Vincent Colyer, Washington's first peace emissary, had made good progress with several other Apache bands but had failed completely in his efforts to find Cochise.  On the sidelines was General Crook, disgruntled at having been forced to step aside while the government experimented with this new softer approach to settling the Indian problems of Arizona and New Mexico.  He was delighted that Colyer had been called back and was ready to launch what he was certain would be a victorious campaign against Cochise.  It would be the crowning achievement to his already illustrious career, or so he thought.

     But his superiors once again ordered Crook to stand down.  President Grant was determined to give the new Peace Policy another try, choosing this time to send a one-armed Civil War hero by the name of General Otis Oliver Howard -- known to many as the Praying General.  Howard, a major general, outranked Crook and every other officer in the Southwest.  Crook was understandably unhappy about this turn of events but there was little he could do but greet General Howard upon the latter's arrival in Arizona and brief him as much as possible with respect to conditions.  Howard had intended to meet with Cochise without delay, but soon learned how elusive the powerful chief could be.  Cochise had already left Cañada Alamosa for parts unknown to the Whites, making Howard's job much more complicated.  He traveled to Fort Apache and sent messengers into the field, hoping they might get wind of where Cochise had headed.  Meanwhile, he managed to do some good for the Western Apaches in that region who had compiled a long list of grievances concerning their treatment on the newly formed Tularosa reservation. 

     When it became evident that Cochise's whereabouts were not to be easily discovered, General Howard postponed that element of his mission long enough to round up several important Western Apaches and escort them back to Washington, where they would meet with President Grant and be systematically subjected to the overwhelming superiority of the White Man's world -- the object being either to impress upon them the hopelessness of any future resistance or to inspire them to emulate the Anglo concept of civilization, depending upon your point of view. 

   Howard returned to Arizona in July of 1872, this time bringing with him a young assistant named Joseph Alton Sladen, whose personal journal was to record for posterity the pivotal and historic mission about to unfold.