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following them through deep canons + over high snow covered mountains but they could not again be overtaken, they were broken up into small bands, their trails leading in different directions, if one of the trails were followed, the pursuing party found itself at night nearly in the same place as that from which it marched in the morning. The Jicarilla Apache Indians are the worst kind of Indian to pursue because after having been attacked they always retreat in small parties and having no baggage are able to travel for several days without food, this makes it impossible for the regular troops to overtake them. They were followed six days and then the cmdg. officer finding that they could not be caught concluded to march to Abiquiu, a Mexican village situated on the Rio Chama river a tributary of the Rio Del Norte, for the purpose of recreating? his animals. He arrived there about the 14th April. The party that had returned with the wounded man met a Utah Indian on their march whom they took prisoner and deprived of his arms + horse, later this Indian made his escape and found his tribe.Col. Cooke fearing that such treatment given a friendly Indian by his? belonging t his party might cause the tribe of which he was a member to join the Indians who were at war. I immediately set out for my agency at Taos, sent a man to the village of the Utahs + invited their head men to come and talk the matter over with me. A short time after my arrival several of them came + I told them that the soldiers, who had captured one of their tribe had done so thinking that he was an Apache that the Americans did not wish to do them any