Courtesy of sharlotdotorg:

Scouts and trackers in 1800s Yavapai County: Part II

Posted on September 24, 2009

by Georgene Lockwood

 (Ed. note: In 1866, the U.S. Army implemented General Order #56 to recruit Indians into the regular force as scouts. With their knowledge of the local terrain, languages and tribal habits, the Indian scouts proved essential for the Army to pursue and attack rival, uncooperative warring Indians. In Part I, Al Sieber, a white civilian was contracted as a scout by General Crook and did not hold rank, although he did have the title of Chief of Scouts. On the other hand, American Indians were enlisted men and could even attain rank if they served repeated enlistments. A civilian contractor scout did not receive discharge papers from the military and was not eligible for a pension like the Indian Scout. Fifteen Indian scouts between 1869 and 1890 were awarded the Military Medal of Honor. K.Krause)

According to John Bourke’s book, "On the Border with Crook," the scouts were made up of a variety of ethnic groups. Describing one group that headquartered down south in the Tucson area, Bourke says on page 138, "The detachment of scouts made a curious ethnographical collection. There were Navajos, Apaches, Opatas, Yaquis, Pueblos, Mexicans, Americans and half-breeds of any tribe one could name. It was an ominium gatherum…the best that could be summoned together at the time; some were good, and others were good for nothing. They were a fair sample of the social driftwood of the Southwest, and several of them had been concerned in every revolution or counter-revolution in northwestern Mexico since the day Maximilian landed."

Many of these scouts were stationed at Camp Apache near Tucson with Crook. When he was given the order to move up to Camp Verde, they were discharged. No one of the remaining party heading north had ever been there and they had to rely on themselves to navigate this unknown land. They had a guide, Archie MacIntosh who was totally unacquainted with Arizona Territory so the going was rough. Upon Bourke’s visit to Fort Whipple he described it as "a ramshackle, tumble-down palisade of unbarked pine logs hewn from the adjacent slopes; it was supposed to ‘command’ something, exactly what, I do not remember, as it was so dilapidated that every time the wind rose we were afraid that the palisade was doomed."

Many Indian scouts in Yavapai County were Apaches with only a few coming from other tribes. Many served under General George Crook and were stationed either at Fort Whipple or Camp Verde.

One native Army scout was called The Flying Fighter or Oskay-de-no-tah in the Apache language. He enlisted in 1873 at Camp Verde along with 19 other Indians. He described himself as previously "a renegade and a broncho, but after enlistment I kept the faith with the government in every way." He described how scouting was done entirely on foot and how various tribes helped kill members of other tribes both they and the whites considered "troublesome." He also described the use of "runners" – Indians who could run long distances to carry messages between the fort and various Indian chiefs. In addition to scouting, Flying Fighter signed onto the San Carlos Agency Police force for a year. According to his account, "When my year as a policeman was up, Al Sieber tried to get me to re-enlist as a scout, but I felt I had done my duty and I wanted a rest; I now had five wives to manage, which was a man’s job." Indeed!

Another well-known Indian Scout was Ma hoi na vie, a full-blooded Hualapai. His name was changed to Jim Mahone when he enlisted in the Army in 1873. According to his personal affidavit in 1924, he was unsure of his date of birth, adding, "Indians have no way of keeping record of their birth, like white people." Before he enlisted, he had a garden at Willows and hunted deer and antelope using bow and arrow. Indians were trackers, man or beast, and often supplied the troops with meat on their missions. He remembered, "I enlisted as a scout before the railroad was built through this country. Soldiers were located at Prescott, Ft. Rock (west of Seligman) and Ft. Mohave (along the Colorado River south of Bullhead City), Arizona. A man who was carrying money to pay the soldiers was killed by the Apaches somewhere west of Prescott, and the soldiers called the Hualapai Indians to trail the Apaches and to capture them."

One of his prized possessions was a written recommendation signed by 1st Lt W. George Elliott. It read, "This, Jim Mahone of the Hualapai Indian Tribe is a trustworthy and intelligent man. He is an old scout having served under General Crook in the years gone by. Of him, the General says ‘no braver man ever trod shoe leather.’" Jim carried it until it was badly worn but still legible. Jim’s eyesight began failing his last years and he was blind the last ten years of his life. There is a tale that he shot an antelope illegally and someone told the game warden who, when he went to check it out, found the hide on Jim’s mule. Jim explained that he could not tell the difference between an antelope hide and a deer hide. His story was so convincing that the warden wondered how he could see well enough to shoot it in the first place!

The newspaper at Williams, AZ, 1949: "Famed Indian Scout dies. Believed to be probably the oldest Indian known, Jim Mahone, 120-year-old scout who helped trail Geronimo, last of the outlaw Apache chiefs, has been buried. He died August 6 at Peach Springs, was buried at Seligman cemetery after he had been honored with both Indian services by his Walapai brethren and military services in recognition of his services to the U.S. Army. When General Crook was put on the trail of the warring Apaches with orders to subdue them once and for all, he called upon Jim Mahone. Many other Indian scouts had been captured, tortured and killed by the Apaches, but Mahone stayed on the job until the last renegade band was brought under control. An old man 40 years ago, Jim had been for the past four decades a familiar figure about the streets of Seligman, Ashfork, Williams and Prescott."

Sergeant William Al-che-say c.1880, a White Mountain Apache scout under General Crook at Camp Verde, was cited for gallantry and awarded the Medal of Honor in 1875. After his discharge from the military, he met with three presidents: Cleveland in 1887, Roosevelt in 1909 and Harding in 1921 to seek better conditions for his people. Alchesay High School in Whitewater, AZ is named in his honor.

Full-blooded Hualapai, Ma-hoi-na-vie, known as Jim Mahone, enlisted as a scout in 1873 under General Crook at Camp Verde.

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