Page 156 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

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several days, killing many Indians. . . .
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more than 300 head of cattle, tons of supplies, and $9,500 in quartermaster and commissary drafts. Acting quickly, the Confederates were able to cash
105
Baylor had less than a day to gloat over his good fortunes before he received the simultaneous news that General Johnston had arrived from California, that Federal troops evacuating Arizona were nearing Cooke’s Spring, and that the Freeman Thomas mail party had
beenwipedout.106
When it became evident that Texas was to become
a part of the secession movement, General Albert
Sidney Johnston decided to resign his commission.
He did so secretly on April 9, 1861, because he did
not want to cause undue problems within his Califor-
nia command. After he was replaced by General
Sumner on April 25, he and 32 men, including 7
other resigned army officers, made preparations to
join the South by way of the southern route. After a
delay in Los Angeles, they and others assembled at
Warner’s ranch. The group, mostly mounted,
started eastward on June 27 with four carriages and
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a pack train.
During their travels across the Colorado Desert of
southern California and Arizona, Johnston noted
that the veils his wife had sent along were very
helpful in keeping off the flies and mosquitoes. He
made no mention of the constant pain he ex-
perienced as he rode east. His suffering was the
result of an old duel wound inflicted by Felix Huston
when they quarreled over the right to command the
Republic of Texas’ army. On Sunday, June 30, the
group traveled far into the night because of the heat.
They saw a huge comet, as large as Venus, that had
a tail 100 arc-degrees long and was sufficiently bright
to contribute much of the light for their march that
night and the next. They regarded the incident as a
i 108 good omen.
At Fort Yuma and again at Tucson, Johnston was
approached by people who wanted to join forces and
attack the Federals. Despite encouragement by
some of the younger men (Johnston was 59), he
vetoed the ideas on the grounds that they were not
yet commissioned in the Confederate Army, and
such an attack would be equivalent to piracy at
coo 109 sea.
At Tucson, Johnston and his group learned that the Federals were evacuating the area and destroying their posts in the process. Johnston correctly sur- mised that the soldiers would proceed east to the Rio
Grande over the same road he intended to travel. In fact, he could see a vast column of smoke from the conflagration at Fort Buchanan. Johnston’s party left Tucson on July 22 at eight in the morning and, by making forced marches, managed to reach Dragoon Springs, where the road from Fort Buchanan joined the Overland Mail route, ahead of the Federals. At the springs they competed with some Texas Unionists for the water but prevailed withtheirsuperiorforce. Again,someofthemen wanted to ambush the withdrawing Federals, cut them off from the water, and force their capitulation.
Once more Johnston’s cool head and sense of propriety won out, and they continued their journey. It took them only five days to cover the 300 miles
1
from Tucson to Picacho.
Nearing Cooke’s Spring, one of the civilians,
George W. Gift (or Gill), later reported: “Between Tucson and Mesilla we saw the wrecks of 2 stages which had been robbed, and the guards, drivers, and passengers, some 14 persons, murdered.” Similarly, one of the resigned officers, Second Lieutenant Edward Bishop Dudley Riley added in his memoirs that near Cooke’s Spring
Some buzzards, wheeling about a neighboring cliff, gave evidence that one of those sickening tragedies, so common in Arizona before and since, had been enacted here. I was afterward told that the party was attacked by a large band of Indians; but, having succeeded in reaching a hill near by, they maintained themselves for
more than half of the drafts.
Confederate Invasion and Withdrawal
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Johnston’s party made the ride from Cooke’s Spring to Picacho without camping. At Picacho they learned of Lynde’s capitulation and humiliation at the hands of Baylor’s Texans. Johnston was anxious to proceed with his journey but could not deny Baylor’s request that Johnston take command of the Confederate forces and try to intercept and capture the column coming from Fort Buchanan. Johnston sent George Frazer, “Hank” Smith, and 14 addition- al Arizona Guards to bury the remains of the Freeman Thomas crew and to observe the ap- proaching Federals. They were to determine which way the Union column went, toward Fort Fillmore
or abandoned Fort Thorn, so the Confederates
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could intercept them.
After burying the mail party, the Arizona Guards’