History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII, Part 50

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Oak, Henry Lebbeus, 1844-1905
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: San Francisco : The History Company
Number of Pages: 890

USA > Arizona > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 50
USA > New Mexico > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 50

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32 Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico, connected with Col Doniphan's expedition, in 1846 and 1847. By A. Wislizenus, M. D. [with a scientific appendix and three maps]. Wash., 1848, 8vo, 141 p. (30th cong., Ist sess. Sen. Miscel., no. 26.) Also translation, Denkschrift über eine Reise nach Nord-Mexiko, etc. Aus dem Englischen übertragen von George M. von Ross, etc. Braunschweig, 1850, Svo, 211 p.

33 Emory's Notes of a Military Reconnaissance, Wash., 1848, with plates, scientific appen., and tables; also Abert's notes of the journey as far as Bent's Fort, as a brief note by Maj. Cooke.

34 Johnston's Journal, attached to Emory's Notes as part of 30th cong. Ist sess., Ex. Doc., no. 41. It contains some cuts of antiquities.

465

EXPLORATIONS.

California, in which, with the Mormon Battalion, he opened a wagon-road by a route farther south than Kearny's. His writings, however, contain somewhat less of scientific description, if more of philosophy, than those of the other officers. 35 Lieutenant J. W. Abert, of the topographical engineers, was left ill at Bent's Fort by Kearny and Emory at the end of July, 1846. The first part of his report includes the results of his observations at the fort, on the journey to New Mex- ico, and in the vicinity of Santa Fé, where he arrived on the 27th of September.36 Kearny had left instruc- tions for a survey of the country to be made by Abert and Peck, which was made between October 8th and the 23d of December, with results constituting the second part of the report. The route was south-west- ward to the junction of the Jemes and Rio Grande, San Felipe, Santo Domingo, and Santa Ana being visited; thence down the main river past Alburquer- que, and westward to the Puerco and to Cebolleta. After exploring the Laguna group of pueblos, includ- ing Acoma, they returned to the Rio Grande and went down to the Isleta region, and eastward to Chilili and Tajique, thence southward to Quarra and Abó, and back to the river, down which they went to Valverde and returned to Santa Fé. The third part of the report is the diary of the return from New Mexico to Fort Leavenworth, December 28th to March 1st.37 The author added to his text valuable engravings of towns, ruins, landscapes, and native types; and he also gave attention to the fauna and

35 Cooke's Report of his march from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to San Diego, Upper California, 1846. Attached to Emory's Notes, p. 549 et seq., with a map of the route; Cooke's Journal of the march of the Mormon Battalion, etc., in U. S. Gort Doc., 30th cong. special sess., Son. Doc. 2, 85 p .; Cooke's Conquest of New Mexico and California. Some descriptive matter is also to be found in the other narratives of the march of the Mormons, Tyler's Hist. and Bigler's Diary, MS.

3" This part includes also a tour to the gold placers and the notes of Lieut. Peck on the region north of Sta Fé to Taos, examined by P. and Warner be- fore Abert's arrival.

37 Report of Lieut. J. W. Abert of his examination of New Mexico in the years 1846-47. With Emory's Notes, 417-548. Also a resume in Warren's Memoir, 53-4.

HIST, ARIZ. AND N. MEX. 30

466

MILITARY RULE IN NEW MEXICO.

flora of the country, and to native vocabularies and traditions with other ethnographic matter, producing on the whole a most excellent report.

The campaign of Doniphan and the others against the Navajos, though involving the first American ex- ploration of a broad region, has left in print but little of geographic or descriptive value; and the same may be said of the campaigns resulting from the insurrec- tion of 1847. In this connection may be mentioned a report of Thomas Fitzpatrick, describing a trip from Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fe in the summer of 1847, though it is mainly devoted to Indian affairs.33 For 1848 we find very little of recorded exploration, but may note the narrative of an overland trip with Kit Carson from Los Angeles to Taos and Santa Fé, the author being perhaps Lieutenant Brewerton of Stephenson's regiment, and the story of slight value.3? It was also in the winter of 1848-9 that Captain Fre- mont, in his fourth exploration, attempting to cross the mountains at the head of the Rio Grande, in what is now Colorado, met his great disaster, attributed by him to the incompetence of his guide, the famous Bill Williams, losing eleven of his men by cold and starva- tion. With the rest he succeeded in reaching Taos, where the company was broken up, and himself pro- ceeded early in 1849 to California by a southern over- land route."> In 1849-50 the reports of Calhoun, the Indian agent, as already cited, contained a limited amount of general information not pertaining directly

38 Dated Bent's Fort, Sept. 1Sth. The author was with Lieut. Love's party when attacked by the Indians. U. S. Govt Doc., 30th cong. Ist sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 1, app. p. 238-49.

39 Van Tramp (John C.), Prairie and Rocky Mountain Adventures, or Life in the Far West, etc. St Louis, 1860. This is a somewhat trashy collection of material from various sources. Brewerton's narrative is on p. 172-226, but it is not quite clear how much of it is B.'s work, nor is it stated from what source it was obtained. It is called an abridgment. The route was by the regular Sta Fé trail north of the Colorado.

40 Mrs Frémont's Year of Amer. Travel, 69 et seq., contains the captain's letters from N. Mex. narrating this disaster. See also Bigelow's Mem. Fre- mont, 357-78. The diaries of the 3d and 4th expeditions have not been pub- lished, though probably included in Fremont's Memoirs of my Life, the early publication of which is announced as I write, in June 1886.

467

SIMPSON'S TOUR.

to the author's special subject;41 and the same may be said of the correspondence of governors Washington and Monroe, and of other officials in the same years. In April 1849, Lieutenant James H. Simpson made an exploring tour from Fort Smith, Arkansas, west- ward to Santa Fó; and later in the year Captain Marcy, coming from Fort Smith by the same route, went down the river to Doña Ana, and thence crossed an unexplored country eastward to Preston, Texas.42 But by far the most notable and valuable of the ex- ploration records to be mentioned in this connection is that of Lieutenant Simpson's tour to the Navajo country and Chelly Cañon, returning by way of Zuñi. The author accompanied Governor Washington's ex- pedition of 1849, and his journal is filled with the most interesting and valuable descriptions of physical features of the country, towns, natives, and relics of antiquity, being illustrated with excellent drawings, which are especially important as showing the won- derful ruins of the Chaco and Chelly and the records at Inscription Rock.43 It should be added that in 1849-50 the California immigrants crossed New Mex- ico in considerable numbers, both by the old Santa Fé trail and by the new southern routes.

The survey of a boundary line between the United States and Mexico under the treaty of Guadalupe

41 Calhoun's Reports, passim. In Oct. 1849 he sent to Washington Major H. L. Kendrick's Table of' marches made in the summer of' 1849, from I't Leaven- worth to Santa Fe, in Cal. and N. Mex., Mess., 1850, p. 91-2.

$ U. S. Govt Doc., 31st cong. Ist sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 12, and H. Ex. Doc. 45, with maps; also Warren's Memoir, 56-7. In the spring of 1849 Dr John S. Ford accompanied Maj. Robert S. Neighbors, the Texan commis- sioner, from Austin, Texas, to El Paso, by a partially new route. Ford, in Creuzbaur's Route to Cal., 4-5. See also reports of routes from Texas to El Paso in 31st cong. Ist sess., H. Ex. Doc. 5, pt 1, p. 281-93; 31st cong. 2d sess., H. Ex. Doc. 1, pt ii., p. 302-23; also Lieut. Michler's report on route from Sta Fé north in 31st cong. Ist sess., H. Ex. Doc. 67; and a reconnois- sance of the Rio Pecos in 1850 by R. H. Kern, in Warren's Mem., 62.

+3 Simpson (James H.), Journal of a military reconnaissance, from Santa Fé, New Mexico, to the Navajo, made with the troops under command of Brevet Lieutenant-colonel John M. Washington, etc., in 1849. By James H. Simpson, A. M., first lieutenant corps of topographical engineers. Phil., 1852, 8vo, 140 p., plates. Also in U. S. Govt Doc., 31st cong. Ist sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 64, with map; résumé in Warren's Memoir, 56-7.

468

MILITARY RULE IN NEW MEXICO.

Hidalgo is properly noticed here, so far as it affects New Mexico, though it extends chronologically beyond the limits of the chapter. In the west, from the Pacific to the Colorado the line was surveyed before February 1850.44 In November of the same year the new commissioner, John Russell Bartlett, arrived with his party at El Paso, having crossed Texas from the coast; General Pedro García Conde, the Mexican commissioner, soon made his appearance; and before the end of the year several meetings were held at which the initial point and other preliminaries were decided. Active operations in the field began early in 1851; the American party had its headquarters for several months at the Santa Rita copper mines, Colonel Craig commanding an escort of 85 men; and though there were some vexatious delays and contro- versies, resulting in part from the tardy arrival of Gray and Graham, by September the region from El Paso to the San Pedro had been explored and the boundary line partly surveyed-to its full extent, in- deed, by the Mexicans. Then Bartlett went to Sonora and California, returning east to publish his narrative in 1854.45 Lieutenant Whipple went down the Gila;

# John B. Weller was the first U. S. commissioner, and the Cal. survey was inade from June 1849 to Feb. 1850 by Andrew B. Gray as surveyor and Wm H. Emory as astronomer. The commission then adjourned to meet at El Paso in Nov. John C. Fremont was appointed to succeed Weller, but resigned, and John Russell Bartlett was appointed in June. Under Bartlett Gray was still surveyor till succeeded by Emory in Nov. 1851; Col John Mc- Clellan was astronomer-succeeded by Lient .- col J. D. Graham in Oct. 1850, and he by Emory in Oct. 1851-and Lieut. A. W. Whipple assistant astron- omer.

" Personal Narrative of Explorations and incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua, connected with the United States and Mexican boundary commission, during the years 1850, '51, '52, and '53. By John Russell Bartlett, United States commissioner during that period. In two volumes, with map and illustrations, N. Y., 1854, Svo, 2 vol. This has always been regarded as a standard work, containing in pleasing form much original and valuable information on the countries visited as well as the author's personal adven- tures and a history of the survey. Bartlett became the author of several other works of good repute especially some of a bibliographic nature. He was for many years in charge of the famous Carter Brown collection of Ameri- cana, and as I write, in June 1886, news comes of his death at an advanced age. John C. Cremony was interpreter for the U. S. commissioner, and his Life Among the Apaches, S. F., 1868, is devoted to a considerable extent to his experiences in this exploration, which, however, he erroneously dates 1849-50 instead of 1850-1.

469

THE BOUNDARY SURVEY.

García Conde died in Sonora; and the survey was suspended for a time, to be resumed and completed, on the Rio Grande at least, in 1852-3 by Robert H. Campbell as commissioner and W. H. Emory as astronomer and surveyor.46 Particulars, whether of exploration or adventure, can of course find no place here. Still less is it possible or necessary to chronicle the complicated series of quarrels between Bartlett, McClellan, Graham, Gray, and others, which seriously retarded practical operations, and the record of which fills the larger part of two volumes published by the government.47 There was, however, one question re- specting the boundary itself that merits further notice.

By the terms of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, the line was to follow the Rio Grande up "to the point where it strikes the southern boundary of New Mexico; thence westward along the whole south- ern boundary of New Mexico (which runs north of the town called Paso) to its western termination; thence northward along the western line of New Mexico until it intersects the first branch of the river Gila (or if it should not intersect any branch of that river,

46 U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey (1854-5). Report of Wm H. Emory, Wash., 1857, 4to, 3 vol. This is a report of a later survey under a new treaty; but in his Ist chapter Emory gives an outline history of operations under the treaty of 1848, with severe criticisms of Bartlett's acts. He says that when he arrived in the field, Nov. 1851, 'the commissioner was absent on an ex- pedition into Sonora, the commission was in debt, and not one cent was at my disposal to prosecute the survey. Beyond running an erroneous line a degree and a half west of the del Norte, and starting a party with limited means under Lieut. Whipple to survey the Gila, and another to survey the Rio del Norte, nothing had been accomplished.' After his arrival, surveys seem to have been confined to the Rio Grande, and I find no record of any subsequent survey under the old treaty between that river and the Gila.

47 Mex. and U. S. Boundary Survey. Report of the Secretary of the Interior, etc., July 1852, in U. S. Govt Doc., 32d cong. Ist sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 119, 8vo, 515 p., with maps. See also an earlier report and doc. of 1850 in 31st cong. Ist sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 34. In 32d cong. Ist sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 121 (250 p.), is a report of Aug. 1852, containing Graham's Report on Boundary Line between the U. S. and Mexico, with a mass of accompanying doc. Graham gives a diary of proceedings after Bartlett s departure till the survey was suspended. See also Warren's Memoir, 82 et seq. The quarrel was a dis- graceful one, growing mainly out of jealousies between the military, civil, and scientific branches of the commission; also to some extent founded on unfit appointments by political influence. Bartlett blames Graham chiefly, and vice versa. I do not meddle with the merits of the matter. The volumes cited contain also, if life were long enongh to search out the items, a tolerably complete record of exploring operations.

470

MILITARY RULE IN NEW MEXICO.

then to the point on the said line nearest to such branch, and thence in a direct line to the same); thence down the middle of said branch and said river until it empties into the Rio Colorado." The southern boundary of New Mexico had indeed been somewhat definitely fixed at one point as just above El Paso, leaving that town in Chihuahua; but I have found no evidence that any western boundary had ever been fixed at all, or even thought of. There may have been, however, a kind of tacit agreement, as on a matter of no practical im- portance, that the line between Chihuahua and Sonora, that is, a line between Janos and Fronteras in about longitude 108° 30', extended northward indefinitely. In no other sense had New Mexico a western boundary ; and in equity, had the treaty gone no further, this should have been the line adopted. But the treaty contained an additional provision that "the southern and western limits of New Mexico, mentioned in this article, are those laid down in" Disturnell's map of Mexico, edition of New York, 1847.48 This map shows an irregular dotted line extending westward from the river just above El Paso about 180 miles, and thence northward. To locate this line was therefore the only duty of the boundary commission; but in locating it, should its latitude and longitude be considered, or its distance north of El Paso and west of the Rio Grande ? This was the question, and an important one, for on the treaty map the town was some 30 minutes too far north and the river some two degrees and a half too far west. The complication will be more clearly under- stood from the appended map. García Conde of course claimed the determination by parallels as most favorable to his nation, while Bartlett for like reasons favored the other basis of settlement. I think there can be no doubt that the latter was technically in the right; but he yielded one point by consenting to fix the initial monument in latitude 32° 22' on the river; while

48 A copy of part of this map is included in the volume cited in note 45; also in various editions of the treaty.

471

CONTROVERSY AND MAP.

the Mexican commissioner yielded the other by con- senting to the extension of the line 180 miles westward from the river. Bartlett's concession was severely

XICO

Gila R.

Rio

El Paso®

CHIHUAHUA

Fronteras.

Janos

THE BOUNDARY QUESTION.

A B C is the line as determined by distances from the town and river, the extreme claim of the U. S. commissioner. D E F is the extreme Mexican claim, or the line as fixed by lat. and long. D G C is the line adopted as a compromise. A H I would have been the equitable boundary if Disturnell's map had not been mentioned in the treaty. A L M is the line said to have been finally fixed by the U. S. surveyor, uuder the treaty of 1848. A H J K is the boundary under the later treaty of 1853 and survey of 1854-5.

criticised; but if his solution of the difficulty is regarded as a compromise it was a wise one, since the territory gained would have been more valuable than that lost. But Bartlett's line is said to have been rejected by his government and a new line adopted on latitude 31° 54' 40" from the Rio Grande west to longitude 109° 37', and on that meridian north to the Santo Domingo

Grande

R.Sto.Domingo

R.Mimbres

472

MILITARY RULE IN NEW MEXICO.

River, though I have not been able to find the record of such an agreement or survey.40

Under the treaty, citizens of New Mexico might leave the territory or remain either as citizens of the United States or of Mexico, but such as should not within one year make known their choice were to become citizens of the United States. Although I find no very definite records on the subject, it appears that many declared their intention of retaining their Mexican nationality, some of these departing and others formally withdrawing the declaration, while of those who departed some came back. It was esti- mated that in 1848-9 the territory thus lost only about 1,200, though in 1850 a considerable number of wealthy hacendados withdrew with their peones and possessions to Chihuahua.50 The Mexican govern- ment made an appropriation to aid its migrating citi- zens, and in 1849 Padre Ramon Ortiz and Manuel Armendariz were sent as commissioners to promote the movement. Ortiz claimed that in the first county visited, that of San Miguel del Vado, 900 out of 1,000 families eagerly agreed to go, and that the whole number of emigrants was likely to reach 80,000; but that the territorial authorities, frightened at the pros- pect, threw obstacles in the way. For this reason, or because of financial difficulties, or because the peo- ple became on reflection less desirous of quitting the land of their birth-to say nothing of the possibility that the honest presbítero greatly exaggerated the

49 It is so stated in Warren's Memoir, 84, a good authority, but without the author's usual reference to his sources; and Emory, U. S. and Mex. Bound., 16, also says that Bartlett's line was 'finally repudiated by the government.' Later records connected with the new treaty of 1853-4 simply show a dispute but no settlement. I think that Bartlett's opponents may have surveyed the new line and reported it to the govt, which did not perhaps formally approve either. Besides the survey of a boundary line, the commissioners were to explore the country for a railroad within one league north or south of the Gila, this railroad to he the subject of subsequent agreement between the two republics. Neither of the lines considered, however, would have given the U. S. a railroad route. Bartlett's work, published in 1854, seems to imply that his line was the one approved.

50 McCall's Letters, 496.

473

MEXICAN CITIZENS.

original enthusiasm-very little was actually accom- plished.51

51 Ortiz' letter of June 9, 1849, to Gov. Mas of Chih., in Pino, Not. Hist., 92-8, with other corresp .; Mexico, Mem. Rel., 1849, p. 14; Id., 1850, p. 22. The proceedings were under the colonization law of Aug. 19, 1848 Mexico, Col. Leyes y Decretos, 1848, p. 309. It appears that the governor obliged Ortiz to suspend his personal visits to the different counties, alleging that there was danger of a revolt or popular tumult. He consented at first to the appointment of subagents, but suspended also this privilege as soon as it became clear that the desire for emigration was so general. These orders are given in Pino's work as cited. Ortiz also claims that previous to his visit, unfair means had been taken to prevent the citizens from making the formal declarations required by the treaty. I am inclined to think there is much truth in his statements, as well as a degree of exaggeration. Mexico had appropriated $200,000, of which only $25,000 was available, and Ortiz esti- mated that $1,653,342 would be needed ! The allowance was $25 for an adult, and $12 for children. There was also some trouble about the transfer of property, and about Ortiz' official status. In 1850 a Mexicau consul was sent to attend to this and other matters.

CHAPTER XIX.

ANNALS OF ARIZONA. 1846-1854.

AFFAIRS IN PIMERIA ALTA - APACHE RAIDS -TUBAC ABANDONED - THE MEXICAN WAR-EXPLORATIONS- KEARNY'S MARCH-COOKE AND THE MORMONS-WAGON ROAD-GRAHAM'S DRAGOONS-TREATY AND BOUN- DARY-WHIPPLE AND BARTLETT-SITGREAVES-RAILROAD SURVEYS- PARKE'S EXPLORATIONS-OVERLAND EMIGRATION TO CALIFORNIA- HAYES' DIARY-INDIANS-THE OATMAN MASSACRE-COLORADO FERRY AND CAMP CALHOUN-GLANTON'S OUTRAGES-FORT YUMA ESTABLISHED -COLORADO CITY-NAVIGATION OF THE RIVER-DERBY'S SURVEY-THE FIRST STEAMERS.

THAT part of the country known later as Arizona remained a Mexican possession down to the signing of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, and all south of the Gila, the only portion inhabited by any but Indians, for five years longer, or until the signing of the treaty of December 1853, or its approval in 1854. The annals of this southern region, the an- cient Pimería Alta, might almost be disposed of by adding 'et cetera' to the chapter in which the record has been brought down to 1845.1 That is, the Mexi- cans under the Sonora government barely maintained a precarious possession of Tucson and a few other es- tablishments in the Santa Cruz valley. The Apaches continued their raids, sometimes driving off live-stock from under the very walls of the presidios. Retalia- tory raids of the soldiers became less and less effect- ive, though the Pápago allies were somewhat more successful in repelling and pursuing the savages. There was a constant diminution of the population,

1 See chap. xvi., this volume.

( 474 )

475

GENERAL DESOLATION.

and most of the few remaining ranchos were aban- doned. A census report of September 1848, gave Tucson 760 inhabitants, and Tubac 249.2 In Decem- ber of the same year, after an attack in which nine persons were killed, Tubac and the adjoining settle- ment of Tamacácori were abandoned, the people transferring their residence to Tucson.3 Between this presidio and that of Santa Cruz south of the line it does not clearly appear that a single Mexican es- tablishment of any kind remained, though before 1852 a small garrison had reoccupied Tubac.4 In the mea- gre and fragmentary record of Mexican annals down to 1854, I find only an occasional complaint of impend- ing ruin, as in earlier times, with appeals for aid, men- tion of a few Apache depredations and campaigns, and the names of a few officials, but nothing. from which to form anything like a continuous narrative, or to form any more definite idea of the general condition of affairs than that expressed in this paragraph.5

2 Pinart, Col. Doc., print, no. 980. This is a list furnished by Gov. Gándara for election purposes.

3 Sonorense, Feb. 21, 1849. Some details of Apache wars in these years are found in Hist. North Mex. States, ii., this series. The Mexicans believed that the Indians were incited by Americans. Doubtless the unfortunate state of affairs in N. Mex., and the acts of disreputable American and Mex. traders, had much to do with Indian tronbles.

+ Bartlett's Pers. Narr., ii. 302 et seq., where a very good account of the state of things iu the Sta Cruz valley is given.

5 I give some items, chiefly from the Sonorense and MS. records of the Pinart collection, omitting many more of similar nature bnt of even less im- portance. In Sept. 1847 the Pinaleño Apaches pretended to desire peace at Tuscon, but continned their attacks on Tubac. A combined exped. from the three presidios, consisting of 77 soldiers and a force of 133 citizens, Pimas, and friendly Apaches, marched against them, killing 17 and capturing 14, with a loss of two men. Son., Oct. 8th. A year later Capt. Comaduran re- ports a successful exped. of the Pápagos, bringing in the ears of many Apaches. Id., Dec. Ist. In March 1849 the inhab. appealed for aid to the Sonora congress, declaring their purpose if not aided to go and live among the Gila tribes ! Id., Sept. 28th. Congress promised arms and ammunition, and the com .- gen. assured the people of his desire and power to afford full protection. Pinart, Col. Doc., MS., 113. Sept .- Oct., Col Elias made a suc- cessful campaign to the Gila. Id., Doc. Hist. Son., MS., 166-70, with many details. Jan. 1850, over 100 cattle driven off from Tucson. Son., Feb. Ist. Feb. 7th, decree of gov. fixing bounds for the presidios of the ' Colonias mili- tares de Occidente,' including Tuhac and Tucson. Id., Feb. 15th. The abandonment of Tucson in March 1850 was reported in the Cal. papers, but doubtless without foundation. Aug., the paymaster with funds for the colo- nists at Tucson from Arizpe was attacked and lost several men, but saved his money. Son., Sept. 20th. In Dec. the presidio was assaulted in the daytime,

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History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII, Part 50

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Oak, Henry Lebbeus, 1844-1905 Publication date: 1889 Publisher: San Francisco : The History Company Number of Pages: 890

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Oak, Henry Lebbeus, 1844-1905
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: San Francisco : The History Company
Number of Pages: 890