ceeded without delay to the scene of the murder. On my
arrival I found that I should have but little use for the wagon
or medicine. The work had been too thoroughly done. The
camp had been fired, and the dead bodies of twenty-one women
and children were lying scattered over the ground; those
who had been wounded in the first instance had their brains
beaten out with stones. Two of the squaws had been first
ravished, and then shot dead. One infant of some two months
was shot twice, and one leg nearly hacked off. * * * I know
from my own personal observations that, during the time the
Indians were in, after my arrival, they were rationed every
three days, and Indians absent had to be accounted for; their
faces soon became familiar to me, and I could at once tell when
any strange Indian came in.
“‘And I furthermore state that I have been among nearly all the tribes on the Pacific coast, and that I have never seen any Indians who showed the intelligence, honesty, and desire to learn manifested by these Indians. I came among them greatly prejudiced against them; but, after being with them, I was compelled to admit that they were honest in their intentions, and really desired peace,
“‘C. B. Brierley,
“‘Acting Assistant Surgeon, U.S.A.’”
This is not the only instance of cruel outrage committed by
white men on the Apaches. In the Report of the Board of
Indian Commissioners for 1871 is the following letter from
one of the Arizona pioneers, Mr. J. H. Lyman, of Northampton,
Mass. Mr. Lyman spent the years of 1840–'41 among the
Apaches, and thus briefly relates an occurrence which took
place at a time when they were friendly and cordial to all
Americans going among them:
“The Indians were then, as now, hostile to the Mexicans of Sonora, and they were constantly making raids into the State
