USA > Arizona > Arizona, prehistoric, aboriginal, pioneer, modern; the nation's youngest commonwealth within a land of ancient culture, Vol. I > Part 23
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BAYLOR AND THE "ARIZONA GUARDS"
HEADQUARTERS SECOND REGIMENT, TEXAS M. R. MESILLA, March 20, 1862.
CAPTAIN HELM, Commanding Arizona Guards:
SIR: I learn from Lieutenant Colonel Jackson that the Indians have been at your post for the purpose of making a treaty. The Congress of the Confederate States has passed a law declaring extermination of all hostile Indians. You will therefore use all possible means to persuade the Apaches or any other tribes, to come in, for making peace; and, when you get them together, kill all the grown Indians and take the children prisoners, and sell them to defray the expenses of killing the Indians.
Buy whiskey and such other goods as may be necessary for the Indians, and I will order vouchers given to cover the amount expended.
Leave nothing undone to assure success and have a sufficient number of men around to allow no Indians to escape. Say nothing about your orders till the time arrives and be cautious how you let the Mexicans know it. If you can't trust them, send to Captain Aycock at this place and he will send you thirty men from his company. Better use the Mexicans, if they can be trusted, as bringing troops from here might excite suspicion with the Indians.
To your judgment I entrust this important matter, and look for success against these cursed pests who have already murdered over one hundred men in this Territory.
JOHN R. BAYLOR, Col. commanding 2d Reg. T. M. R.
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That the Guards were not inactive was shown by an action near Pinos Altos in September, 1881, a detachment under Captain Martin driving Apaches from an attack upon the camp. Near the same point the Guards saved a wagon train, when a massacre was imminent. From the dates given, it is evident that the organization was active before officially recognized in Richmond. It is assumed that it was largely composed of Spanish-speaking residents of the border settlements.
Baylor, who also was charged with poisoning food left behind for Indian consumption, left the Confederate army to become a member of the Confederate Congress from Texas. Late in 1864 he addressed President Jefferson Davis, pre- senting a plan to lead a strong force through New Mexico and Arizona to Cali- fornia. Beyond the political advantage that would be gained, Baylor laid stress upon the advantage that would be gained by the Confederacy in possessing and working the silver and gold mines of the conquered localities. But even Davis appreciated that the plan had been broached a trifle too late.
CONFEDERATE INVASION OF ARIZONA
The Confederates sent a scouting column westward, comprising one company of mounted rifles, about 100 men, under command of Capt. S. Hunter. Without incident on the way, it reached Tucson, February 28, 1862, the Captain reporting that his arrival was hailed by a majority of the population, within which the southerners were on the point of leaving, to look for safety among their southern brethren on the Rio Grande. Soon was the departure of a political agent, who, on March 3, started southward with an escort of twenty men under Lieutenant Tevis. The emissary was Colonel Reilly, sent with a letter from General Sibley to Governor Pesquiera of Sonora. Reilly returned reporting that he had made a favorable treaty, though he really had little success other than arranging for the purchase of supplies for gold, the Mexicans refusing to consider Confederate currency. A copy of Sibley's letter found its way to General Wright, at San Francisco, leading that officer to address a strong note to Pesquiera warning the Governor that he must not permit rebel forces to pass the frontier. Carleton, from Fort Yuma, also addressed Pesquiera against any dealings with the enemy.
The same date Hunter started with the rest of his command for the Pima villages, where he confiscated 1,500 sacks of wheat and a miscellaneous lot of property and arrested the Indian trader, A. M. White. The wheat was given back to the Indians, from whom it had been bought by White. While at the Pima villages awaiting the arrival of a train of fifty wagons, reported to have been sent for the grain from Yuma, the Confederate pickets discovered the approach of a detachment of the First California Cavalry, consisting of Cap- tain McCleave and nine men, who were surprised and captured without firing a gun. The Captain and Trader White were sent in charge of Lieutenant Swilling to the Rio Grande. McCleave was exchanged later for two lieutenants and re- turned to duty with his old regiment. After his capture he proposed to Cap- tain Hunter that he should be allowed to fight Hunter's whole company with his nine men, but Hunter declined. Hunter, a vigorous officer, sent westward a raiding party that destroyed hay and supplies which had been provided at six stations on the overland road and which got within fifty miles of the Colorado, the Confederacy's westernmost mark.
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA SCHOOL OF MINES As it appeared March 26, 1889
1
PALACE
CIGAR STORE
FETIH
SHAVING I
MARPDOING 2.
CONGRESS STREET BEFORE THE REMOVAL OF THE "WEDGE" Gambling wide open
----
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GOVERNOR'S RESIDENCE WHEN CAPITOL WAS IN TUCSON
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Following MeCleave's scouting party was a stronger force, started from Fort Yuma early in April, under Captain Wm. P. Calloway, comprising Callo- way's company of the First California Infantry, and a part of Co. K, together with two small howitzers, with orders to proceed as far as Tucson. The com- mand passed the Pima villages and on April 15, 1862, came in touch with Hunt- er's retreating force. Lieut. James Barrett, with a detachment of cavalry, made a wide detour and struck the enemy on the flank at Picacho Pass and fought whatever action there was. Barrett and two of his men were killed and three were wounded. Two of the Confederates were wounded and three were made prisoners. The dead were buried where they fell, within a short distance of the line later taken through the pass by the Southern Pacific. Calloway overruled protests and insisted on retreating, though his force was superior to that of Hunter, which he could have chased into Texas. He fell back as far as Stan- wix, where was met the advance of the California Column, under Lieutenant- Colonel West. This consisted of ten companies of the First California Infan- try, five troops of the First California Cavalry under Lieut .- Col. E. E. Eyre, and a battery of four brass field pieces under First Lieut. John B. Shinn, Third United States Artillery.
At the Pima villages was established a post named Fort Barrett, in honor of the officer killed at Picacho and a trading post was established to secure sup- plies from the Indians. At this trading post one of the soldier clerks was Lieut. A. J. Doran, afterward one of the most distinguished citizens of Arizona. In later years, Doran (who had become Major in the National Guard) delighted to tell of his experiences in trading manta with the Indians for wheat and how he used small whittled sticks as trade tokens.
A column under Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre was sent to garrison Fort Brecken- ridge on the San Pedro and West moved on to Tucson, which was reached April 20. Hunter already had started back to the Rio Grande, accompanied by a number of the more pronounced southern sympathizers. Near Dragoon Spring he was attacked by a large force of Apaches, four men being killed and thirty-five mules and twenty horses lost.
CARLETON CLEANS UP TUCSON
Carleton thereafter moved his headquarters to Tucson. On the way thereto he took occasion to commend the Pimas and Maricopas as the finest Indians he had ever seen and advised that they be given 100 muskets for defense against the Apaches. This was done. On June 11, possibly copying after Baylor, Carle- ton made formal proclamation of martial law within the Territory of Arizona and of himself as Governor, with Acting Assistant Adjutant-General Benjamin Clark Cutler as Secretary of State. He levied an occupation tax upon all mer- chants in Tucson and taxed gambling tables and bar-rooms $100 a month each, the money received to be used for the benefit of the sick and wounded soldiers. One of the first actions was the establishment of law and order in order that, as he said, "so that when a man does have his throat cut, his house robbed or his field ravaged, he may at least have the consolation of knowing that there is some law that will reach him that does the injury." One of the first actions was sending to Fort Yuma, for confinement, nine men described as "cutthroats, gamblers and loafers, who have infested this town to the fear of all good citizens.
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Nearly every one, I believe, has either killed his man or been engaged in helping to kill him." He requested that these outlaws be imprisoned till the end of the war.
ARREST OF SYLVESTER MOWRY
Especially notable was the arrest of Sylvester Mowry, upon information furnished by T. Scheuner, metallurgist of the Mowry silver mines, who charged that Mowry had sold percussion caps to Hunter, had erected a cannon and had offered to bet $100 that he would be Governor of the Territory in less than six months and that he, with his twenty southerners, could whip a hundred northern troops. No less than eighty-five men were sent, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre, to take Mowry, who was tried in Tucson by a court-martial headed by Lieutenant-Colonel West. There was rendered a decision that Mowry had been in treasonable correspondence with well-known secessionists and that there were sufficient grounds to restrain him of his lib- erty and to bring him before a military commission.
The prisoner was taken to Fort Yuma for confinement. The order of arrest was very indefinite and so Mowry was entered on the books of the post as "arrested for aiding and abetting the enemy." Inquiry made of Mowry himself brought no further information, he claiming to be absolutely innocent of the commission of anything of a treasonable nature. The officers at Fort Yuma found him a delightful companion. In return he was treated with all consideration, often being taken out to ride and being well supplied from the contents of several barrels of choice Bourbon, which had been confiscated by the army in Kentucky. A recorder of the day states that this latter attention was particularly pleasing to the prisoner. After a number of months of nomi- nal imprisonment, his case was investigated by General Wright, commanding the Pacific Department, and he was released, November 4, as apparently the principal thing against him was that he had resigned from the army to go into the mining business. But it is told that he and Carleton had been at outs in the regular service.
August 24, 1863, Mowry was arrested by order of General Carleton and was ordered out of the Southwest on the ground that he was a dangerous par- tisan of the Confederates. Mowry had only lately returned to Arizona to visit the mines in which he was interested. His expulsion met with protest from the Arizona Territorial Legislature that convened a few months later and by formal resolution General Carleton was requested to revoke his order. In 1868 Mowry collected about $40,000 damages from the Government and soon thereafter left for London, where he died.
FEDERAL ADVANCE ON NEW MEXICO
Carleton assumed the rank of Brigadier-General in June and was suc- ceeded as Colonel by West. He had been in communication by courier with General Canby, to whom he promptly started reinforcements. On June 21 Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre left Tucson with 140 cavalrymen and camped suc- cessively at the Cienega, near the present Pantano station, at Dragoon Springs, and Apache Pass. At this point about 100 Indians were in sight, many of them mounted and all armed with firearms. The chief came forward and made
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a "peace talk" and was given tobacco and something to eat. A few hours later three of the soldiers were reported missing and within an hour their bodies were found stripped. Two of them had been scalped. The men had wandered away from the main command in defiance of orders. There was pursuit of the Indians, but without success. The redskins returned at night and fired six or eight shots into the camp, wounded Surgeon Kittridge in the head and killed one horse. The abandoned Fort Thorn, on the Rio Grande, was reached July 5 and the national colors again were hoisted over a military post for the first time in southern New Mexico since the occupation of the country by the Confederates.
Carleton, on July 20, started Colonel West toward the Rio Grande with five companies of infantry and at intervals of two days dispatched Shinn's battery with two companies of infantry and, again, under Lieutenant-Colonel Rigg, four additional companies. Co. D of the First Cavalry was sent from Tubac and Captain Cremony's company of the Second Cavalry was specially designated as advance guard. The Apache Pass experiences of the vanguard have been told already in this volume.
Carleton left Tucson himself on July 23 and from the San Pedro led the main column to Las Cruces. Owing to the hostile attitude of the Chiricahua Indians, he found it necessary to establish a post in Apache Pass, which he called Fort Bowie and which he garrisoned with 100 men of the Fifth Infantry and thirteen of the First Cavalry. The trouble with the Indians at the pas- sage of the pass he referred to with distinct brevity: "Fort Bowie commands the water in that pass. Around this water the Indians had been in the habit of lying in ambush and shooting the troops and travelers as they came to drink. In this way they had killed three of Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre's command and in attempting to keep Captain Roberts' command, First Infantry, away from the spring, a fight ensued in which Captain Roberts lost two men killed and two wounded. Captain Roberts reports that the Indians lost ten killed. In this affair the men of Captain Roberts' company are reported as behaving with great gallantry." Two miles beyond Apache Pass were found the remains of nine white men who had been traveling from the Pinos Altos mines to Cali- fornia. They had been murdered and one had been burned at the stake. It was found that a large number of men, women and children were in starving condition at the Pinos Altos mines and Colonel West was directed to furnish them with subsistence stores.
At Franklin, opposite El Paso, a surgeon and twenty-five sick Confed- erate soldiers were captured and at El Paso were found twelve wagon loads of captured Federal supplies that had been left behind in the flight of the Confederates.
Carleton marched 100 miles farther down the Rio Grande into Texas, hoist- ing the flag again over Forts Quitman and Davis. Captain Shirland went 240 miles farther without meeting Confederates, but with an incidental fight with Indians. In September, 1862, Carleton succeeded Canby in command of the Department of New Mexico. Some of his last orders are full of appre- ciation of the services of his officers, particularly of West, Rigg and Eyre.
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ARIZONA STATIONS OF THE CALIFORNIA COLUMN
Most of the First Cavalry was discharged in New Mexico, only a provi- sional squadron returning to San Francisco for muster-out. From New Mexico occasional companies of the regiment were sent back into Arizona for special work. Capt. E. C. Ledyard had Co. A at Whipple from August, 1865, to February, 1866. Capt. L. F. Samburn was with Co. B at Tucson the last three months of 1862. Capt. Nat J. Pishon had Co. D in northern Arizona in the summer of 1863 and at Whipple in May and June of 1864. Capt. C. R. Well- man led Co. E from June to November 1862, in operations around Cañada del Oro, at Revanton and Tucson from June to November, 1862, and along the Gila River in the following spring. From January to March, 1864, Co. G, Capt. S. A. Gorham, had station at Tucson. Co. I, Capt. W. B. Kennedy in command, was around Tucson, Revanton and Tubac from May to July, 1864, was at Camp Goodwin August, 1864, to October, 1865, and at McDowell No- vember, 1865, to April, 1866. Co. L, Capt. John L. Merriam, was at Revanton and Tubac April, 1864, to May, 1865, at Bowie from April of that year to January of the succeeding year, returning to Bowie after spending February at McDowell.
The First Infantry was mustered in August, 1861, at Oakland, Cal., at Camp Downey, named after the Governor of California, and was commanded in sequence by Colonels Jas. H. Carleton, Jos. R. West and Edw. A. Rigg. It was later moved to Camp Latham, between Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Its headquarters were in Yuma in May, 1862, and in Tucson in June and thence were moved eastward. The troops were dispatched from Yuma eastward in sections in order to better conserve the water supply on the road. Most of the companies had a month's stay at Yuma and a week at Fort Barrett and had something of a halt in Tucson. Co. C, commanded by Capt. J. P. Har- grave, later a distinguished Arizonan, was at Wingate from July to October, 1863, and marched thence to Whipple. In August of 1864, at Whipple, a part of this company was mustered out. Co. D, Capt. Wm. A. Thompson, was at Camp Goodwin two months during the summer of 1864. Co. F, Capt. Henry S. Benson, had the honor of reaching Fort Whipple in December, 1863, com- ing in Major Willis's command from Fort Craig on the Rio Grande. May of the following year was spent at Camp Clark, a sub-post. After the muster of June 30 at Whipple, the company was returned to New Mexico for muster out at Los Pinos. Co. H, Capt. Dan. Haskell, garrisoned Wingate in July, 1863, and Goodwin and other Gila and San Pedro Valley points in June and July of 1864.
In this regiment were a large number of men who later had high standing within Arizona. Sidney R. DeLong, who died in 1914 at Tucson, a president of the Pioneer Association, was a first sergeant of Co. C and a second lieutenant of Co. B and was mustered out as a first lieutenant. Jas. D. Monihon, who had some fame at the time as a non-commissioned officer in charge of the provost detail at Prescott, later became Mayor of Phoenix.
The Fifth California Infantry, commanded in Arizona by Col. Geo. W. Bowie, was organized at Sacramento in October, 1861, under a second call. One company was sent to Yuma by water as early as January, 1862. Co. A, Capt. Jos. Smith, was at Yuma in February, 1862, served in New Mexico and
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returned to Arizona, at Goodwin in the summer of 1864. Co. C, Capt. John S. Thayer, was at Goodwin from May to December in 1864. Co. D, Capt. William Ffrench, was in Tucson from May, 1863, to November, 1864. At the same station was Co. E, Capt. Silas P. Ford, from July to November, 1862, the command then going to the San Pedro and to Bowie and thence to Good- win from May to November, 1864. Co. F, Capt. Jas. H. Whitlock, was at Tucson from October, 1862, till April, 1863. Co. G, Capt. Hugh L. Hinds, was at Tucson from April to August, 1863, and at Bowie from September, 1862, till June, 1863. Co. H, Capt. Thos. P. Chapman, was at Yuma from May, 1862, till January, 1863, and at Tucson from February till May of the latter year. Co. I was at Tucson from April, 1863, till March, 1864. During that time Capt. Jos. Tuttle resigned and was succeeded by Capt. Geo. A. Burkett. Co. K, Capt. Thos. T. Tidball, was at Tucson in April, 1863, and at Bowie from May, 1863, to September, 1864. The' Regimental Adjutant, Jas. A. Zabriskie, later was a distinguished Tucson lawyer. Clark B. Stocking, later a noted Government scout, was a soldier in the regiment. The early service record of this regiment is incomplete.
Of the Fourth California Infantry, organized in Sacramento in the winter of 1861-62, six companies under Col. Jas. F. Curtiss had service in Arizona. Co. F, under Capt. Allen W. Cullum, was at Fort Lincoln (La Paz) in the summer of 1864 and then was at Yuma under Capt. Matthew Sherman until November. Co. G, Capt. Alfred S. Grant, was at La Paz in September, 1865, and appears to have been mustered out in Yuma, March, 1866. Co. H, Capt. John M. Cass, had station at Yuma from March, 1863, to February, 1864. Co. I, Capt. Charles Atchison, was at Fort Mojave from May, 1863, to March, 1865. Co. K, Capt. Patrick Munday, had station at Fort Yuma from March, 1863, till April, 1864.
The Seventh California Infantry, organized in San Francisco in January, 1865, commanded by Col. Chas. W. Lewis, was in Arizona only about a year. It had headquarters at Tubac from March to June, 1865, and then at Fort Mason near Calabazas till returned to California for muster-out at San Fran- cisco. Co. A, Capt. Jas. P. Olmstead, spent the summer of 1865 at Yuma and then was at McDowell till March, 1866. Co. B, Capt. Alexander Gibson, was at Tucson from May, 1865, till April, 1866, the date of muster-out. Co. C, Capt. W. S. Cooledge, was at Mojave from March, 1865, till April, 1866. Co. D, Capt. M. H. Calderwood, was at Tubac from April till September, 1865, and then at Mason till March, 1866. Captain Calderwood in later days kept a station on the Agua Fria, about twenty-five miles from Phoenix, and served in the Legislature, in which he was speaker of the Assembly. Co. E, Capt. Hiram A. Messenger, was at Tubac from April to September, 1865, and at Mason until May, 1866. July 22, Captain Messenger and fifteen of his men, while scouting from Tubac, were attacked by several hundred Indians, who were driven off with heavy loss after killing two soldiers. Co. F, Capt. John W. Owen, was at Ynma from June till September, 1865, and then at McDowell till the end of the enlistment term. Co. C, Capt. Thos. J. Heninger, was at Tubac from May till September, 1865, and then at Mason. Co. H, Capt. John W. Smith, was at Yuma from May, 1865, till returned to San Francisco. Co. I, Capt. Geo. D. Kendall, had station at Whipple from May, 1865, till February,
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1866. Co. K, Capt. Jas. II. Shepard, was at Ynma from March till August, 1865, and at MeDowell till March, 1866.
An interesting order of Lt. Col. Bennett's, issued at McDowell March 6, 1866, was addressed to Capt. John W. Owen, commanding Co. F. In the order is told that the company on the morrow will take its departure from the post to return to civil life, that Companies A, F and K had been at McDowell sinee the previous August and that: "This command was the pioneer force in this see- tion of the Territory of Arizona, performing the duties devolving upon it, scout- ing after Apaches, building Fort McDowell, escorts, etc., with energy and ability. For this exemplary performance of duty, endurance of hardships, and priva- tions, cheerfully and without complaint, the officers and men of this battalion are entitled to great credit. While under my command their performance of duty has been most satisfactory. They have justly merited the reputation of good and faithful soldiers." Captain Owen died in Phoenix, where the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic bears his name.
Nine companies of the Second Infantry came to Arizona, commanded in sequence by Colonels F. J. Lippitt and Thos. F. Wright, the latter a son of General Wright. These companies were transferred by steamer from northern California to Yuma in August and September of 1865. A month later the regi- ment was camped at various points along the Gila and San Pedro Rivers, there remaining till the succeeding spring, when it was returned to San Francisco for muster-out. Noted upon the rolls are the names of Wm. F. Swasey and First Lieut. Wm. F. R. Schindler, both of whom had acted as regimental quarter- master. Swasey was an early resident of Globe, while Schindler entered the Government service at Prescott after the war. A daughter of Schindler's mar- ried Capt. Wm. O. O'Neill.
Only one troop of the Second California Cavalry had real service in Arizona. Co. B, Capt. John C. Cremony, had a distinguished part in the advance of the California Column across southern Arizona in 1862, accompanying Colonel Carleton on his advance. Co. M under Capt. Geo. F. Price, later was escort for a survey that came from the north down the Rio Virgen into the Mojave region.
NATIVE CAVALRY FROM CALIFORNIA
A novel organization that saw service in Arizona was the First Battalion of Native Cavalry, organized through the recommendation of General Wright among Californians in the Los Angeles district, where the extraordinary horse- manship of the natives had been remarked by army officers. The command first was offered to Don Andres Pico of Los Angeles, who then was Brigadier- General in the California militia. In the end, however, there was resort to the services of the veteran Capt. John C. Cremony of the Second California Cav- alry, who was made major. There would appear to have been no particular rush in the recruiting and the battalion was not mnstered in till the summer of 1864. Its records were most incomplete and its service appears to have been rather ragged, for it is told that from one company there were more than fifty desertions and from another eighty. While it is probable that orders were given in English, the language of the command was Spanish. The captains of the four troops were Jose Ramon Pieo, Ernest Legross, Antonio Maria de la
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