D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
December 2009
HIKING APACHERIAThe Case of Lieutenant John Lafferty
Trekking to the spot where a Mimbres rancher's great-grandfather was shot in a battle with Apaches.
Story and photos by Jerry Eagan
"The Past becomes the Present becomes the Future becomes the Past."
— Shunryu Suzuki, |
By 2007, I'd developed a coterie of faithful readers of my work, "Hiking Apacheria," who had regularly read and begun making kind comments about my series, as published in Desert Exposure. One such reader was my physician's assistant, Johnny Reed, who worked at Silver Health Care. We shared political views as well as experience in Vietnam — Johnny as a Marine, me as an Army grunt. The Apaches, to me, parallel my experience with the Viet Cong I encountered in 1966.
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Fred Lafferty, great-grandson of
1st Lt. John Lafferty, and Edwin Sweeney, an international authority
on the Chiricahua Apaches, who holds the drawing composed by one of Col.
Reuben Bernards cavalrymen after the Rocky Mesa fight. Lt. Lafferty would
have been wounded at a spot on the last panel of the map held in Sweeneys
left hand. |
Once I mentioned to Johnny that I wanted to write an article about locals whose ancestors fought the Apaches as civilians or military men. Johnny said he knew an interesting guy named Fred Lafferty. He suggested I contact Fred, since Fred had told him his great-grandfather — John Lafferty — had been a legitimate hero of the Apache Wars. Johnny said John Lafferty had been one of the California Volunteers who'd formed to save the Union in the West during the Civil War. Fred Lafferty's great-grandfather had also fought Cochise's Apaches, and been seriously wounded in a firefight in 1869.
Johnny told me that Fred and his wife Betty were fairly well-known in the Mimbres area as a rancher, Realtor and as folks who'd set up a wounded-animal sanctuary called La Quernecia ("Ranch of the Pen where Bulls Stand"). Fred's father had been a general and Fred himself was a Navy commander, a "brown shoe" (carrier aviator) man. Johnny guessed Fred would want to tell me the story of his great-grandfather, Lieutenant John Lafferty.
He was right. I began to interview Fred Lafferty and his wife Betty in the winter of 2007-2008. The idea was to tie these Lafferty men's histories together as seen through the Zen filter of time and space. I was inspired by a koan often used by a Vietnamese Zen monk, Thich Nhat Han: "What was the face of your parents before they were born?"
Cavalryman John Lafferty's son, Frederick Sherman Lafferty, entered West Point in the early 20th century, but was ejected after fighting with an upper classman. Next in line was Frederick Reid "Pat" Lafferty, born in 1890, who served as a cavalryman in the Poncho Villa campaign in the deserts near Lajitas and Terlingua, Texas (both adjacent to Big Bend National Park today). "Pat" Lafferty remained along the border during World War I. He'd been bitten by the flying bug, though, in Texas, and after completing flight school in 1921, was detailed to the Philippines, where he established Nichols Field on Luzon. He also served in World War II, as Deputy Provost Marshall in England and, following the Normandy Invasion, Deputy Provost Marshall in the European Theater.He'd risen through the ranks in the hiatus between world wars, and was an operations and plans specialist, responsible for the vast "Louisiana Maneuvers" so many thousands of American troops participated in before shipping overseas, either to the European or the Pacific Theaters.
"Pat" Lafferty retired in 1950 as a brigadier general, with 33 years of service, at Fort Bliss, Texas, after a long period stationed there. He lived thereafter in El Paso until his death in 1987 at the age of 96.
The Fred Lafferty I interviewed, Pat's son, flew in the Korean War, and later served as an anti-submarine pilot searching for Soviet submarines in the Pacific. He was also a Pacific Fleet staff officer during the Vietnam War. He retired in 1982 and also chose to live in the El Paso area, where he became a Realtor, before moving to the Mimbres. Frederick Lafferty, the last in this line of military officers, was born March 31, 1926. He has been married to Elizabeth Louise Vissering, herself the daughter of an Army General.
It was clear from what Fred told me that his great-grandfather, Lt. John Lafferty, an honorable member of the Order of the Indian Wars, was a legitimate "Indian fighter" almost from the start of his military career. As early as Feb. 15, 1867, as a 2d Lieutenant in the First (Regular Army) Cavalry Regiment, he was engaged with Indians in Nevada. In one action there, he became separated from his own men during a firefight. Entirely alone, with the command out of sight and hearing, Lafferty dealt with four warriors who attacked him. He killed two and took the other two prisoners.
Fred told me that 30 years ago, he'd read an article he'd found in an old Cavalry Journal, which recounted another incident, where his great-grandfather had fought against and been wounded by Cochise's Apaches. A voracious history reader, Fred was pleased when Edwin Sweeney's book, Cochise, was published, since it included a very detailed account of the 1869 incident fought in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona. It was when he read the account of his ancestor's heroic fight that he began to hope he'd get to that place sometime in his life.
By late 1869, First Lt. John Lafferty was in charge of one of the troops of the Eighth Cavalry under Colonel Reuben Bernard, whom Sweeney characterizes as one of the most aggressive, determined leaders in the post-Civil War Army. Sweeney makes it clear that Col. Bernard was one cavalryman who stayed on the Indian chief's trail for weeks, forcing engagements when opportunities arose. One fight was fought at a place called "the Rocky Mesa," near Chiricahua Pass, the South Central Chiricahua Mountains.
Col. Bernard's official report to his commander, Major General Thomas C. Devin (who'd been one of the Union cavalrymen who fought the first day at Gettysburg), states that Bernard's columns ran after Cochise a number of days, on a "scout" that began at Ft. Bowie, Arizona Territory, on Oct. 9, 1869. Bernard "marched entirely by night," to avoid discovery by the Apache. On Oct. 19, Col. Bernard's forces found an Apache camp on the "highest mountain" in the vicinity of the south-central Chiricahua Mountains, which was also "about three miles from water." (That water is the Creek, which flows through what has been called Red Rock Canyon.)
"Coming upon a fresh track running in the same direction we were going (west)," Bernard reported, "I took the gallop, knowing this Indian had seen us, and that the main body must be close. I ordered the guide(s) (among them, Merijildo Grijalva), to take five (5) men, dismounted, and go to the top of a rocky mesa, and see what he could discover, while I galloped off in the canyon to see if I could find their trail. While I galloped off in the canyon, I saw several Indians running from the crest. I got back as quick as my horse could carry me, and ordered the men to tie their horse to the trees, and get to the top of the hill. Before the men had reached halfway up the hill the Indians had opened fire on the guide and five men, compelling them to take shelter behind the rocks. At this, firing commenced from all parts of the rocks above us. We pressed forward to a ledge of rocks about thirty yards from the ledge occupied by the Indians. This enabled them to shoot their arrows at any person who might show himself. Here, two (2) men of the command were killed, and one (1) wounded. The men then made themselves secure among the rocks, and sharp shooting commenced in earnest, which was kept up for about half an hour. I gave the command to Lieutenant Lafferty, while I disposed of the rear guard and pack train, which was just coming in.
"When I reached the place where I had left the horses, I found they were greatly exposed to the enemy's fire, and it being impossible to advance with the troops from the places they occupied, except to run against another precipice, I ordered Lieutenant Lafferty to fall back and bring the dead men with him. The latter part of the order he could not obey, for as soon as the troops showed themselves volleys were fired at them, compelling them to seek shelter where best they could, and to have attempted to carry the bodies away under such a fire would have cost many a life.
"Lieutenant Lafferty, with a few men, remained behind trees at the foot of the hill to protect the bodies until something could be done to drive the Indians from the rocks, so that we could get the bodies.
"With twenty (20) men, I moved to the left, in hopes of being able to get in rear of the enemy, but found every point on the mesa well guarded. I then gave my First Sergeant fifteen (15) men, with orders to occupy a hill nearest the mesa, and try to make the Indians leave their stronghold near the dead men. This fire had a great effect on them, as several men were killed from that point. I gave [orders] to Lieutenant Lafferty to make a charge and get the bodies of the dead men. Lieutenant Lafferty was shot, the ball taking effect in the right cheek, breaking and carrying away the greater portion of the lower jawbone, the bullet and broken bones greatly lacerating the lower portion of the face.