An account of the conflict at Bloody Tanks by Daniel Conner:

"Woolsey came and quite a number of men from the upper Hassayampa joined his party, in all amounting to nearly forty men. This was the first party organized to go after the Indians, both to recapture stock and to chastise them for taking it. This party took the trail of the stock and followed it at least a hundred miles into the Apache strongholds of central Arizona, directly east of our woods."

"We had been out nearly two weeks on the alert in this pursuit, when one pretty sunny morning we were surprised by a sudden appearance of a horde of Apaches filing around the mountain above us. I thought that they might number about two hundred and fifty. Quite an expression about the probable results took place amongst our "boys" in sotto voice. One suggested that we had better make a treaty with them. "No," responded another, "they are all too much primped up with paint and feathers to come for a treaty."

"At this moment Woolsey bid them good morning in Spanish. This salutationwas promptly answered in broken Spanish. The ice was now broken and quite a talk took place, all of which resulted in an agreement to have a regular pow-wow."

"They evidently intended that no men of our party should ever escape and their preparation to carry out that intent was complete. But the difficulty with them was that they wanted to succeed with little or no loss and they felt certain that in an open and bold conflict these "pale faces" would do much damage. So they were not adverse to a pretended treaty pow-wow during which they expected to get the advantage."

"According to agreement six of their chiefs met five of ours about halfway between the two forces. Woolsey acted as chief on our side and warned us to be constantly on the watch and that he would raise his hat with his left hand for a signal by which to begin the attack."

" The eleven commissioners were engaged together midway between the hostile forces for an hour. Laughingly telling his men to be ready and telling Lenon to take the Indian who was leaning upon his lance, he raised his hat with one hand and drew his six-shooter with the other, and in an instant every chief was killed. The pistol became the weapon of wicked effect in the midst of this accidental entanglement where the savages were so crowded for a moment that every shot must have either killed or wounded. They were so confused by the sudden and unexpected loss of their captains that they seemed to be paralyzed and hopelessly stupid."

"When they gave way they became totally demoralized and fled in confusion around the foot of the mountain and up a narrow hollow. This created a desperately wicked running fight."

"We never knew how many Indians were killed upon this occasion and never waited to count them, but hurriedly prepared to leave this unholy place. We had several wounded, but only one man killed. We tied Lenon's body on a pack and carried it for nearly twenty miles southerly and buried it on the Gila River bottom in a lonely and wild place where I have nver been since nor heard of any one else ever being there."

"Our apparent treachery in thus taking the advantage of the Indians to make this attack was justified because the men who composed the party were experienced in Indian fighting and they had learned this tricky lesson from the Apaches, who upon this occasion intended to do the same thing."

Joseph Reddeford Walker and the Arizona Adventure by Daniel Ellis Conner, p.171-176