![]() ![]() The combined force of scouts and soldiers finally cornered the fugitives amid a tangle of boulders near the mouth of Cherry Creek, forcing their retreat under heavy fire into a shallow cave. The scouts did just that and soon exchanged rifle shots with the renegades. The officers ordered their Indian scouts to likewise dismount, forge ahead and try to catch the Tontos. To improve their speed over that rough terrain, the fugitives had killed their horses and continued their flight afoot. They soon ran low on rations, but a generous rancher donated a cow, coffee and salt to the cause, and then Sergeant Alexander Cheatham arrived with reinforcements and rations after an all-night ride from San Carlos.įor several days and nights the detachment followed what Grierson called “the rough, broken mountains and plains of Arizona.” After a meandering chase of some 250 miles, the lieutenants and their men picked up the trail of the Apaches on March 7 in Salt River Canyon. Clarke and Watson headed their men in that direction. The scouts discovered hoofprints leading northwest toward the Salt River, so Lts. James Watson with several 4th Cavalry soldiers and Indian scouts. Joining them in the field from the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation was 10th Cavalry Lt. Powhatan Clarke, a Medal of Honor recipient who had fought in the Geronimo campaign, to make every effort to capture or destroy the murderers.Ĭlarke and a 10-man detachment of buffalo soldiers from Troop K of the 10th Cavalry packed a day’s rations and immediately rode to the site of the ambush. Benjamin Grierson learned of the ambush, he ordered Lt. ![]() The renegades murdered him, stole the horses, burned the wagon and cut the telegraph wire. Why Tonto Apache El-Chees-Choos Was Hanged CloseĪ Mormon freighter named Herbert, who worked the area around Fort Thomas, Arizona Territory, was driving a wagon to Globe on March 2, 1890, when five Tonto Apache Indians attacked him some 6 miles north of the fort. ![]()
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