History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII, Part 52

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 52
USA > New Mexico > History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII > Part 52

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

486

ANNALS OF ARIZONA.

Mr Grinell, she was ransomed, brought to the fort, and joined her brother, the two soon going east to live in New York. Her sufferings as a captive had of course been great, though her fate was in some respects less terrible than might have been expected. A volume founded on her statements and those of her brother had a very wide circulation.22

The number of emigrants crossing the Colorado near the Gila junction before the end of 1851 has been probably overestimated at 60,000, but they were very numerous.23 They and the Indians and the soldiers made this the most bustling point in the country for several years. The Indians were not at first openly hostile, though they required constant watching, and the different tribes were often at war with each other, but rendered the emigrants some aid in crossing. Lieutenant Cave J. Coutts, commanding an escort to the boundary surveyors under Whipple, established Camp Calhoun on the California side at the end of September 1849, and for two months greatly aided the worn-out and hungry gold-seekers,

22 Stratton, Captivity of the Oatman girls; being an interesting narrative of life among the Apache and Mohave Indians; containing also an interesting account of the massacre of the Oatman family by the Apache Indians in 1851; the narrow escape of Lorenzo D. Oatman; the capture of Olive A. and Mary A. Oatman; the death by starvation of the latter; the five years' suffering and captivity of Olive A. Oatman; also, her singular recapture in 1856; as given by Lorenzo D. and Olive A. Oatman, the only surviving members of the family, to the author, R. B. Strat- ton. S. F., 1857, 12mo, 23] p., portraits, map, and cuts. Also the same, 3d ed., 26th thousand, N. Y. (1858), 12mo, 290 p. The subject was a most fas- cinating one, as shown by the large sale; but the intrinsic interest was, or should have been, wellnigh destroyed by the dress of literary fustian in which it pleased the Rev. Stratton to present the narrative of the captive woman. The Oatman massacre is mentioned in nearly all Arizona books and articles. Conklin, Picturesque Arizona, 195-6, says that Olive Oatman died in a N. Y. insane asylum before 1877. I have a daguerreotype likeness taken just after her release, belonging to the Hayes' collection. In the S. Diego Union, April 25, 1856, is a narrative founded on an interview with the re- leased captive. See also a letter of Capt. Nanman to Capt. Jones, in U. S. Govt Doc., 34th cong. Ist sess., Sen. Doc. 66, p. 67-8; act of relief by Cal. legislature. Cal. Jour. Ass., 1856, p. 923; Jour. Sen., 906; Hayes' Scraps, Ind., ii. 75-81: Id., Angeles, xviii. 11-15.

23 An excellent guide-book for emigrants by this route was the Route from the Gulf of Mexico and the Lower Mississippi Valley to California and the Pacific Ocean, illustrated by a general map and sectional maps; with directions to trav- ellers. Compiled by Robert Creuzbaur, 1849. N. Y., 1849, 16mo, 40 p. This book is made up chiefly of extracts from official diaries of the explorers; hence its comparative excellence.

487

FIRST CHILD BORN IN ARIZONA.

whose arrival is noted almost every day.24 The 1st of November there arrived a flat-boat which had made the voyage down the Gila from the Pima vil- lages with Mr Howard and family and two men, a doctor and a clergyman, on board. During this voy- age, also, a son was born to Mrs Howard, perhaps the first child of American parents born in Arizona, and named, as Coutts tells us, Gila. The lieutenant is understood to have purchased the craft, which plied as a ferry-boat during the remainder of his stay, and was then transported to San Diego, where it was used on the bay. Such was the history of the first Colo- rado ferry.25 After the departure of Coutts, the Mexican surveying party remained till the end of the year, and the ferry service-perhaps with another boat -was continued by the officer commanding the es- cort. 26

Early in 1850, Lincoln seems to have engaged in the business of running the Colorado ferry, soon form-

2+ Coutts' Diary, MS., 128-67, extending from Sept. 14th, when he left S. Diego, to Nov. 22d, not long before he left the Colorado on his return, the diary terminating abruptly. It is a very interesting and amusing narrative of the officer's experience in attending to the complicated wants of the scien- tists, the emigrants, and the various bands of Indians. Several parties of U. S. officials, in different branches of the service, also passed that way, and one of these, Capt. Thorn, was drowned with three companions on Nov. 16th, by the upsetting of a canoe.

"" Coutts' Diary, MS., 165. The author does not mention the purchase or any ferry; but many pioneers remember crossing the river on his ferry. E. H. Howard, in the S. F. Bulletin, July 8, 1885, gives the most complete record. He says the boat, 16 ft long by 5 ft 6 in. wide, was built for the trip, and first launched on Lake Michigan, being mounted on wheels for land ser- vice, but used to cross rivers on the way. The writer sailed in her later on S. Diego Bay; and he says the boy born on the Gila is still living in Lake Co., Cal. See other letters, in Id., July 10th and Aug. 24th. One writer thinks the institution was not properly a ferry, because skiffs and canoes had been used at the crossing before. Some writers imply that Coutts' boat remained at the Colorado for the next season, I think there may be some doubt about its having been carried that year to S. Diego.

26 Hayes' Diary, MS., 143-6. H. crossed on Dec. 31st. He found a rope stretched across the river, by which the boat (not described) was guided. The charge was $2 for a man or mule, which caused some swearing among the Missourians; but Iturbide (son of the ex-emperor), who was interpreter for the boundary commission, had been educated at the same school as Hayes, and obtained a reduction in the ferry rates. Col Carrasco estimated the emi- grants of the season at 12,000. It was complained that Coutts had collected a tax from all Mexican emigrants. C. in his diary mentions that he was advised to do so, but does not tell us if he followed the advice. It was understood that the Indians had a ferry for emigrants farther down the river.

488

ANNALS OF ARIZONA.

ing a partnership with one John Glanton, described as leader of a gang of cutthroats, who had been engaged in hunting Apaches for a scalp premium in Sonora and Chihuahua, but had been driven out by the gov- ernment, when it was discovered that they brought in the scalps of friendly Indians or even of Mexicans. On the Colorado these villains continued their evil ways, plundering emigrants and attributing their dep- redations to the Indians. The Yumas were at first friendly, but soon became hostile, especially when the manager of their opposition ferry-said to have been a deserter from the army-was killed by Glanton; and they attacked their white rivals, killing about a dozen, including the leaders.27 A little later, in July of the same year, we are told that another party under Jaeger and Hartshorne reestablished the ferry, bring- ing lumber from San Diego for the construction of their boat, and continuing the business profitably for over a year. On November 27, 1850, Heintzelman arrived from San Diego to establish a garrison and protect the emigrants. His post was called at first Camp Independence, but was transferred in March 1851 to the site of the old Spanish mission, and was soon named Fort Yuma. There was much trouble about supplies, but the Indians were not hostile, and in June the fort was left in charge of Lieutenant L. W. Sweeney with ten men. Soon the Yumas became troublesome, killing some immigrants and even attack- ing the post; the scurvy also became prevalent and supplies exhausted; Captain Davidson took command in November; and in December fort and ferry were abandoned. Heintzelman came back in February 1852 to rebuild the fort and permanently reestablish

27 Yuma Sentinel, Aug. 11, 1877; S. Diego World, Feb. 1, 1873; Ariz. Hist. (Elliott & Co.), 245; Hamilton's Resources, 85. It is generally implied that all this occurred in 1849, which is hardly possible. Three men are said to have escaped, C. O. Brown, Joe Anderson, and another. In the Ariz. Hist., 60-1, John Galantin is named as leader of the scalp-hunters, and is said to have been engaged in driving sheep from N. Mex. to Cal., being killed by the Yu- mas with all his gang, and 21 other American sheep-drivers. There is evi- dently some confusion here.

489

AFFAIRS AT FORT YUMA.

the garrison. Complicated Indian hostilities, chiefly on the California side, continued until late in the same year, when a treaty was made, though the Yumas and Cocopas still fought occasionally among themselves.28

Fort Yuma was in California, and across the Colo- rado there seems to have been no permanent settle- ment until 1854, though temporary structures may have stood there at times in connection with the ferry. In 1854 a store was perhaps built, and a site for Col- orado City was formally surveyed; but in 1861 there were still only one or two buildings, which were washed away in the flood of 1862; and the real growth of the place, later called Arizona City and finally Yuma, seems not to have begun until about 1864.29 The early navigation of the Colorado is a subject demanding notice in this connection. When Major Heintzelman was ordered to establish a military post at Yuma, an exploration of the river was determined on with a view to the furnishing of supplies by that route. Lieutenant George H. Derby, of later fame as a humorist under the name of John Phoenix, was put in charge of the survey, and sailed from San Francisco, November 1, 1840, on the schooner Invin- cible, Captain A. H. Wilcox. The month of January 1851 was spent in the river, up which the schooner,

28 The early annals of Ft Yuma are given with apparent care and accuracy in a series of articles published in the Yuma Sentinel, May 4, 11, 18, 25, 1878. In Oct. 1852, the Yumas are said to have numbered 972. Oct. 26th, a fire destroyed most of the buildings. In Dec. an earthquake made some changes in the river. In 1853 there was much fighting between the Indian tribes. In April 1854 some of Walker's filibusters arrived from the mouth of the Colorado. In July Capt Geo. H. Thomas took command. In Jan. 1855 a new treaty with Yumas and Cocopas. Changes in commanders, etc., down to 1861 are given. It should be noted that in Jan. 1851 the proprietors of the ferry are named by Lieut. Derby, who met them on the river, as Ogden and Henchelwood. Derby's Report, 18.

29 See references in two preceding notes. Also Los Angeles Star, Nov. 16, 1854; Hayes' Scraps, Ariz., v. 109; Id., S. Diego, i. 18; Hinton's Iland-book, 247. Pumpelly, Across America, 60, found but one house in 1861. He heard from a friend (C. D. Poston) that the town survey in 1854 had been simply a device to pay ferry charges. The friend and party were bound to California and had no money; the engineer (Ehrenberg) was set to work on the survey, and the German ferry-man (Jaeger) became so enthusiastic over the prospect- ive rise of his property that he gladly took city lots for ferriage. Lieut. Michler, in Yuma Sentinel, Feb. 16, 1878, also mentions the city on paper in 1854.

490

ANNALS OF ARIZONA.

drawing eight or nine feet of water, could only ascend some 25 miles to latitude 30° 50', but in his boat Derby went up 60 miles farther, meeting Heintzelman and a party from Yuma.30 It appears that also in the spring of 1851 George A. Johnson arrived at the river's mouth on the schooner Sierra Nevada with supplies for the fort, and lumber from which were built flat-boats for the trip up the Colorado. In 1852 the first steamer, the Uncle Sam, was brought by Captain Turnbull on a schooner to the head of the gulf, and there put together for the river trip. She reached Fort Yuma at the beginning of December, but had been obliged to land her cargo of supplies some distance below. After running on the river for a year or two, the Uncle Sam grounded and sank, being replaced in January 1854 by the General Jesup, under Captain Johnson, the new contractor, but ex- ploding in August. The Colorado, a stern-wheeler 120 feet long, was put on the route in the autumn of 1855, and from this time the steam navigation, with an occasional opposition line, seems to have been con- tinuous. 31

30 Derby (Geo. H.), Reconnaissance of the Gulf of California and the Colorado River, 1850-1. Wash., 1852, 8vo, 28 p., cuts and maps, being report of sec. war, June 15, 1852, 32d cong. Ist sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 81.

31 Yuma Sentinel, May 4, 25, 1878; J. A. Mellen, in Ariz. History, 318-19, 245; Hinton's Hand-book, 247-8. In Hayes' Scraps, Mining, v. 60-2, I find the articles of incorporation of the Gila Mining and Steam Navigation Com- pany, organized at S. Francisco in Nov. 1853.

CHAPTER XX. THE GADSDEN PURCHASE.

1853-1863.

TREATY OF 1853-SOUTHERN ARIZONA ADDED TO THE UNITED STATES-NEW BOUNDARY SURVEY-BEALE'S ROAD-IVES ON THE COLORADO-SOUTHERN ROAD AND OVERLAND STAGE-MILITARY POSTS-MINING DEVELOPMENTS -FORT YUMA-GILA PLACERS-INDIAN AFFAIRS-APACHE RAIDS- COCHISE ON THE WAR-PATH-CRABB AND THE FILIBUSTERS-SONORAN VAGABONDS-OUTLAWS FROM TEXAS AND CALIFORNIA-POLITICS-EF- FORTS FOR A TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION-COOK AND MOWRY AT WASH- INGTON-BILLS IN CONGRESS-CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION-THE FIRST BOOK-ARIZUMA-FINAL SUCCESS-WAR OF THE REBELLION -- SECESSION OF ARIZONA -- TROOPS WITHDRAWN-TRIUMPH OF APACHES-CONFEDER- ATES TAKE TUCSON-BUT RETREAT BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA COLUMN- BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE PERIOD.

ON December 30, 1853, James Gadsden, United States minister to Mexico, concluded a treaty by which the boundary line was moved southward so as to give the United States, for a money consideration of $10,000,000, all of modern Arizona south of the Gila, an effort so to fix the line as to include a port on the gulf being unsuccessful.1 The treaty was first con- cluded on the 13th of December, but in consequence

1 Text of the Gadsden treaty in New Mexico, Compiled Laws, 38-44; U. S. Govt Doc., 33d cong. Ist sess., H. Ex. Doc. 109; 47th cong. 2d sess., H. Mis. Doc. 45; Mexico, Legislacion Mejicana, June-Dec. 1854, 117-32; Dublan and Lozano, Legislacion Mej., vii. 261-4; Ariz., Howell Code, 482-5; and elsewhere often repeated. The boundary as fixed by this treaty was the Rio Grande up to lat. 31° 47', due west 100 miles; south to lat. 31° 20'; west on that parallel to long. 111°; thence in a straight line to a point in the Colorado River 20 miles below the Gila junction; up the middle of the Colorado to the intersection of the former line (that is, to mouth of the Gila); and thence on the former line to the Pacific. This is the line as it still exists in 1887. Be- sides the boundary changes, the U. S. gained by this treaty two important advantages: Ist, by art. 11, a release from the responsibility for outrages by U. S. Indians in Mex. territory, art. 12 of the former treaty being abrogated; and 2d, by art 8, free railroad transit across the isthmus of Tehuantepec.

(491 )

492

THE GADSDEN PURCHASE.

of new instructions from Washington was modified on the 30th. Again it was changed-notably by re- ducing the price from twenty to ten millions-by the United States senate. In June 1854 it came back with Mexican approval to Washington; on the 28th and 29th, after much debate in the house, a bill appro- priating the money was passed by congress;2 on the 30th the treaty was published by President Pierce, and by President Santa Anna on the 20th of July. Of the preliminary negotiations and the successive modifications of terms, not much is definitely known; but the latter may probably have included, not only the reduction of price and the introduction of the Tehuantepec concession, but also a reduction of terri- tory-perhaps involving the cession of a gulf port -- and the omission of an article making the United States responsible for filibustering expeditions across the line.3

On the face of the matter this Gadsden treaty was a tolerably satisfactory settlement of a boundary dis- pute, and a purchase by the United States of a route for a southern railroad to California. Under the treaty of 1848, the commissioners, as we have seen, had agreed on latitude 32° 22' as the southern boun- dary of New Mexico, but the United States surveyor had not agreed to this line, had perhaps surveyed another in 31° 54', and the New Mexicans claimed

2 See debates in Cong. Globe, 1853-4, p. 1466, 1476, 1519-68, passim. The treaty had to be ratified before June 30th, and as it was presented to congress on the 21st the appropriation bill had to be passed in a hurry. Friends of the measure would not permit the passage of a resolution calling on the president for instructions to Gadsden and correspondence on the treaty; and opposition was based-nominally at least-on unwillingness to vote money for a treaty whose true inwardness was not known, especially as many mysterious rumors were current of stock-johbing schemes and far-reach- ing political intrigues of the administration and of the south. The bill was passed in the house by a vote of 103 to 62, and in the senate by 34 to 6.

3 In Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, iv. 418-19, 458-9, 487-9, 499, is given what pur- ports to be a résumé of the treaty in its original form. Art. 4 provided for a junta to decide on Mex. claims not in the final treaty; art. 8 bound both governments to prevent filibustering, replaced finally by the Tehuantepec clause. The original boundary is not given. Santa Anna, however, A sus Compatriotas, April 12, 1858, in a defence of his policy, says that the boun- dary was modified, and that he rejected Gadsden's propositions for a cession of Baja Cal. and parts of Chih. and Sonora.

493

THE MESILLA VALLEY.

the Mesilla valley between the two lines as part of their territory. The United States were, to some extent, bound by the act of their commissioner; but Mexico, besides being wrong on the original proposi- tion, was not in condition to quarrel about so unim- portant a matter. On the other hand, the northern republic could afford to pay for a railroad route through a country said to be rich in mines; and Mexico, though national pride was strongly opposed to a sacrifice of territory, was sadly in need of money, and sold a region that was practically of no value to her.4 In both countries there was much bitter criti- cism of the measure, and a disposition to impute hid- den motives to the respective administrations. I am not prepared to say that there were not such motives; but I find little support for the common belief that the Gadsden purchase was effected with a definite view to the organization of a southern confederacy, though this theory was entertained in the north at the time. It is a remarkable circumstance that in Mexico, both by the supporters and foes of the meas- ure, it was treated as a cession of the Mesilla val- ley in settlement of the boundary dispute, though that valley was, in reality, but a very small and unim- portant portion of the territory ceded.

William H. Emory was appointed United States commissioner and surveyor to establish the new boundary line, José Salazar Ilarregui being the Mexi- can commissioner, and Francisco Jimenez chief engi- neer. The commissioners met at El Paso at the end of 1854, and the initial monument was fixed on Janu- ary 31, 1855. In June the survey had been carried

4 As to the abrogating of art. 11 of the treaty of 1848, Santa Anna de- clared-A sus Comp., 8-11-that he had never for a moment expected the U. S. to keep their agreement by paying for damages done by the Indians; while in the U. S. this was held out as a great gain in view of immense prospec- tive claims on the part of Mexico. It was at least a release from embarrassing promises which never would have been kept. On the Gadsden treaty, see also Zamacois, Hist. Mej., xiii. 776; Domenech, Hist. Mej., ii. 262-6; Mex., Mem. Relac., 1870, p. 410-11, 433; and most other histories of Mexico; also mention in most works on Arizona and New Mexico, including Johnson's Hist. Ariz., 24.

494

THE GADSDEN PURCHASE.

westward to Los Nogales, or longitude 111º. Mean- while Lieutenant N. Michler arrived at Fort Yuma at the end of 1854, and was occupied until May 1855, with Salazar, in fixing the initial monument on the Colorado and surveying the line for a short distance eastward toward Sonoita; but they were obliged to suspend operations for lack of water, and proceeded by the Gila and Tucson route to Nogales, where they met Emory in June, and before the end of August completed the survey westward. There were no con- troversies in connection with the operations under Emory and Ilarregui, the Mexicans and Americans working in perfect harmony for a speedy and economi- cal termination of the work, and all being in marked contrast to the disgraceful and costly wranglings of the former commissions. There was nothing in the personal experiences of the surveying parties that calls for notice here. The published report contains an excellent description of the country with various scientific appendices of great value.5

Besides the boundary survey, there are but few offi- cial explorations to be noted, though by prospectors and Indian fighters the whole country was pretty thoroughly explored in these years. In 1857 Ed- ward F. Beale opened a wagon road on the 35th par- allel, following nearly the route of Whipple and Sit- greavės. He left Zuni in August, and reached the

5 United States and Mexican Boundary Survey. Report of William H. Emory, Major first cavalry and U. S. commissioner. Wash., 1857, 4to, 3 vol., many fine engravings and colored plates. The narratives of Emory and Michler, with other matter directly connected with the geographic survey, fill 252 p. of vol. i., the rest of the work being devoted to the geology, botany, and zo- ology of the expedition. Along the line as surveyed, monuments of stone or iron were erected at frequent stations, from each of which careful sketches of the topography in different directions were made, in order that the sites of the monuments, if destroyed by the Indians-as they often were-might be easily found without a repetition of the complicated observations and calcu- lations. The Mexicans were eager to complete the work, because $3,000,000 of the purchase-money was payable only on such completion. At the begin- ning of 1855 there was some complaint in Mexico that the U. S. had taken possession at one or two points without waiting for a formal survey or trans- fer, and it was feared they might delay operations to prevent payment of the money. Correo de España, Jan. 17, 1855. There was also much trouble about the collection and disposition of the funds; but this does not concern us here.

495

BEALE AND IVES.

Colorado in January 1858. The steamer General Jesup was waiting in the Mojave region to carry this party across the river, but Beale with twenty men re- turned to New Mexico, thus proving the practicability of his road for winter travel.6 Another important ex- ploration was that of Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives. In November 1857, he arrived at the head of the gulf on a schooner from San Francisco, which also brought an iron stern-wheel steamer fifty feet long, built for the trip in Philadelphia, and named the Explorer. On this craft, launched the 30th of December, Ives left Fort Yuma on January 11, 1858, and on March 12th had passed through the Black Canon of the Colorado and reached the mouth of Virgin River. Returning from this point to the Mojave villages, he sent the boat down to the fort, and with part of his scientific corps, being joined also by Lieutenant Tipton with an escort of twenty men, he started eastward by land. His route after a little was to the north of that fol- lowed by earlier explorers, including the cañons of the Colorado Chiquito and other streams, and also, for the first time since the American occupation, the Moqui pueblos. Ives reached Fort Defiance in May, and his report, illustrated by fine engravings of new scenery, is perhaps the most fascinating in all the series of government explorations.7 Besides the Beale

6 Beale (Edward F.), Wagon Road from Fort Defiance to the Colorado River. Report of the Superintendent, April 26, 1858, in U. S. Govt Doc., 35th cong. 1st sess., H. Ex. Doc. 124, with map showing route, with those of Sitgreaves and Whipple. Beale used camels on this trip, and declared them better adapted than mules to the service.

In Cincinnatus' Travels on the western slope of the Mexican Cordillera, 336-51, is an account by H. S. Washburn, deputy U. S. surveyor, of a trip from Ft Yuma up the Gila to Tucson, and back by way of Altar and Sonoita in 1856.

" Ives' Report upon the Colorado River of the West, explored in 1857 and 1858 by Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives, corps of topographical engineers under the direction of the office of explorations and surveys, A. A. Humphries, captain topographical engineers, in charge. By order of the Secretary of War. Wash., 1861, 4to, 131, 154, 30, 6, 32 p., with plates and maps. U. S. Govt Doc., 36th cong. Ist sess., H. Ex. Doc. 90; see also 35th cong. 2d sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 582; Id., H. Ex. Doc. 2, p. 608-19; 34th cong. Ist sess., H. Miscel. Doc. 86; Sen. Miscel. Doc. 39. Mölhansen, Reisen, i. 116-443, ii. 1-139, 144-5, map, who had been with Whipple, was also with Ives as artist, etc., and gives a full narrative. Capt. A. D. Byrd, for seven years a pilot on the Colorado, published in 1864 a new chart of that river. Browne's L. Cal., 47. In the S. F. Call of April 9, 1877,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Arizona and New Mexico, 1530-1888, Volume XVII, Part 52

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