Apache Prisoners in Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida.
Item #77315
WELSH, Robert. The Apache Prisoners in Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida. Phila.: Office of the Indian Rights Association, 1887. 1st ed. 62pp. Orig. printed wrappers. Light chipping to spine and edges, else very good. HOWES W-257. "A condemning investigation by the secretary of the Indian Rights Association into the government's hoodwinking of Geronimo with promises that upon his surrender in 1886 he and his warriors would be allowed to return to Fort Apache and remain with their families. They were instead taken to Fort Pickens, Pensacola, and their wives and children to Fort Marion, St. Augustine"-Siebert Sale 926. Welsh also points out that among of the 82 men imprisoned, not more than 30 were guilty of any recent misdoing and those prisoners included 16 paid Army scouts--including Martinez and Kieta who tracked Geronimo and convinced him to surrender to Crook; and Dutchey who avenged Capt. Crawford's murder at the hands of the Mexicans. Welsh concludes: "That these men should have been imprisoned on the same footing with those Indians who were at war with the United States, and that their fidelity, and, in some instances, their invaluable service rendered to our arms should have been rewarded by incarceration is a fact well calculated ... to elicit the condemnation of the public. In this instance we have ... taught the Indians in emphatic and unmistakable terms that well-doing on their part will insure to them from the Government neither reward nor protection nor the maintenance of good faith."
Price: $500.00