Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/241

 hands and feet, to avoid all danger of making noise by the rattling of stones, and shortly after midnight had the satisfaction of seeing the glimmer of fires amid the rocks scattered about on the summit. He waited patiently until dawn, and then led the charge, the Apaches being so panic-stricken that numbers of the warriors jumped down the precipice and were dashed to death. This and the action in the cave in the Salt River Cañon were the two affairs which broke the spirit of the Apache nation; they resembled each other in catching raiders just in from attacks upon the white settlements or those of friendly tribes, in surprising bands in strongholds which for generations had been invested with the attribute of impregnability, and in inflicting great loss with comparatively small waste of blood to ourselves.

In singling out these two incidents I, of course, do not wish in the slightest degree to seem to disparage the gallant work performed by the other officers engaged, each and all of whom are entitled to as much credit as either Randall or Brown for earnest, intelligent service, gallantry in trying situations, and cheerful acceptance of the most annoying discomforts. No army in the world ever accomplished more with the same resources than did the little brigade which solved the Apache problem under Crook in the early seventies. There were no supplies of food beyond the simplest components of the ration and an occasional can of some such luxury as tomatoes or peaches; no Pullman cars to transport officers in ease and comfort to the scene of hostilities; no telegraph to herald to the world the achievements of each day. There was the satisfaction of duty well performed, and of knowing that a fierce, indomitable people who had been a scourge in the history of two great nations had been humbled, made to sue for peace, and adopt to a very considerable extent the ways of civilization.

The old settlers in both northern and southern Arizona still speak in terms of cordial appreciation of the services of officers like Hall, Taylor, Burns, Almy, Thomas, Rockwell, Price, Parkhurst, Michler, Adam, Woodson, Hamilton, Babcock, Schuyler, and Watts, all of the Fifth Cavalry; Ross, Reilley, Sherwood, Theller and Major Miles, of the Twenty-first Infantry; Garvey, Bomus, Carr, Grant, Bernard, Brodie, Vail, Wessendorf, McGregor, Hein, Winters, Harris, Sanford, and others, of the First Cavalry; Randall, Manning, Rice, and others, of the Twenty-third Infantry; Gerald Russell, Morton, Crawford,