This expedition should not be confused with the Bonneville Expedition of 1831.

The Bonneville Expedition was a military operation launched by the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 in 1857 during the Chiricahua

Chiricahua

Chiricahua are a group of Apache Native Americans who live in the Southwest United States. At the time of European encounter, they were living in 15 million acres of territory in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona in the United States, and in northern Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico...

 Apache Wars

Apache Wars

The Apache Wars were a series of armed conflicts between the United States and Apaches fought in the Southwest from 1849 to 1886, though other minor hostilities continued until as late as 1924. The Confederate Army participated in the wars during the early 1860s, for instance in Texas, before being...

. Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Benjamin Bonneville

Benjamin Bonneville

Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville was a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West...

 was in command of the party which entered the frontier from Fort Fillmore

Fort Fillmore

Fort Fillmore was a fortification established by Col Edwin Vose Sumner in September of 1851 near Mesilla in what is now New Mexico, primarily to protect settlers and traders traveling to California. Travelers in the Westward Migration were under constant threat from Indian attack, and a network of...

, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

. Heading west across the desert where the expedition engaged in two small but significant battles. The first was fought in the Black Range

Black Range

The Black Range is an igneous mountain range running north-south in Sierra and Grant counties in west-central New Mexico, in the southwestern United States. Its central ridge forms the western and eastern borders, respectively, of the two counties through much of their contact...

 and the second along the Gila River

Gila River

The Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.-Description:...

 near present day Safford

Safford, Arizona

- History :Safford was founded by Joshua Eaton Bailey, Hiram Kennedy and Edward Tuttle, who came from Gila Bend, in southwestern Arizona. They left Gila Bend in the winter of 1873-74; their work on canals and dams having been destroyed by high water the previous summer...

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

.

Expedition

In late May, because of constant Apache raids, Colonel Bonneville organized a two pronged expedition into Apacheria. Hundreds or troops were to assemble at Fort Fillmore and Albuquerque. Colonel William W. Loring

William W. Loring

William Wing Loring was a soldier from North Carolina who served in the armies of the United States, the Confederacy, and Egypt.-Early life:...

 commanded the northern column which left from Albuquerque for the Mogollon Mountains

Mogollon Mountains

The Mogollon Mountains or Mogollon Range are a mountain range east of the San Francisco River in Grant and Catron counties of southwestern New Mexico, between the communities of Reserve and Silver City. They extend roughly north-south for about 30 miles , and form part of the divide between the...

 while Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 Dixon S. Miles

Dixon S. Miles

Dixon Stansbury Miles was a career United States Army officer who served in the Mexican-American War and the Indian Wars. He was mortally wounded as he surrendered his Union garrison in the Battle of Harpers Ferry during the American Civil War.-Early life and military service:Miles was born in...

 commanded the southern column which would advance west along the Gila, Bonneville accompanied the southern column but Miles was in command. Altogether about 800 infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

, cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 and Pueblo scout

U.S. Army Indian Scouts

Native Americans have made up an integral part of U.S. military conflicts since America's beginning. Colonists recruited Indian allies during such instances as the Pequot War from 1634–1638, the Revolutionary War, as well as in War of 1812...

s were involved, 600 of whom were part of Bonneville's column.

Colonel Loring's command was the first to make contact with the enemy. Chief Black Knife and his band was in the area with 2,000 heads of stolen sheep. On May 24 of 1857 Loring's force caught up with the Apaches in the Black Range near the Mogollons after pursuing them for days. At a little rocky valley the Apaches were attacked and defeated at their camp. Seven warriors were killed and left on the field while the rest fled into the mountains. Chief Black Knife was one of the killed, nine others were captured and all of the livestock was recaptured. There were no American casualties in the engagement.

The southern column had to wait longer for an engagement, they moved slower than Colonel Loring's men partly because Bonneville split his force in two and marched it in tight configuration on both sides of the river. This tactic made many of Bonneville's officers believe they would have no chance of catching up with any Apaches. Captain Richard S. Ewell

Richard S. Ewell

Richard Stoddert Ewell was a career United States Army officer and a Confederate general during the American Civil War. He achieved fame as a senior commander under Stonewall Jackson and Robert E...

 commanded the right wing of about 300 men which was the only part of the column to fight a battle. On June 27, more than a month after the start of the expedition, Ewell and his men came across a rancheria

Ranchería

The Spanish word ranchería, or rancherío, refers to a small, rural settlement. In the Americas the term was applied to native villages and to the workers' quarters of a ranch. English adopted the term with both these meanings, usually to designate the residential area of a rancho in the American...

 east of Mount Graham

Mount Graham

Mount Graham is a mountain in southeastern Arizona in the United States, in the Coronado National Forest. It is the highest mountain in the Pinaleño Mountains. As the name "Mount Graham" is often used by locals to refer to the entire mountain range, the peak itself is frequently referred to as...

, on the Gila River. The Captain wasted no time in waiting for the left wing so he and his men hastily advanced into the Apache camp and killed or wounded about 40 warriors in a short engagement before Colonel Bonneville or Miles could arrive. Forty-five women and children were also captured. Two American officers were killed and seven enlisted men were wounded. One of the killed Apaches was believed to have been responsible for the death of Indian agent

Indian agent

In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with Native American tribes on behalf of the U.S. government.-Indian agents:*Leander Clark was agent for the Sac and Fox in Iowa beginning in 1866....

 Henry I. Dodge.