 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2021) |
Pas-Lau-Tau | |
|---|---|
| Died | March 1890 |
| Occupation | Army scout |
| Known for | Cohort of the Apache Kid |
Pas-Lau-Tau (died March 1890), also known as "Pash-ten-tah" and "Bach-e-on-nal", was a 19th-century Apache army scout. [1]
Pas-Lau-Tau's date and place of birth are unknown, though he was likely from the San Carlos Reservation. [1] He had one full brother, who later came to be known as "Paul Patton". [2]
It is unknown at what time Pas-Lau-Tau became associated with or enlisted in the United States Army.
Pas-Lau-Tau was an comrade of Haskay-bay-nay-ntayl, an Apache scout in the US Army better known as the "Apache Kid" or simply "Kid". [1] In 1887, Kid had been left in charge of Fort Apache when his father was murdered by another scout, Gon-zizzie. [3] To exact revenge on the killer, he and some comrades deserted their posts for five days to track down and kill Gon-zizzie as well as his brother, Rip, who had murdered Kid's grandfather six months earlier. [4]
At around 17:00 on 1 June 1887, Pas-Lau-Tau joined Kid and four or five others at the San Carlos Reservation, where they would attempt to turn themselves in for the murders of the two scouts. Captain Francis C. Pierce offered a one-word reply: "calaboose", meaning he wanted them to turn themselves in at the San Carlos guardhouse. Antonio Diaz, another scout, embellished the captain's orders and threatened that the entire group would be sent to Florida as prisoners. Rather than surrender, one of Kid's comrades fired one or two shots with his rifle and kicked off a brief firefight which ended in them fleeing the reservation as two cavalry companies pursued them until nightfall.
Al Sieber, a white scout, was shot in the left ankle amid the fighting. Although some accounts alleged that Kid shot Sieber, Sieber himself disputed this as both of them had been unarmed. In an interview with biographer Dan Williamson on 22 February 1939, Pas-Lau-Tau was accused of being the one who fired on Sieber by Paul Patton, his own brother. [2] [5]
Pas-Lau-Tau and the rest of Kid's group followed the San Pedro River until they were just barely north of the US-Mexico border, but abandoned their retreat and five of them surrendered to US forces on 22 June to be tried by court martial. All were convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad for mutiny and desertion, but this was reduced to ten years in prison by General Nelson A. Miles. They were transported to Fort Alcatraz where they served sixteen months before their sentences were remitted by Secretary of War William Crowninshield Endicott on 29 October 1888 due to the prejudices of the jury, the severity of the sentences, and the likelihood that it was Diaz who had instigated the conflict. [4] [6] Four of the five convicts - including Pas-Lau-Tau - were returned to San Carlos, where they were welcomed back by the 10th Cavalry Regiment band.
Infuriated that Pas-Lau-Tau and the other convicts had been freed, friends of Al Sieber stoked outrage in the community and demanded they be tried by a civilian court. [6] An 1888 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States determined that the territorial courts in Arizona had the right to convict Apache persons for capital crimes, and had released prisoners convicted of such offences under federal courts. Regardless of whether or not this ruling actually put Pas-Lau-Tau, the Apache Kid, and their fellow defendants under the jurisdiction of a civil court, petitioners campaigned to have the men retried. Pas-Lau-Tau and Say-es were arrested on 14 October 1889 by Captain John Bullis and Sieber; [3] Kid was arrested several days later by a deputy who had disguised himself as a cowboy. During the trial, Pas-Lau-Tau identified himself as "Bach-e-on-al", but was tried under the name "Pash-ten-tah". They were retried for the attack on Sieber's life and sentenced on 23 October to seven years in the Yuma Territorial Prison. At this time, the only known photographs of Pas-Lau-Tau and his accomplices were taken. [4]
Following their convictions, the four men were to be transported to Yuma aboard a stagecoach driven by Eugene Middleton and escorted by Sheriff Glenn Reynolds. Reynolds asked William A. "Hunkydory" Holmes to assist him on the trip, as his more regular deputy Tom Horn was in Phoenix for the weekend. Sieber asked that either he or a company of his scouts be allowed to accompany the procession but was refused by Reynolds, who was later said to have told Sieber: "I don't need your scouts, I can take those Indians alone with a corn-cob and a lightning bug". [3] [4] Jesus Avott, another prisoner, was also to be taken to Yuma to serve one year for horse theft. [7]
After leaving Globe for Casa Grande on 1 November 1889, the stagecoach stopped overnight at Riverside Station in Kelvin before the final day of travel to the Casa Grande train station, where they would catch the 16:00 train to the prison. On the journey, Holmes read the prisoners some of his original poetry. Around dawn on 2 November, they reached a sandy ascent in the Tortilla Mountains known as the "Kelvin Grade". [8] Seven passengers - including Pas-Lau-Tau, Avott, three other prisoners, and the two guards - were forced to disembark so that the wagon could overcome the hill, while two prisoners - including Kid - remained on board. [4] Handcuffed two-and-two, the prisoners were forced to march behind the rest of their caravan, eventually losing sight of it. In what would come to be called the "Kelvin Grade massacre", Pas-Lau-Tau and another prisoner overpowered Holmes while the other two prisoners behind them did the same to Reynolds. [2] Seizing his captor's weapon, Pas-Lau-Tau shot and killed Reynolds; the trauma of the incident caused Holmes to suffer a fatal heart attack. Middleton, who had stopped up ahead to rest the horses and wait for the others to catch up, heard the shot but remained in place, unconcerned because he had heard Reynolds target shooting earlier.
No longer guarded, Pas-Lau-Tau took the keys from Reynolds's pocket and freed the other prisoners. Avott, who had no affiliation with the crew, ran ahead to warn Middleton that the guards were dead, prompting the driver to draw his pistol and aim it at Kid. Pas-Lau-Tau caught up with the wagon before Middleton could fire and drew up on the other side of the vehicle. When the rifle was cocked, Middleton looked to see the rifle and was shot through the mouth and neck, missing his teeth and spinal cord. [2] Middleton fell to the ground, alive and conscious but unmoving. The group stole his overcoat, loosed the horses, and fled eastward, armed with the rifles and revolvers they'd taken from the guards.
Avott brought news of the jailbreak to Florence and requested aid for Middleton, an act that would see him pardoned for his earlier crime. [4] However, Middleton began walking down the road before Avott returned and was met by Shorty Saylor, a fellow coach driver who rode on to Globe using Reynolds's horse. From there, Saylor telegraphed Sieber to notify him of the escape. Sieber organized a twenty-person team led by Lieutenant James Waterman Watson to search for the convicts, and soldiers from every army outpost in Arizona joined in the search. However, a snowstorm occurred at Kelvin Grade shortly after the incident, burying the escapees' tracks and preventing authorities from pursuing them.
Pas-Lau-Tau was spotted on the San Carlos River with Kid on 5 November, but could not be captured. The same day, it was discovered that both men's wives had gone missing, and reward of $500 was offered to anyone who could apprehend one or more of the escapees.
The gang carried out raids against frontier settlements to survive. [7] A $6,000 bounty was placed on their leader demanding he be brought in dead or alive, and multiple military officers were ordered to patrol the region in order to kill or capture the outlaws, but these efforts failed. [4]
At the time, the area was home to the bronco Apache, a displaced group of Chiricahua people who had come into being when they fled south of the US-Mexico border to avoid persecution by the United States. A group of Chiricahua warriors broke from the army led by Geronimo in 1886, refusing to make peace with the United States Army, and joined the bronco Apache. [9] The bronco Apache remained in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains for decades, raiding on both sides of the border and never surrendering. Pas-Lau-Tau and the other escapees were among those who joined the bronco Apache at this time.
As the group of outlaws continued to raid the countryside, an army detachment led by Lieutenant James Waterman Watson and a number of Apache scouts tracked Pas-Lau-Tau and the others to a camp on the Salt River. [1] The group fled to the Gila River and fought with the pursuing military on 7 or 11 March 1890. Hale and two others were killed in the battle. [6] Although Pas-Lau-Tau survived the fighting, he was mortally wounded when shot by a bullet fired by Sergeant of Scouts Rowdy, who would be awarded the Medal of Honor for his service in this battle. [10] Pas-Lau-Tau died as a result of his injuries sometime after the fighting ended.
Josh, one of the Apache scouts instrumental in tracking down the outlaws, decapitated Pas-Lau-Tau and exhibited his head on a spike at the San Carlos Reservation. [10] The Apache Kid was present at the firefight, but escaped; sightings of him would continue until 1899, and he was never captured.
Contemporary accounts suggest that Captain Carter Johnson also took credit for killing Pas-Lau-Tau, alleging that he did so in a July 1890 battle against five Apache soldiers, including Say-es, "some thirty-five miles northeast of San Carlos near Gila Peak and Ash Creek"; [8] later versions of this story suggest it was another Kelvin Grade escapee, El-cahn, who was killed. [6] 20th-century historian Jess G. Hayes suggested the date of the Gila River battle actually occurred in May 1890. [1]
Chiricahua is a band of Apache Native Americans.
Globe is a city in Gila County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,249. The city is the county seat of Gila County. Globe was founded c. 1875 as a mining camp. Mining, tourism, government and retirees are most important in the present-day Globe economy.
The Apache Wars were a series of armed conflicts between the United States Army and various Apache tribal confederations fought in the southwest between 1849 and 1886, though minor hostilities continued until as late as 1924. After the Mexican–American War in 1846, the United States annexed conflicted territory from Mexico which was the home of both settlers and Apache tribes. Conflicts continued as American settlers came into traditional Apache lands to raise livestock and crops and to mine minerals.
Massai was a member of the Mimbres/Mimbreños local group of the Chihenne band of the Chiricahua Apache. He was a warrior who was captured but escaped from a train that was sending the scouts and renegades to Florida to be held with Geronimo and Chihuahua.
Thomas Jefferson Jeffords was a United States Army scout, Indian agent, prospector, and superintendent of overland mail in the Arizona Territory. His friendship with Apache leader Cochise was instrumental in ending the Indian wars in that region. He first met Cochise when he rode alone into Cochise's camp in 1871 to request that the chief come to Canada Alamosa for peace talks. Cochise declined at least in part because he was afraid to travel with his family after the recent Camp Grant Massacre. Three months later he made the trip and stayed for over six months during which time their friendship grew while the negotiations failed. Cochise was unwilling to accept the Tularosa Valley as his reservation and home. In October 1872, Jeffords led General Oliver O. Howard to Cochise's Stronghold, believed to be China Meadow, in the Dragoon Mountains. Cochise demanded and got the Dragoon and Chiricahua Mountains as his reservation and Tom Jeffords as his agent. From 1872 to 1876, there was peace in southern Arizona. Then renegade Apaches killed Nicholas Rogers who had sold them whiskey and the cry went out to abolish the reservation and remove Jeffords as agent. Tom Jeffords embarked on a series of ventures as sutler and postmaster at Fort Huachuca, head of the first Tucson water company trying to bring artesian water to that city, and as prospector and mine owner and developer. He died at Owl Head Buttes in the Tortolita Mountains 35 miles north of Tucson.
The Apache Scouts were part of the United States Army Indian Scouts. Most of their service was during the Apache Wars, between 1849 and 1886, though the last scout retired in 1947. The Apache scouts were the eyes and ears of the United States military and sometimes the cultural translators for the various Apache bands and the Americans. Apache scouts also served in the Navajo War, the Yavapai War, the Mexican Border War and they saw stateside duty during World War II. There has been a great deal written about Apache scouts, both as part of United States Army reports from the field and more colorful accounts written after the events by non-Apaches in newspapers and books. Men such as Al Sieber and Tom Horn were sometimes the commanding officers of small groups of Apache Scouts. As was the custom in the United States military, scouts were generally enlisted with Anglo nicknames or single names. Many Apache Scouts received citations for bravery.
Al Sieber was a German-American immigrant who fought in the American Civil War (1861-1865), and in the American Old West frontier against the Native Americans. (Indians) in the later American Indian Wars of the mid to late 19th century. He became a prospector and later served as a decorated Chief of Scouts for the United States Army dring the subsequent Apache Wars of 1849 - 1886 in the southwestern United States.
Loco was a Copper Mines Mimbreño Apache chief who was known for seeking peace at all costs with the US Army, despite the outlook of his fellow Apaches like Victorio and Geronimo.
The Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma is the federally recognized Native American tribe of Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache in Oklahoma.
Haskay-bay-nay-ntayl, better known as the Apache Kid, was born in Aravaipa Canyon, 25 miles south of San Carlos Agency, into one of the three local groups of the Aravaipa/Arivaipa Apache Band of San Carlos Apache, one subgroup of the Western Apache people. As a member of what the U.S. government called the "SI band", Kid developed important skills and became a famous and respected scout and later a notorious renegade active in the borderlands of the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico in the late 19th and possibly the early 20th centuries.
Victorio's War, or the Victorio Campaign, was an armed conflict between the Apache followers of Chief Victorio, the United States, and Mexico beginning in September 1879. Faced with arrest and forcible relocation from his homeland in New Mexico to San Carlos Indian Reservation in southeastern Arizona, Victorio led a guerrilla war across southern New Mexico, west Texas and northern Mexico. Victorio fought many battles and skirmishes with the United States Army and raided several settlements until the Mexican Army killed him and most of his warriors in October 1880 in the Battle of Tres Castillos. After Victorio's death, his lieutenant Nana led a raid in 1881.
The Kelvin Grade massacre was an incident that occurred on November 2, 1889 when a group of nine imprisoned Apache escaped from police custody during a prisoner transfer near the town of Globe, Arizona. The escape resulted in the deaths of two sheriffs and triggered one of the largest manhunts in Arizona history. Veterans of the Apache Wars scoured the Arizona frontier for nearly a year in search of the fugitives, by the end of which all were caught or killed except for the famous Indian scout known as the Apache Kid.
Glenn Reynolds was an American sheriff, cowboy, and militiaman of the Old West, remembered for his death during the Kelvin Grade Massacre, in Arizona Territory, when a group of Apache renegades escaped from his custody.
The Cherry Creek campaign occurred in March 1890 and was one of the final conflicts between hostile Apaches and the United States Army. It began after a small group of Apaches killed a freight wagon operator, near the San Carlos Reservation, and was part of the larger Apache campaign, beginning in 1889, to round up Apaches who had left the reservations. The American army fought a skirmish with the Apaches near Globe, Arizona, at the mouth of Cherry Creek, which resulted in the deaths of two hostiles and the capture of the remaining three. Two men received the Medal of Honor for their service during the campaign.
The Apache Campaign of 1896 was the final United States Army operation against Apaches who were raiding and not living in a reservation. It began in April after Apache raiders killed three white American settlers in the Arizona Territory. The Apaches were pursued by the army, which caught up with them in the Four Corners region of Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora and Chihuahua. There were only two important encounters during the campaign and, because both of them occurred in the remote Four Corners region, it is unknown if they took place on American or Mexican soil.
Clay Beauford was an American army officer, scout and frontiersman. An ex-Confederate soldier in his youth, he later enlisted in the U.S. Army and served with the 5th U.S. Cavalry during the Indian Wars against the Plains Indians from 1869 to 1873. He acted as a guide for Lieutenant Colonel George Crook in his "winter campaign" against the Apaches and received the Medal of Honor for his conduct.
Mickey Free, birth name Felix Telles, was an Apache Indian scout and bounty hunter on the American frontier. Following his kidnapping by Apaches as a child, he was raised as one and became a warrior. Later he joined the US Army's Apache scouts, serving at Fort Verde between December 1874 and May 1878 and was given the nickname Mickey Free.
Alsate, also known as Arzate, Arzatti, and Pedro Múzquiz, was the last chief of the Chisos band of Limpia Mescalero Apaches.
First Lieutenant Britton Davis was an American soldier born in Brownsville, Texas. He served in the United States Army in the 6th Cavalry after graduating from West Point in 1881. After serving at Fort D.A. Russell, Davis was transferred to the Southwest to serve at San Carlos in 1882 during the Apache Wars where he commanded two companies of Apache Scouts alongside Captain Emmet Crawford. In 1886, he played a key role in ending the Geronimo Campaign.
The Battle of Tres Castillos, October 14–15, 1880, in Chihuahua State, Mexico resulted in the death of the Chiricahua Apache chieftain Victorio and the death or capture of most of his followers. The battle ended Victorio's War, a 14-month long odyssey of fight and flight by the Apaches in southern New Mexico, western Texas, and Chihuahua. Mexican Colonel Joaquin Terrazas and 260 men surrounded the Apache and killed 62 men, including Victorio, and 16 women and children, and captured 68 women and children. Three Mexicans were killed. Victorio had little ammunition to resist the attack.