Reuben E. Mays

Jeff Davis County, Texas
Reuben E. Mays

     On August 8, with the Confederate commissioners feeling confident that all was well, Nicolas was sent back to Fort Davis. On the stagecoach ride back to the Fort, however, Nicolas revealed his true colors. He stole Colonel McCarty’s revolver from its holster and leapt out of the coach, disappearing into the brush before the coach could stop. He was soon back with his band, and they all no doubt shared a good laugh at the foolishness of the whites.
     The next day (August 9), Nicolas and his warriors stole most of the Fort Davis stock herd, killing two guards in the process. A small detachment of Confederate cavalrymen was sent out in pursuit, consisting of 14 men commanded by Lieutenant Reuben E. Mays. Unknown to them, these men were riding to their doom.
     The Apaches had not gone very far when, on August 10, they were overtaken by the Confederate detachment. In a quick attack, Mays and his men succeeded in recapturing about 100 head of horses, but the main force of the Apaches escaped without loss. When the Confederates caught up to them again later that day, they were posted in what one historian has called "their favorite defensive layout...warriors on both sides of a narrow canyon, where there was plenty of cover, and only one road in." It was obviously a deathtrap, and their Mexican guide could smell an ambush. "If we go in there," he said, "not one of us will come out alive." Mays was impressed by this warning, and replied simply, "Well then, we won’t go in."
     However, to his distress Mays found himself immediately at odds with his men over this decision. "We aren’t cowards," they protested. "Let’s go in there and lick hell out of them!" Bullied into submission, Mays relented, and, against his better judgement, gave the order to advance. The Confederates charged into the canyon, and were met by a hail of fire from Nicolas's 100 cunningly placed Apache warriors.
     The whole affair was over in less than ten minutes with Lieutenant Mays and all but one of his men killed (the sole survivor being the same Mexican scout who had warned against advancing into the canyon in the first place, who fled with news of the massacre back to Fort Davis). Most of the bodies were never found. A search party sent to the site found only "hats, boots, and a number of horses that had been killed, besides several bodies of men who were recognized as men of Lieutenant Mays' party."

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