By Al Bates
By 1874, a single regiment of cavalry at Whipple handled routine patrols, Indian chases and police duty on the reservations. The Army in the next decade was a combination of a constabulary keeping order on the Indian reservations, and a corps of laborers engaged in building military posts and roads, and stringing telegraph wire.
At that time there were still die-hard Native American groups and Crook dealt with them harshly. Crook's policy was that Indians were required to stay on the assigned reservation; off the reservation, every Indian male old enough to string a bow was considered as hostile and a target. He forbade any liquor on the reservation; no whiskey and no manufacture of the Apache moonshine called tizwin, which became a key factor in Geronimo's breakout a few years later.
In 1872, the original buildings and stockade of Fort Whipple were demolished and more permanent frame buildings were erected on higher ground about 70-feet above Granite Creek. The official guide to posts, camps and stations declared them to be excellent quarters "in all respects." By early 1875, the fort had taken the configuration it would keep for the next 30 years.
By 1873, a military telegraph line connected Fort Whipple with San Diego, Yuma, Phoenix and Tucson, and by 1880, the military telegraph was carrying extensive civilian traffic between the state's major communities. In mid-September of 1874, Martha Summerhayes arrived after an arduous seven weeks journey from San Francisco on her way to her husband's post at Fort Apache. She spent three days at "a gay and hospitable post" where she was "most kindly entertained," by Mrs. Crook at dinner. Mrs. Summerhayes then became the first woman to travel to Fort Apache over the General Crook trail that ran from Fort Whipple through Camp Verde and along the Mogollon Rim to Fort Apache, a distance of about 220 miles. In 1875, she again passed through Whipple, this time on the way to a posting at Eherenberg.
The military roads connecting Fort Whipple to the Indian reservations at camp Verde and Fort McDowell formed the basis for the original Black Canyon highway. This alternative to the established but longer Skull Valley and Wickenburg route provided Prescott residents an improved way to reach Phoenix and was established as a stagecoach route by 1878.
In the fall of 1874, General August V. Kautz arrived to become Whipple's post commander. His young wife, Fannie, a musician, painter and aspiring actress, accompanied him. Nearly every week brought a social event for officers and ladies of the post. By the spring of 1877, the weekly "hops" (in West Point lingo) held each Wednesday had become a Prescott institution, frequently open to the enlisted men and to townspeople.
Fannie Kautz formed the Fort Whipple Theater in 1877, composed of the ladies and some officers. They produced epics with titles like "Dead Shot," and "Regular Fix," as well as Shakespearean dramas. An early production titled "The Two Orphans" was performed as a benefit for the Sisters of Charity who then were establishing Prescott's first civilian hospital. Meanwhile, some residents of southern Arizona were feuding with General Kautz over alleged Indian dangers, and there was criticism of Fort Whipple theatricals "in the midst of a war." When the general and his wife departed from the territory a year later, the Tucson Citizen sarcastically referred to the departure of the "Fort Whipple theatrical troupe."
Although the Indians were relatively quiet during those years, Ellen Biddle, one of the military wives, wrote of two incidents, once at a "hop" and once at a play, when the "Assembly Call" sounded and the officers had to leave the evening's entertainment to rush off with their troops in pursuit of renegade Apaches. Mrs. Biddle credited watchful care by a young Whipple doctor named Frederick C. Ainsworth with saving the life of her sickly infant son. Ainsworth later left the Medical Corps to take over the Army's Record and Pension Bureau and by 1907, he was the very influential Adjutant General of the Army. In 1910, he came in conflict with the new Army Chief of Staff, General Leonard Wood, over control of the Army. Two years later his distinguished military career came to a sad end when General Ainsworth was forced to retire.
In November 1878, Territorial Governor John Fremont and his family arrived in Prescott. The famed "Pathfinder," Civil War general and sometime presidential candidate had fallen on hard times due to failed railroad investments, and the Arizona assignment was looked on as a way to recoup the family fortunes through speculation in mining ventures. The governor made extensive use of the Fort's military telegraph for his official and personal communications because it provided greater privacy than the commercial line.
Army doctors from Fort Whipple treated Fremont family members for various illnesses, including the recurrent headaches suffered by the Fremont's daughter Elizabeth Benton Fremont (Lily). Lily, when well, was a regular attendee at the Whipple "hops." Since the once wealthy Fremonts were at that time too poor to keep a horse, it was a special treat for Lily to ride Army horses in company with young officers and General Wilcox's older daughter, Marie. The general, a widower, was especially attentive to Lily until territorial politics pitted the general against her father and any thought of a courtship ended.
By 1881, Whipple housed 136 officers and enlisted men, and there was much social interaction with the townspeople. Supplies for the Fort brought hard cash, a rare commodity at that time, to farmers and ranchers. The Fort dispatched its fire company to help extinguish major town fires. Military "ambulances" (lightweight covered wagons) were loaned for funerals and to transport military offspring to school in town. Often rumored but never proven was the existence of a lively black market run by the Fort's quartermasters. The scam consisted of classifying sound military equipment as condemned and then, instead of destroying it, selling it to local businessmen.
In the 1880s, Fort Whipple again became prominent in settling Indian "troubles." Because of inconsistent government policies and dishonest Indian agents, the Indians were seething with resentment and outlaw Apache bands were on the loose. General Crook returned in 1882, restored order and honesty to the agencies, and by December 1883, all the outlaw Indians (including Geronimo) were back at San Carlos. The Battle of Big Dry wash in July 1882 was the last major action fought by troops against Indians in Arizona.
In May of 1885, Geronimo and 35 warriors fled the reservation in the aftermath of a drunken tizwin party, thus beginning the 14-month "Geronimo war." In March 1886, the Indians almost gave up, but Geronimo and 20 others bolted back to Mexico after getting drunk on whiskey provided by white man.
In June 1885, a fresh graduate of Harvard Medical School reported to Fort Whipple as a contract surgeon and was immediately assigned to join in the hunt for Geronimo. Leonard Wood soon found that he preferred leading troops to doctoring them. Wood was present at Geronimo's final surrender and was awarded the Congressional Medal for his exploits in this campaign.
This was the beginning of another long and distinguished military career. Thirteen years later he was Colonel (and later General) Leonard Wood, commander of the Rough Rider Regiment and close friend of Teddy Roosevelt, his second in command. Wood's later military assignments included: Governor General of Cuba, Army Chief of Staff (and nemesis of General Ainsworth as previously noted), and Governor General of the Philippines. Going into the 1920 national convention, Wood was the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. General Nelson A. Miles, generally credited for introducing the heliograph system (solar telegraph) to connect the Army outposts of Arizona and New Mexico, replaced General Crook during the last months before Geronimo's final surrender on September 3, 1886.
Al Bates is an avid researcher of topics from Fort Whipple to the 1864 census of Arizona. There will be one more installment of Bates' article on Fort Whipple.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (mil115pa) Reuse only by permission.
General Crook's Troops standing in their dress uniform at Camp Whipple about 1878. Crook had worked out of Whipple for many years during the end of the Indian Wars in Arizona.