The Battle of Cibecue

The Battle of Cibecue Apache Mutiny of 1881 Echoes in Life of Fort Huachuca Scout

ONE of the outstanding incidents of Apache warfare in Arizona was the trial and conviction, by a military court martial of high army officers, of five Apache Indians, members of the White Mountain or Coyote band of this tribe. Found guilty of mutiny, three were sentenced to be hanged and two others to imprisonment at Alcatraz Island, San Francisco harbor. The battle occurred on August 30, 1881, at a point about 45 miles west of Fort Apache on the Indian Reservation. The trial took place at Fort Grant, Ariz., in November, 1881. The execution was at Fort Grant on March 3, 1882.

The three scouts were: Sergeant "Dead Shot," Corporal "Dandy Jim," and Private "Skippy." Two other privates, known officially-under General Crook's system of numbering all Apaches-as Private Number 11 and Private Number 15, were sentenced to be dishonorably discharged and imprisoned on Alcatraz Island. Number 15 was given a life sentence, while Private Number 11 received eight years. Both were released by executive order and returned to their reservation on June 29, 1884.

These Indians, being regularly enlisted soldiers, were tried under the Articles of War for mutiny in the face of the enemy. The sentence carried consternation to the whole Apache nation. Such punishment had never before been meted out to revolting Indians-in Arizona at least. The sentence of death was duly carried out at Fort Grant on March 3, 1882, all three being hanged from the same gallows and at the same time. There were many who questioned the need for such drastic punishment; I know the writer of these lines certainly did. With the exception of "Dead Shot," not one of them was over twenty-one years old and certainly none of them appreciated the fact that he was a soldier, an enlisted man, when he joined his comrades in the revolt at Cibecue.

had never before been meted out to revolting Indians-in Arizona at least. The sentence of death was duly carried out at Fort Grant on March 3, 1882, all three being hanged from the same gallows and at the same time. There were many who questioned the need for such drastic punishment; I know the writer of these lines certainly did. With the exception of "Dead Shot," not one of them was over twenty-one years old and certainly none of them appreciated the fact that he was a soldier, an enlisted man, when he joined his comrades in the revolt at Cibecue.

"Dead Shot" was a much older man than the others, probably 40, with a wife and two children. He was a famous hunter and his name was given him in recognition of his skill as a marksman. I had hunted with him often and learned from him a world of matters relating to Indian skill and cunning in woodcraft.

On one occasion, between us, we had wounded a huge grizzly that escaped into very rough, broken area, where trailing, except here and there by a drop of blood on a rock, was difficult. We both rode mules that day and had tied the animals to a tree down by the river while we followed the bear's trail, which led us to a dark cavern in the side of the cliff two or three hundred feet above the floor of the valley. We were discussing a plan for smoking "Old Ephriam" out when the air was split by the most blood-curdling sound that ever reached human ears. Who moved first or