It was March 30th of 1866, the third day of the campaign led by Lt. John D. Walker into the eastern sector of the Arizona Territory. Captain Michael Marion and his troops conducted a search and destroy operation along the Salt River Valley, which led them into a series of hit-and-run skirmishes with Chief Death Star and his tribe. At fi rst the soldiers suffered significant casualties but they continued to push the renegades deeper into the valley until they were certain they were trapped along the mountainside in a horseshoe bracket.
“We"ve got the devils dead to rights,” Marion stood along a hillcrest overlooking the valley, peering through his telescope as his Pima volunteers made their way down the northern end of the valley, his cavalry troops sealing off the southern end. A jackrabb
