30 June 1854; Watrous, New Mexico: By the summer of 1854, the Jicarilla Apaches had lost their enthusiasm for large engagements with dragoons, but there were still occasional conflicts. An Apache raiding party north of Las Vegas, New Mexico, was heading back into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and had reached Sapello Creek, near the Mora River, not far from Fort Union, when they ran into Lt. Sykes, 3rd Infantry, with Company D and a detachment of Company H of the 2nd Dragoons.
Lt. Joseph E. Maxwell, 3rd Infantry, led a charge. A deadly hand-to-hand fight ensued. Maxwell had emptied his revolver and was in the act of sabering an Apache when he went down, bristling with arrows. A Pvt. Allen killed the Indian who shot the last arrow into Maxwell. Two men of Company H were wounded. The rest of the Apaches got away.
