FROM the time of American occupation of Tucson
and the territory in 1855,to 1887, was a period of trial, anxiety,
expectation, bloodshed and transition, and the part that our town and
territory took at this stage of affairs becomes very interesting.
Two problems of exceptional interest and
importance, whose results were outreaching and lasting, occupied the
thoughts and attention of the people of those early times, and they were
almost simultaneous in their demand for wise and prompt action.
Whether the course they took in relation
to the second problem, that of the civil war, was advisable, may be
more accurately determined in the light of subsequent events than at
that early day, but that the effort to secure territorial organization
was both wise and important can not be questioned. Friends of the
territory in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives
made efforts to attain this benefit, yet were unsuccessful.
Also within the territory— at Tucson, as
early as 1856— amass meeting had been called, and Mr. Nathan P. Cook
chosen to represent Arizona at Washington, in an effort to secure
recognition as a distinct territory, but his credentials being
unauthorized by a formally organized territory, he could not be admitted
to congress It was like telling a boy to stay away from the water till
he had learned how to swim.
However, his errand was considered in
the House of Representatives in 1857, and referred to the Territorial
Committee, who reported adversely because of "that sparsely settled
section," yet acknowledging the unfortunate conditions of a people with
no recognized government, recommended the passing of a bill to form a
judicial district south of the Gila river, appoint a surveyor general,
and to provide for representation of Arizona at Santa Fe, New Mexico,
together with other measures.
Such a bill was passed in the Senate,
but did not reach the House before final adjournment. In the same year
President Buchanan recommended in his message a territorial government
for Arizona, and Senator Gwin introduced a bill to organize such a
government for the Gadsden Purchase under the name of Arizona. Various
petitions from various people and states were also sent to Congress.
Being attached to New Mexico, any violators of the law in Arizona had to
be taken to Mesilla, the county seat of Donna Ana for trial, and
Arizonans in general, and Tucsonans in particular, craved a hom e
government, though there being in those days no edict against carrying
concealed weapons every man armed himself to the teeth against surprise
of any kind, and did as he pleased.
In an election, held in Tucson,
September, 1857, the citizens prepared a new petition, choosing
Sylvester Mowry as delegate to Congress. Mr. Mowry was not admitted;
neither did the bill of Senator Gwin find favor in the halls of
Congress. Again in 1858-1859 Mr. Mowry was sent to Washington.It has
been said that Mr. Mowry "invented Arizona," and Congress was
memorialized in another effort, but no territorial organization
resulted. In 1858 the leg- islature of New Mexico also passed
resolutions in favor of giving Arizona a separate organization, but as
though blood-drenched Arizona didn't have Indian troubles enough of her
own, they wished to remove all of the New Mexican Indians to Northern
Arizona. Determined to have some form of home government, the leading
citizens of Tucson held in 1860 a so-called constitutionalc onvention,
composed of thirty-one delegates from the entire district, which at that
time included the Rio Grande country.
They organized a provisional government
to remain in effect until Congress should give them a territorial
government, but no longer. General Wadsworth was president of that
convention, which chose L. A. Owens (now of Texas) as provisional
governor, who was to appoint subordi- nate officers. A legislature,
consisting of nine senators and eighteen representatives, was to be
elected and convened upon proclamation of the governor, who appointed
Ignacio Orrantia for Lieutenant Governor; James A. Lucas, Secretary of
State; Mark Aldrich, Treasurer; SamuelG.Bean, Marshal; District Judges,
Granville H. Oury (Chief Justice), Samuel H. Cozzens and Edward McGowan
(Associate Justices); Major General, W.C. Wadsworth, who commanded the
militia, and upon his staff were Col. W. S. Oury, of Tucson, and John G.
Capron. In this year Mr. Mowry got out a map, dividing the terri- tory
into four counties, as follows: On the west, what is now Yuma, he named
Castle Dome. Our county of 'Pima he extended eastward to Apache Pass and
called it Ewell. Mesilla county eastward to the Rio Grande, and Donna
Ana county eastward from the Rio Grande to line of Texas. The remainder
of what is now Arizona, being inhabited by wild Indians, probably the
Navajoes, was left to New Mexico—nobody wanted the Indians.
Mr. Mowry was again sent to Washington,
but as before his errand proved unsuccessful. It was claimed, and
probably with justice, that the reason all these efforts in behalf of
territorial organization were unsuccessful, was because of the
approaching civil war, and the extraordinary events then taking place in
Washington.
The opening of this most lamented war
had caused the entire withdrawal of the Federal troops from Arizona, and
though both Confederate and Union forces alternately occupied it, yet
they seemed like passing waves of the sea, for their absence again
placed the Apache Indian to the front, and in their ignorance, thinking
that the soldiers were withdrawn out of fear of them, they took every
advantage of this exposed condition, and advanced to the very out-
skirts of the village, as close as the present site of the Palace Hotel
on Meyer Street, and everywhere they carried death and destruction with
them.
These conditions lasted for about a
year, when in February, 1862, a company of Confederates (a portion of
Colonel Bailey's command from Mesilla, on the Rio Grande,) arrived in
Tucson, under Captain Hunter, and took possession of the territory in
the name of the Confederate States. The majority of the white population
were in sympathy with his cause, and perhaps for this reason the
Federal troops had been withdrawn
Anyway some time before his arrival the
citizens of Tucson held a meeting (those of Union sentiments, probably
as a matter of discre- tion, observing silence) and with all the
solemnity which the occasion demanded, passed an ordinance, proclaiming
the secession of Arizona from the Union. Hunter held possession until
May, when the advance of the California column, under General Carleton,
changed the order of things in a very short tim e. Hunter, claiming that
he did not possess sufficient force to meet General Carleton in battle,
withdrew into New Mexico, though one account says that Hunter sent out a
small detachment as far as Mount Pecacho, forty miles west of Tucson,
and that there was a skirmish of some kind, resulting in the killing of
one commissioned officer and several men from the California column,
though of course the victory was for the Union arms. Major S. R. DeLong,
Colonel James H. Toole and Captain G. C. Smith, for many years leading
citizens of Tucson, were officers in this famous California column, and
it is from Major De Long that we gather these facts. Colonel Toole,
whose family we all knew, built and owned the large square house on the
corner of Stone Avenue and East Ochoa Street. Capt. G. C. Smith was
later stationed at Fort Lowell.
On June 8th of this year General
Carleton, in Tucson, by general orders, placed the whole territory,
since they had seceded, under martial law, until such time as a civil
government should be organized under the jurisdiction of the United
States. Probably for the few inhabitants then in Arizona, a military
gov- ernment being more direct in its methods, was for the time being,
the best, yet the General was very sensitive to criticism, and it was
impossible but that he should be criticised for this coercive measure,
however well meant, and we shall see later, when the territorial
government came from the east— not on a water wagon, nor yet on the band
wagon, but in a wagon train—that this criticism cost Tucson the
capital.
In 1857 a line of stages operating
between San Antonio, Texas, and San Diego, California, made bi- monthly
trips, stopping at Tucson, and the Pima villages, as they passed back
and forth
In 1858 this line was merged into the
Overland Mail Company, which operated between St. Louis, Missouri, and
San Francisco, making hi-weekly trips, and carrying United States mail.
These facilities were a great help to Tucson, for it became a
flourishing trading post for many, and some extensive mining concerns,
thus connecting Tucson with the commercial centers both east and west;
but with the breaking out of the civil war the property of the line was
confiscated by some of the states through which the line ran and
unfortunate Tucson, being isolated, was without mail facilities for
several years. The first public mail that reached the town after the
war, came on horseback from California, September 1st, 1865, and the
first through mail from Eastern States, Barlow, Sanderson & Co.,
reached Tucson, August 25th, 1866.
These pages are from the book "Old Tucson; a hop, skip and jump"
by Estelle M. Buehman available on Amazon.
Local Tucson Books
 "Treasures of the Santa Catalina Mountains,"
by Robert Zucker. The legends and history of the Catalinas– the Tucson
Gold Rush, the Iron Door Mine, Buffalo Bill's mining camp, and the story
of mining the mountains for gold, silver and copper. Read chapters
online, download a free sample PDF of the book and purchase on
Amazon. |
 "Entertaining Tucson Across the Decades,"
by Robert Zucker. Covers the local music and entertainment scene from
the 1950s through the end of the 20th Century. Interviews with local
musicians, original photographs and stories published in local
newspapers. Read chapters online, download a free sample PDF of the book
and purchase on Amazon. |
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