Vitridge, (Dr.)

J Am Med Assoc, Nov 1894; XXIII: 736-737: Abandonment of Fort Bowie, Arizona. Fort Bowie was reported as abandoned, October 22, last, in accordance with existing orders which were cited in the Journal of October 6. It is doubtful whether any of the officers or men who formed its garrison during the past thirty-five years will have a single regret that it has passed out of existence. It was situated in a wild rocky gorge through which a road or trail of disintegrated granite led east and west through the Chiricahua Mountains to connect Messilla with Tucson. North and south were the high peaks of the range, Dos Cabesas, Castle Dome, Helen's Dome and Bowie's Peak. In the gorge which is known as Apache Pass, 4,780 feet above the sea-level, are the only springs or water supply for many miles along the trail to the east or west ; and in the early days of Arizona Territory these springs were the regular camping ground of war parties of the Apaches from the northern mountains in their frequent descents on the farms and mining settlements of Sonora. The withdrawal of the regular troops from Arizona at the outbreak of the Civil War led these Indians to believe that this was due to the steady hostilities which they had kept up against the United States military posts. When General Carleton marched his column in 1862 from California to join the Union forces in the East and protect the overland route, his troops had to advance across southern Arizona in detachments of two or three companies,each several days behind the other to be sure of having supplies of water in the various springs and holes known to frontiersmen to lie on the line of march. The Apaches considered this warlike demonstration as directed against themselves and concentrated their forces to defend the pass and force the column back on the Arizona Desert by holding the springs. They succeeded in keeping the troops from the water for two days and might have held their position much longer but for the fact that some pieces of a light battery were brought up and opened on them with shell. This demoralized them and they withdrew into the security of the mountains. Artillery fire was a new and alarming experience to them. Our troops suffered much from want of water during the attack ; and Dr. Vitridge, an acting assistant surgeon was wounded. Company G, Fifth California Volunteers, was left as a guard to the springs at this important and dangerous part of the road,and its camp on the summit of a knoll overlooking the water supply became afterwards Fort Bowie. Up to 1868 it was merely a camp of shelter tents and dugouts on the slope of the hill, but the building of a permanent fort was then begun and for several years thereafter the quarters were much superior to those of most of the Arizona posts. All the buildings were of adobe or sun-dried bricks ; one-storied, with accommodation for one company of infantry and two troops of cavalry. The water was pumped into reservoirs and distributed by gravity ; and the waste water and sewage were carried away by a well laid sewerage system. All the conditions were healthful at this post; but for many years there was danger in leaving its immediate vicinity, the broken granite rocks and precipitous ravines afforded so many lurking places for the hostile Indians. A promising young captain of the Thirty-second Infantry was killed a short distance from his quarters. Even the bears sometimes took part in the war against the intrusive white race. An acting assistant surgeon, en route along the gorge to join the post, strayed from his escort a few yards up a side path and came unexpectedly on a bear. The doctor escaped with his life, through the coolness and marksmanship of a soldier of the escort, but he received many bruises and two or three ugly gashes in his thighs. No ; there are few persons in the military service of the United States who will heave a sigh on account of the abandonment of Fort Bowie.