ApacheApacheApache ScoutsScoutsScouts A GUIDE TO STUDYING HISTORY AT

General Crook aboard his mule, White Mountain scout Alchesay on the right, and an unknown scout on the left. Taken in Apache Pass near Fort Bowie. U.S. Army photo.

he American Army had used in operations against these Indians, Scouts in the U.S. Army. By the time Indians as guides ever since its unless Indian scouts were used. These of the 1885-6 campaigns, inception, but they were em- scouts...were of more that number had dropped to 200. T value in hunting down and compel- ployed as civilians. It was not until First Augustin Gabriel an Act of Congress in July 1866 that ling the surrender of the renegades Tassin was a commander of Indian Indians were actually enlisted and be- than all other troops...combined. The Scouts at Huachuca in 1879. He had came an official unit of the U.S. use of Indian scouts was dictated by led a company of White Mountain Army. Brig. Gen. the soundest of military policy.” on a scout with the unlikely made extensive use of Apache scouts Apache Scout companies were dual mission of finding the renegade in territory to track down made up of twenty-five Indians with chief Juh, while at the same time pre- Apache renegades. Crook would a white officer in command and of- paring an illustrated report for the emphasize their worth in his official ten direction was given by a civilian Smithsonian on the flora and fauna report: “I cannot too strongly assert chief of scouts. In 1877 and 1878 of Arizona. Later he wrote about the that there has never been any success there were as many as 600 Indian qualities and methods of Apache

2 Call (520) 533-3638, DSN 821-3638, FAX (520) 533-5736. APACHE SCOUTS scouts on the trail. so that I was afraid of them myself. being packed and ready for the start, ...I marched, knee-deep in the * * * the chief of scouts gives a short, jerky Gila sands, ...to Camp Thomas, On a trail, hot or cold, the scouts order, ...”Get,” and the Apaches start thirty-five miles above the agency, go first in single file, Indian fashion, as if shot from a gun, rapidly cover- presented each man [scout] with a followed by the rest of the com- ing the ground in a rough, shambling Springfield rifle of the latest pattern mand.... gait, which in the long run abolishes and forty rounds of ammunition on Generally, however, the distance in a manner wonderful to behalf of the , and put Apaches march with no semblance of behold. They go by twos, by threes, the whole concern into military regularity; individual fancy alone gov- scattered by clumps and groups to uniform by purchasing twenty-five erns. To the trained soldier, accus- every point of the compass; but yards of coarse red flannel from the tomed to the tactics of civilized war- whether singly or in clusters, they post trader, which, being divided fare, the loose, straggling, war-path move onward indefatigably, with vi- among them, they wrapped turban- methods of the Apache scouts appear sion as keen as a hawk’s tread as untir- wise around their foreheads in such at first sight startling, if not contempt- ing and stealthy as a panther, and ears an artistic, business-like manner, ible; but he soon realized that a more so sensitive that nothing escapes that it transformed them with perfect eclaireur does not exist. them. almost miraculous rapidity from a On breaking up a bivouac to * * * set of rather mild-mannered cut- take up the march there is no falling- Each wore a loosely fitting shirt of throats into as hard-looking a set of in single or double ranks, no break- red, white, or gray stuff, generally of blood-thirsty scoundrels as probably ing of arms-stacks, roll-call, or other calico, in some gaudy figure, or the the world had ever seen, —so much delaying formalities. The last mule woolen one issued to white soldiers.

Company “G,” White Mountain Apache Scouts. Photo taken about 1882. Apache Scouts enlisted for six months service. Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-85773.

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This came down outside a pair of ground, while a companion traces In addition to his rifle the Indian loose cotton drawers, reaching to the with a sharp knife the outlines of the scout carries a canteen full of water, a moccasins, which last are the most sole of his foot upon a piece of raw- butcher knife, an awl in leather case, important articles of Apache apparel. hide. The legging is made of soft and a pair of tweezers; and a leather In a fight or on a long march they buckskin attached to the sole and belt holding forty rounds of metallic discard all else, but always retain the reaching to mid-thigh. For conve- ammunition encircles his waist. The moccasins. Before leaving [Fort] Tho- nience in marching it is allowed to awl is used for sewing moccasins or mas I had procured a lot of fresh raw- hang in folds below the knee. The work of that kind, and he uses the hides from the agency, and my scouts rawhide sole is prolonged beyond the tweezers to pick out each and every had been hard at work at the great toe, and turned upward in a hair appearing upon his face. shoemaking business. The Indian to shield, which protects from cactus Many among them carry, strapped be fitted stands erect upon the and sharp stones. at the waist, little buckskin bags of

Apache Indian scouts at Huachuca in 1879. At the extreme left is sergeant Edward Murphy. Photo courtesy Mr. and Mrs. Leng.

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Troop I, 4th Cavalry, with their Indian Scouts in the mouth of Bisbee Canyon, 1884. Sgt. Emil Pauly is standing on the right with stripes on arm. Photo courtesy Lt. Col. John H. Healy.

had-dentin, or sacred meal, with emy or warding off arrows and bul- teen miles, at the end of which dis- which to offer morning and evening lets in the heat of action, —from tance, if water be encountered, and no sacrifice to the sun or other deity. which may be inferred that the idea enemy be sighted, they congregate in Others are provided with amulets of of a personal God is pre-eminent in bands of some ten or fifteen each, hide lightning-riven twigs, pieces of quartz Apache mythology, for each has one in some convenient ravine, sit down, crystal, petrified wood, concretionary personal to himself. smoke cigarettes, chat and joke, and sandstone, galena, or chalchihuitls, or The rate of speed attained by the stretch out in the sunlight, basking fetiches, representing some of their Apaches in marching is about an even like lizards. countless planetary gods of kan, four miles an hour on foot, or not * * * which are regarded as “dead medicine” quite fast enough to make a horse All the scouts paint their faces while for frustrating the designs of the en- trot. They keep this up for about fif- on the march with red ocker, deer’s

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Indian Scouts at Fort Apache in March 1918. From left to right: Jess Billy, Alejo Quintero, Ka-Gethl, Ka-Gethl’s baby, and wife. Photo courtesy Lt. H. B. Wharfield, 10th Cavalry, Indian Scout Commander in 1918.

blood, or the juice of roasted mescal, and with him in many instances grease of willow or cottonwood saplings; for the double purpose of protecting takes the place of clothing, for he others less fortunate, improvise do- them from the wind and sun, as well knows the necessity of an equality of miciles of branches covered with as distinctive ornamentation. The or- the activity of the skin and the calls grass, or of stones and boards covered namentation is a matter of taste and upon it, and why, when exposure is with gunny sacks. Before these are tribal obligation. The other part of very great, the pores should be de- finished, smoke curls gracefully to- the operation is one of necessity, for fended. wards the sky from crackling embers, it is a well known fact that dirt and When the command reaches camp, in front of which, transfixed on grease protect the skin against inclem- the scouts build in a trice all kinds of wooden spits, are the heads, hearts, ent weather. An Indian seldom washes rude shelter. Those that have the army and livers of the choddi (deer) killed unless he can grease himself afterwards; dog tents up them upon frameworks on the march.

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* * * The stunted oak growing on moun- was always suspicious. There were ...My scouts were occupied in pre- tain slopes furnishes acorns; the Span- two women and three men who were paring their beds for the night. Grass ish bayonet a fruit that, when roasted, secret service agents for Lieutenant was pulled by handfuls, laid upon the looks and tastes something like the Davis. They were Western Apache. ground, and covered with one blan- banana. The whole region of South- These are a different tribe. That is ket, another serving as cover. They ern Arizona and Northern is what caused many of the stories that generally sleep with their feet pointed marked with varieties of the cactus, were going around. The two women towards little fires, which they claim producing fruit and seeds with which who were secret service agents would are warm, while the big ones built by he varies his menu. The broad leaves go after midnight to these army offi- the white soldiers are so hot that they and stalks of the mescal are roasted cials and tell them what had been said, drive people away from them, and between hot stones, and the product what the Indians intended to do. besides, attract the attention of a lurk- is rich in saccharine matter, and ex- Most of the trouble came through the ing enemy. tremely pleasant to the taste. The wild Western Apache. They told stories, All this time scouts are posted on potato and the bulb of the tule are mostly false. We don’t know who the knolls commanding every possible found in the damp mountain mead- secret service people were. But I don’t line of approach. The Apache dreads ows, and he raids the nest of the think the government officials can surprise. It is his own private mode ground bee for its store of honey in deny that they had secret agents, men of destroying an enemy, and know- common with the bear. Sunflower and women.2 ing what he himself can do, he ascribes seeds pounded between two stones are However, this information re- to his foe—no matter how insignifi- rich and nutritious.... He boils the ceived from spys did not prevent the cant may be his numbers—the same sweet, soft inner bark of the pine with renegades from spurring Loco and his daring, recklessness, agility, and the seeds of wild grasses and wild people from the reservation. After subtlety possessed by himself. pumpkins and the gum of the mes- Geronimo’s surrender, there was less quite into savory stews, which may of a need for Indian scouts and, in The two great points of superior- not be very appetizing to an Anglo- 1891 the number of scouts appor- ity of the savage soldier over the rep- Saxon’s vitiated taste, but are more tioned to Arizona was limited to fifty. resentative of civilized discipline are than welcome to an Indian. The In 1891 the Army experimented his absolute knowledge of the coun- nimble cactus rat is very much the with enlisting scouts in units of the try, and his perfect ability to take care thing in his...bills of fare, for the plea- regular army. The number of scouts of himself at all times and under all sure it gives him in the primary catch- authorized Army-wide was reduced to circumstances. Though the rays of the ing is enhanced in the subsequent eat- 150, fifty being allocated for Arizona. sun pour down from the zenith, or ing of the succulent, silver-robed little The General Orders, dated March 9, the scorching sirocco blow from the rodent.1 allowed for L Troop of each cavalry south, the Apache scout trudges along On the reservation where many In- regiment and I Company of each regi- as unconcerned as he was when the dian factions intrigued against each ment of infantry to be converted to cold rain or snow of winter chilled other and the U.S. Army, a network 55-man Indian units. The 9th and his white comrade to the marrow. He of “Confidential Indians” would re- 10th regiments of black cavalry were finds food, and pretty good food, too, port to the military any plans or excepted as were the 6th, 11th, 15th, where the white man would starve. disatisfaction. This proved useful in 19th, 24th and 25th infantry regi- Knowing the habits of wild animals 1882 when informants alerted the ments. In 1897 the provision was from his earliest youth, he can catch Army to the intentions of renegades dropped and the Indian companies turkeys, quail, rabbits, doves, or field to attack the reservation at Camp and troops were disbanded. The In- mice, which supply him with meat, Goodwin and breakout Loco and his dian scout units were distinct how- in addition to the flesh of a horse or Warm Springs people to join them ever, and were not affected. But they mule that has dropped exhausted on in raiding. A Chiricahua named Sam were reduced so far in numbers that the march, and of which he is exceed- Kenoi explained: they were no longer functional as ingly fond. At Fort Apache they said Geronimo companies and were redesignated as

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detachments. him a perfect scout. It would be al- vide, so the detachment split up into By 1915 only 24 remained in ser- most impossible to surprise an outfit two parties following the two trails. vice. It appears that an additional 17 that had a detachment of Apache After about an hour or so, one of these Apache scouts were enlisted to join scouts in its front. They do not lack parties overtook the villistas in a very Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing’s Puni- courage by any means. They have narrow ravine. They shot two of tive Expedition into Mexico because taken part in some little affairs in them, and on account of the narrow- in 1916 the number rose to 39, and Mexico that required plenty of cour- ness of the pass, unfortunately shot in 1917 fell back to 22. Apache age, but they must be allowed to do two of the horses, one of which scouts from Fort Huachuca accom- things in their own way. proved to be the private horse of Lieu- panied the 10th Cavalry and others The Apaches had a centuries-old tenant Ely of the Fifth Cavalry. They from Fort Apache joined the 11th hatred of Mexicans and it surfaced recovered one government horse and Cavalry on their long scouts into during the expedition. Shannon re- got some Mexican saddles, rifles, etc.3 Mexico in search of the bandit/revo- called an evening when they encoun- New regulations were written to lutionary, . tered some government troops. govern Indian Scouts in 1917. The During the Punitive Expedition ...As we approached this outfit and main change from previous regula- in 1916, twenty Indian scouts were opened a conversation with them, tions were the period of enlistment. sent down from Fort Apache to join Sergeant Chicken (First Sergeant of Heretofore scouts had been enlisted the 11th Cavalry. They arrived too the Scouts) fingered his gun nervously for at varying times for three months, late to take part in the search for Villa and gave vent in one sentence to the six months or a year. Now they which had been suspended due to the Indians whole idea of the Mexican would sign up for a seven-year hitch protests of the Carranza government situation: “Heap much Mexican, like other soldiers. The new regula- about the U. S. presence on Mexican shoot ‘em all!” There was no fine dis- tions provided: soil. But they did have ample oppor- tinctions in their minds between 479. Indians employed as scouts un- tunity to show their tracking skills. friendly Mexicans and unfriendly, der the provisions of section 1112, Captain James A. Shannon with the Carranzistas and Villistas, de facto Revised Statutes, and Section 1, act 11th wrote an article in the Journal of troops and bandits. To their direct of Congress approved February 2, the U. S. Cavalry Association for April minds there was only one line of con- 1901, ...will be enlisted for periods 1917, entitled “With the Apache duct—”Heap much Mexican, shoot of seven years and discharged when Scouts in Mexico.” He described ‘em all!” They had to be watched the necessity for their services shall their cautious way of operating. pretty carefully when out of camp to cease. While in service they will re- The Indian cannot be beaten at his be kept from putting this principle ceive the pay and allowances of cav- own game. But in order to get re- into practice. alry soldiers and an additional allow- sults, he must be allowed to play that The Apache scouts proved useful ance of 40 cents per day, provided game in his own way. You tell a troop in tracking American deserters and on they furnish their own horses and of white soldiers there is an enemy a at least one occasion located some of horse equipments; but such addi- thousand yards in your front and they the villistas. They picked up the trail tional allowance will cease if they do will go straight at him without ques- of some stolen American horses that not keep their horses and equipments tions. The Indian under the same cir- were two or three days old. Shannon in serviceable condition. cumstance wants to look it all over writes: 480. Department commanders are first. He wants to go to one side and They started off on the trail and authorized to appoint sergeants and take a look. Then to the other side after going a short distance came to a corporals for the whole number of and take a look. He is like a wild rocky stretch where the trail was hard enlisted Indian scouts serving in their animal stalking its prey. Before he ad- to follow. They circled out like a pack departments, but such appointments vances he wants to know just what is of hounds and soon one of them gave must not exceed the proportion of 1 in his front. This extreme caution, a grunt and all the rest went over first sergeant, 5 sergeants, and 4 cor- which we don’t like to see in the white where he was and started off again. porals for 60 enlisted scouts. man, is one of the qualities that makes After a while the trail seemed to di- 481. The number of Indian scouts

8 Call (520) 533-3638, DSN 821-3638, FAX (520) 533-5736. APACHE SCOUTS allowed to military departments will to gun fire. These characteristics made Apache in 1918..., old Billy was my be announced from time to time in the Apache invaluable scouts in the favorite scout. He could speak only orders from the War Department. field for operations with troops. Like- Apache and did not even understand 482. The enlistment and reenlistment wise it accounts for the fact that small pidgin-English. He lived by himself of Indian scouts will be made under numbers of hostile Apaches were able in a tin shack on the scout row just the direction of department com- to thwart the efforts of the army in outside the east gate of the post manders. The appointment or mus- so many instances.... proper. Frequently in the evenings tering of farriers or horseshoers on the During my service in 1918 at Fort when riding my mount around the rolls of Indian scouts is illegal. Apache the scouts wore cavalry issue post, I stopped at his place for a visit. 483. In all cases of enlistment of In- clothing, shoes and leggins, but some We would squat on the ground, dians the full Indian name, and also retained the wide cartridge belt of smoke hand-rolled cigarettes, and gaze the English interpretation of the same, their own construction and design. at the evening sky without a word will be inserted in the enlistment pa- An emblem U.S.S. for United States between us. When I got up to leave, pers and in all subsequent returns and Scouts was fastened on the front of it is my recollection that we always reports concerning them. the issue campaign hat. The regula- shook hands. Colonel Wharfield, a lieutenant tion emblem was crossed arrows on a * * * commanding scouts in 1918, would disc with the initials U.S.S.; but I Upon retirement Charles Bones later describe how the Apaches were never saw such a design on the scouts’ located in a little Indian settlement expected to be employed that year. uniform nor in the Quartermaster called Canyon Day, some four miles The Apache scouts were not trained supply room.4 southwest of old Fort Apache. Here or drilled to maneouver as the soldiers Lieutenant Wharfield talked he opened a restaurant and served big of the army. Their operations were about some of the scouts who stood meals for twenty-five cents. At that in accordance with the Apache’s natu- out in his memory. price many of the Indians ate there ral habits of scouting and fighting. At Fort Apache I had excellent re- instead of purchasing more expensive The only directions given by the mili- lationships with Chicken. We hunted food at the trader’s store. Bones had tary were general in nature for the re- together for a few days on Willow a good trade but did not much more quirements of the movements of the Creek, a branch of the Black River. than break even. The old scout also troops. On the march small groups He was on a manhunt with me after kept a saddle horse and a good team. of the scouts were out several miles a trooper, who went AWOL and was He exercised his horses by riding the on the flanks and in front, keeping hiking southward toward Globe. The saddle animal in front of the team occasional contacts with the main scouts successfully tracked the soldier. hauling the wagon, using a lariat for a body. At night most of them came We apprehended him near the lower lead-line. By this method the old in, leaving a few of the scouts posted White River bridge, close to Tom Apache was again in the saddle instead as lookouts. An Apache never wanted Wanslee’s trading store. In addition of jolting along on the wagon seat to be surprised, and all of their move- to those trips together, there were with the pony tied behind. Of course ments were based on that principle. many other routine contacts at the a stranger might wonder why the They approached ridges and high fort. He, of course, did not handle wagon was taken along, but Bones ground with extreme caution, peek- the first sergeant’s paperwork; that was probably figured that was a method ing around, looking as far ahead as done by white soldiers of the Quar- of keeping his team wagon-broke. possible, using cover, and keeping ex- termaster Detachment, but I always It is noted that the officer, who posure to the minimum. In a fight gave him the orders and other mat- commanded the scouts in 1932, failed they did not believe in charging and ters regarding the scouts for him to to have Sergeant Charles Bones ad- battling against all odds, which was execute and pass along. He was a good vanced in grade upon retirement; such the quality of many of the Indians of leader, and a highly respected man at as was the custom of the old army in the Plains. Always they sought for the fort. recognition of the long years of faith- an advantage over the foe, and re- * * * ful service.5 treated rather than expose themselves During my tour of duty at Fort The separate units of Indian

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Scouts which had existed since 1866 Individually and as a unit they were 6, 1938, article in the Arizona Repub- were discontinued on June 30, 1921, fine soldiers, but they never gave up lic reported about an Army Day cel- and since that time the Apaches were many of their tribal ways. Until the ebration at the fort: carried on the Detached Enlisted mid-thirties they lived with their One of the colorful events of the af- Men’s List. families in tepees which were located ternoon program was the appearance In 1922 the scouts were moved to in an area of the garrison some dis- of the Apache Indian scouts in a simu- Fort Huachuca which would become tance apart from the other troops. lated attack on a covered wagon train. their permanent home until the re- When the WPA [Works Projects The Apaches were clad in colorful cer- maining few retired in 1947. At Administration] offered to improve emonial costumes and remained on Huachuca they patrolled the bound- their housing conditions, the post the field for about a quarter of an hour aries of the military reservation and commander at Fort Huachuca to pose for literally hundreds of can- took part in ceremonial functions, enthusiastically set about building did camera fans and amateur movie stirring memories of a proud past. adobe houses for the Indians. An directors. On March 18, 1924, a first ser- impressive dedication was held to cele- Wharfield reported that “Corpo- geant of scouts with the colorful name brate the movement of the Indian ral Alejo Quintero retired in 1941, of Sergeant Chicken retired from the families into their new quarters. Great Private Jess Billy in 1944, and Pri- Army at Fort Huachuca. His Apache was his consternation to find soon vate Jim Lane in 1945. About the name, all but unpronounceable to the thereafter that all the families had same time Private Andrew Paxton was Americans served with, was moved back into tepees and that the thrown from his horse and died in the Eskehnadestah. He had first joined scouts’ horses were the only occupants Fort Huachuca hospital.” the Army in 1893 and was a trailer the new quarters.6 The Quartermaster Corps had to or- for General Pershing’s 1916 Punitive David B. Stone was a 2d Lieut. der twenty-five crossed arrow insig- Expedition after Pancho Villa. A lieu- with the 25th Infantry from 1935-7, nias in January 1941. These would be tenant on the expedition had praise and, like so many other veterans of for the eight remaining Apache Scouts for the senior scout. “First Sergeant Huachuca, remembered vividly the stationed at Fort Huachuca. These Chicken is probably, all things con- Apaches. men were Sgt. Sinew Riley, 49; Cor- sidered, the most valuable man in the The Apache Scouts were still ac- poral Ivan Antonio, 52; Corporal detachment. He is finishing his sev- tive, and an integral part of the Fort Alejo J. Quintero, 51; Private Jess enth enlistment period. He speaks garrison. Their function was to pa- Billy, 47; Private Kessay, 43; Private pretty fair English, is an excellent trol the Fort’s extensive boundaries, Jim Lane, 51; Private William Ma- trailer and scout, and an absolutely about 10 to 20 miles each side of a jor, 39; and Private Andrew Paxton, reliable man.” rectangle. They lived in their broken 53. Chicken retired to Whiteriver on down little hogans and kept their S. Sgt. Sinew Riley was the rank- the reservation where he lived to the chickens and pigs in the quarters the ing Apache scout at Huachuca in the age of 95, dying on February 3, 1955. Army built for them.7 30s and 40s. From the Whiteriver Colonel Allen C. Miller II was a Other duties relegated to the Reservation, Riley was a third genera- former commander of Apache scouts Apaches since their assignment to Fort tion scout. His grandfather was Dead at Fort Huachuca and he remembered Huachuca was to appear in their tra- Shot who had been hanged in 1883 well when, in 1933, the Army built ditional dress in parades and reviews. for the Cibicue mutiny. Riley, a 1910 new quarters for them. If their traditional dress did not al- graduate of the Phoenix Indian The scouts remained rugged indi- ways coincide with the expectations School, lived with his second wife, vidualists to the end. Only one of of the press or movie directors, they known only as “Mamma,” and his the last twelve scouts spoke English. would embellish their costumes a sixteen children in the little Indian All were very large, well built men. little, adding feathers and headdresses. village on the northwest side of Not only were they excellent horse- After all they were representing not Huachuca Creek just across from the men, but foot marches of up to 85 only Apaches but all Indians who had housing area which would become [?] miles in a single day are recorded. served the Army as scouts. An April known as Apache Flats. The village

10 Call (520) 533-3638, DSN 821-3638, FAX (520) 533-5736. APACHE SCOUTS was off-limits for non-Indians and the scouts and their families lived just outside of the mainstream of Army life on the post. For entertainment Riley loved hunting with his Savage .30-.30, tak- ing in bullfights in Nogales, working on his Ford truck, and typing letters on his old Remington to his son Larrie who was serving in the Army during World War II. Much of the story of his life is learned from these letters which survive in the Fort Huachuca Museum. Lieut. Wharfield hired the young

Below: Sinew Riley and wife, Peela, at Fort Huachuca in 1935. Photo courtesy Rev. Arthur A. Guenther, Lutheran Apache Mission, Whiteriver, Arizona. Above: Sinew Riley as a Corporal at Fort Huachuca in the 1920s, aboard his horse “Peanuts.”

son of scout John Riley to work for Fort Huachuca was transformed into conscious that he was an Indian. In him in the Quartermaster carpenter a training base for black infantry di- an interview which appeared in the shop in 1918 for $2 a day. He was visions, Riley encountered draftees for Tucson Daily Citizen on July 31, 1935, called Luke then. He would later the first time. He wrote to his son Riley was quoted as saying: enlist in 1920 as Sinew L. Riley. Larrie, who had complained to him Indian is just like a white man now. Wharfield remembered running across about not getting a furlough: Once we obeyed God in all things. him again in 1945. ...You remember that you are in the Our people were happy and healthy. ...We talked about Fort Apache Army now. ...Being upset will get you They prayed and their prayers were and the old scouts. He was an edu- nowhere. ...Most soldiers are that way answered—if not the first time, then cated Apache and very talkative by when they get drafted in the Army the next. nature; perhaps somewhat too in- now days. Us Veteran Old Soldiers Now we have learned to in- clined to project a movie type of In- are different way about it. We take it dulge in civilization’s luxuries. We eat dian to strangers. On ceremonial oc- whatever it is. Whether we are get- foods we cannot digest and which do casions he adopted a feathered head- ting Pass or not. ...A man must act our teeth no good. We stay up late at gear similar to the Sioux. The old like a man when he get in the Army. night, and, like the white man, wink Apaches used only a piece of cloth to He do not get upset because they turn at moral laws which were once so holy protect the head. Riley had a large him down or cancelled his Furlough. to us. …We turn to doctors when ill family, reputedly seventeen children. They had to do that.... [A] veteran when once we invoked spiritual guid- Several are buried in the Fort knows that, its an order. Thats part ance and aid. The result is that dreadful Huachuca cemetery. of the Army Regulation. If not, the and unpleasant things happen to the Riley was a devout Christian, a Army is not worth a Dam. ...It takes Indian now the same as they do to family man, and a teetotaler. He had a good man to be a good soldier. the white man. fully accepted the disciplined life of a Although he was a soldier in a Sergeant Riley knew that the soldier. During World War II when white man’s army, Riley was acutely Apache scouts were at the end of their

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usefulness as an Army unit. He re- were carried only as a local Fort ous health. Though he runs a few beef gretted that he could not get in on Huachuca unit known as Detachment cattle on the tribal range, he spends the fighting in Europe and the Pacific. Indian Scouts, Service Command most of his time taking part in In- He wrote, “As for me I am Old for Unit 1922. With the closure of the dian ceremonial exhibitions and ex- Service, only good for home Guard.” post in September 1947, there was no plaining Apache customs and lan- The Apache scouts were getting place in the Army for the last of the guage. His father, John Riley, was also up in years in 1944. One lieutenant Apache scouts, so the detachment was an Indian scout, as was the sergeant’s stationed at Huachuca in World War disbanded on September 30, 1947, grandfather, Dead Shot, one of the II said they sometimes needed help and the last four scouts officially re- originals enlisted by General Crook to mount their horses. But they still tired in the grade of staff sergeant. in 1870 [1871]. Sgt. Riley tells in a rode the forts perimeters keeping the Wayne Spengler, the post histo- quite matter-of-fact way—but insists fences in repair, tended livestock, and rian at Huachuca in 1958, paid a visit they got the wrong Indians—the story acted as the post’s Service Company, to the Fort Apache and San Carlos res- of hanging of Dead Shot along with doing odd jobs of carpentry and ervation in September of that year to two other scouts for going over from blacksmithing. their And they also detach- participated in ment parades. of the Sinew Riley 6th noted that he Cav- and his com- alry to rades were the side building fire of their breaks in the own Huachuca tribe in mountains in the 1944. There Battle was always a of danger of fires Cibicue in these dry Creek. slopes, most [Riley caused by died of lightning. But appen- with an entire dicitis division ma- in neuvering 1960.] around the A colorized postcard from World War II era which depicts the Apache Scouts in their costumes they Sgt. Huachuca often wor for public appearances. Major, foothills, the the danger was young- multiplied. est of Riley wrote about fires caused by find and interview the remaining the remaining scouts, speaks beauti- “Cannon Balls.” scouts. He found three of them—S. ful English and was delighted to re- The detachment of Indian scouts Sgts. Sinew Riley, William Major and late experiences at Ft. Huachuca, at Fort Huachuca was disbanded by Joe Kessay. He reported: where he spent his boyhood days, as direction of the Army on November Sgt. Riley, now 67 years old, is well as 24 years in service, and where 30, 1943. That meant that the scouts friendly, talkative, and still in vigor- his father had been a scout before him.

12 Call (520) 533-3638, DSN 821-3638, FAX (520) 533-5736. APACHE SCOUTS

With Fort Huachuca finally closing in 1947, the scouts had no home station and they were disbanded. Here, in 1944, they answer questions for school children on the parade field.

He recalled hearing his father tell Huachuca. in height, tall for an Apache, and a about taking part in a cavalry fight Sgt. Kessay, born in 1889 and older very genial old man. The fourth of with Geronimo in the Dragoon than the other two, told of being a the Apache scouts, Sgt. Quintero, Mountains and of following ranger while on duty at Fort though around 85 years of age, was Geronimo’s trail up through the Huachuca—which all the other scouts still rugged enough to be out on the Huachuca Mountains and as far down of that time were too—of looking range acting as cook for the Apache towards the border as Lochiel. The after the range animals at the Fort, of cowboys in their current round-up. sergeant’s wife, Mary, hospitable vi- searching out and reporting fires, and He could not be contacted. vacious, and very well groomed kept of watching for desperadoes and stray Over the subsequent years all of a simple but spotlessly clean house, persons who often came onto the the Apache scouts would pass away having adopted the ways of white Fort reservation from Mexico. at their Whiteriver Reservation. On women during many years at Fort Joe is about five feet eight inches January 18, 1988, 80-year-old Julius Colelay was the last to die. He had

Write Fort Huachuca Museums; U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca; ATTN: ATZS-PAM; Fort Huachuca, AZ 85613-6000. 13 A GUIDE TO STUDYING HISTORY AT FORT HUACHUCA

enlisted in the U. S. Army at the age 3. Shannon, James A., “With the Apache of 15 and served at Huachuca from Scouts in Mexico,” Journal of the U.S. 1923 to 1929 when he was honor- Cavalry Association, April 1917. ably discharged. 4. Wharfield, Harold B., Apache Indian Apache Sergeant Sinew Riley, in Scouts, published by the author, 1964, 22- his retirement speech, spoke for all the 3. Indian Scouts: 5. Wharfield, Harold B., 1964, 86, 91-2. “We were recruited from the war- 6. Miller papers in FHM files. riors of many famous nations. We 7. Stone papers in FHM files. are the last of the Army’s Indian Scouts. In a few years we shall have gone to join our comrades . . . be- yond the sunset, for our need here is no more. There we shall always re- main very proud of our Indian people and of the , for we were truly the first Americans and you in the Army are now our war- riors.”

Bibliography

Ball, Eve, “The Apache Scouts: A Chiricahua Appraisal,” Arizona and the West, 7 (1965), 315-28. Doerner, Rita, “Sinew Riley: Apache Scout,” Journal of Arizona History, Vol. 14, No. 4, Winter, 1973. Ellis, Richard N., “Copper-Skinned Soldiers: The Apache Scouts,” Great Plains Journal, 5 (1966), 51-67. Porter, Kenneth W., “The - Negro Indian Scouts, 1870-1881,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 55 (1951-52), 358-77. Wharfield, Harold B., Apache Indian Scouts, published by the author, 1964.

Notes

1. Tassin, A. G., “Reminiscences of Indian Scouting,” Overland Monthly, Vol. XIV, Second Series, July-Dec 1889, San Fran- cisco, August, pp. 151-69. 2. Opler, Morris E., “A Chiricahua Apache’s Account of the Geronimo Campaign of 1886 by Samuel Kenoi,” New Mexico Historical Review, 13 (1938), pp. 369-70.

14 Call (520) 533-3638, DSN 821-3638, FAX (520) 533-5736.