Hatch, finding himself outgeneraled and…
source date: 1891
availability: public-domain

rio defeated Hatch and whip- ped the ninth cavalry at San Andreas, it was Roman Chiquito who tenderly nursed and cared for his friend. Captain Henry Carrol, of the Ninth Cavalry, when that gallant officer was shot through the body, a victim of Hatch’s “su- perior generalship.” Hatch, finding himself outgeneraled and outfought at every point by the hostile chief, sought to regain his lost prestige by an unpro- voked attack upon the then peaceable Mesca- leros. He invited them to meet him in council at the Mescalero agency. Unsuspicious of dan- ger they came ; Hatch surrounded them with the ninth and tenth regiments of cavalry, and without warning opened fire upon the mass of men, women and children. Twenty-two Mesca- leros, mostly women and children, were left dead ; the remainder broke through the lines of soldiery and fled to the mountains threatening ( 25 ) to take a bloody vengeance. It was then that Roman Chiquito accompanied the writer to the frenzied Mescaleros in their White Mountain fastness where they were preparing for a gen- eral massacre. Through his earnest persuasions they were induced to abstain from war, return to the agency and rely upon the good faith of the government to redress their wongs ; a hope, it is perhaps needless to say, that was never realized.