Tonto Apache War

George Crook, C. 1870s

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Commencing the Tonto Apache War

The peace policy failed to stop the conflict between American settlers and the Yavapai and Tonto Apaches. The U.S. Army under General George Crook initiated the Tonto War in November 1872. Instead of moving the army's baggage with cumbersome wagon trains, he used mule pack trains moving quickly over the rough trails in Tonto country. He recruited and hired Apache scouts to fight on his side. The army establishment was reluctant to create Native allies, but Crook was willing to exploit historic factions and enmity among the Apache bands. Crook's troops, heavily reinforced with native scouts from the White Mountain Apaches as well as Pima, Maricopa, and Yavapai, began a push north into Tonto Basin; one target was the rancheria of Delshay, a major chief of the Tonto Apaches.

The Skeleton Cave Massacre
A significant battle of the Tonto War came to be known as the Skeleton Cave Massacre. Troops were led to a rock shelter of the north wall of the Salt River Canyon, above what is now the waters of Apache Lake. As many as a hundred Natives had fortified themselves in what became their deathtrap. Unwilling to surrender, they fell to ricocheting bullets from above and below. The final death count was between 50 and 75, including warriors, women, children, and elderly. An estimated 20 Natives survived. At the time the army identified this as an attack on Tonto Apaches. Fort McDowell Yavapais believe that the fallen were their people. The Native dead were left unburied: hence the name, "Skeleton Cave." Beginning in the 1920s, remains of the victims were removed and buried at the Fort McDowell Reservation. In 1985, a memorial stone was dedicated at the grave: "In remembrance to the brave Yavapai men, women, and children who were massacred at the Skeleton Cave December 1872 by the U.S. Army."

 

Captain John G. Bourke

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John Bourke and his glimpse of the Cliff Dwellings

In the winter of 1872, Captain John G. Bourke of the United States Army, serving as an enlisted officer under General George Crook, exhibited a profound interest in the conditions and cultures of the native populations residing within the Tonto Basin. During an expedition through this region, accompanied by Apache scouts, the group journeyed toward the periphery of the Superstition Mountains, situated south of the Sierra Ancha wilderness mountains near Raccoon Creek.

Upon arrival, they observed an agricultural field meticulously encircled by previously excavated irrigation ditches. This cultivated plot contained a substantial supply of baked mescal alongside various other indigenous crops, including grass, sunflower, and mesquite beans. Such findings indicated the sophisticated agricultural practices employed by the native inhabitants.

Adjacent to this field stood a prehistoric ruin characterized by walls approximately three feet in height, constructed from rubble stone. Moreover, on the southern side of the Salt River, the group identified a remarkably well-preserved cliff dwelling nestled within the canyon of Pinto Creek. Captain Bourke recounted his prior archaeological endeavors at these sites, wherein he had unearthed numerous artifacts: sandals woven from “Palmilla” fiber, dried mescal, corn husks, and other preserved foodstuffs. Additionally, small fragments of textile fabrics, stone axes or hammerstones, arrows, and various debris typical of such ancient settlements were recovered.

These discoveries offered invaluable insights into the lives of the indigenous peoples who once thrived in the Tonto Basin, reflecting both their resourcefulness and cultural heritage. Captain Bourke’s observations and excavations contributed significantly to the historical and anthropological understanding of these native communities during a period of considerable transition in the American Southwest.

 

The Outcome of the Tonto Apache War

The Last to Surrender

The campaign against the Yavapai and Apaches continued into the spring of 1873. The army followed General Crook's methodical strategy of taking the fight into the mountains, using native scouts, and destroying one rancheria at a time. One of the last surrenders was on April 6, when Cha-lipun, an Apache - Mohave/Yavapai Chief, came in. Chief Delshay surrendered on April 25, telling Crook that he was down to only 20 warriors.

Forced Relocation

Following the war, some 1,500 Yavapai and Tonto Apaches were relocated to the Rio Verde reservation, extending northwest from Fort Verde. Many Tonto Apaches were also sent to the San Carlos Reservation on the Gila River. Neither place was particularly hospitable and the first years were miserable for the people at both reservations. There was not enough food and people were not permitted to leave the reservations to hunt or gather. They suffered from malaria, smallpox, and other diseases. By the summer of 1873, many lives had been lost. There were breakouts by chiefs such as Delshay, and Cook found it necessary to direct a second war against some of these Tonto Apaches.

Concentration Policy

By 1874 conditions had improved on the Rio Verde. With the army's assistance, the Natives had created an irrigation system and began productive farming. Their best customers for hay and other farm products was the army itself at nearby Fort Verde. This improved situation was unacceptable to the so-called "Tucson Ring", businessmen who profited by contracting to supply the army. Local white settlers had their eyes on the Rio Verde Reservation as potential land for development. Business and bureaucratic interests prevailed and a "concentration policy" was implemented: all Apaches were to be concentrated on one reservation, the San Carlos on the Gila River.

The Exodus

This began the terrible episode, known to the Yavapai and Tonto Apaches as the Exodus. Rather than allowing the people to travel by the longer and easier Crook Trail Wagon Road, the exodus route covered a fairly direct, but very difficult 150-mile trail through the Tonto Basin. The two week trek was made in February and March of 1875. The Salt River crossing, probably not far from Tonto National Monument, was described as particularly hard with water that was both high and cold. Of the 1,450 Apaches and Yavapais who began the journey, at least 100 died along the way. The Yavapai-Apache Nation commemorates Exodus Day each February.

Life in San Carlos

At the San Carlos Reservation, John Clum, a government agent, arrived in 1874 and immediately went to work on infrastructure, adequate food distribution, and the beginnings of native self-government. However, fair treatment of the Apaches didn't last. Disagreements over policy caused Clum to resign in 1877 and the reservation reverted to its more typical history of misery and corruption. The Chihuahua bands also were forced onto the San Carlos. Their discontent and frequent breakouts led to another decade of Apache warfare in the southwest, most famously lead be Geronimo. Reservation life became even worse when the federal government completed Coolidge Dam in 1928. The project displaced San Carlos residents from farmland along the Gila. For the Yavapai and Tonto Apaches, this was the third time that their land was taken away from them due to government policy.

New Reservations on Ancestral Lands

During the century after its inception the concentration policy was slowly disassembled. The Fort McDowell Reservation was established by Executive Order in 1903 and continued to be home for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. In 1934, Congress recognized the Yavapai Apache Nation and created a new reservation in the Verde Valley, much smaller and more marginal than the original Rio Verde. Many Tonto Apaches are part of the Yavapai Apache Nation, a tribe that recognizes that they are made up of two distinct peoples. Other Tonto Apaches, beginning around the turn of the last century, returned in small numbers to the National Forest land near Payson. In 1972, 97 years after the Exodus, the Tonto Apache Reservation- only 85 acres, the smallest in Arizona- was created on Tonto National Forest land near Payson. There are 110 enrolled members.