By Marguerite Madison Aronowitz
The American Civil War took place in the years 1861 to 1865. The City of Prescott officially began as Camp Whipple in 1863. These were turbulent times in United States history, and the Arizona Territory figured prominently in military operations in the West, especially regarding the United States of America (U.S.A.) and the Confederate States of America (C.S.A.).
In 1854, the United States and Mexico signed the Gadsden Purchase Treaty. With this treaty the United States acquired lands in what is today Arizona and New Mexico, called the New Mexico Territory. The northern part was known as New Mexico and governed out of Santa Fe, while the southern part was known as Gadsdonia or Arizona, and was largely ignored by the U.S. Government in Washington, D.C. People who lived in the southern part wanted the U.S. Congress to declare it a separate territory, but to no avail.
In 1861, the U.S. Government discontinued mail service that ran from San Antonio, Texas, through Tucson and on to California via the Butterfield Overland Stagecoach. When the service ended, people living in the affected area were almost completely cut off from the rest of the country in news and correspondence. It is no surprise, then, that when conventions of citizens were held in Mesilla, New Mexico, and Tucson, the popular vote was to secede from the U.S.A. and join the C.S.A. When Federal troops stationed in the southern part of the Territory were sent to U.S. Army posts along the Rio Grande to fight Confederate troops from Texas, residents were left to fend for themselves against thieves, criminals, and marauding Indians.
Arizona Joins the Confederacy
In July 1861 a battle between Federal troops and Confederate soldiers took place in the Organ Mountains just north of Mesilla, New Mexico. The Union soldiers were defeated by the Confederates, who were under the leadership of John Baylor of Texas. On August 1, 1861, Baylor issued the following:
"Proclamation to the People of the Territory of Arizona: The social and political condition of Arizona being little short of general anarchy, and the people being literally destitute of law, order, and protection, the said Territory, from the date hereof, is hereby declared temporarily organized as a military government until such time as Congress may otherwise provide.
I, John R. Baylor, lieutenant-colonel, commanding the Confederate Army in the Territory of Arizona, hereby take possession of said Territory in the name and behalf of the Confederate States of America. For all purposes herein specified, and until otherwise decreed or provided, the Territory of Arizona shall comprise all that portion of New Mexico lying south of the thirty-fourth parallel of north latitude".
(The 34th Parallel essentially divides today's state of Arizona in half from west to east. It lies just north of Phoenix at Wickenberg, and just south of Black Canyon City, Pinetop/Lakeside, and Springerville/Eagar. See Map below.)
Baylor declared himself Territorial Governor and, as of August 8, 1861, the Confederate government of the Territory of Arizona was in operation. On February 14, 1862, C.S.A. President Jefferson Davis issued the following:
"I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, do issue this, my proclamation, declaring said "Act to organize the Territory of Arizona" to be in full force and operation, and that I have proceeded to appoint the officers therein provided to be appointed in and for said Territory".
The Federal Government takes a stand
Almost exactly one year later, on February 24, 1863, the United States Congress passed the Act to Establish and Organize the Territory of Arizona. The dividing line was established north/south, due south from the point where the southwest corner of Territory of Colorado joins the Northern boundary of the Territory of New Mexico, to the southern boundary line of the said Territory of New Mexico.
Arizona's Civil War Battles
Three Civil War battles took place in Arizona: Stanwix Station, Picacho Pass, and Apache Pass. These occurred after Union troops were sent into Arizona to take back the area from the Confederates.
On February 28, 1962, Confederate Captain Sherod Hunter arrived in Tucson from Mesilla with 200-300 Texans. He was ordered to take the city and protect it from Indians, and keep it out of the hands of Union forces that were gathered on the Arizona-California border. This "California Column" (about 2,000 strong), under the command of Col. James Carleton, was under orders to move from Los Angeles through Yuma and Tucson and take back the Arizona Territory from the Confederate forces.
Advance Union parties were captured by the Confederate troops, and eventually the opposing sides fought at Stanwix Station, approximately 80 miles east of Yuma. Casualties amounted to one wounded Confederate soldier. Another conflict occurred on April 15, 1862 at Picacho Pass, just north of Tucson, where one Lieutenant Barrett and three other Union soldiers were killed, and three Confederate troops were captured.
On May 20, 1862, Union troops reached Tucson, where they discovered that the Confederates had vacated the city. The United States flag was raised over Tucson, and Colonel Carleton declared marshal law. He then named himself governor of the Territory of Arizona. Shortly thereafter, Union soldiers went on to retake Fort Breckenridge, renaming it Fort Sanford.
On June 29, 1862, the last Civil War battle in Arizona took place at Apache Pass (in Southeast Arizona just east of Willcox, near the Fort Bowie National Historic Site). Three Union troops were killed. On July 4, 1862, Union forces took New Mexico's Fort Thorn on the Rio Grande, thus ending Confederate occupation of the Arizona Territory.
Fort Whipple is Established
In 1863, now-promoted General Carleton headed north and established Camp Whipple at Del Rio Springs, near today's town of Chino Valley. As Governor of the Territory of Arizona, Carleton knew that the area's gold fields were vital to the cause of the North. Within a short time he moved the camp to today's site of the Prescott Veterans Affairs Center off Highway 89 just north of downtown. Here he established Fort Whipple, named after Brigadier General Amiel W. Whipple, who had led an expedition into Arizona in 1853-54 and later died from wounds received at the Civil War battle of Chancellorsville. The original fort construction was a wooden stockade consisting of several buildings.
In early 1864 John Goodwin was appointed Governor of the Arizona Territory by the U.S. Government in Washington. When Goodwin rode west and met with General Carleton, he was advised to locate the seat of government in what is today the city of Prescott. The first governor's home was built near the banks of Granite Creek, just south of Gurley Street. It has been restored and can be visited today on the grounds of the Sharlot Hall Museum.
Prescott is Officially Named
Prescott Township was officially surveyed in 1864 and, at the suggestion of Territorial Secretary of State Richard C. McCormick, was named Prescott after William Hickling Prescott, a noted historian. Prescott streets were named after important figures in Mexican history such as Cortez, Montezuma, Coronado and Alarcon. Goodwin, Whipple, Walker, Gurley and Sheldon streets were named after men who were instrumental in the settling and building of Prescott.
One year before the Civil War ended, in 1864, the first 4th of July celebration was held in Prescott's town center. This began a tradition that continues today as Prescott's Frontier Days and Rodeo. The first official rodeo was held on July 4, 1888, and is renowned far and wide as "The World's Oldest Rodeo."
(Written by Marguerite Madison Aronowitz of the Prescott Chamber of Commerce 2004. A local author, she has written other Days Past articles and has authored two books: Art Treasures and Museums In and Around Prescott, Arizona, and Maternity Ward: Final Flight of a WWII Liberator.)
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Arizona Territory Map) Reuse only by permission.
The 34th parallel essentially divides today's State of Arizona in half from west to east. It lies just north of Phoenix at Wickenberg, and just south of Black Canyon City, Pinetop/Lakeside andSpringerville/Eagar.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(mil186pi)
Reuse only by permission.
Fort Whipple during the early settlement of Prescott.