies and massacres was instituted by the Indians, and maintained until the present time without apparent hindrance.

In the winter of 1862-3, I was ordered from Albuquerque to join Capt. Updegraff, commanding company A, Fifth United States Infantry, and to proceed to the Bosque Bedondo, somewhere on the Pecos river, over two hundred and fifty miles to the eastward—outside the bounds of all human habitation, and ninety miles from the nearest civilized inhabitant. Capt. Updegraff was instructed to examine the Bosque Kedondo, and select a site for the construction of a large fort, with the view of establishing an extensive Indian Reservation in its immediate neighborhood. This sort of exile was anything but displeasing to me, for I much preferred being from under the nose of a commanding General, whose unscrupulous ambition and exclusive selfishness had passed into a proverb, despite his acknowledged ability and apparent zeal. But it is not my task to discuss matters of