I have been researching Captain Emmet Crawford, 3rd Cavary, for many years and would be happy to exchange information with others who are interested in his life and times. Currently I have been studying his role in the 1876 Sioux Campaign, particularly the Battle of the Rosebud and the Battle of Slim Buttes.

Hello,

I have been doing some "limited" research on the Murder of Captain Crawford in Jan 1886 during his pursuit of hostile Apaches in Mexico, which included Geronimo. I belong to a historical military reenactment group in Arizona, the Fort Whipple Regulars, and have been interested in this particular battle for some time now. Our group has decided that we will make this our premere re-enactment to perform for the public. Much the same as the Civil War re-enactors do the main battles, and Indian War reenactors do Little Big Horn every year. I have done research on Mexican uniforms and weapons of that period, since there is no info I can find on Volunteer Mexican army uniforms. We have placed an order to have 15-20 (for starters) of them made for this event. We are planning to do the first re-eanctment of the Captain Crawford (Murder) Battle this coming October at a Indian Wars re-enactor/living history gathering at Fort Verde, then again at our own event (Arizona's Military History 1846-1898) that will be April 2011 in Prescott, AZ. It will be sort of a kick off for the state's centennial. I have been able to speak to a local historian John Langellier who has authored many books on 1800s Military and was also the military consultant for the movie Geronimo: An American Legend. He stated that they actually filmed the Capt Crawford battle for the movie, but the film editors ended up cutting the battle from the movie before they sent it to theaters.
I have been able to collect some info from internet articles and the account from the book "General Crook and the Apache Wars" by Charles Lummis.
I was interested to see if you have done any significant research into this last battle for Capt Crawford and possibly turned up some additional information, or accounts by others present there besides the two US officer's accounts. We try to be as accurate as possible in re-creations we do, so I try to get all available info before laying out the re-enactment.
Thanks,
Brian

Brian,
I was delighted to get your message, and very interested in your plans to do this re-enactment. Captain Crawford is actually my great-great-uncle, and I grew up hearing stories about him. I started to seriously research his life back in 1986 when I took on the project of writing his life story, and since then I have collected quite a bit of material.
Do you have Peter Cozzens' book "The Struggle for Apacheria?" It is part of his series "Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars" and has a number of contemporary accounts of the Geronimo campaign including William Shipp and Henry Daly. I think Shipp's account is very good. I also have the Mexican reports from the investigation that followed that were included in the Report of the Secretary of War for 1886. They are in a file that is packed away right now but I will certainly dig it up. I may have some other items that would be of interest.
I am very interested in your re-enactment and would love to be there. I have relatives in Phoenix and had a chance to visit Fort Verde a number of years ago.
Carol

Carol,
Thank you for the book tip. I have purchased a copy from amazon along with FRONTIER REGULARS THE UNITED STATES ARMY AND THE INDIAN 1866-1890 by Robert M. Utley which looks to be intersting. I bet you are proud to be connected to a historical figure that help influnce the india situation in the West.
My main focus will be the facts of what took place at the battle. I have the general idea and want to give that impression through the reenactment. Do to a lower number of available re-enactors in the area I have had to condense the fight down to about 36 people, and will have to have it last only about 15 minutes for the public. The public interest will not last much longer than that unless we have a larger number of participants. It is possible we could have more participants at our event next April. I was in contact with Fort Verde again Monday and they are 50/50 with allowing us to debut the re-enactment there as they have not had reenactments there and are a bit "gun shy" for liability reasons. We'll just have to see what they decide. Our event next April will likely be the better showing due to the expected number of re-enactors. If you have additional info on the fight/battle I would be very intersted as I would like to try and be as accurate as possible given the limitations I have. Thanks again for your help.
Brian

Hi Brian

In checking through my file I found an article that you probably would find useful. It is "The Crawford Affair: International Implications of the Geronimo Campaign" by Jerome Greene. It was printed in the Journal of the West, Vol XI No 1, January 1972. It is well researched with lots of footnotes and uses a number of contemporary accounts as well as official reports.

Another article is "The Death of Emmet Crawford - Who Was to Blame?" by Shelley Hatfield in the Journal of Arizona History, Summer 1988, Vol 29. Both of these article cite "Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1886-87" and I was lucky enough to get access to at our local university library, and it is a wealth of information.

Keep me posted on how the reenactment is progressing.
Carol

Carol,
Thanks for the info. I was able to get a Journal of Arizona History Summer 1988, Vol 29 no. 2 off of Amazon for $7.00 shipped. The other I cannont find on my searches. Only one place that has several of the issues for $125. I'll just have to keep an eye out.
We have come across our first set back with the Prescott Park service. We were given a price to use a park for a weekend and told that a application would be sent out. A month passed by and when we checked, it looks like they are re-doing thier fee chart and it go up 300% and they will not giv a application till Nov. We cannot plan a significant event without a price locked in and a guarantee we will get use of the park on a given weekend. Also, Fort Verde is back pedaling and stating they will have to think about it some more as they have concerns for liability issues on such a re-eneactment.
We have not given up on the Crawford reenactment, but now have no set time and place we will be able to do it.
It is funny that the city/town of Prescott is pushing hard for, and promoting tourism, and Camp Verde is struggling to keep from being closed in the state cut backs, but when you offer to do something for them for free that will bring people in and interest to the area, they become difficult to deal with.
Anyway, a set back, but we'll get it done one way or another. I have 35 new uniforms that were just delivered last week that need to see some use.

Brian

Hi Brian,
I'm sorry to hear about hear about the problems for the location, but I am glad that you are not giving up on it. Do keep me posted on your progress because I really would like to see it. Meanwhile I will keep checking and let you know if I can find more info for you.
Carol

Hello Carol,
Yes we are having some frustrations with trying to do this reenactment presentation through a larger reenactment planned event. No support from the city at this point. We are researching some other locations and have a positive response from a local military school for next spring that looks promising. There are a few other timeline events in AZ fom Nov - Mar. We will be looking into one of those as to possibly make a test run. We have all the uniforms for the Mexican and US soldiers, but still short some bodies to fill them. We are speaking some other militraty groups to see if they will fill the rest for us, as they commonly do this at time line events. It may take some time, but we will get it done.
I am still gathering info on the fight down in Mex, so we can try to be as acurate to what happened. I am getting some different versions from different books, but still like the accounts from two officers present as the most reliable.
Thanks again for your help.

Brian

Hi Brian,

I meant to ask you if you had Lt. Maus account? I thought you probably did since it is available on the net. If not, you can google Marion Maus, and find it under Capt Maus, A Scout in the Sierra Madre. It is not his official report, but an account that he wrote later.

I do have copies of the official reports of Maus, Shipp, and several others which were printed the the Report of the Secretary of War, 1886, which I was lucky enough to find in the university library. There is also the official reply from the Mexican government containing statements of the Mexican soldiers, Santana Perez and several others. They had a very different version of the affair. I wish I had a way of getting copies to you because I am sure you would find the information valuable.

Carol

Hello Carol,

I do have the Lt. Maus account you refer to. As for the other accounts, I do not have. I just have a few different books that either mention it in a paragraph or two, or ogive several pages on it, as well as some info of the internet.
We do have a group page on Facebook and email that I monitor at "Fort Whipple Regulars" until our web page is finished. I do not do Facebook except for this page, but I do believe you can send docs on that, or to email for the group at fortwhippleregulars@yahoo.com . I would love to have the accounts, so I can try to have it follow what most likely happened. I would likely put little weight on the Mexican account since it apears it would have been in their best interest to "bend" the truth and omit some of their actions.
Looks like we have found an alternate site to have the event where this will be included. Probably won't be locked in to any site till Oct-Nov, and the group is focused on events we are doing over the next few months. It is possible we may try and sneak it in to a event before the end of the yar, just to see how if goes. Sort of a practice run before we do ours next year. There is a event in Phoenix this Oct/Nov that has good ground and plenty of reenactors there to pitch in.
If you can send copies of the accounts I would be sure to review them before I write up the reenactment script.
Thanks again,
Brian

Brian,

Thanks for the info. I will go through the reports and get them scanned so I can send them, probably the first of the week.
It really means a lot to me that your group feels that this is an important enough event to reenact. Often I feel that Captain Crawford did not get the recognition he deserved. I wonder what would have happened if he had not been killed that day and succeeded in bringing in Geronimo. But Crook's methods were not in favor with his superiors, and the whole fallout from Crawford's death turned into a political embarrassment to the government. The family always felt that the whole thing was just swept under the rug. And I have to admit that it seems a little unfair that Maus received the Medal of Honor (not that he didn't deserve it) but the man who gave his life trying to stop the fighting and salvage his mission did not receive any recognition. The more I research and write about his life, the more I realize that he was ahead of his time in many ways. He tried so very hard to treat the Indians fairly and as human beings in a time when many soldiers felt that "a good Indian was a dead Indian."
Well, I had best get off my soapbox. I didn't mean to ramble on so.
Thanks, Carol

Brian,

I haven't heard back from you on your reenactment and was wondering how your plans were working out.

I have been reviewing Capt. Crawford's ACP file, and found this interesting entry at the very end of the microfisch.

Crawford,E., Capt.3d Cav’y, deceased
“commended for energetic pursuit and gallant attack on hostile Apache Indians under Geronimo, near the Aros River, Mexico, and for a gallant effort on the following day (11th) in which he lost his life, to avoid the bloodshed caused by an attack of Chihuahua troops on his command near the same place”
January 10,l 1886. (G.O.No.39, N.G.A., April 9 1891)

It took five years after his death, but he did receive an official commendation for his part in this engagement. I don't remember seeing this anywhere else.

Carol

Hello Carol,

I came opon this site in doing some research on Capt. Emmet Crawford for my history club. I have noticed that there has been many different ways of spelling his first name. I have seen it as Emmet, Emmett and Emmitt with all three having the same but slightly different data coming up. Forgive me, I never intoduced my self. My name is Harry James Crawford III (Chance). My grandfather was Harry Crawford of Gothenburg Nebraska and his father was Carl Crawford which i believe makes Emmet his great uncle. I'm not sure if Carl's father was Zachary, Charles or Henry because Emmet never was married nor had any children. If you have any other family history on Emmet, I would be delighted to know.

Thank you,
Harry

Read through your comments concerning Captain Crawford.
I myself have been fascinated with the Jan.1886 battle.
Myself and several other friends have been involved with searching for and hopefully locating the actual site.
Would it possible to acquire the information on the accounts from the Mexican soldiers.
Maybe we could compare notes someday.
George Salvesen..Jorge
Retired Educator
Tucson,Arizona

replied to: azguy39







Replied To: Hello Carol

Read through your comments concerning Captain Crawford.
I myself have been fascinated with the Jan.1886 battle.
Myself and several other friends have been involved with searching for and hopefully locating the actual site.
Would it possible to acquire the information on the accounts from the Mexican soldiers.
Maybe we could compare notes someday.
George Salvesen..Jorge
Retired Educator
Tucson,Arizona
salvesg@gmail.com

Working myself on locating the Crawford battle site in Northern mexico. Are you available for communication?

Yes, I am still researching Crawford. Carol B

Hello Carol
Is your invitation on sharing still available. Would it possible to acquire the information on the accounts from the Mexican soldiers.
Having narrowed our search area to a likely location along the Aros River, we will again revisit this area in the Fall, in hopes of locating the actual battle Site..
Any information you may have come across involving the Mexican Soldiers accounts would be greatly appreciated.
Once again, thank you

George Salvesen
Retired Educator
Tucson, Arizona
salvesg@gmail.com