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JANUARY 4:
January 4th, 1874:  Eskiminzin of the Aravaipa Apache, survivor of Camp Grant massacre and arrested as a "military precaution", escapes from San Carlos with many of his band. He will return in four months because most of his people are sick and hungry.
 
 

BACKGROUND:
Words Spoken:  Eskiminzin, Aravaipa Apache
 

"If it had not been for the massacre, there would have been a great many more people here now; but after the massacre, who could have stood it? When I made peace with Lieutenant Whitman my heart was very big and happy. The people of Tucson and San Xavier must be crazy. They acted as though they had neither heads nor hearts..they must have a thirst for our blood ..These Tucson people write for the papers and tell their own story. The Apaches have no-one to tell their story."
 

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>From http://www.geocities.com/~zybt/warriors.htm
 

I think one of the most misunderstood and maligned (Apache leaders) was the great leader of the Aravaipa Apaches, Eskiminzin.

Eskiminzin was born about 1828, probably near the Pinal Mountains. He was actually a Pinal Apache, but married into the Aravaipas (south of the Pinals). His father-in-law was Santos, chief of the Aravaipas. Eskiminzin was nearly always in very difficult positions trying to save his people. When he felt they had to fight to survive, he was unafraid to do so. When it was better for his people to accept peace terms, he did so. He always had the welfare of his people in mind. It was Eskiminzin who finally negotiated the terms by which the great San Carlos Apache Reservation was established. (See my page on the Apache Wars). However, after the reservation was established he experienced real tragedy.

In the summer of 1873 conditions on the reservation reached crisis proportions. Eskiminzin felt it was best that he should flee. Consequently, he was later captured and put in chains. When John Clum arrived, he ordered him released, because Clum felt he had been treated shamefully. Eskiminzin even visited Washington, D.C., with Clum in 1876. Slowly, Eskiminzin began to feel that peace was beginning to pay off.

However, in 1887 his son-in-law, the Apache Kid, was arrested for the murder of a rival on the San Carlos Reservation. When the Kid finally escaped, it was believed that Eskiminzin would aid him from time to time. Therefore, Eskiminzin was arrested in April or May 1891 and sent to Ft. Wingate, New Mexico, with 40 other supposed sympathizers with the Kid. They were forced to join the Chiricahuas who were then at Mt. Vernon, Alabama (before their removal to Oklahoma). Eskiminzin and his San Carlos braves were not exactly on friendly terms with the Chiricahuas, and they found their situation to be very difficult.

Finally, a white friend, Hugh Lennox Scott, convinced authorities that Eskiminzin should be released. He arrived back in San Carlos on 23 November 1894. A year later Eskiminzin died. His life had been truly tragic in the extreme.

There are still many descendants of Eskiminzin on the San Carlos Reservation. His legacy is revered, but the hurt of what happened to this man is still deeply felt.
 
 

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>From http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/april/stories/campgrant1.html
 

Eskiminzin was then Chief of the Arivaipa Indians. His name means "Men Stand in Line for Him". In February of 1871, Eskiminzin was tired of the warpath. He sent five old Apache women to inquire at Camp Grant about peace and protection. Lt. Whitman received the women courteously and worked out an appointed time for a peace talk with their leader. On subsequent meetings, it was arranged for the Indians to stay in wickiups east of Camp Grant. In exchange for the protection and food, the Indians were employed in farming, gathering hay and working for nearby ranches. This worked out well for both the Apaches and the U.S. military. Eskiminzin had a reputation that caused much fear among the whites. An account states that about a month after the Camp Grant incident, Eskiminizin wanted to show his fellow Arivaipas that there could be no friendship with the white man. Eskiminzin had a close white friend of many years, a rancher named Charles McKinney. Eskiminzin shared an evening meal with McKinney, and at the conclusion of the meal, the two smoked a cigarette together. Upon finishing, Eskiminzin stood up, pulled a revolver from his pants and shot the man at point-blank range, killing him. When Eskiminzin was later asked about the incident, he was quoted as saying, "Any coward can kill his enemy, but it takes a brave man to kill his friend."
 

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>From http://www.geocities.com/~zybt/apache.htm
 

THE SAN CARLOS APACHE PEOPLE

Many believe that the great Apache nation entered this region in approximately 1450. Some of them may have intermarried with their predecessors, possibly the Salado. By 1500 they were in complete control of all eastern Arizona, western New Mexico, and the central part of northern Mexico. They call themselves Nnee or Indeh, "the people." Their language is closely related to the Navaho.

The Apache who settled in the Pinal Mountain region state that they originally came from the north, near what is now Cibecue (Dish Chii' Bikoh, "red canyons"). Most traveled down the eastern edge of the Sierra Ancha ("wide mountain") range and then up Pinal Creek. They then settled in and around the eastern and northern slopes of the Pinal Mountains, where they called themselves the t'iis ebah nnee ("grey cottonwood people"). Some later settled south of the "Pinals" around what is now known as Aravaipa Creek (Aravaipa means "little wells" in Pima). The Spanish called the Apaches north of the Pinals the "Pinal Apaches." Those south of the Pinals were called the "Aravaipa Apaches." A small group living further north of the Pinals were the Apache Peaks band, and a small group was also located along the San Carlos River--the San Carlos band. Still another group was located in what is now Tonto Basin--the Tonto band.
 

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>From http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/outdoors/archive/01/aravaipa.html
 

History talks of ... the "Camp Grant Massacre" of 1871 when the "cottonwood-shaded banks of Aravaipa turned into a killing field," as written by Tucson historian Thomas E. Sheridan in his "Arizona, A History."

The canyon was the home of the Aravaipa Apaches, at the time being strongly coaxed and threatened into moving to the White Mountains. The Apaches, the scapegoat for all ill happenings in the frontier territory, were under the supposed protection of troops at old Camp Grant near the confluence of Aravaipa Creek and the San Pedro River.

A loose confederation of Anglos, Hispanics and Tohono O'odham Indians from the Tucson basin was fuming about raids in the area, attacks that historically cost livestock and lives. Rightly or wrongly, the group blamed the Aravaipa Apaches and set out to teach them a hard, cruel lesson. The camp was an easy target because its exact location was known and it was relatively close to Tucson.

The Tucson group struck at dawn and slaughtered more than 100 Aravaipa and Pinal Indians on the creek. All but eight were women and children. The men were mostly off hunting.

An outraged military put the leaders of the Tucson vigilante group on trial, but they were acquitted. As it turned out, the massacre may have been encouraged by government officials and Tucson businessmen to stir the Aravaipas into seeking revenge. Thus the flow of supplies for the troops would continue as they took the field against the Apaches. Killing was good business.

Sheridan says the core of the problem was "the passion of the times."