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Apaches & Longhorns THE REMINISCENCES OF WILL C. BARNES WILL C. BARNES, distinguished Man of the West, had the habit of careful notation. To that habit we owe one of the most stirring stories ever written of the real life of the West, Apaches & Longhorns. It is more than bio- graphy; it is history, full of source material and informative sidelights on conditions in early Arizona and the west. But most of all it is adventure— the adventure of the life of a man of action in the days when the challenge of dangerous enterprise was the lot of those who made America. In its early chapters the book deals with a field hitherto neglected—the work demanded of the Army tele- graphist and linesman in war against the Indians—for at twenty-one, Will C. Barnes was in the Signal Corps of the U. S. Army, on war service at Fort Apache in Arizona. Here in 188 r he received the Congressional Medal of Honor for "bravery in action with hostile Apache Indians" At Fort Apache Barnes knew many of the important figures of the time and relates fascinating incidents in the lives of these men in which he himself (continued on back flap) APACHES & LONGHORNS WILL CROFT BARNES Apaches & Longhorns THE REMINISCENCES OF WILL C. BARNES EDITED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY FRANK C. LOCKWOOD, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA WITH A DECORATION BY CAS DUCHOW MCMX/i THE WARD RITCHIE PRESS Los Angeles Copyright, tp4z by The Ward Ritchie Press Anderson & Ritchie: The Ward Ritchie Press Los Angeles Contents page INTRODUCTION X1 I. " EN ROUTE " TO SAN DIEGO 3 II. ON TO ARIZONA 9 III. TUCSON IN I 88o 1 7 Iv. I MEET THE APACHES 22 V. FORT APACHE IN I 88o 33 VI. APACHE WARFARE IN 1881 5 0 VII. A TOSS-UP WITH FATE 7 2 VIII. LIFE AT FORT APACHE FOLLOWING THE CIBECUE OUTBREAK 87 IX. THE SOLDIER TURNS COWBOY 118 X. A PLUCKY LANDLADY 136 XI. A SHOOTING SHERIFF 144 XII. DEATH RIDES IN THE HILLS 1 53 vii Contents XIII. IN POLITICS 164 XIV. PLAYING SHERIFF 1 7 I xv. I FIND A NEW RANGE 1 82 XVI. LAMENT FOR THE OLD-TIME COWBOY 188 XVII. I MEET PINCHOT AND ENTER THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE 1 97 XVIII. FINIS 208 viii List of Illustrations WILL CROFT BARNES Frontispiece Opposite page WILL C. BARNES, PRIVATE IN THE U.S. SIGNAL CORPS, 1879 4 FORT APACHE, '88 I 52 Top: THE ADJUTANT'S OFFICE Bottom: HOUSE IN "OFFICER'S ROW" THE GRAVEYARD AT FORT APACHE 6o GENERAL GEORGE CROOK AT FORT APACHE, 1883 492 COUNCIL BETWEEN GENERAL CROOK AND GERONIMO 93 ADOLF BANDELIER 104 CAPTAIN JOHN G. BOURKE, THIRD CAVALRY 1 16 WILL C. BARNES, COWBOY. PRESCOTT) 1885 120 ESPERANZA RANCH 1 30 Top: ADOBE HOUSE Bottom: CORRAL PLAN OF THE BLEVINS-COOPER HOUSE 142 1.X List of Illustrations ALBERT F. POTTER 168 MRS. WILL C. BARNES 1 69 GIFFORD PINCHOT 1 98 BARNES WITH PACK MULE 202 BARNES ON THE JOB 206 Introduction I UNDERTAKE the editing of this volume of reminiscences as a labor of love and, also, as a service to the State of Arizona, to which I acknowledge a deep devotion, as did also the writer of these memoirs. During his later years Will Barnes spent much time in the preparation of his autobiography, writing down with racy and graphic detail the more exciting and worthwhile incidents of his remark- able life. Indeed, the record was so full and extended that it has seemed to Mrs. Barnes and me that it would gain in unity and would appear to better advantage in book form if limited to an account of the author's Arizona experi- ences. Since I had known Mr. Barnes very intimately and had studied with close and sympathetic interest his entire life-story (had, indeed, already written a study of con- siderable length of his character and career for inclusion in a new volume of Arizona Characters), it was thought that such a brief yet comprehensive introduction as this might serve to round out and integrate the biography. xi Introduction Will C. Barnes was remarkable alike for native versatility and wide range of experience. He was a trained musician and a lover of the fine arts in general; a soldier, a tele- grapher, a cowman, a forester, a legislator, and a writer. First or last, he bore a hand in almost every kind of American activity. He was born in San Francisco, June 21, 1858; his infant years were spent in a booming Nevada mining camp, Gold Hill, rival and now near neighbor of Virginia City; at seven he and his widowed mother went to make their home at La Porte, Indiana, with his grandfather Croft—a builder of wagons, carriages, graceful swan-like sleighs, and bob-sleds; from his tenth to his thirteenth year he lived on a farm at Lake Calhoun, Minnesota; in 187i, a boy of thirteen, with his mother he went to Indian- apolis, and found employment in a music store, serving also as usher at the old Academy of Music during the opera season. At eighteen years of age, having by wire received an offer of a position as salesman of sheet music at twenty dollars a week in gold in a leading San Francisco music establishment, he moved to that city; at the same time that he carried on his activities as a salesman and a musician he acquired a passion for the sea and an intimate know- ledge of ships. He visited sea-going craft so often that he soon attracted the attention and won the friendship of the captain in command of a United States revenue cutter then stationed in the harbor. Young Barnes was stung to envy at the sight of two cadets on board in their spick-and-span uniforms. The captain explained to him that he, too, might become a cadet by gaining admission to the Revenue Training School. Under a tutor, for a year, he studied xii Introduction hard; and then, giving up his position in San Francisco, he went to Washington to take the competitive examina- tion. But, as there were one hundred and three competitors and only three vacancies, and as he ranked ninth in the test, he missed his chance to win glory on the ocean wave. Though denied the status of a sailor he nevertheless found himself at sea; for he was too proud to admit defeat and return to his old job in San Francisco. But at this juncture an accidental meeting changed the whole course of his career. On his way back from New York to Wash- ington, whither he had gone to seek a berth on an Ameri- can clipper that sailed all seas, he fell in with a young chap who wore the attractive uniform of the Signal Corps of the United States Army. Instantly there was aroused in him an ardent desire to achieve fame as a soldier. So he visited the office of the Chief of the Signal Corps and sought entrance to the service. He was told that the Corps was full—and more; that no one was being enlisted. He was ignorant of the ways of Washington; so was surprised when the young fellow he had met on the train told him there was a political route that sometimes led to paths of glory. And then he remembered that he knew the famous California Senator Booth, the uncle for whom his boyhood friend Booth Tarkington was named. He called on this potent statesman; was kindly received; and without delay was taken by him to the office of the Secretary of War, where, by the touching of some secret spring, within half-an-hour young Barnes was ushered into the open door to military distinction. Barnes first donned the uniform of a soldier in the Introduction Signal Corps of the United States Army in 1879, at the age of twenty-one. Up to this point his progress in life reads like an Oliver Optic story; but no Oliver Optic or Horatio Alger hero ever stepped so quickly into the realms of glory to pluck himself a star-studded crown of fame as did Will C. Barnes. At twenty-three, only two years after his enlistment, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor "for bravery in action with hostile Apache Indians" at Fort Apache, Arizona. In the autobiographic pages that follow he tells in his own direct and simple way the story of this heroic achievement and a hundred other thrilling incidents connected with his diversified career in Arizona. Two major events mark the year 1897 as a memorable one in the life of Will C. Barnes. On May 4th of that year he married Miss Edith Talbot, of Phoenix; and at a summer round-up in the Mogollon Mountains he met Gifford Pinchot for the first time. Miss Talbot was born in Chicago, Illinois. In 1888, when she was a young girl, her father, Mr. Walter Talbot, and his family settled in Phoenix. There he established himself as a hardware merchant, and very soon rose to prominence as a citizen of Phoenix, and a man of mark through the territory. He was elected mayor of Phoenix; was named by the Governor as a member of the Board of Regents of the Territorial University; and was made a member of the commission appointed to build the capitol in Phoenix. When Miss Talbot first became acquainted with Will C. Barnes, he was residing in Phoenix tem- porarily as a member of the Territorial Legislature from xiv Introduction Apache County.

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