On April 27, 1887 at 1 a.m., the government shipped the Apache prisoners from Florida to Mount Vernon Barracks which is north of Mobile, Alabama. Eugene Chihuahua, the son of Chief Chihuahua recalled this. We were to be stationed at an old army fort near Mobile. It was on the west side of the Mobile River, and about twenty-five miles or so from the Gulf of Mexico. It had been built of brick in the 1830s and had been abandoned. We thought anything would be better than Fort Marion with its rain, mosquitoes and malaria, but we were to find out that it was good in comparison with Mt. Vernon Barracks. We didnt know what misery was till they dumped us in those swamps. There was no place to climb to pray. If we wanted to see the sky, we had to climb a tall pine. The unmarried men were housed together. The married couples lived in shacks with dirt floors. It rained most of the time and the roofs leaked. The Apache babies died from the mosquito bites. Sickness and disease were the norm and the Apache had no natural immunity against these. Herbert Welsh, a reporter, wrote in his article that The danger of contagious disease attacking the Indians and spreading is, in my opinion, a matter worthy of prompt and serious consideration. The rations are insufficient and the clothing of the Indians during the winter has been totally insufficient and unsuitable. Most of them wore only the rags which they brought with them from Arizona. He was making reference to the clothing the Apache had not taken off for six months because the U.S. Army had not issued them any others. It wasnt until 1894 that the military decided to move them to a dryer climate at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Fort Sill was a military reservation that had been set apart for the use as an Indian reservation for the Wichita, Kiowa, and Comanche Indians. The Kiowa and Comanche agreed to allow the Apaches to locate there.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Apr 2014 14:27:52 +0000
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