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 The Apache Indians of the Southwest resisted the
advance of the white American settlers and US troops. They constantly made swift
raids and then retreated to their mountain hideouts. After the slaughter of more
than 100 Apache, mostly women and children, at the Camp Grant Massacre, the
Indians went on the warpath in great numbers. In 1871, US general George Crook
(1829-90), who state that the Indians would have to be defeated before peace
could be arranged, took charge of American troops stationed in the New Mexico
and Arizona territories, split them into small squads, and sent them out to
capture or kill the Apache. He led forces against the Chiricahua Apache chief
Cochise (1815?-1874), who finally signed a treaty of peace in 1872 and agreed
that his people would live on an Indian reservation. Other Apache under Chiefs
Victorio (d. 1880) and Geronimo (1829-1909) fought on, but they were continually
harried by army troops and suffered shortages of food and ammunition. Worn out
by the fighting, the Indians capitulated in April 1873, and were sent to live on
the San Carlos reservation in Arizona. Peace was only temporary, for the Apache
loathed the restrictions of reservation life and were angry because the whites
did not adhere to agreements. After a few years the Indians began to break out
of the reservations and resume marauding.
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