By John S. Huff

After marching across the northern expanse of New Spain evaluating the presidios (forts) for King Charles III of Spain, Colonel Hugo O’Conor arrived at the presidio of Tubac (35 miles south of Tucson) in the summer of 1775.

Silver had been discovered 60 miles southwest of Nogales in 1736. The resulting rush of prospectors and Spaniards pursuing mining, ranching, farming and missionary activities led to the establishment of Tubac Presidio for their protection in 1752. O’Conor felt the location of the presidio was not acceptable and he proceeded to search for a better site for relocation (the need for water, wood and protection). He traveled north to the mission of San Xavier del Bac, established in the 1690s by Padre Kino, where he contacted Franciscan Priest, Francisco Garces, asking his assistance in choosing a new site.

The location chosen was known by the Pima Indians as "shook-shon" or "chukeson" meaning "spring at the foot of the black mountain," referring to the volcanic peak to the west of the site. On the 20th of August 1775, O’Conor issued a proclamation declaring the establishment of "San Augustin del Toixon as the new site of the Presidio." The proclamation was drawn up and signed at San Xavier del Bac and contains the signatures of O’Conor, Father Francisco Garces and Lieut. Juan de Carmona. After several different spellings, the site became known as Tucson. In 1776, the Spanish forces moved from Tubac to Tucson. Construction of the new presidio languished until the next year when Capitan Pedro de Allande replaced the absent Capitán Juan de Anza and drove the soldiers to complete the fort. Major battles were fought with the Apaches until the presidio walls were completed in 1783.

Meanwhile, Colonel O’Conor was asked by Viceroy Bucareli to continue his defense duties at Tucson. He had traveled some 10,000 miles on horseback in the four years from 1772-76. He asked to be relieved of these duties, was promoted to Brigadier General and appointed Governor of Yucatan. He never married, never saw the completion of the presidio and his health was failing. He died at age 44 in Merida, capital city of Yucatan, in 1779.

At the outset of the Mexican Independence movement in 1810, Spain could no longer sustain its presence and. withdrew from Mexico in 1821. Fur traders became the first North Americans to enter Arizona in the 1820s. With no Mexican support, the Tucson presidio began to deteriorate and. when American troops first entered Arizona in 1856, the sites of Tubac and Tucson were small towns of “mud boxes, dingy and dilapidated, cracked and baked into a composite of dust and filth,” according to an early visitor.

The Mexican-American War of 1846-48 gave the territory north of the Salt River to the United States. The Gadsden Purchase from Mexico added the area south of the Salt River to the present border with Mexico by 1853. Tucson’s population in 1860 was more than 600 and the walls of the presidio were crumbling. With the advent of the Civil War, Federal troops protecting southern Arizona were recalled to the east. Tucson inhabitants pleaded for protection from the continuing Apache threat and Confederate forces answered their call.

Federal headquarters was located at Fort Whipple in central Arizona by 1863. Early that year, an Act of Congress separated the Territory of Arizona from New Mexico Territory. Shortly after Lincoln had declared Arizona a Union Territory, Prescott was declared the territorial capital. The stigma of a Confederate Tucson and southern sympathizers would cause the largest town in Arizona Territory to forfeit that honor. Though the capital changed location from Prescott to Tucson, back to Prescott and finally Phoenix in 1889, Tucson remained Arizona’s largest city until 1920.

Hugo O’Conor has left a legacy that is recognized in Tucson each year on Aug. 20 as the Fiesta de San Augustin. Month-long activities mark the 234th birthday this year and a schedule may be viewed at www.tucsonsbirthday.org then click on “All 2009 Events.”

John S. Huff is a volunteer at Sharlot Hall Museum.

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Sharlot Hall Museum/Courtesy
The El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson mural by Bill Singleton, a 13 by 53-foot depiction of life at the presidio, is located at Tucson Origins Heritage Park at Washington Street and Church Avenue.
Irishman Hugo O’Conor, Tucson’s founding father