He had not more than ing the top of the mesa. made his appearance here until they commenced firing upon him. He then gave his first sergeant fifteen men, with orders to occupy the hill nearest the mesa and try to make the Indians leave their stronghold near the dead men. This fire had great effect on them as several men were killed from this point. He again returned to the place where the animals were left and gave Captain Adams all the men he could spare, with orders to report to Lieutenant Lafferty to make a charge and get the bodies of the dead men. Just as Captain Adams arrived and was about to report to Lieutenant Lafferty, he, Lieutenant Lafferty, was shot, the ball taking effect in the cheek, breaking and carrying away the greater portion of the lower jaw, the bullet and broken bones greatly lacerating his face. Success was now made a loss, and there being no place where the command could camp in this vicinity out of gunshot range of the hill, besides which the whole country being thickly settled with timber, night appeared very dark, as it had been raining all day, the Colonel thought it best to withdraw and not lose more men in the vain attempt to dislodge the enemy, which could not have been done with twice the number of men. In his report the Colonel says: "The men all fought well, and no men could have done better than they did. I feel certain that I could not have dislodged the Indians with a hundred and fifty men without losing at least one-half of them. The Indians were brave, but many of them must have been killed and wounded.' He is returning to the place of ac tion on the night of the 24th, with every man mounted. He says further: "The enlisted Indians you have sent me will be of great assistance to me in finding the camp at night, and, I hope, in a more accessible place. I will march altogether by night, when I can follow the trail. In contending with Cochise I do not think I exaggerate when I say that we are contending with one of the most intelligent hostile Indians on the continent.' "Eighteen Indians are known to have been killed during the fight, and in Colonel Barnard's command two privates were killed, and Lieutenant Lafferty was wounded." CHAPTER III. EXPEDITIONS INTO INDIAN COUNTRY. BANTA, COOLEY AND DODD ORGANIZE EXPE- A. F. Banta figured as prominently in the early history of Arizona as any other American. As we have seen, he came into the Territory with the Gubernatorial Party, and his activities thereafter cover almost every line of work. In 1866 he was adopted into the Zuni tribe. He was a scout for General Crook, and in 1871 discovered what is now known as Meteoric Crater, in Crater Canyon, while carrying dispatches from Fort Whipple. Banta's own story of the discovery follows: "In 1871 I was acting as scout and guide for Lieutenant Wheeler, who was at the head of an expedition exploring the Canyon Diablo. I was always scouting out around whenever the expedition was in camp, and one day I came to the edge of a great saucer-shaped hole in the |