Battle of Bear Valley

Battle of Bear Valley
Part of the Yaqui Wars, American Indian Wars

10th Cavalry soldiers holding Yaqui prisoners at their camp in Bear Valley, January 9, 1918.
DateJanuary 9, 1918
Location
Bear Valley, Arizona
Result United States victory, successful Yaqui delaying action.
Belligerents
 United States Yaqui
Commanders and leaders
United States Frederick H.L. Ryder unknown
Strength
~30 light cavalry ~30 warriors
Casualties and losses
none 1 killed
9 captured

The Battle of Bear Valley was a small engagement fought in 1918 between a band of Yaquis and a detachment of United States Army soldiers. On January 9, 1918, elements of the American 10th Cavalry Regiment of Buffalo Soldiers detected about thirty armed Yaquis in Bear Valley, west of Nogales, Arizona, a large area that was commonly used as a passage across the international border with Mexico. A short firefight ensued, which resulted in the death of the Yaqui commander and the capture of nine others. Though the conflict was merely a skirmish, it was the last time the United States Army and Native Americans engaged in combat and thus has been seen as the final official battle of the American Indian Wars.[1][2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Martínez, Oscar J (1996). U.S.–Mexico borderlands : historical and contemporary perspectives. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources. pp. 130–131. ISBN 0842024468.