Massacre on the Lordsburg Road: A Tragedy of the Apache Wars (Elma Dill Russell Spencer Series in the West and Southwest)

Massacre on the Lordsburg Road: A Tragedy of the Apache Wars (Elma Dill Russell Spencer Series in the West and Southwest) by Simmons, Marc. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780890967720.

In the spring of 1883 Apache raiders massacred Judge H.C. McComas and his wife Juniata and kidnapped their six-year-old son Charley as the family traveled on a desolate road in southwestern New Mexico Territory. At the time, the circumstances leading to this tragic incident were not fully understood. In Massacre on the Lordsburg Road, historian Marc Simmons brings to light one of the last massacres of the Indian wars, revealing exactly why and how the three McComases met their deaths. Simmons recounts the raids leading up to the massacre and Gen. George Crooks subsequent Sierra Madre campaign. This was the first use of the "Hot Pursuit Treaty" signed between the United States and Mexico in 1882, allowing troops of either country to follow hostile Indians across the border. The reason why a reputably wise and able man like Judge McComas would lead his family into such grave danger, the pursuit of the Apaches into Mexico by General Crook, and the ironic circumstances of Charley McComass death during an attack by Crooks troops on the Apache camp illustrate that past events were as complex and sometimes as confusing as those today. Though academically thorough in its exploration, the popular style of delivery of Massacre on the Lordsburg Road will capture and hold the interest of general readers of Indian history.