25 and 30 December 1869; Southeastern New Mexico: As part of a punitive operative against Mescalero Apaches, Lt. Howard B. Cushing left Fort Stanton on 10 December with a detachment of Company F, 3rd Cavalry, and 28 civilian volunteers, moving into the Guadalupe Mountains in New Mexico. Near the old stage stop at Pine Spring, just inside the Texas border, the men attacked an Apache rancheria. After a quick exchange of shots, the troopers burned the huts, destroyed the winter provisions, and captured a large number of ponies. Several Mescaleros were hit in the fight, and Lt. Franklin Yeaton, fresh out of West Point, was wounded in the wrist and hand.
Yeaton's wound was severe but did not appear life-threatening. The soldiers fashioned a travois to carry the injured man out, through heavy snow, to a sheltered camp on the Rio Penasco. Though he lived for two and a half more years, Yeaton's wound ultimately proved fatal. on 30 December Cushing took his strongest men and horses back to the scene. At the mouth of McKittrick Canyon, about five miles northeast of his first assault, Cushing found the Apaches mourning their dead. He attacked, scattering them.
Casualties were not recorded.
