Page 489

GENERAL NELSON A. M1 ILES.
   Before we were fairly ready the hostiles themnselves precipitated the
campaign. They could have quietly remnained in their mountain fastnesses
in the Sierra Madres and forced us to hunt them, which might have con-
sumed from twelve months to two years, but with reckless bravado they
opened the campaign by committing depredations south of the boundary
in northern Mexico. This was to us a welcome signal, for it gave us a
positive knowledge of their whereabouts, and enabled me to immediately
put my plans into effect and initiate the operations I had blocked out for
their subjugation.
   The hostiles were under the leadership of the chiefs Geroninio and
Natchez, the last named being the hereditary chief of the Chiricahuas, and
+ti   v.i] c;r  xA] A  -n r' - r " V
UNCURl  L   " )1Lk V tJ1 kj CAA   U k_ 1  1 XJ 1i3
throughout that district of
Mexico.  They   then  swept
northward, and on the 27th of
April invaded our territory,
passing up the Santa Cruz Val-
ley, stealing stock and killing
a few citizens, including the
Peck family. Of this family
the mother and one child were
murdered, and a girl, some ten
years of age, was captured and
suhsoe ollentv  recaptuired  1v
the troops. The Indians, dis-   MOUNTAIN FASTNESS-COCHISE'S STRONGIOLID.
regarding their usual custom, released the father after holding him in
captivity for several hours.
   Although at this time they struck a section of country further west than
they had appeared in for many years, yet Captain T, C. Lebo, an energetic
officer, and almost an ideal leader for such service, with his troop, Tenth
Cavalry, was quickly on the trail, and after a hot pursuit of two hundred
miles brought the Indians to bay in the Pinito Mountains, some thirty miles
south of the boundary in Sonora, Mexico  In spite of the fact that he was
obliged to meet the enemy on ground of their own choosing, and with every
natural obstacle against hini, this officer made a good fight, and While
lie
sustained very little loss himself, inflicted considerable upon his opponents.
During this fight a brave soldier, Corporal Scott, was so severely wounded
as to be completely disabled. As he lay on the ground under a sharp fire
from the Indians, Lieutenant PowThatan H. Clarke, a gallant young officer
489