Yuma Crossing
Immediately after the Mexican–American War in 1848, the U.S. Army built Fort Yuma here to protect travelers from Indians raiding the area. It was the center point of conflict in the Yuma War of 1850–53. From 1864–1890, the fort and nearby facilities was the main army base to support the US Army's efforts to control the Indians throughout the greater southwest.
Yavapai War
The Yavapai War, also known as the Tonto War, or the Apache War, was an armed conflict in the United States from 1871 to 1875 against Yavapai and Western Apache bands of Arizona. It began in the aftermath of the Camp Grant Massacre, on April 28, 1871, in which nearly 150 Pinal and Aravaipa Apaches were massacred by O'odham warriors and American settlers. Some of the survivors fled north into the Tonto Basin to seek protection by their Yavapai and Tonto allies. From there followed a series of United States Army campaigns, under the direction of General George Crook, to return the natives to the reservation system. The war culminated with the Yavapai's removal from the Camp Verde Reservation to San Carlos on February 27, 1875, an event now known as Exodus Day. The conflict should not be confused with the Chiricahua War, which was fought primarily between the Americans and the Chiricahua warriors of Cochise between 1860 and 1873.