Apaches as "tigers of the human race." Tigers they
were, led by Geronimo, the man whose name became a by-word for
savagery and cruelty. For a time these Indians had remained subdued
and quiet upon a reservation, and there can be no question but what
the subsequent outbreaks that led to the long campaign in which Wood
took part were due largely to the lack of judgment displayed by the
officials in whose charge they were placed. Both the American settlers
and the Mexicans opposed the location of the Indians on the San Carlos
reservation and lost no opportunity to show their hostility. When
General Crook took command of that district he found he had to deal
with a mean, sullen and treacherous band of savages.

The American forces were constantly embroiled with the Chiricahuas.
Treaties and agreements {29} were made only to be broken whenever
blood lust or "tiswin"--a strong drink made from corn--moved the
tribe to the warpath and fresh depredations. Due to General Crook's
tireless efforts there were several occasions when the Indians
remained quietly on their reservation, but it was only a matter of
months at the best before one of the tribes, usually the Chiricahuas,
would break forth again. Not until the treaty of 1882 with Mexico was
it possible for our troops to pursue them into the Mexican mountains
where they took refuge after each uprising. In 1883 General Crook made
an expedition into Mexico which resulted in the return of the
Chiricahuas and the Warm Springs tribes under Geronimo and Natchez to
the Apache reservation.

Two years of comparative quiet followed. The Indians followed
agricultural pursuits and the settlers, who had come to establish
themselves on ranches along the border, went out to their plowing and
fence building unarmed. In May, 1886, the Indians indulged in an
extensive and prolonged "tiswin" drunk. The savagery that lurked in
their hearts broke loose and they escaped from {30} their reservation
in small bands, leaving smoking trails of murder, arson and pillage
behind them. Acts of ugly violence followed. General Crook threatened
to kill the last one of them, if it took fifty years, and at one
moment it seemed as though he had them under control. "Tiswin" once
again set them loose and they stampeded.

Their daring and illusiveness kept the American and Mexican troops
constantly in action. One band of eleven Indians crossed into the
United States, raided an Apache reservation, killed Indians a