The Bascom Affair
Date: January 27, 1861 - February 19th, 1861
Location: Between the Dos Cabeza & Chiricahua Mountains, New Mexico Territory
Prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War, the US and the Native tribes of the Southwest had a tumultuous relationship. Thousands of people from the eastern US had begun pouring into the Southwest and into ancestral tribal lands in increasing numbers every year after Mexico ceded to the US the territories that made up the American Southwest following the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848. Eventually, tensions reached a tipping point.
The ruins of Fort Buchanan, c. 1914
On January 27, 1861, Coyotero Apaches raided a ranch at Sonoita Creek, owned by John Ward, and stole multiple livestock, along with his stepson, Felix Ward. Ward then went to Fort Buchanan and alerted its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Pitcairn Morrison, of the raid. Noting that the Apaches rode off towards the Chiricahua mountains after the raid, they came to the erroneous conclusion that it was Chiricahua Apaches who were responsible. Morrison then ordered Lieutenant George Nicholas Bascom to rescue Felix, reclaim the livestock, and punish the Chiricahua by any means necessary, giving him a detachment of nearly 60 soldiers.
Lieutenant Colonel Pitcairn Morrison (left) & Lieutenant George Nicholas Bascom (right)
Bascom arrived at Apache Pass on February 3, 1861, and met with Cochise, a leader of the Chiricahua, who brought with him his brother Coyuntwa, his wife, his two children, and two nephews.
Meeting inside Bascom's tent, Cochise told Bascom he had no knowledge of the raid, but with Bascom certain of Cochise's and the Chiricahua's guilt, he ordered that Cochise be arrested.
Cochise drew a knife and slit the tent canvas, through which he, his wife, and sons escaped. Unfortunately, Coyuntwa and his sons stumbled as they attempted to escape the tent and were captured.
On February 5th, Cochise dispatched a message to Bascom, requesting his family's release. Bascom refused, replying that his family would be released as soon as Felix and the livestock were released. Obviously, this was impossible, as Cochise and the Chiricahua were not responsible for the raid, and had no idea where Felix was, so Cochise had to devise an alternative.
On February 6th, Cochise and his fellow warriors ambushed a party of American and Mexican herders, killing the Mexicans and taking the Americans hostage. Cochise offered to exchange the Americans for his family, to which Bascom again refused.
Out of options, on February 7th Cochise ambushed Bascom's soldiers while they were getting water, but he and his warriors were unable to rescue his family. Cochise ordered the American hostages to be killed, and swiftly retreated to Mexico.
On February 19th, with the news of the botched negotiations spreading like wildfire, Lieutenant Isaiah Moore arrived at Apache Pass to supplement Bascom's forces.
Before returning to Fort Buchanan, Moore ordered the hanging of Coyuntwa and his sons.
Cochise soon received news of his brother's and nephews' fates. Up until that point, Cochise and the Chiricahua had a fairly peaceful, albeit uneasy, relationship with the US, viewing Mexicans as their primary enemy. These events, collectively known as the Bascom Affair, changed all that. A long, bitter, and bloody war between the Apaches and the US was now inevitable.
Geronimo, c. 1886
Two months after the Bascom Affair, the American Civil War erupted, and with the Apache Wars now in full swing, the American Civil War only further ensured that the American Southwest would become a vicious battlefield for years to come. Though the American Civil War ended in 1865, the Apache Wars would continue on for 25 terrible years, until Geronimo surrendered to the US Army in 1886.
Felix Ward, a.k.a. Mickey Free
Felix Ward, of whom Cochise and the Chiricahua were accused of kidnapping, was later found living among the Coyotero Apaches. He later became a US Army scout, under the name Mickey Free.
Lieutenant George Nicholas Bascom didn't live to see the long, bitter, and bloody guerilla war he left behind as his legacy, as he was killed just over a year later in 1862 fighting the Confederates at the Battle of Valverde.
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