placed in me it would have been simply an impossibility to get white troops to that point either by day or by night without their knowledge, and had I attempted to do this the whole band would have stampeded back to the mountains. So suspicious were they that never more than from five to eight of the men came into our camp at one time, and to have attempted the arrest of those would have stampeded the others to the mountains."
General Crook also telegraphed that "to inform the Indians
that the terms on which they surrendered are disapproved would,
in my judgment, not only make it impossible for me to negotiate
with them, but result in their scattering to the mountains, and I
can't at present see any way to prevent it."
Sheridan replied:
"I do not see what you can now do except to concentrate your troops at
the best points and give protection to the people. Geronimo will undoubtedly
enter upon other raids of murder and robbery, and as the offensive campaign
against him with scouts has failed, would it not be best to take up the
defensive, and give protection to the business interests of Arizona and New
Mexico?"
Crook's next despatch to Sheridan said:
"It has been my aim throughout present operations to afford the greatest
amount of protection to life and property interests, and troops have been stationed
accordingly. Troops cannot protect property beyond a radius of one
half mile from camp. If offensive operations against the Indians are not
resumed, they may remain quietly in the mountains for an indefinite time
without crossing the line, and yet their very presence there will be a constant
menace, and require the troops in this department to be at all times in position
to repel sudden raids; and so long as any remain out they will form a
nucleus for disaffected Indians from the different agencies in Arizona and
New Mexico to join. That the operations of the scouts in Mexico have not
proved so successful as was hoped is due to the enormous difficulties they
have been compelled to encounter, from the nature of the Indians they have
been hunting, and the character of the country in which they have operated,
and of which persons not thoroughly conversant with the character of both
can have no conception. I believe that the plan upon which I have conducted
operations is the one most likely to prove successful in the end. It may be,
however, that I am too much wedded to my own views in this matter, and as
I have spent nearly eight years of the hardest work of my life in this department,
I respectfully request that I may now be relieved from its command."
General Crook had carefully considered the telegrams from
his superiors in Washington, and was unable to see how he
could allow Indians, or anybody else, to enter his camp under
assurances of personal safety, and at the same time "take every
