The
Battle of Bear Valley was a small engagement fought in 1918 between a band of
Yaquis and a detachment of
United States Army soldiers. On January 9, 1918, elements of the American
10th Cavalry Regiment detected about thirty armed
Yaquis in Bear Valley,
Arizona, a large area that was commonly used as a passage across the international border with
Mexico. A short firefight ensued, which resulted in the death of the Yaqui commander and the capture of nine others. Though the conflict was merely a skirmish, it was the last time the United States Army engaged hostile
native Americans in combat and thus has been seen as one of the final battles of the
American Indian Wars.