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From True West’s Online Forum
Al Sieber was chief of scouts for Gen. George Crook during the Apache Wars. Born in Germany, he came to America in 1849. He was a tough, relentless fighter who had, at times, 100 Apache scouts under his command. He was badly wounded in 1887 during an incident involving the Apache Kid.
After surviving all sorts of hardships, Sieber was killed in 1907 in a construction accident—a rock fell on him while he was working near the Roosevelt Dam. It was rumored that one of his Apache workers, carrying a grudge, pushed the rock on him. Lieutenant Britton Davis said of the old scout, “If there was ever a man who actually did not know physical fear, that man was Sieber.”
Apache Wars authority Dan Thrapp wrote an excellent biography on him, titled Al Sieber: Chief of Scouts, published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 1964.
Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official historian. His books include The Arizona Trilogy and Law of the Gun.
If you have a question, write:
Ask the Marshall PO Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327
or e-mail him at marshall.trimble@sccmail.maricopa.edu
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