Settlers versus Natives: The Camp Grant Massacre, April 30, 1871
The Bascom Affair in 1861 wasn't the only provocation to the Apache in Arizona. Ten years later, in April 30, 1871, Settlers in Arizona launched yet another preemptive strike on the Apache that would ratchet up the tensions and the reprisals another notch. Camp Grant was a U.S. Army installation along the San Pedro River, about 50 miles from Tucson. In 1870, 1st Lt. Royal Whitman assumed command of the fort. One day, a group of Apache women came to the fort, looking for a relative who had been taken prisoner. Whitman fed the women and treated them kindly. Soon other Apaches happened by the fort, and were also received hospitably. Whitman soon conceived the idea of creating a refuge for Natives who wanted the Army's protection along Aravaipa Creek. Eskaminzin, a leader of a band of Aravaipa and Pinal Apache soon settled in with his people and began cutting hay and planting fields, intendi...