Side Trail
The 2nd Battle Of Cibeque Creek
John Duncklee
Roberto and Julio rode their Sicilian burros into Cibeque Creek to cool the burros’ hooves. It was only five more miles to the Apache camp, where they hoped to engage the Indians in one last battle. This battle would hopefully prove that two Italian mercenaries could do the job better than the U.S. Cavalry in time of war or peace whatever the case might be. It was late in the year and the two warriors from Rome figured the Apache would be out harvesting piñon nuts and preparing for winter that was coming soon in the land of the setting sun where deer and antelope go to Florida for the winter.
As they reined their burros away from the creek they knew they were close in their quest for the Apache warriors. These “savages”, as the Army generals called them, had slaughtered the U.S. Cavalry at Cibeque. As they rode up the trail Roberto and Julio broke into an Italian operatic aria and the cliffs surrounding Cibecue Creek echoed the beautiful sound emanating from the throats of the two Italian mercenaries. They were determined to find the Apache raiders who had put a dent in the number of U.S. Cavalry regimental units. The casualties included a number of officers as well as enlisted men who had succumbed to the ire and weaponry expertise of the Native Americans on the warpath. The survivors had described the blood curdling yells and the looks of deep hatred on the faces of the warriors to the Italian mercenaries before they left the fort.
Three miles later and still singing, Roberto and Julio, encountered the warring band of Apaches seated on the ground in a natural amphitheater watching and listening to the two operatic marvels as they rode in on their faithful burros. They belted out the arias from famed Italian operas with such buoyant sound that the Apache warriors sat mesmerized by the sound and sight. Each of the warriors tried to think about the burros for supper but the two Italian mercenaries kept singing. The Apache warriors forgot about supper and instead began to pass the bottles of tiswin, a powerful drink made from fermented corn. The headman among the war party took a bottle of tiswin to the Italian mercenaries and handed it to Roberto. He nodded his gratitude, took a deep draught from the bottle, and handed it to Julio who did the same before handing the bottle back to the headman. The chief returned to the circle of warriors. The Italian mercenaries continued the concert until all the Apache warriors were asleep from the vast amounts of tiswin they had consumed.
The Italian mercenaries stopped singing and Roberto stood toward the direction from whence they arrived and whistled several times. A string of twenty burros came plodding in to the amphitheater where the two Italian mercenaries opened the panniers and extracted handcuffs. They began installing the cuffs on the sleeping Apache warriors. After accomplishing manacling the Apaches the mercenaries attached them all to a long but lightweight chain. Roberto and Julio took their long awaited naps under the piñon trees surrounding the amphitheater. When they awakened they found the Apache warriors attempting to rub each other’s heads with cuffed hands. Those crania were the targets of four hundred hangovers. The two Italian mercenaries clapped their hands the sound of which made the hungover Apaches suffer further until they began moaning.
The previous account is most assuredly the most amazing feat of any military people during the entire period of the wars against the Apache. The two Italian mercenaries tied the warriors in a line behind the twenty burros and led them to Fort Apache. The commandant of the decimated U.S. Cavalry unit met them on the parade ground with the remaining men of the 144th regimental combat team along with the only remaining faithful Apache scouts. All were amazed at the prowess of the Italian mercenaries. The chief scout approached the commandant and whispered something in his ear. The commandant informed the mercenaries that the four hundred prisoners were suffering badly for want to urinate. “Your prisoners cannot accomplish this with their hands locked behind them without wetting themselves,” the commandant said. “According to Apache culture wetting themselves is considered a disgrace.”
The two Italian mercenaries sprang into action immediately and unlocked the cuffs on each Apache warrior and relocked their wrists in front so that they could relieve themselves properly.
The result made the commandant, his remnant regimental combat team and the two Italian mercenaries run for high ground to escape the flash flood that historians would later name the first hundred-year flood of the nineteenth century in Arizona Territory.
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