I got a dispatch from him just as I
was ready to turn in for the night, and by one o'clock I received
another dispatch stating that there were about eighty in the band,
and well armed, and among them about twenty squaws and their
children. This was something we had never seen among the Apaches
before. Lieut. Jackson asked my opinion of their having their
families with them. I told him I thought they must be on their way
to Sonora to trade, as at that time the Apaches had never traded
but very little with the whites.
They might be out for a hunt, but it was not customary when on
such a trip to have their families with them. Upon the receipt of
the second dispatch from George, Lieut. Jackson started out with
three companies of cavalry, and arrived at the spot near daybreak.
I was told afterwards that George had been crawling around all
night getting the location of the Indians, the general lay of the
ground and to ascertain the best plan of attack, knowing it would
be so late by the time the Lieutenant would arrive that he himself
would have no time to spare, and he had a diagram drawn on a piece
of envelope of the camp and surroundings, also had their horses
located. When the Lieutenant was ready to make the attack George
took four of the scouts and started to cut the horses off and
prevent the Indians from getting to them, but it seemed as though
when the cavalry started to make the charge the Indians' dogs had
given the alarm and a part of the Indians had made for their
horses.
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