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    Fort Huachuca
    Fort Huachuca
    Fort Huachuca
    Ebook202 pages35 minutes

    Fort Huachuca

    By Ethel Jackson Price

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    About this ebook

    At the foot of the Huachuca Mountains, the U.S. Army founded one of the most crucial military posts for American expansion into the southwest frontier. Soldiers had been stationed in the region for decades, but in 1877 Fort Huachuca became the symbolic cornerstone of America s western domain. The Native American word huachuca, meaning place of thunder, described the sporadic but marvelous electrical storms in the area, but the skies would not be the only thing booming. During the tumultuous campaigns to resolve American and Indian disputes, the U.S. infantry and famed Buffalo Soldiers faced off with Geronimo and his Apache nation in both tense negotiations and bitter combat. As time marched on, the fort developed into a permanent installation with barracks, modern training grounds, and other facilities to accommodate troop rotations and eventually became the innovative Center for Military Intelligence.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateNov 24, 2004
    ISBN9781439614341
    Fort Huachuca
    Author

    Ethel Jackson Price

    Local historian and writer Ethel Jackson Price has gathered a fascinating collection of images from both military and museum archives to tell this landmark�s singular story. Also the author of community histories of Bisbee and Sierra Vista, Price effectively presents readers with the trials and the accomplishments, the hardships and the pride of the men and women who dedicated themselves to the service of their country and created the unique legacy of Fort Huachuca.

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      Book preview

      Fort Huachuca - Ethel Jackson Price

      you.

      INTRODUCTION

      Imagine standing in a magical spot where sounds from more than 100 years ago still echo: the sharply distinctive notes of a bugle at reveille, the soft nickers and answering snorts of horses greeting the day. Goosebumps rise at the raspy voices of long-gone soldiers as they fall out.

      Fort Huachuca was established in Arizona on March 3, 1877. The still-active army post is a special place with some very old secrets. Answers to some of them may never be found, but the attempt is worth the effort. A good starting point is learning how the post got its name . . .

      How does one properly pronounce Huachuca anyway?

      Well, the H is not actually silent, as some would have it. Instead, start with a soft, breathy H and say Hwa-CHOO-ka. There, got it?

      Is it Spanish?

      No. It comes from the Apache.

      What does the name mean?

      The post was named for the Huachuca Mountains, not the other way around. There are several translations of the word. One involves a small flower (on the other side of the mountains). Some consider this explanation a trifle wimpy.

      All other translations, including the one used by residents, are variations on the same theme: Huachuca = Thunder Mountain.

      That’s a translation easily understood by anyone who’s experienced a year’s worth of changing seasons. During what’s commonly called the monsoon season, fork after fork of summer lightning dances across the sky in a jagged ballet, followed by the explosive sounds of thunder crashing ever closer. Look up, and you’ll find the storm is already forming mists, making the Huachuca Mountains appear ghostly. The base was named for a small flower? No way!

      When Samuel M. Whitside put his signature on the document that created then-Camp Huachuca, it was early spring. Trees were green and flowers bloomed. The days were warm but not hot, and the monsoons were yet to come.

      On their way down from Fort Lowell, Whitside and his men checked out the deserted Camp Wallen (now there’s a story!), on the banks of the Babocomari just north of today’s Huachuca City. It was completely unworkable—nothing left but the crumbling remains of adobe walls, broken shards of glass, a few badly dented utensils, and some remnants of a deteriorated harness—but Whitside was a soldier; he would follow through. He decided to go toward the mountains he could see about seven miles to the south. The mountains were so tall they appeared to tickle the sky.

      They found paradise . . . or what seemed to be, so far as the life of a frontier cavalryman might be defined. Having been assigned to protect widely scattered settlers in both the Santa Cruz and San Pedro valleys, Whitside had found the mouth of Huachuca Canyon, where mountains formed a natural barrier to attack from marauding Apaches. There was plenty of tall grass (for the horses), lots of cool water, timber for construction, and an abundance of wild game to supplement the soldiers’ usual diet of beans and hardtack (saltless, hard crackers).

      Whitside, at the head of his troops, held up his gloved right hand as a signal to his men and called out the orders to . . . Halt . . . and DIS-mount! The tired soldiers were certainly not loath to do so.

      Quickly falling into their accepted routine, the first priority for most was properly attending to the horses while whoever was assigned the job set about preparing an evening meal. Later, knowing what a hard day was ahead of them, they likely turned in—rolling up in their wool blankets, perhaps using their saddles as rudimentary pillows—shortly after the sun went down.

      Saturday, March 3, 1877, satisfied at the way things had gone, Captain Samuel Marmaduke Whitside finished his duties for the day by recording events in his logbook with the dateline, Camp Huachuca, Huachuca Mountains, Arizona Territory and signing it, Capt. S.M. Whitside, Commanding Officer.

      On that day, Huachuca officially became an army installation. This book is its somewhat chronological and reader-friendly history.

      Note: The Apache language was not—and to date, is not—a written language, often resulting in more than one spelling of a name or word.

      One

      IN THE BEGINNING

      Why did Captain Whitside come to this part of the southwest? The short answer is that he was assigned to establish a post that could protect scattered settlements—small ranches, a mission here and there—from marauders.

      It’s a situation that evolved. This part of the world, a young territory of the United States but most certainly not yet the State of Arizona, was home to the Apache and had been for several hundred years. Then it was discovered and invaded by the Spanish—strange people often called White Eyes—people bent on finding an illusory El Dorado. The Apache people, in defending their territory, their way of life, retaliated . . . at times, viciously.

      Still, the territory where Fort Huachuca now exists was part of New Spain and after winning their independence, Mexico. There were exceptions, of course, but generally speaking, the Apache of those days hated the Mexicans.

      Who threw the first lance? The answer is lost in history, but what is not lost is that the state government in Sonora issued a document putting a price on the heads of all Apaches . . . men, women, and children. An Apache boy was considered an adult when he turned 14, and his scalp would bring 100 pesos.

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