b'TURNING POINT INARIZONA INDIAN WARSPART 1 By Bill Roberts Reprinted from The TravelerI MAGINE YOURSELF ACCOMPANYING General Oliver Otis Howard, the personal emissary of President Grant, to the Arizona Territory in 1872. The president had sent Howard to the troubled Territory to report on what could be done to bring peace between the Territorys citizens and hostile bands of Indians. The Indians often were victims of white settlers, corrupt politicians, unsavory merchants, and corrupt Indian agents. White settlers often were the victims of retaliatory attacks by Indians who, in their effort to survive, stole cattle and horses to eat, sometimes killing whites in the process. Some whites considered killing Indians a sport. It was a sport by a few mindless and ruthless settlers that ordinary white settlers often paid the price for in lost lives and lost stock as they tried to coexist with the various Indian tribes.Into this chaotic environment rode General Howard, a statesman general who had earned a solid reputation during the Civil War and reconstruction as a man brave in battle and brave enough in peace to look at both sides of any dispute. General Oliver Otis HowardTensions were high when General Howard arrived atIndians, mostly women, and children, at Camp Grantdelighted with the murderous raid. He held a reception Fort Yuma in March of 1872. It was but 11 monthsand the deep rift that bloody act created betweenfor Oury and his returning heroes at the Nine Mile after the infamous Camp Grant massacre that sentwhites and Indians. Water Hole outside of Tucson.numerous Indian bands on the warpath. President Grant was compelled to do something on the heels of theOn April 28, 1871, Oury and Juan Elias had gathered aPresident Grant called the attack "purely murder." He murderous actions of William S. Oury and his band atband of 148 men and a supply wagon loaded with guns,ordered a federal investigation and informed Safford he Camp Grant, which had shocked citizens elsewhere inammunition, and food. The wagon was furnished bywould put Arizona Territory under martial law if the the country. The president informed Territorial GovernorSam Hughes, Saffords adjutant general, an act that mademurderers were not brought before civil authorities. Anson P.K. Safford that he would declare martial law init evident Safford knew of the expedition. The band wasThat gave Safford some second thoughts about the Arizona Territory if Oury and his cutthroats were notmade up of six Americans, 48 Mexicans, and 94 Papagos.wisdom of giving his blessings to Oury. By December, brought to justice. Near Camp Grant, the Aravaipa reservation, the group104 members of the murderous band had been indicted split up and surrounded the Indian camp. The Papagosand tried at Tucson. Judge John Titus presided. The trial First, Grant sent his adviser on Indian affairs, the Quakerattacked the surprised Aravaipa in their wickiups. Thoselasted five days. Judge Titus then instructed the jury that Vincent Colyer, to Arizona Territory. Colyer was nowho tried to escape into the hills were met by Mexicansthe raid could be considered justifiable and defensive diplomat. Seeing the Indians as victims of oppression, hewho cut them down with a barrage of fire.if the evidence showed that the Indians murdered had virtually ignored the terror in which white settlers livedbeen systematically attacking Mexican, American, and that was created by the Indians attempts to strike out inAfter a few minutes of fierce attack, some 100 dead werePapago residents of the Tucson area. He added that realization at the oppression they were suffering at thecounted. All but eight were women and children. Mostif the U.S. government did not defend these citizens, hands of white officials. Colyer became so unpopularof the men of the reservation had been away hunting inthen they had a right to employ a force large enough to with the whites of the territory that Grant felt obliged tothe hills. Those wounded in the initial attack had theirdefend them. The judge did not explain how the women replace him. He did, with General George Crook, one ofbrains smashed in where they lay. Many women wereand children slaughtered proved a threat to the local the Armys most respected experts on Indians, to takekilled while asleep. Their bodies were found on bundlescitizenry. It took the jury only 19 minutes to find the command of the military in the Territory. of hay they had gathered that morning. At least two ofmembers of Ourys vicious band not guilty. the most attractive Indian women were raped. An Indian The Camp Grant Murders infant was shot twice, and then one of his legs was nearlyGeneral Howard Investigates Grant followed Crooks appointment with thehacked off. A doctor sent to the scene found the onlyFacing an almost impossible task, General Howard appointment of Howard to report on both the militaryAravaipa Apache children to escape had been capturedarrived in the Fort Yuma area on March 31 after a 10 and the civilian situation regarding Indian affairs inby the Papagos during the attack. day trip from San Francisco. Aboard a paddle wheeler the Territory and to see what solutions might be founddownriver, Howard found himself, on April 5th, hard to mend the conflict between the Indians and settlers.Oury, a former mayor of Tucson, a confederateaground on a sand bar, a frequent occurrence for river Grants moves in the wake of the grisly Camp Grantduring the Civil War and a rabid Indian hater, calledsteamers on the Colorado. The general described it to be affair were both politically wise and statesmanlike. Yetthe morning of the raid, April 30, a memorable anda muddy, ever-changing, crooked stream that made for there was no quick cure for the ghastly massacre ofglorious one. Saffords adjutant general Hughes also wasa tenuous supply route to the Arizona Territory. Howard 20 April 2021'