Bonneville Expedition (1857)

Bonneville Expedition
Part of the Apache Wars
General Benjamin Bonneveille, circa 1861.
Date May - July 1857 Location New Mexico and Arizona Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States	Apache
Commanders and leaders
Benjamin Bonneville	Black Knife †
Strength
~800	unknown
Casualties and losses
2 killed 7 wounded	~50 killed or wounded 54 captured

The Bonneville Expedition was a military operation launched by the United States Army in 1857 at the beginning of the Chiricahua Apache Wars. Colonel Benjamin Bonneville, Lieutenant Dixon S. Miles, and Colonel William W. Loring commanded parties which headed west from Fort Fillmore, New Mexico Territory. The expedition quickly engaged Apaches in two small but significant battles, the first in the Black Range and the second along the Gila River near present-day Safford, Arizona.

In late May, responding to the threat from constant Apache raids, Colonel Bonneville organized a two-pronged expedition into Apacheria. Hundreds of troops assembled at Fort Fillmore and Albuquerque. Colonel William W. Loring commanded the northern column, which left from Albuquerque for the Mogollon Mountains, while Miles commanded the southern column, which would advance west along the Gila. Bonneville accompanied the southern column but Miles was in command. Altogether about 800 infantry, cavalry and Pueblo scouts were involved, 600 of whom were part of Bonneville's column.

Colonel Loring's command was the first to make contact with the enemy. Chief Black Knife and his band were in the area with 2,000 head of stolen sheep. On May 24, 1857, Loring's force caught up with the Apaches in the Black Range near the Mogollons after pursuing them for days. At a little rocky valley the Apaches were attacked and defeated at their camp. Seven warriors were killed and left on the field while the rest fled into the mountains. Chief Black Knife was one of the killed, nine others were captured and all of the livestock was recaptured. There were no American casualties in the engagement.

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