Camp Grant Massacre

The Attack

Before the massacre, the Apache had surrendered at Camp Grant in accordance with army instructions. Having become prisoners of war, they had a right to expect military protection from attacks, and, having turned over their weapons to the troops, they could not defend themselves. The Apache were several miles away from the camp when attacked, however, so the garrison was unaware of the massacre until later the same day.

Some Apache were shot from a distance; however, most died as a result of injuries inflicted at close distance by their assailants. The attackers had to know that most of their victims were women and children and that the Apache, with few exceptions, were unresisting. A number of Apache children were seized, and most of them were retained by Mexican American families or sold into slavery in Mexico.

Responsibility for the massacre must be attributed to the Anglo community. In addition to providing some of the leaders of the mob, Anglos furnished weapons, ammunition, and food to the attackers. Many Anglos had pledged to participate in the attack, but few appeared when the mob gathered, perhaps because they thought that attacking the Apache would bring them into combat with the troops.

Western Reactions

The attackers and their supporters maintained that the massacre was entirely justified retaliation for Apache misdeeds and called their action a “raid” to prevent further Apache raids. The attack was portrayed as an act of desperation, because of the failure of the federal government to end Apache depredations. Undoubtedly, Arizona was a dangerous area in the 1870s. Apache raids were occurring, but the evidence suggests strongly that the Apache at Camp Grant had not been participants.

In the west, particularly, Native Americans were viewed generally, at best, as encumbrances and, at worst, as savages who either the army or civilian volunteers should be allowed either to exterminate or, at least, to confine to reservations with the proviso that Anglos might change the dimensions of the reservations or even abolish the reservations, if such actions suited their purposes. Native Americans such as the O'odham who adapted fairly rapidly to Anglo pressure to become farmers were viewed somewhat more favorably than the Apache by the Anglos, but, in the long run, their treatment by the Anglos was little better than that experienced by the Apache.

The Trial

Criticism of the behavior of the attackers continued outside the southwest, and the federal government threatened to place the area under martial law unless the perpetrators were indicted and tried. Finally, in 1871, many attackers were tried at the territorial court in Tucson. The jury took less than a half-hour to reach a “not guilty” verdict, an outcome that was typical of what occurred at the time during legal proceedings against Native Americans, Mexican Americans, or Anglos who killed or mistreated Native Americans.

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