September 8-10, 1877; Alma, New Mexico: On 2 September 1877, about 300 Apaches under Victorio, Loco, and Pionsenay broke out of the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona. The bands, Mimbres and Chiricahuas, split up into many groups and each took its own path to old homelands or perceived safety. The breakout coincided with the recent arrival of two scouting parties at Fort Thomas: Lt. Robert Hanna, with Companies B and M, Sixth Cavalry, and Company D of the Hualapai Scouts, from Fort Huachuca; and Lt. John A. Rucker, with eighteen men of Companies H and L, Sixth Cavalry, and twenty-three Indian scouts, from Fort Bowie. In addition, Capt. Tulius C. Tupper, with Company G, Sixth Cavalry, had just ridden in from Camp Grant..
With hardly any time to rest, the combined units, under the command of Captain Tupper, rode out after the Apaches. Es-kin-e-la and his San Carlos Indian Police joined them. With the Apaches splitting up, backtracking, and crossing trails, the pursuit proved difficult. Tupper, with about sixty Indian scouts and seventy soldiers, trailed a large Apache band to the northeast, crossing the Gila Mountains, the Blue River, and the San Francisco Mountains into western New Mexico Territory.
On 8 September just before sundown, Tupper's Indian scouts, ranging ahead of the troopers, caught up with one band of renegades near the San Francisco River, north of present-day Alma. They killed five Apaches and captured seven women and children. The next morning, the Apaches swept through several ranches in the area, stealing stock and killing about twelve men. Then the bands split up again, with Victorio likely heading east toward his old home near Ojo Caliente and Pionsenay heading south toward Mexico.
On 9 September, Tupper's main command reached the San Francisco River and headed downstream in pursuit of Pionsenay's band. As usual, the scouts ranged ahead, and the next day, they fought again with the Apaches, killing seven and capturing six. On 13 September the command crossed the divide to the Gila River, but Pionsenay had gotten away to the south. Tupper and his men followed the Gila back to Fort Thomas.
