Page 161 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

Apaches. His attempts to establish control of the road to California were completely stymied, and many of the miners left the Pinos Altos camps be- cause of the continued harassment. Baylor adopted a policy of extermination and used his locally mustered units, who had plenty of experience in Indian fighting, but he just could not control the Apaches. Not all his local problems, however, were
143
with the Indians.
During the first few days of January, the Con-
federates captured the town of Alamosa, 35 miles
south of Fort Craig, without resistance.
leading 550 men, surrounded the town at daylight only to find that the Union garrison there, under Captain Moore and Lieutenant Lord, had evacuated the day before. Before leaving, the Union troops burned all their supplies and equipment they could not take with them. The new editor of the Mesilla Times raged that information regarding Con- federate movements was being conveyed to the Federals from someone in the valley and asked, “Who is the traitor?” 144
The “someone” turned out to be three. At about the time of the attempted engagement at Alamosa, the Confederates caught two Mexicans at old Fort Thorn carrying messages from Mesilla to Fort Craig. The parties guilty of transmitting the messages were discovered to be J acob Appelzoller, Critendon Mar-
14
shall, and John Lemon.
men were arrested in Mesilla and condemned to hang. On January 18, 1862, they were removed from jail by a party of men led by Amon Barnes. But, instead of a regular hanging, the Confederates raised and lowered them by the ropes around their necks hoping to extract more information about their activities. The cruel game ceased when Mar- shall did not recover. Appelzoller and Lemon were
146
returned to jail.
On January 13, the Apaches struck closer to
Sibley’s seat of operation. They attacked a hay camp near Fort Thorn and burned three wagons. In addi- tion, the Indians stole 20 head of cattle from citizens plus 60 head of cattle and 40 horses from the Con- federateArmy.147 Underthesecircumstancesit is somewhat humorous to note the wild rumors that were reaching California at the time. Stories simul- taneously claimed that Baylor had arrived at Tucson with 3,000 troops and was ready to march on Fort Yuma and that the Apaches had massed an assault onTucsonandburnedallthehousesandkilledmany
of the people. 148
On January 15, the new commander of the Army
of New Mexico, General Sibley, issued an extensive proclamation. In it he delineated his intentions to take possession of all of New Mexico for the Con-
149
federate States.
lated, Captain Moore blew his brains out at Fort
As a result, these three
remaining Federal New Mexico forts.
such as Captain Coopwood, ill with smallpox, were left behind in the hospital at Dona Ana. 15 “
To strengthen local support, Sibley authorized Captain John G. Phillips to organize an independent company called The Brigands and on February 10, 1862, this unusual quasimilitary unit was formed. Phillips and nine other New Mexico residents were enrolled. They were not mustered into Confederate service but were “employed” by Sibley’s quarter- master department. The officers were paid accord- ing to Army schedules but the enlisted men received an extraordinary $50 a month and their mission was to bolster the Confederate’s supplies by appropriat-
153
ing civilian property.
Roy Bean was supposedly involved in organizing a
company of Confederate sympathizers who called
themselves the Free Rovers. Others labeled them
the Forty Thieves. However, no record exists of the
group or its activities, at least under either name.
Considering the similarities, perhaps this was the
group known as The Brigands. Bean in later years,
as“TheLawWestOfThePecos,”allegedlytoldA.
J. Sowell that he was acting as a “spy and scout” for
Baylor during the Confederate capture of Lynde’s
15
command.
Apparently, somewhere in the confusion and
Apache threats, the situation at Pinos Altos became toouncomfortablefortheBeanbrothers. Samand
Baylor,
Chapter 5
147
The following day, totally unre-
Craig. 150
moved his forces to Fort Thorn on January 21 and prepared for further invasion.
Sibley detached 630 men, under Colonel William Steele, to guard his rear and to remain in command of the Mesilla Valley and El Paso. Sibley also sent newly-promoted Captain Sherod Hunter with a mounted force to occupy Tucson and protect against a surprise attack from the west, where it was known that Californians were gathering organized strength. With the arrival of Lieutenant Colonel John Schuyler Sutton’s men on February 5, Sibley was poised to lead his invading army of 2,515 mounted men and 15 pieces of supporting artillery against the
15
To back up his proclamation, Sibley
A few,