Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

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AL SIEBER



Al was an ornery old Dutchman. In his long career in the Apache Wars he fought in more Indian engagements and killed more adversaries than Dan’l Boone, Jim Bridger, and Kit Carson combined. Al was born in Mingolsheim, Germany on February 29, 1844. His dad died in 1845 and after the Baden Uprising ended disastrously in 1848 his mom gathered up her 8 children and came to America. They settled in 1849 among other Dutchmen near Lancaster, Pennsylvania and then moved on to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1856. Minnesota was still a wild country then and was where Al honed his marksmanship and outdoor skills. Minnesota attained statehood in 1858. Due to age constraints Al was not able to enlist in the military for service in the War Between the States until the year 1862. It was not a leap year so he had wait until March 1^st to enlist, but that was a Saturday and the enlistment office was closed for the weekend. On Monday morning, March 3 he enlisted in the 1^st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry and marched off to join the fighting. He was badly wounded during a bayonet charge at Cemetery Ridge on the second day at Gettysburg. His unit had sustained 82% casualties but they had held the line. It was the same action that took the life of Howard Cushing’s younger brother, Alonzo. Al Sieber recovered from his wounds and was released from the hospital in York, PA on Dec 8, but did not rejoin his former unit. He was posted to Company K, First Regiment of the Veteran’s Reserve Corps and promoted to corporal. As the war ended Company K was detached to the rebel prison camp at Elmira, NY. He was there at the same time that Howard Cushing was and likely attended Howard’s stirring motivational speech to the prisoners. After the war Al made his way to California, prospected for a gold strie without much luck, and during the summer of 1868 arrived near Prescott with a herd of horses for sale. He then became a ranch manager in the Williamson Valley near Prescott. In 1871 when General Crook arrived on the scene in Arizona Al resigned from the ranch and became an Army scout. For the next twenty-odd years he fought the Apaches, led them one against the other on both sides of the border, killed them when necessary, cared for them, and respected them as they respected him. When he got shot in the ankle during the arrest attempt on the Apache Kid it kind of limited his usefulness for service in the field and he ended up getting involved in a scandal over whiskey with the post trader at San Carlos. He left San Carlos in a huff and moved to Globe to become a prospector and partner in a saloon. Al was always fond of merriment. When they started in building Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River Al accepted a position as foremen of an Apache work crew that was grading the High Road to the Tonto Basin. On Feb 19, 1907 his crew was trying to dislodge a boulder along the road. When he hunkered down to help them the boulder fetched loose and squished him like a bug. He died on the spot, and is buried in Globe. The photo shows the base of a monument erected in his honor at the site where he was killed. The monument was moved to the opposite side of the highway during a widening project a few years back. Howard Cushing was killed in a fight with Juh around the same time that Al first signed on as an army scout.

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Photos

AL SIEBER
The Sieber Monument is at a turnout on the north side of Hwy 188 about half a mile east of where the highway crosses the lake behind the dam. The original pedestal marking the site where Al Sieber was squished is on the south side of the highway. The monument is about 28.5 miles, as the crow flies, northwest of the cemetery in Globe.