Camp Rucker Timeline

After the Chiricahua Apache Indian Reservation was abolished in June 1876, Apaches not relocated to other reservations were labeled renegades, and military patrols were sent throughout southeastern Arizona in search of them. Camp Supply was established in March 1878 just north of the International Border near San Bernardino Ranch to provide supplies and assist patrols pursuing renegade Indians, but because it was poorly situated for grazing and the Governor of Sonora protested its proximity to the Border, it was moved in April 1878 to a point near the junction of the main creeks in White River Canon, known today as Rucker Canyon, on the west side of the Chiricahua Mountains. From April to June 1878, 2nd Lieutenant John A. “Tony” Rucker and 1st Lieutenant Austin Henely, commanding Company C and Company D Indian Scouts, were stationed there, and their Indian soldiers were used in patrols searching for Indians and as escorts along major travel routes. In July 1878, Rucker and Henely drowned in White River Canyon during a flash flood, and in December 1878 Camp Supply was renamed Camp Rucker in honor of Rucker. The camp was formally abandoned in November 1880, but Michael Gray purchased the property in 1883 under a squatters claim to start a ranch. During the Geronimo campaign from May to September 1886, various troops of the 4th Cavalry and Indian Scouts used the camp for scouting and observation, with heliograms used in the canyon and a heliographic station on a nearby peak. After Fort Bowie at the northern end of the Chiricahuas was abandoned in 1894, ranchers in Rucker Canyon received poorer mail service and experienced greater isolation than in previous years. In April and May 1896, Troop E of the 7th Cavalry under Lieutenant Bullock used the old camp as a base for scouting expeditions. From 1883 to 1970, Camp Rucker became Old Camp Rucker Ranch, serving as the home and ranch headquarters of four successive families: Michael Gray, Theodore and Mathilde Hampe, Charles and Mary Rak, and Ella Dana, before the property was transferred to Forest Service ownership by Mrs. Ella Dana in 1970.

Arizona · United States