with the general direction of the rod, and about six miles north of it (as far as Steen's Peak), I then turned north to the Gila, to avoid being seen either on the trail or on the main traveled road. I traveled down the Gila five days, sending out a scout on the third day to look for the trail, which was found to continue in a perfectly straight line westward. I established a camp on the 5th. On the night of the 5th I left twenty enlisted men of my command at camp, took the rest, went to the trail, and started in pursuit. During the forenoon of the 6th we crossed a range of very rocky and rough cragged mountains, coming out on the open plain made by the valley of the San Simeon. At about 4 p. m. we found a pony track, fresh. This was deemed by my guide to be a favorable omen that Indians were near by. At 5 p. m. I made a halt and dry camp, being about ten miles from the foot of Mount Gray (or Sierra Bonita, so called by Captain Anderson). After dark I sent my guide and five enlisted men to explore the foot of the moutain for water, and if found, to make search for Indian fires or signs of any kind. My gide soon found water and plenty of fresh signs, and continued looking for fires until about 4 a. m. of the 7th, when they were discovered. The command was then ten miles away. I received the word just at the dawn of day. My command was off in two minutes, and just as the savages were awaking from their slumbers, between daylight and sunup, I charged their camp. The fight lasted at the end of which I had in my possession their entire "campoody," with all its property, including forty-five head of horses and mules and the dead bodies of twenty-one Indians. I am satisfied that as many as thirty were killed in this fight. Some of my men fired as many as eighteen shots from their minie muskets. I could form no idea how many of those wretches went away with holes in their hides, but suffice it to say, a great many. I believe there were 250 Indians in this camp. On our side some of the men had arrows in their clothing, but no man's skin was broken. The only property taken away by them was two mules and one pony; with this exception I captured eveything they possessed, destroying everything except the stock and the saddles and such little thinkets as the soldiers chose to carry off. While we were burning their property (which consisted in part of perhaps a ton of dried mescal and as much dried mule meat), about thirty warrors rallied and came back to the summit of the small moutain which overlooked the "campbody," and showed fight for a few minutes, firing a few shots (I did not see but two guns amongst them), but the whizzing of the minie rifle balls soon warned them not to come closer than 800 yards, which warning they took in good part and left. The destruction of hides, mescal, and dried mule meat was immense. During the fight the Indians, in attempting to get away with the stock, lanced one large Government mule, so that his entrails came out and I was compelled to leave him. They were supposed to be the Chiracuahua tribe. This fight took place about perhaps thirty-five miles northwest of Fort Bowie, at the south end of a range of mountaind called by Captain Anderson, U. S. Army, Sierra Bonita range. This has inflicted a terribly hard blow on this tribe, for they are certainly left entirely destitute of every means of subsistence and on foot. The mules of the train were run about eighty miles without water, up hill and down, over rocky mountains and through canons of the most terrific character. The first thirty-five miles could almost have been trailed by the carcasses of horses and mules, each of which had the flesh cut out of the fleshy portions of its body.

Classification of the stock: 17 Government mules; 1 Government horse; 24 Indian ponies (including colts), and 3 Indian mules. Of these