Page 153 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

Figure 39. Edward Richard Sprigg Canby. Photo courtesy of the Museum of New Mexico, #54169.
Arizona.
New Mexico soldiers were threatening to desert
and go over to the South if they were not paid more regularly. Fortunately, in mid-June the paymaster, Major .Reynolds (probably Robert B.), stopped at Fort Fillmore and made partial payments to the companies stationed there. Actually, there was very little cash disbursed because most payments were made in government drafts and these were not final payments to date. The Mounted Riflemen company was 12 months behind in pay and refused to accept
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the drafts in payment.
Major Lynde posted orders on June 29 to remove
the regimental headquarters, staff, and band from Fort McLane to Fort Fillmore. These units left the following day. The remainder of the garrison fol- lowed July 3. On July 5 Major Lynde arrived at Fort Fillmore and relieved Major Gilbert Rene Paul. The four companies of the Second Infantry who
On June Colonel Canby 16, 1861,
ordered Major Isaac Lynde, the commanding officer at Fort Mc- Lane, to abandon that fort and remove his command and all public property to Fort Fillmore. Ap- proximately the same time, he ordered the total evacuation of all the garrisons located in present day
Chapter 5
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made the march through Cooke’s Canyon joined the three companies of the same regiment and one of Mounted Rifles already at Fort Fillmore.83
There were two important things to note in the publication of the local newspaper at this time. First, although the Mesilla Times was vitriolic in its condemnation of the Union, its staff had no difficulty in learning the exact details and timetable of Lynde’s movements from Fort McLane to Fort Fillmore. The strength of both garrisons was noted as was the number of wagons sent to transfer the military stores and baggage. Second, the Mounted Riflemen at Fort Fillmore, the only highly mobile force in the area, were nearly afoot. On June 18 seven men had “surrounded” the herders near Fort Fillmore and, after taking them as temporary prisoners, made off
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with 39 excellent horses.
whether the herders had been party to the raid.
By June 23, 1861, fueled by news from the east and rumors from San Antonio of a Texas column coming to occupy the territory, the Mesilla Times editor became more fanatical in his publications. He urged strong support of the South, ouster of the federal troops, and death to anyone who refused to acknow- ledge the Confederacy, or so reported W. W. Mills
8:>
in a letter to John S. Watts in Santa Fe.
Within a few days Major Lynde decided that it
would be extremely difficult to defend Fort Fillmore, especially because water for the post came from the Rio Grande a mile and a half away. He thought the fort should be abandoned and wrote this to Colonel
86 Canby on July 7 and 9.
In the meantime the Bean brothers, Samuel G. and Roy, had been quite successful in their multifaceted business in Pinos Altos. But support of their and other businesses required supply trains to bring goods from El Paso. By mid-summer the Apaches’ disruption of normal travel and commerce had begun to be felt at the mining camp. Food was scarce, and a supply train with eight wagons for the Beans was holed up at Cooke’s Spring as the teamsters were afraid to come any further without some sort of escort. Because troops had just been withdrawn from Fort McLane, 20 miners volun- teered to escort the train. The Indians tried unsuc- cessfully to stampede the oxen at the Mimbres River so the miners received enough supplies to hold out
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at least a little longer.
W. W. Mills had remained in El Paso, functioning
as a combined courier and spy for the Union forces.
There was some question