Page 149 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

like sound policy to induce New Mexico Territory (including Arizona and part of Nevada) and Califor- nia, where most of the precious metal mining was taking place, to separate from the Union. The fact that this action would force the North to fight on another front and provide the Confederacy a Pacific
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brother William Wallace Mills, both stout defenders of the Union, became embroiled in bitter controver- sy with various locals over the concept of secession. Public announcements impugning the reputations of each side were posted by the other near the town plaza, present-day Pioneer Park.68 Anson claimed that threats against his life were made by one of the men for whom he had made the 1859 El Paso survey, J ohn Smith Gillett. When Anson went to vote on the issue, he was accompanied by P. T. Herbert, a staunch secessionist but personal friend. Over Hart’s objections, Herbert insisted that Anson be allowed to cast his vote at Ben Dowell’s saloon and
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polling place.
Anson Mills, although closely involved in many of
the political happenings in El Paso and southeastern New Mexico Territory, was not a good source of information for events in the Southwest in the 1860s, because he left El Paso on March 9, 1861, with seven other passengers in what they believed to be last Butterfield coach to go through to Missouri. Some, including Mills, were headed for Washington and the North, others to Richmond and the South. The commander at Fort Bliss, Lieutenant Colonel Issac Van Duzer Reeve, had asked Mills to go to Washington to talk with the new Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, and to secure authority for Reeve to take his command and supplies to New Mexico. Mills claimed that men who owed him money would not pay while all of his creditors demanded immedi- ate payment. Consequently, he had difficulty round- ing up fare for the coach, and with the 40-pound baggage limit, he was forced to leave nearly every- thing behind. 0
With all of the Indian disturbances around, the
men of Mesilla sought a way to meet the challenge.
On May 10 and 11, meetings were held, and George
Frazer was authorized “to raise a company of
rangers to chastise the Apaches for their late out- 71
brothers, Eugene (Figure 36) and Alfred (probably C. A. Van Patten) also joined the outfit. Even though Sumter had been fired on, and Mesilla was a known hotbed of Southern sympathy, the com- mander at Fort Fillmore made an offer of ammuni- tion and provisions to the company.
Confederate Invasion andWithdrawal
The agitation within Texas to secede from the Union was creating a great deal of concern and anxiety among the military commanders and troops stationed there. The Departmental Commander General David Emanuel Twiggs was one of the Army’s three full brigadiers in 1861. Perhaps he was only creating a smoke-screen when he communi- cated with Washington, as early as December 27, 1860, requesting what actions he should take and what to do with the public property in the event that Texas seceded from the Union. On January 15, 1861, he asked General Winfield Scott to relieve him from duty as his health was not good and expressed
port were also gains
Prior to the Mesilla meeting, Anson Mills, and his
not to be taken lightly.
Acting on this petition, Frazer mustered
ner.
comprised 20 percent of the United States Army at the time, and much of the $1.6 million worth of military supplies that he turned over was later used to supply General Henry Hopkins Sibley’s (Figure 37) invasion of New Mexico.7
The Fort Bliss commander, Lieutenant Colonel Reeve, had no better luck with his appeals to Washington, delivered by Anson Mills, than had Twiggs. Following the directive from Twiggs, Reeve lowered the garrison flag on March 31, turned the facility over to Texas Commissioner James Wiley Magoffin and the public funds to another Commis- sioner, Simeon Hart, and marched his 134 men east
rages.”
the Arizona Rangers with Sherod Hunter as his second in command. Two of the Van Patten
Chapter 5
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that “All I have is in the South.
Washington did not respond to Twiggs’ appeals,
creating a disastrous situation for both. On
February 18, after much negotiation with the Texas
Committee of Public Safety, Twiggs turned over
nearly all of the public property held by federal
installations in Texas and agreed to evacuate all the
military personnel there via gulf coast ports. Be-
cause of this action he would be dismissed from the
Army and replaced by one of the remaining two
Regular Army brigadier generals, Edwin Vose Sum- 74
The troops that Twiggs surrendered in Texas
73 ..
.”