e
troops marched 1,396 miles. The conditions under which they worked
were cruel. The intense heat, the lack of water, and the desperately
rough country covered with mountains and cactus hindered the command,
but the men had the consolation of knowing that the Indians were in
worse plight. Furthermore, the trustworthiness of the Indian scouts, a
tattered, picturesque band of renegades, was coming under suspicion.
Perhaps it was because of their unreliability that an attack made upon
the 18th of July was not an entire success. The Indians escaped, but
their most valued {40} possessions, food and horses, fell into the
hands of our troopers.

It was the beginning of the end. A month later they received word that
the Indians were working towards Santa Teresa, and Captain Lawton
moved forward to head them off. Leonard Wood's personal account of
this engagement follows:

"On the 13th of July we effected the surprise of the camp of Geronimo
and Natchez which eventually led to their surrender and resulted in
the immediate capture of everything in their camps except themselves
and the clothes they wore. It was our practice to keep two scouts two
or three days in advance of the command, and between them and the main
body four or five other scouts. The Indian scouts in advance would
locate the camp of the hostiles and send back word to the next party,
who in their turn would notify the main command; then a forced march
would be made in order to surround and surprise the camp. On the day
mentioned, following this method of procedure, we located the Indians
on the Yaqui River in a section of the country almost impassable for
man or beast and {41} in a position which the Indians evidently felt
to be perfectly secure. The small tableland on which the camp was
located bordered on the Yaqui River and was surrounded on all sides by
high cliffs with practically only two points of entrance, one up the
river and the other down. The officers were able to creep up and look
down on the Indian camp which was about two thousand feet below their
point of observation. All the fires were burning, the horses were
grazing and the Indians were in the river swimming with evidently not
the slightest apprehension of attack. Our plan was to send scouts to
close the upper opening and then to send the infantry, of which I had
the command, to attack the camp from below.

"Both the Indians and the infantry were in position and advanced on
the hostile camp