No. 426.
Mr. Frelinghuysen to Mr. Romero.
Washington, April 10, 1883.
Sir: I have the honor to refer to previous correspondence upon the subject, and to apprise you of the purport of a report transmitted with a letter from the War Department of the 31st ultimo, from Brig. Gen. George Crook, of the United States Army, in command of the Department of Arizona, concerning the recent complaints of the Mexican Government that Apache Indians have been leaving of late the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona, invading and committing depredations in the Mexican State of Sonora.
General Crook’s report is an exhaustive reply to these several complaints, and, happily, shows that these outrages have not been perpetrated through the failure of the regular forces of the United States to repress them, or the measures adopted by this Government to keep those Indians within proper bounds.
General Crook first directs attention to the foundation upon which the Mexican consul at Tombstone admits he bases his present representations to his Government, and then says:
The sum and substance of the information is that Indians are leaving or have been leaving the San Carlos Reservation since the early part of January, this year, and that according to advices received from that State (Sonora) they have already committed depredations. He (the consul) further remarks that “General Crook, in whose command said reservation is, has been informed of this by telegraph, but I have not yet learned that any steps have been taken to check these movements,” and concludes by saying that “it is difficult for him (the consul) to see why the American Government allows the savages to commit all sorts of outrages in our Republic (Mexico) after having been driven out of which by our (Mexican) troops, they quietly return to their reservations.”
Concerning these charges, General Crook’s report shows that since his conferences with the Apaches, hostile and friendly, on the reservation and at the San Carlos Agency, at different dates in the months of September, October, and November of last year, no depredations have been committed upon the people of Sonora by Indians from the San Carlos or other reservations in Arizona.
It is further stated that the Indians committing the outrages from time to time reported in Sonora and Chihuahua, and a band known as the Chiricahuas, which, under their leaders, Ju and Hieronymo, broke out from the San Carlos Reservation in April last, just five months before the return of General Crook to the Department of Arizona. These Indians it appears have since remained in the Territory of Mexico, and possibly have been the occasion of much damage to the unfortuuate people living within the scope of their murderous raids.
The Chiricahuas have never been under the jurisdiction of General Crook, and it is also represented that no Indians have left the San Carlos Reservation since the periods above referred to.
Immediately upon his return to the command of the Department of Arizona General Crook took every precaution to restrain the Indians [Page 688] under his supervision, and applied himself to the restoration of the system which had worked so successfully in former years. He says:
A complete count was made of all the Indians, with a descriptive list embracing name, number in band, probable age, height, physical and other pecularities. Each male Indian capable of bearing arms was compelled to wear a tag of brass or tin, fastened at the neck or wrist, and containing the letter designating his band and his own number therein.
Daily counts were instituted and the presence of every Indian verified.
Careful selections were made of the best Indians, excluding young boys who have neither physical maturity nor tribal influence. To this I gave earnest personal attention, as I know nearly every Apache Indian (of the Arizona band at least), and am in a position to pick out those who will render the most valuable service.
These scouts, organized into companies, keep us advised of the most insignificant transactions, either in contemplation or actual movement.
To command and control these bands I have chosen officers of special fitness, who communicate with me direct to avoid the delays which might result were their reports and recommendations to pass through the regular channels.
“An occasional spy,” says General Crook, “may possibly get through from the Chiricahuas to the Apaches at the agency,” but your own good judgment will convince you that this might happen even with the strictest surveillance. It is confidently asserted, however, that the organization at the San Carlos Agency is now so perfect that not an Indian man, woman, or child can leave there without its being known almost before they reach the Gila River.
General Crook next takes up the subject of newspaper statements touching these repeated Indian outrages, and declares that false rumors and reports have too frequently been accepted by them as facts, and scattered broadcast, inflicting great injury to the mining and other interests of Arizona and Northern Mexico. Interested parties,” who make a pittance from wars and rumors of wars, have often been found at the bottom of these falsehoods”; and who, “if they cannot have a genuine Indian outbreak, can at least start baseless reports of Indian outrages.”
In conclusion, I again quote from the report of General Crook, as follows:
In my position here as commanding general, I enjoy the friendliest and most cordial relations with General Bernardo Reyes, commander of the Mexican troops in Sonora. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to co-operate or combine with him in operations to force to submission the persistently hostile Chiricahua Apaches.
If the two Governments desire the destruction of the Indians who have occasioned so much trouble, I would simply request permission to cross the border. My own scouts could readily determine the position of their strongholds and the rest would be easy.
In this way, it is thought, this constant menace to the happiness and prosperity of the two communities could be removed and forever.
I avail &c.,