“A distinction without a difference” at the Juh–Cushing battle site

Narrative textual sources of evidence provide unique views into the past, but with these come distinctive problems and as such are sometimes dismissed or used selectively. The search for and verification of the Arizona battlefield where the Apache leader Juh stalked and then killed 3rd Cavalry Lt. Howard B. Cushing in 1871 provides an opportunity to explore some of these matters. Foremost among these issues is the ways in which we can productively and systematically analyze narrative texts so as to remain transparent in the attending assumptions, trace each specific interpretative inference, and link divergent data sources, including on-the-ground evidence thereby making the product reproducible.