Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

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BIG SYCAMORE



On February 10, 1871 Eskiminzin’s mixed band of Yavapai and Pinal Apaches perhaps 400 to 500 strong had grown weary of being chased by the soldiers during the Cochise War. At his direction a group of five old women, that were apparently considered to be dispensable, were sent as emissaries for peace to the soldier fort at Camp Grant near the confluence of Arivaipa Creek and the San Pedro River about 70 miles north of Tucson. The commanding officer, First Lieutenant Royal Whitman, offered them protection as prisoners of war, extended to them rations of beef and flour, and requested further instructions from General Stoneman’s headquarters at Drum Barracks in California. In the meantime the Apaches were set to work cutting and stacking hay and cutting and thrashing barley; work they dearly loved of course. The Indians went into camp at Big Sycamore near the mouth of Arivaipa Canyon a few miles upstream of the fort. They had declined Whitman’s suggestion that they report to the San Carlos Reservation where there was an agency better equipped for their care and protection. On both sides terms of the surrender were uncertain. Eskiminzin’s group had stopped fighting the soldiers but they had not ever agreed to stop raiding either the encroaching American and Mexican settlers, or their traditional enemies the Papagos; depredations continued. On March 10 a baggage train belonging to the freighter, Sidney DeLong, was attacked; two men were killed and sixteen mules stolen. On March 20 Tubac rancher L.B. Wooster was attacked and killed and a Mexican woman was kidnapped. By the 22^nd angry citizens in Tucson led by William Oury and Sam Hughes formed a vigilance committee and demanded military protection from General Stoneman. When Stoneman reiterated the government’s “Quaker Policy” of pacification towards warring tribes the vigilantes realized they were on their own and acted accordingly. The vigilantes were further enraged by the realization that public funds were being used to feed the murdering Apaches. On April 10^th the Papagos were raided and a posse gave chase. During the chase three more white settlers were killed and the dead body of an Apache was identified as being from Camp Grant. On the 13^th another farmer was killed. General Stoneman’s annual report was published recommending that seven of fifteen army posts in Arizona be shut down. On April 30, 1871 a vigilante force comprised of Americans, Mexicans, and Papagos attacked Big Sycamore and massacred everyone there. Twenty-eight Apache children were taken into slavery in Mexico, and only one woman survived. In an effort to appease the government 104 of the vigilantes were indicted and brought to trial in December. After just nineteen minutes of jury deliberation all 104 were found not guilty. The photo shows the site of the massacre on a bench overlooking Aravaipa Creek.

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Photos

BIG SYCAMORE
The site is considered sacred and is on private property a quarter mile northeast of the trailhead parking lot for Aravaipa Canyon. The parking lot is about 9 miles east of Hwy 77 on Aravaipa Road.