05 - Dread Apache- That Early-Day Scourge of the Southwest by Merrill Pingree Freeman

Dive into the fierce frontier drama of the early-day Southwest, where the relentless Apache was the central antagonist. This podcast, based on a collection of historic photographs, brings to life the chilling experiences of the pioneers who contended with this tireless foe. Experience the Apaches cunning and treachery, their ambush tactics, and the fearsome reputation of the squaw - possibly even more formidable than the man. Listen as we unravel numerous captivating biographies and historic headlines that paint a vivid picture of this tumultuous era. This gripping narrative is brought to life by Laurie Banza.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section five of the Dread Apache That Early Day Scourge
of the Southwest by doctor Merle Pingree Freeman. This Lieberbox
recording is in the public domain. Brave Little Johnny Bartlett
through Geronimo's surrenders to General Miles, Brave Little Johnny Bartlett.

(00:25):
Bartlett kept the Indians off until dark, when it is
probable they left, as they were not seen again. Soon
after dark, Bartlett told Johnny that he must go to
Oroblanco and notify the people of the shooting of Shanahan
and himself, and that Shanahan was probably dying. When Little
Johnny was told that he must do this, like the

(00:48):
little hero he was, he simply said all right, Papa,
and immediately started, first taking off his shoes and going
barefoot the first mile or two to avoid making any sound. Johnny,
on foot, reached Oro Blanco, eight miles away about two
o'clock in the morning and gave the alarm. A posse

(01:11):
was immediately made up and started for the scene of
the troubles, where they found Shanahan dead and Bartlet wounded,
and the Indians evidently gone. General Crook relieved. General George
Crook came to Arizona in eighteen seventy, remaining in command
of the department here until eighteen seventy five, when he

(01:35):
was transferred to the Department of the Platte, and was
reassigned and returned to Arizona in eighteen eighty two. In
eighteen eighty six, evidently taking exception to an implied criticism
from the Department at Washington, and as he expressed it,
having spent nearly eight years of the hardest work of

(01:56):
his life in this department, he asked to be relieved.
Crook was criticized in Arizona at the time for a
too abiding faith in the loyalty of his Indian Scouts,
and many of us believe this criticism to be fully justified.
There is hardly a doubt that much of the ammunition
used by the renegades was supplied them by these same scouts.

(02:20):
It was but a few months prior to Crook's being
relieved that Captain Crawford, a zealous and gallant officer, while
engaged in his thankless task of ridding their country of
these pests, was treacherously killed by Mexican irregular troops in
the Sierra Madre Mountains. It is true that these irregular

(02:43):
troops were terra humerie Indians, possibly as wild and uncontrollable
as the Apaches themselves, and that they may extenuate the
treachery to some extent, but the fact remains that the
officers in command were not Indians but Mexicans. Geronimo surrenders

(03:04):
to General Miles. On April second, eighteen eighty six, General
Miles Superseding Crook took command of the Department of Arizona,
and in his personal recollections he speaks of finding here,
stationed at Fort Huachuca, a fair haired, blue eyed young

(03:24):
man of great intellect, manly qualities, and resolute spirit, a
splendid type of American manhood. This fair haired, blue eyed
young man of eighteen eighty six was at the time
assistant surgeon in the Army. He is now Major General
Leonard Wood, late Chief of Staff U S Army. On

(03:47):
the fourth of September, following Miles assuming command, Geronimo and
his band surrendered to him, and on September eighth they
left Fort Bowie for Fort Marion, Florida. The point of
surrender to Myles was at Skeleton Canyon in Mexico, about
sixty five miles south of Fort Bowie. The surrender of

(04:09):
Geronimo may be fixed as the date of the termination
of the many years of warfare between the Whites and
the Apaches as a tribe, a warfare marked with a
cruelty on the part of the Apaches probably unparalleled in
the history of the four hundred years of strife between
the Whites on the one side and the Red Man

(04:32):
on the other, And of Section five