George Crook: Indian Fighter

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George Crook’s pack mules easily carried twice the load the army manual stipulated because he allowed only the best equipment to be used, and each pack saddle was tailored to fit each mule. He often spent an hour a day with the men and the mules, demonstrating scientific packing and how to check on the physical health of the mules. Therefore, Crook’s troopers always had the ammunition they needed and his mule trains never failed in an emergency.

When the colonel’s officers had completed their conferences with Crook, they had told him everything they knew that was pertinent, but had been told nothing. He did not reveal his plans, and they could sense that they should not ask about them. It was not that he had a formidable personality, for he was genial, but he maintained a certain reserve that was not to be breached. Nevertheless, his officers felt he had a genuine interest in them and their careers.

Within a few days the new commandant had decided to have a ‘practice’ expedition with five full companies of cavalry and some experienced scouts. At 6 a.m. on July 11, the expedition headed for Camp Bowie, 100 miles south and east, in the very heart of Chiricahua country. Then it was north to Camp Apache, back west to Camp Verde and the town of Prescott and south to Tucson. It amounted to a 675-mile expedition, all in enemy territory.

George Crook set the example, often the first up in the morning and the first in the saddle. He wore an old canvas hunting outfit and a pith helmet. He rode a good, strong mule named Apache and carried a rifle across the pommel of his saddle. On the trail he brought into play his frontier experience. He was always alert to indications of the enemy–an unusual depression in the sand, cleverly concealed directions left by one Apache for another, an odor on the breeze or a sound that should not be there.

When the expedition arrived at only half-completed Camp Bowie, Crook held a council with the chiefs in the area. He talked to the famous and powerful ones like Miguel, Pedro, Cochise, Pitone and Eskititsla. They told him they were at peace and wanted to remain at peace. Crook told them what he told all Indians. He said it did not matter who had started the trouble between the whites and Indians, but it was important for them to know that it could not continue. More whites were coming, and the Indians could no longer live on wild game, which was already beginning to disappear. The Indians would have to learn other ways, and they and the whites would have to learn to live together peacefully.

He told them he would protect them from the bad whites, but the chiefs would have to protect the whites from the bad Indians. If they let the bad Indians raid and steal and kill, it would be impossible to protect the Indians who obeyed the law. Crook promised he would try to find work for those who wanted it, and the Indian workers would be paid the same wages as the whites.

The colonel said he would always tell them the truth and never make promises he could not keep. He expected the chiefs to do the same. The chiefs had heard other white men talk about truth and honesty and were naturally skeptical, until Crook said all promises he made would be written down and copies would be given to the chiefs. Crook sincerely believed that until the Indians learned the ways of the whites they would be safe only on reservations. And he believed that as soon as the two races stopped fighting and came to trust each other, the Indians would be able to go anywhere to live and work.

President Ulysses S. Grant dispatched Oliver O. Howard, the one-armed general, to make peace with Cochise and the Chiricahuas, but Crook had to militarily subdue the rest of the warring Apaches. The colonel waited until November 1872 to start his campaign. His plan was to make life miserable for those Indians who still chose to fight. He knew they would retreat up into the mountains and try to survive the snow and low temperatures. He hoped that when the women and children began to suffer, the men would surrender without fighting.

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Tags: 19th Century, American Indian Wars, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures, The Wild West, Wild West

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