The Bascom Affair
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The Bascom Affair is considered to be the key event in what triggered the quarter century long battles known as the Apache Wars. The incident took place in 1861 on what is now known as modern Arizona and New Mexico.[citation needed]
The Bascom Affair began with an Indian raid which occurred on January 27, 1861, when two Apache parties raided John Ward’s ranch at Sonoita Creek. The exact cause of the raid is unknown, but during this time there was increased tension between the Americans and the Indians throughout the country. The tribes involved stole a great number of livestock from the ranch, and kidnapped Ward’s 12-year-old stepson.[1]
Americans reacted quickly to the raid. Lieutenant Colonel Morrison, commander of Fort Buchanan, instructed George Nicholas Bascom and a large infantry to observe the Apache trails and attempt to recapture the boy.[2] After much extensive searching, Bascom and his men found nothing that would lead them to the boy or the responsible Indian tribe. Later that day, the men realized that the trail led to Chokonen country, an area where a strong Indian leader named Cochise, and his tribe was located. When Morrison received this information, he ordered Bascom to pursue the trail and recapture the cattle and the boy. He also told Bascom that he was to use whatever means necessary to punish those responsible and recover the boy.[3] Bascom, John Ward, and 54 soldiers voyaged east towards the Apache Pass. On February 3, 1861, the group reached the Apache pass and met with Sergeant Daniel Robinson, who would accompany them for the rest of the expedition.
In an attempt to obtain more information about the raid, Bascom sent a message to Cochise to meet with him to discuss the whereabouts of the boy and the cattle. Cochise was suspicious of Bascom, but agreed to meet with him despite this. Cochise cautiously brought with him a small band with him who included his brother Coyuntwa, two nephews, his wife, and his two children to the meeting.[4] Upon Bascom’s questioning of the affair, Cochise claimed that he knew nothing of the affair or the whereabouts of the cattle or the boy. Bascom, doubting Cochise’s honesty attempted to imprison Cochise and his family to be held hostage in a tent. Cochise reacted instantly. Seizing a hidden knife, he cut a long slash in the canvas of the tent and sprang through the hole. Dodging over 50 gunshots, he managed to escape with a meager wound to the leg.[5] Leaving his family to remain in captivity, he promised to return to rescue them.
Early morning on February 5, Cochise delivered a message to Bascom wishing to meet with him to recover his family and friends. Cochise pleaded for the release of his friends and family. Bascom refused and told Cochise they “would be set free just so soon as the boy was released.”[6]
On February 6, Cochise and a large party of Apache’s appeared in a ravine a few hundred miles south of the summit. They attacked a group of Americans and captured three: Sam Whitfield, William Sanders, and Frank Brunner. He had hoped that the three white hostages ought to even the odds in bargaining with Bascom in order to obtain his family.[7] Bascom unwillingly refused the offer, accepting nothing other than the return of the boy and stolen cattle.
Cochise felt the only option he had left for the release of his family was to attack Bascom and his infantry, which he planned to pursue early morning on February 7.[8] Cochise and his men decided to wait atop a hill where the men went to get water, and ambush them then. Sergeant James Huber and Daniel Robinson drove the stock to the springs in the early morning of February 8, confident that no Apache’s were in sight. Just as the soldiers dared to hope the Indians had left for good, a large party of Apaches, naked to the waist and covered in war paint, charged from the hilltops.[9]
Cochise, angry and hopeless, fled to Sonora. On his way, he tortured the American prisoners to death and left their remains to be discovered by Bascom. This decision ended any hope for further negotiation and led to the slaughter of several Indians, including Cochise’s brother and his two nephews.[10]
For the next few days, Bascom and his soldiers remained at Apache pass awaiting medical relief. A few days later, they began their journey back home. He released the men and women he had captured, but hanged the men on oak trees. The whereabouts of the boy remained unknown.
Shortly after the hangings occurred, Cochise found his brother and 2 two nephews. This was the moment in history that the Indians (in particular, the Chiricahuas) transferred their hatred of the Spaniards to the Americans.[11] Upon the murder of his family members, Cochise felt strong hatred for all Americans and felt the only solution was war. He performed numerous raids and killed to seek revenge for the death of his family members. At that moment the Apache wars began, which would result in a continuous and bloody cycle of revenge and retaliation that would occur for a quarter of a century.[citation needed]
The Bascom Affair may have been considered the main event that caused the Apache Wars to take place. The kidnapping of a young boy resulted in incessant bloodshed and murder that would last close to 25 years.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Sweeney, Edwin R., Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), 144.
- ^ Sweeney, Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief, 146.
- ^ Sweeney, Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief, 146.
- ^ Roberts, David, Once They Move Like The Wind: Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993), 22.
- ^ Roberts, Once They Moved Like The Wind: Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars, 23.
- ^ Sweeney, Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief, 152.
- ^ Roberts, Once They Moved Like The Wind: Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars, 26.
- ^ Sweeney, Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief, 156.
- ^ Roberts, Once They Moved Like The Wind: Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars, 27.
- ^ Sweeney, Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief, 163.
- ^ Brown, Dee, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1970), 194.
