Page 165 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

graves of the men who fell on the battlefields of New Mexico, and in other wars and places, was written by John Butterfield s son, Major General Daniel Adams Butterfield, when he composed “Taps” at Harrison’s Landing in 1862. 176
The California Column
be his strength upon reaching Mesilla, but he in-
cluded 127 civilian employees in this figure. situation was further confused because Carleton mentioned leaving 113 soldiers at Apache Pass and neglected to indicate how many had been left at Tucson and other intermediate posts. However, ac- cording to the units included in his command (Table 1), the 2,350 figure could be accurate if all the com-
177
panies were at maximum strength.
There were also many civilian employees attached
to the column as teamsters, blacksmiths, packers, express riders, and guides as well as other special- ties. Oneoftheguideswasreputedtohavebeen Thomas Jonathan Jeffords, who was later in charge of the mail division between Apache Pass and Tuc- son and best remembered for his later friendship with Cochise while Indian Agent for the Chiricahua. 178
By March 31, 1862, all was in readiness and the first units pushed off for Tucson. The Infantry shouldered packs that weighed from 45 to 60 pounds in addition to their weapons, canteens and other accouterments. The officers were allowed to place their personal baggage in the wagons but were
179 limited to 80 pounds each.
Previously, on March 6, Lieutenant Colonel West’s advance patrol under Captain William A. McCleave was intercepted near the Pima villages west of Tuc- son by Captain Hunter and his men. The Union soldiers had been taken without a shot and sent to the Rio Grande as prisoners. West sent Captain William P. Calloway of Company D to rescue his men, and Calloway in turn detached a patrol under Lieutenant James Barrett to cut off the retreating Confederate pickets. Barrett did not follow orders and charged the pickets who were concealed in some trees. Intheensuingclash,Barrettandtwoofhis men (Privates Johnson and Denerd) were killed.
Jack Swilling, now serving under Hunter, claimed to have personally accounted for Barrett. The Con- federates suffered two killed (unidentified) and
During the latter part of 1861 and early 1862, as the Confederates pushed their operations in west Texas and southern New Mexico, the Union forces in California prepared to cross the Colorado Desert andrepairthedamage. Historianshavefailedto note the significant similarities and differences be- tween Colonel James Henry Carleton’s and the California Column’s march east to the Rio Grande and General Henry Hopkins Sibley’s march to the same point from San Antonio. The distances and the intervening terrain across dry sandy deserts and through hostile Indian country held many similarities. Likewise,thenumberofmeninvolved were reasonably comparable, as was the time re- quired for preparation prior to initiating the respec- tive expeditions.
The major and significant differences were the amount of time required to recognize the necessity of securing the territory; the time required to march from the point of assembly to the destination; and, not unrelated, the equipage and supplies carried by each group. The South real- ized quite early that it was in its interests to take command of the southern route and, if possible, the goldfields. TheNorthtookmuchlongertoact. A corollary is that the Union forces were much better equipped, supplied, and trained than the Con-
federates.
There has been some confusion regarding the ac-
tual strength of Carleton’s command, however. A low of 1,400 was given by one historian, and a high of 2,350 by another. Both are probably incorrect. True, Carleton reported predicting 1,400 men would
Unit
1st California Cavalry 2nd California Cavalry 1st California Infantry
5th California Infantry
3rd United States Artillery
Strength
5 Companies
1 Company (B) 10 Companies 5 Companies
1 Company (A)
Commander
Colonel Edward E. Eyre
Captain John Carey Cremony
Lt. Col. Joseph Rodman West Colonel George Washington Bowie Lieutenant John Brognard Shinn
Chapter 5
Table1. Carleton’sCaliforniaColumncomponents
151
The