The Battle of Devil's Creek was a military engagement during Geronimo's War, fought on May 22, 1885 near Alma, New Mexico.

Though it was a minor skirmish, it was the first battle of the Geronimo campaign and ended after the Apaches were routed from their positions.

That day the renegades had killed two miners near Alma and stole some horses so on May 17 Captain Allen Smith set out from Fort Apache, Arizona and headed for the site of the latest murder.

Smith was leading a force of two companies from the 4th Cavalry and some of the Apache Scouts under Lieutenants Leighton Finley and Charles B. Gatewood.

On the sixth day Smith's command was riding through canyonlands along Devil's Creek, in the Mogollon Mountains, when suddenly the Apaches opened fire with rifles from the top of a large cliff.

The soldiers and scouts who fought in the battle believed Geronimo was leading the renegades but author Gregory Michno says it was a warrior named Chihuahua.

Two men, Pvt Haag, Troop “A,” shot in right thigh, and Pvt Williams, Troop “K,” slightly wounded in arm, and one scout shot, quite badly—through left arm—one horse killed and another wounded, belonging to Troop“A—were the casualties on our side.

Parker, Gatewood, Lockett & Finley, 10th Cavy, men and Scouts all behaved remarkably well.

The Indians were evidently laying for us, as they had made their trail so they could have had a cross fire on the command as we climbed the Mt.

[5]One American soldier, in a post-war account of the engagement, said that "several men had been bathing in the stream when the Indians opened up and they carried on the fight in their birthday uniforms."

In a few minutes some of the men pushed forward and discovered the hostile camp on the plateau, about 500 yards from the summit.

[7]On June 1, 1885 the Department of Arizona's commander, General George Crook, sent a telegram to the Division of the Pacific in San Francisco, California: "Captain Smith reports that he has the best of the main body of Indians.

Will send a detachment to vicinity of Steven’s Ranch on Eagle Creek with a view to picking up any who may try to skulk back to the Reservation."