A Book Review and a Bit of History

George Nicholas Owings Bascom, 1836-1862

 "History has been hard on Bascom and his judgment,
 but there can be little doubt about his courage. . ." 
- Terry Mort, The Wrath of Cochise

 What do the Apache Wars of the American Southwest have to do with Owingsville, Kentucky?  Well, actually quite a bit.

 In January of 1861, a young, inexperienced second lieutenant was called upon to track down a group of Chiricahua Apache Indians who had been accused of  kidnapping a twelve year old boy.  It was the second lieutenant's first big assignment and one that would end up being referred to in Native American oral history as "Cut- the-Tent."

 Cut-the-Tent - it is called that because after the young second lieutenant (a graduate of West Point) had invited a chief named Cochise to come inside his temporary abode to discuss the whereabouts of the child and partake of coffee, the young officer abruptly stated that he was holding Cochise (and his party) prisoner until he brought forth the missing boy, a pronouncement that caused Cochise to pull a knife, cut the tent, and escape.

But it doesn't end there.

Cochise escaped, coffee cup still in hand according to legend, but the rest of his party didn't. The young lieutenant held them as hostages, which caused Cochise to go get some hostages of his own (some very unlucky folks who were riding through in a wagon train).  There was a standoff.  Cochise made it known he wanted his people back (his wife, son, and brother were among the ones being held).  The young lieutenant wouldn't give in, perhaps thinking the hostages were his only way out of the mess he had gotten himself into.  Hostages were held and then hostages were killed, including the chief's brother.   It got ugly fast and many scholars claim the incident was the trigger for the Apache Wars, while others say it didn't exactly cause the Apache Wars, but most definitely embittered the Apache even more towards the whites. 

 That's very much the condensed version but you get the gist.

 Cut-the-Tent  is more commonly called The Bascom Affair because George Nicholas Bascom, native son of Owingsville, Kentucky, and grandson of the town's namesake, Thomas D. Owings, was the young second lieutenant at the heart of the story.

 If you want to read more about The Bascom Affair, I highly recommend Terry Mort's The Wrath of Cochise.  Mort presents a very balanced view of the incident, explaining, for instance, that although Bascom had graduated from West Point, his education there would have in no way prepared him for Indian warfare. In fact, while Bascom is often portrayed as inept in regard to his handling of the incident, Mort argues that it is possible that Bascom was actually drawing upon his military training in making some key decisions.  For instance, Bascom's hostage holding was probably done in part to guard against a direct assault against his troops, but the Apaches rarely engaged in such a tactic (preferring guerrilla warfare), a fact Bascom most likely didn't know and certainly hadn't been taught.

 Mort doesn't let Bascom off the hook, but he does attempt to explain why Bascom made the decisions he did.   He also doesn't allow Bascom to bear the entire weight of the blame, as some seem fond of doing.

He mentions Owingsville a few times, which might make his book especially intriguing for anyone with roots here.

 By the way, Bascom was promoted to captain and was killed by Confederate forces in the Battle of Val Verde.  Fort Bascom was named for him, but he is buried in an unmarked grave.

You can find a short overview of the Bascom Affair on Wikipedia.
You can buy Terry Mort's book at Amazon or check it out at the library.

 I'll warn you, once I started reading about The Bascom Affair, I got hooked! ~ Ginger
Apache Pass, the place where Bascom and Cochise met.


The historic marker for Fort Bascom, named after one of Bath County's own.



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