Roster of Offiers 1858

Antebellum Infantry in California

Will Gorenfeld and George Stammerjohan
copyright April 5, 2008

Artill'ry at a distance play,
And troopers often clear the way—
A skirmish sharp, a pistol shot
The quick retreat in rapid trot;
The foe advances, light and free;
Who meets them now? The Infantry!
Though other corps are dear to me
Yet most I prize the Infantry.
The Infantry by Captain Barnard Bee (United States Infantry)

All too frequently, military historians are quick to dismiss the role played by the Infantry stationed in the antebellum West. They would give one the impression that the Infantry was simply relegated to garrison duty. This is not true. The "Dough Foots" were active participants in many battles: Live Oak Springs, Four Lakes, Ash Hollow, Fort Mohave, and Truckee River. In California, the mounted arm fought but few actions; the foot soldier, meanwhile, participated in nearly every battle and skirmish.
Antebellum California
With the conclusion of the United States-Mexican War in 1848, the U.S. had expanded its borders to the Pacific Ocean. This increase in territory would soon create major problems for the federal government. At the end of the war, the volunteers mustered out, and the regular Army reverted to its authorized pre-war strength of 10,310 soldiers. Once again the US Infantry consisted of eight regiments, numbering 4,464 men.
In 1848, there was stationed but a single company of 3d Artillery and five companies of Dragoons to protect the newly conquered territory of California. Their numbers were reduced further when quick riches to be made in the gold fields lured many of the $11.00 per month troopers to desert their camps.
The two senior officers in California, Brevet Major General Bennet Riley (of the 2d Infantry and Military Governor), and Brevet Major General Persifor F. Smith (Regiment of Mounted Rifles), found a way to decrease the number of desertions by moving their men to the western edge of the diggings. As long as camp duties were completed in the mornings, soldiers were allowed to prospect for gold work in the afternoon. Soldiers stationed at San Diego and Fort Yuma on the Colorado River were given 60-day furloughs to try their hands at mining. Most soldiers, after several weeks of mining the cold rivers of the Sierra Nevada and backbreaking work for a few dollars, quickly returned to their companies and desertion to the mines was dramatically reduced.
This was not an especially good time for the cutback of a strong military presence in California. How would a population of some 7,000 Californios, former citizens of Mexico, react to the change of governments? There were also unfounded rumors of civil unrest, riots, and Hispanic forces organizing on both sides of the international border, ready to drive the Yankees out of California.
And then there was California's Native American population. For years prior to the Mexican-American War, the Californios had been steadily losing parts of their domain to the native tribesmen who inhabited the interior regions of California. In some areas, it was dangerous for even an armed man to travel alone. Tribes such as the Yokuts and Miwoks had become highly accomplished raiders of livestock, routinely stealing stock from the sprawling ranches near the villages of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Jose and San Luis Obispo.
With the discovery of gold, swarms of contentious settlers poured into the interior valleys and foothills where most Native Americans lived. Viewed as a hindrance to mining and ranching operations, the Golden State’s original inhabitants were often ruthlessly hunted, slaughtered, and enslaved; their economies disrupted, villagers driven from their homes, food sources destroyed.
Some scholars estimate that, prior to the Gold Rush, there were 100,000 Native Americans in California. By 1860, California's Native American population had declined to 32,000. This was the most monstrous destruction of any group of Native Americans in the history of the United States.
When the natives stole cattle in order to feed themselves or retaliated for the murder of tribesmen, settlers were quick to call for army protection. The military was repeatedly sent in to punish the Native Americans and keep them away from the settlers. Of these engagements, special agent J. Ross Browne would write, "The federal government, as is usual in cases where lives of valuable voters are at stake, was forced to interfere. Troops were sent out to aid the settlers in slaughtering the Indians."
But on other occasions, troops were detailed to protect the natives from vigilantes or militia groups. It was very confusing for everyone. An officer wrote: "Our Indian war is over for the present, and I do not think will be revived unless the whites commit more murders. The Indians look to us as their protectors. The stories that I have heard of the outrages perpetrated by the whites would be incredible were they not well vouched for. The Indians are naturally quiet and would continue so if left alone."
Most of the battles in California, from a military point of view, were minor skirmishes. For the starving and impoverished native peoples of California, however, these battles were devastating.
A typical skirmish involved Company G, of the 2d Infantry at Fort Miller. Two members of a Yokuts triblet were accused of stealing an ox from a settler in the vicinity of the town of Visalia. On December 8th of 1853, Lt. John Nugent departed the fort with a detachment of 14 men and marched south to the Yokuts village. The troops marched at night march through the foothills of the western Sierras, reaching the village at daybreak. Nugent reported that when they surprised the encampment at dawn's first light, "[t]he Indians were much frightened; nonetheless a few commenced shooting their arrows at the men. Their fire was promptly returned, killing two and wounding several others . . ."
The 2d Infantry: the first to serve in post-war California
The 2d U.S. Infantry was one of the last regiments of regulars to leave Mexico. The regiment had barely settled into its station at Fort Hamilton near New York City, when orders arrived directing that it be recruited up to strength. In the winter of 1848-1849, the 2d Infantry set sail for California, via Rio Janeiro, Cape Horn and Valparaiso.
By early summer of 1849, companies of the 2d Infantry were scattered about central California, along trails leading to the gold diggings or the entry into California. One company of the 2d was escorting Brevet Major Emory's survey of the California/Mexican border. The entire force in the department was estimated to be about 650 men.
In 1850, a company of the 2d Infantry, under the command of Captain Lovell, were garrisoned the Rancho Chino. This outpost, located a few miles east of Pueblo Los Angeles, was to prevent raids coming through Cajon Pass from the Mojave Desert. Some citizens may have been impressed enough with the uniform, but not with the 2d Infantry's alacrity. Years later, Los Angeles lawman Horace Bell recalled that the troops at Jurupa were "well-fed, clean shaved, white cotton-gloved, nicely dressed, lazy, fat fellows, who were seemingly happy and content on their $8.00 per month . . . They all, from Captain to Corporal, seemed resigned to a life of well-fed indolence. . . Every military collar at Jurupa must stand with the most mathematical uprightness; every button, every brogan, and every military tin cup, be burnished daily."
Ranger Bell, of course, loved to criticize the regulars and frequently spun exaggerated tale after tale of how his posse boldly chased down outlaws. In truth, Bell and his rangers spent much of their time holed up at the saloons of the Pueblo of Los Angeles in pursuit of liquid courage.
In May of 1850, Lieutenant and Brevet Captain Nathaniel Lyon marched a battalion of 2d Infantry along with a company of 1st Dragoons from Benicia Barracks to the northern shore of Clear Lake. Pomo tribesmen had killed a couple of disreputable white men who had been enslaving some of their people. Lyon was under orders to punish the tribes responsible for these murders. He did not bother to determine which was the guilty band and attacked the first Pomo village that he discovered.
The Pomos took refuge on an island surrounded by tules. Lyons sent his men wading across the marshy bog, cartridge boxes and muskets held over their heads as they reached the island. Firing at close range targets, the troops ruthlessly slew over a hundred men, women and children. Witnesses later claimed that the water of Clear Lake turned red. Thereafter, the land mass became known as "Bloody Island."
Marching to the headwaters of the Russian River, Captain Lyon's command cornered another band of Pomos in what he called a "perfect slaughter pen." Lyon confidently wrote that his men killed "not less than seventy-five, and have little doubt to nearly double that number."
In I851, witnessed the Antonio Garra uprising of desert tribes in Southern California. Joshua Bean of the California Militia sought to suppress this rebellion and complained to the Governor that Captain Lovell's troops at Rancho Jurupa "are unable to render any assistance, as they are not mounted nor have they suitable arms and are short of ammunition."
Indeed, these troops of the 2d were quite capable. While the erstwhile general contemplated his options within the safe confines of Los Angeles, part of the 2d Infantry led by Captain and Brevet Major Samuel Heintzleman marched swiftly across the lower Mojave Desert and, on December 20, 1851, killed two leaders of a band of Cahuillas in Los Coyotes Canyon and ended the uprising.
During the ensuing months, Heintzleman's hard-marching troops cris-crossed the parched sands of the Mohave, re-established Fort Yuma on the Colorado River, and engaged the Yuman tribe in a series of skirmishes.
In late 1853, the companies of the 2d in California were broken up. Officers and non-commissioned officers sailed east to reorganize the regiment. The enlisted men—most of whom had less than a year left in their enlistments--remained in California and were sent to serve with the other regiments stationed in the Department of the Pacific.
1851 Uniform Regulations: The French look.
Our army is a motley crew
In dress and armour, duties too,
And each and all I love to see--
But most I love the Infantry.

Those first infantry troops to arrive in California wore a uniform mostly unchanged from that worn during the Seminole and Mexican Wars: a powder blue shell jacket, with a high collar, trimmed in white, light blue kersey wool trousers, white buff belts, and a Model 1839 fatigue cap. Given that Army storehouses were filled to the brim with these uniforms and that the 1851 regulations allowed "articles of the old uniform already manufactured for enlisted men [to be] used until exhausted . . . altered, so far as practicable, to correspond with the new pattern," the quartermaster would continue to distribute them for years to come.
The 1850's would prove to be a period of experimentation in weaponry and uniform. In 1851, regulations for a uniform were prescribed for the entire army. The new attire would be based upon the French Army design of 1844: a dark blue frock coat that came down halfway to the knees with a single row of nine buttons. The coat's cuffs and collars were to match the color of the branch of service. On the front of the collar, in yellow metal and 1" in height, was the number of the regiment. On each shoulder of the infantryman, light blue worsted epaulettes were to be worn.
The branch color for the infantry was Saxony or light blue, replacing the white worn by infantry since the days of the Revolution. Under the 1851 Regulations, the cuffs, collar, pom pom, and epaulettes for the Infantry would be light blue. The light blue trousers had a 1/8" dark blue stripe.
The infantryman carried a black bridle leather cartridge box that was slung over his left shoulder by means of a black buff strap. Inside of the cartridge box were 40 paper wrapped cartridges. Attached to a black buff leather waist belt, measuring 1.5 inches wide and 38.5 inches long were a percussion cap pouch and a bayonet scabbard.
As for headgear, the army introduced a 6 1/2" tall, stiff shako of dark blue cloth, with a crown that slightly sloped forward, and topped off with a round pom pom. For infantry, the hat sported a light blue band. The ungainly hat was authorized for all purposes: full dress, fatigue, and campaign. Each soldier was to be issued seven hats during the course of his five-year enlistment.
The shako was not especially popular with the troops. A colonel wrote to the Adjutant General complaining that the new shako was entirely unsuitable for service, being heavy, hot, and painful to the head when used in the sun, wind, or at a rapid gait; incommodes the soldier in the use of his arms, as well as in all fatigue duties.
Some Infantry officers complained: "In the light infantry drill, even with the assistance of the chin strap, it has been found impossible to keep the cap properly on the head, and from the nature of material of which it is made, it soon becomes shapeless and unfitted for parade purposes." Resourceful soldiers would often remove the cardboard lining and thereby convert the ungainly shako into an early version of the kepi.
The regulations of 1851 Regulations notwithstanding, the troops stationed out West often were dressed in whatever clothes they were issued or purchased on their own. When Colonel Joseph Mansfield, Inspector General, toured the Department of the Pacific in 1854, he often failed to write in his reports how the troops were dressed. This would suggest that Mansfield ignoring the shabby and obsolete uniforms. Only at Ft. Redding, at the upper end of the Sacramento Valley, did he report that both the company from the 3d Artillery and the men from the 4th Infantry were properly dressed in the 1851 uniform.
Uniform regulations went completely by the board when the troops were in the field. One might find the troops wearing anything from blue checkered shirts to red bib-front miner's blouses. Sergeant Eugene Bandel of the Sixth Infantry described the typical uniform worn on campaign in 1857 as consisting of a broad brim hat, with white canvas trousers, and a woolen shirt worn on the outside like a coat.
A mule-mounted column of 2d Infantry under Brevet Major Henry W. Wessels, heading into the Sierras to the east of modern day Red Bluff appeared as "being one-well armed party of miners." When the observer got a closer look, he noticed that "those soldiers ain't got a bit of uniform except polished muskets." In 1857, a Southern California rancher spotted a detachment of 3d Artillerymen, walking across the beach on their way to Mission San Luis Rey "walking barefoot in the sand, their red flannel shirts unbuttoned and each wearing a Mexican straw hat."
Officers in antebellum California sometimes even incorporated Hispanic garb into their dress. While stationed in Southern California, Second Lieutenant Lieut. Caleb Smith of the 2d Infantry was described as wearing non-regulation Mexican style buckskin leggings (botas de cuerro), sombrero, sash, jangling spurs and calzoneros along with his regulation frock coat.
Mansfield noted that the troops at Ft. Humboldt had complained to him that the issue white flannel undershirt had shrinkage problems. He recommended that the troops be issued "coloured flannel [which] does not shrink."
Regulations of 1854: Brass shoulder scales for the Infantry
The regulations of 1854 called for the replacement of the light blue band on the hat and the light blue cuffs with thin welts. The new regulations also discarded the worsted epaulettes for dress substituting brass shoulder scales in their stead. Of course, it took nearly three years before most Infantry companies on the Pacific Coast received the 1854 uniform.
Often, the brass scales were never issued. Instead, the brass scales were left in a box under the Captain's bed, or were accidentally lost while an army supply wagon was crossing a river. Broken as well as complete sets of scales are often found by archaeologists in old fort trash pits.
The Model 1842 Musket: the Last of the Smoothbores?
The infantry was generally armed with the 1842 musket. This lengthy (57 13/16 inches) and heavy (9 pounds, 3 ounces) smoothbore arm, with its brightly burnished iron barrel, was the first U.S. musket to employ the use of percussion caps. It used a paper cartridge containing powder and a .63 caliber ball. The musket had an effective aimed range of just about eighty to a hundred yards.
The muskets lacked a rear sight: due to the windage between ball and barrel, aiming at a specific target was a useless act. Grant observed in his memoirs that in using such an arm, "you might fire at a man all day from a distance of 125 yards without him ever finding it out." It was, indeed, an unfortunate soldier who was stuck by a musket ball fired at him from a range of 125 yards.
In order to compensate for the musket's lack of accuracy, the men would load buck and ball: a .63 caliber ball and three .31 caliber buckshot. At close range, the musket became a deadly shotgun.
The Model 1842 is occasionally referred to as the last smoothbore arm issued to United States regulars. It wasn’t. Commencing in 1847, the Springfield Armory turned out the .69 calibre musketoon. This smoothbore weapon, a shortened and lighter form of musket, came in three versions: cavalry, sapper, and artillery. At least one company of the 2d Infantry in California was issued musketoons.
Some of the soldiers who served on the Pacific frontier carried the Model 1841 .54 calibre rifle. This weapon, about a foot shorter in length than the musket, was considered by many to be the finest rifle in any military. Because of the tight fit of the patched ball, it was slow to load—but deadly accurate when placed into the hands of a trained infantryman.
The Hazardous Journey of the 4th Infantry
Realizing that the 2d Infantry was not strong enough to garrison all of the critical points in California, the War Department sent the 4th Infantry to the Pacific Coast. On July 5, 1852, the 4th Infantry Regiment boarded the old steam ship Ohio and departed New York Harbor, bound for California by way of the Isthmus of Panama. During their trek across the Isthmus, a great many of the party contracted cholera. On August 18th, the Pacific Mail steamship Golden Gate, loaded with the sickly 4th Infantry, arrived in San Francisco Harbor. The regiment lost one hundred and seven men to cholera. Among the survivors was a 4th Infantry brevet captain by the name of Ulysses Grant.
The 9th Infantry: a new regiment for service on the West Coast.
In 1855, Congress authorized two new foot regiments, the 9th and 10th Infantry. The 9th was organized at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, and sailed for California in late 1855 and early 1856. Upon arrival on the West Coast, these men were detailed to the Pacific Northwest. Several companies were immediately in combat in the rain-flooded meadows east of modern Tacoma.
The uniform worn by the 9th Infantry had two distinct attributes. Its frock coat, with a short pleated skirt, was of a French design known as chasseur a pied. The men of the 9th also wore leather suspenders and a rifleman's belt with a plain double plate.
One interesting myth that has long be been held by many gun collectors is that the 9th Infantry arrived in California armed with the Model 1855 Harper's Ferry rifle. This is not so. (The only positively identified '55 rifle sent to the West Coast was received for testing at Fort Tejon, California, where the post butcher promptly appropriated it when he deserted.)
In fact, the 9th regiment sailed from Virginia unarmed. Moreover, the regiment departed for California two and a years before the M1855 rifle existed in sufficient numbers to be issued to any of the troops.
Upon arrival at Benicia Barracks, the 9th was issued Model 1841 Yaeger rifles. Colonel George Wright of the 9th declared the Yeager rifle "the best arm I have ever seen in the hands of a foot soldier." In 1858, these 1841 rifles were re-bored to fire the new government M-1855 cartridges. The barrels were turned down at the muzzle to take either a long-bladed sword bayonet or the M-1855 musket bayonet. (Since bayonets were rarely used or mentioned in Army reports, and the authors have not had the opportunity to examine "stoppages" against 9th Infantrymen, we cannot say which of the two bayonet types was issued.) In 1860, the 9th Infantry was rearmed with the .58 caliber M-1855 rifle musket.
The Terrifying Voyages of the Third Artillery

In late 1853, the 3d Artillery was alerted for transfer to California and to serve as infantry replacing the departing 2d Infantry. Recruiting was stepped up and the ranks were soon filled. A significant number of new recruits were teenagers fresh from the shores of Ireland, England, and Germany.
The troops were crammed aboard the steamer San Francisco that “departed New York on December 21, 1853, ‘... with light breeze from the southwest and clear weather.’ On December 24 the weather changed to a ‘... moderate breeze from the west ... and heavy rain towards evening.’ By midnight the weather was very heavy and the San Francisco had lost many sails.” Off of Cape Hatteras, the San Francisco steamed into a monstrous storm, in which "waves rolled mountain high." The steamer's engines failed, the ship wallowing helplessly in boiling seas. On the midmorning of December 29, 1853, a giant wave crashed over the upper deck, stripping everything from the deck—including a cabin in which some 200 artillerymen were sheltered.
When the first rescue boats reached the San Francisco, Colonel Gates quickly jumped aboard and abandoned his men. Following a court martial, he was shelved until 1861. The survivors, scattered around to ports in England, France, and the United States, were slowly gathered to re-organize the regiment.
This maritime disaster, coupled with the transfer of the 2d Infantry out of California, left General John Wool, commanding the Department of the Pacific, with a severe manpower shortage in his department. The 3d regiment was hurriedly recruited to strength, and in early 1854, four companies departed for California, only to run into another storm off of North Carolina. Their battered steamer eventually managed to limp into quiet waters of Hampton Roads on the Virginia peninsula.
Another ship, the Illinois, was sent. It would take the artillerymen to Panama. After crossing the Isthmus, they boarded the Oregon, which arrived in San Francisco on May 4, 1854. Meanwhile, two companies of the 3d Artillery, along with footsore recruits of the 1st Dragoons, marched overland, leaving Ft. Leavenworth in May of 1854. This column spent the winter in Salt Lake, and reached the West Coast in July of 1855.
Upon arrival, the various companies of the 3d were scattered about the west coast. Most of the troops of the "Marching 3d" were put to use as red-legged infantry.
In the spring of 1856, twenty-five men of Company K of the Third Artillery at Ft. Miller, under the command of 2d Lieutenant LaRhett Livingston, took to the field to suppress a war started by settlers. Angry over the theft of a cow, they had killed some Yokuts. The tribesmen retreated to a defensive position near the base of Battle Mountain and proceeded to defeat a band of volunteers who were bent upon the tribe’s destruction.
In the pre-dawn of May 13, 1856, Lt. Livingston climbed a nearby hillside and peered into the Yokuts encampment. Seeing that the position was not heavily defended and could be attacked on its flank, Livingston swiftly put his company into motion. Suddenly, a group of Yokuts rose from the underbrush and peppered the detachment with arrows. The arrows were deflected by the bushes and caused no serious injury to the troops. Without hesitation they leveled their muskets and fired. At point-blank range, the muskets, loaded with buckshot and ball, took a deadly toll upon the defenders. Livingston shouted, “Charge! Bayonets, forward!” The Yokuts hastily melted into the safety of the dense pine forests of the Sierra Range. Livingston reported twenty dead tribesmen. An unknown number of Yokuts would later die of wounds received in this battle. The emboldened volunteers looted and burned the Yokuts village.
The 1858 Uniform: Some New Headgear
General Order No. 3 for March 24, 1858, did away with the tall shako and replaced it with a tall, broad-brimmed felt hat in black. With its brim folded up on the left, a light blue braid ending in tassels circled around the crown, brass insignia attached to the front, and a debonair black ostrich feather placed on the right, the hat was not very practical for use in the field or on fatigue. A few months later, General Order number 13 authorized a fatigue cap in dark blue. This cap was essentially a floppy version of the 1851 shako with the stiff cardboard lining removed. It would soon evolve into the all-too familiar kepi of the Civil War. In 1858, the Quartermaster General began to issue a four-button fatigue jacket for all troops.
The Hard-Marching 6th Infantry
The last regiment of infantry to come to California before the Civil War was the 6th Infantry. Originally scheduled for Washington Territory, Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Newman S. Clarke, the commanding officer of the 6th, convinced the War Department to divert the regiment to newly created Department of California—a department under the command of Colonel Clarke.
On the 21st of August 1858, the Sixth Infantry left camp near Fort Bridger, Utah Territory, and began its overland march to California. The regiment, and its two-mile column of 180 supply wagons and ambulances, crossed the Sierra Nevada range in October, often wading through knee-deep snow. On November 11th, with its flags flying and the band playing "Yankee Doodle" and "The Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel," the regiment paraded westward on J Street past the state Capitol.
The Infantry gets a New Weapon: the 1855 Rifle-Musket
While large numbers of the Model 1855 rifle musket had been issued in the summer of 1858 for the Spokane Plains expedition, few of these weapons had been seen by the public in California towns. A Sacramento Union reporter wrote that 6th regiment was "armed with the new [Model 1855] percussion cap rifled musket, with Maynard's patent primer attached." This .58 calibre weapon was the first regulation weapon to fire the minie bullet and had an effective range of over 1,000 yards.
There is little question that the 1855 rifled musket was a marked improvement over the 1842 musket. The touted Maynard primer system, however, was hardly a blessing. The Maynard taped primer worked like a child's toy cap pistol. A paper roll, containing bits of fulminate of mercury as primer, was placed in a chamber just below the hammer. The tape was mechanically fed under the hammer each time that the hammer was cocked. When the hammer dropped, the fulminate would be detonated and the paper cut away. This system had been first been tested in 1849 on muskets supplied to the Infantry by the firm of Daniel Nippes.
The concept was sound enough for those in Ordnance who tested it at the Washington D.C. armory. The primer compartment was not sealed. When the primer tape was exposed to wet weather, however, the entire tape could be ruined by dampness. In the hotter climes, the tape became brittle and would easily tear. Inspector General Joseph Johnston, in 1859, observed troops firing the rifle musket and reported "at least half misfired, sometimes from defective machinery, others by the fault of the [taped] primer itself."
The Final Battles
As the 6th Infantry tried to settle in after their long journey from Utah, a campaign was brewing in the desert. The Mojave tribe regarded travelers on Edward Beale's new road to be trespassers and driven off mail trains and killed immigrants. Elements of the 6th Infantry were ordered by General Clarke to protect to the travelers.
On the morning of February 11, 1859, four companies of the 6th boarded the creaky wooden side-wheeled steamer Uncle Sam. The ship sailed through the Golden Gate and turned south. Off of Point Ano Nuevo, it plowed into a severe Pacific storm. The bilge pumps stopped working and the Uncle Sam began to take on water.
In order to save the ship, overboard went the coal, soon followed by all of the baggage of the four companies along with 320 new M-1855 rifle muskets. As the ship continued to founder, the men turned their attention to the mules. These durable creatures, which had walked to California from Ft. Leavenworth, showed no interest in being dumped into the foamy sea and fought efforts to cast them overboard. As the battle of the mules was beginning, the storm broke, and the Uncle Sam was able to sail back to the repair yards.
The 6th Infantry requested replacement 1855 muskets. The arsenal at Benicia was slow to issue the new weaponry. There was an ample supply, however, of altered Springfield 1816 Type III smoothbore muskets and these aged weapons were issued to many of the troops.
Colonel Joseph Mansfield was again inspecting California as the Mojave campaign was being organized at Fort Yuma. He was astonished at the bewildering array of clothing, equipment, and weaponry. Due to the heat most of the men were in lightweight civilian shirts. But the troops looked hardy, ready for a long march and a tough campaign.
On August 5, 1859, Companies F and I, under the command of Major Lewis Armistead, took part in a fight with the Mohaves twelve miles south of the post. In this battle, the long-ranged 1855 Muskets proved their value in this long-range firefight. Major Armisted reported that, because of the dry desert weather, the Maynard primers worked well.
The twenty-three reported Mohave dead were among the first Americans to suffer from the powerful firepower of modern infantry weaponry. In less than two years' time, tens of thousands back east would, likewise, experience the deadly effects of rifled weapons.
There would be several more infantry actions out in the far west: in the northern Redwoods; along the Pit River in north central California; on the shores of the Pyramid Lake in Nevada Territory; and patrols against horse thieves southeast of San Diego.
Soon after the firing upon Ft. Sumter, orders from the War Department began to arrive in the Department of California directing the scattered infantry companies, stationed in the interior, to concentrate on the coast for embarkation. By the end of 1861, the 4th and 6th Infantry as well as the 1st Dragoons and most of the Third Artillery, would be on their way to fight a greater war in the East. Only the 9th Infantry remained behind in San Francisco where it, along with a company of the 3d Artillery, took up positions guarding that important harbor for the duration of the Civil War.
SIDE BARS
Lt. Crook's Sunken Rifle-Muskets
In 1858, Lt. George Crook's Company D of 4th Infantry was stationed six miles up the Klamath River at Fort Terwaw. Crook's troops were armed with .69 caliber 1816 muskets. Ordnance artisans at Benicia Arsenal to use percussion primers, have rear sights added, and given shallow rifling had converted these weapons, leftovers from the Mexican War. During the campaign against the Spokane Indians, the men of Company D effectively used these muskets.
When the company returned to Fort Terwaw, Lt. Crook was ordered to requisition Model 1855 Rifle Muskets for his troops. A few months' later, four sealed crates of the M-1855 Rifle Muskets reached the dock at Crescent City, California.
These crates were transferred to a large whaleboat which set sail south to the Klamath River. As it broached the river's tidal bar, the boat capsized, dumping eighty muskets and other equipment into the ocean. None of it was ever recovered. Several months later, the army hired local Native American fishermen to navigate the tidal bar and Company D got its new muskets.
Stoppages
Every two months, the troops would be called for muster. The muster consisted of roll calls, inspections, and possibly a pass in review. If the paymaster arrived, not always a sure thing, the troops were then paid.
Regardless of whether or not they were paid, the muster roll had to be prepared. In these documents, the company clerk would record, among other things, stoppages—i.e., the amount that would be offset against the soldier's pay for stolen, lost or damaged equipment. The notations for stoppages are useful for the researcher to determine what equipment a particular company was issued. Listed below are the amounts that would be charged, per General Order No. 14 (December 9, 1859), for lost or damaged articles of clothing:
Coat $1.88
Forage cap .85
Dress hat .75
Feather .19
Cord and tassel .16
Bugle insignia .05
Company letter .05
Regimental number .05

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Footnotes

Dolph, E. A., Sound Off (NY: Cosmopolitan Books 1929), p. 325; Bee’s untitled poem with matching illustrations may be found at the Special Collections’ Mexican War Collection of the University of Texas at Arlington (http://libraries.uta.edu/SpecColl/crose02/beepoem.htm).
Message of the President, Report of the Adjutant General, November 28, 1849, Ex. Doc. No. 5, p. 188a.
During the first eight months of 1849, over 40% of the 1,200 regular troops stationed in California deserted. (Message of the President (31st Congress 1st Session 1849, Ex. Doc. 5) Report of the Secretary of War, November 30, 1849 Ex Doc. No. 5); Message of the President (31st Congress 1st Session 1850 Ex Doc. No. 17), Sec. War George W. Crawford to Gen. Persifor Smith, April 3, 1849, p. 273; Col. R, B. Mason to Adj. Gen. Roger Jones, August 17, 1848, p. 533.
Message of the President (31st Congress 1st Session 1849, Ex. Doc. 5) Report of the Secretary of War, November 30, 1849, p. 90.
Message of the President (31st Congress 1st Session 1850 Ex Doc. No. 17), Gen. B. Riley to A.A.A. Gen. W. T. Sherman, April 16, 1849, pp. 899-900.
Message of the President (31st Congress 1st Session 1850 Ex Doc. No. 17), Gen. B. Riley to Gen. R. Jones, April 25, 1849, pp. 874-876.
Sherburne Cook, The Conflict Between the California Indian and White Civilization (Berkeley: University of California Press 1976), p. 4.
Albert Hurtado, Indian Survival on the California Frontier (New Haven, Yale University Press 1988), p. 194.
J. Ross Browne to James Guthrie, May 20, 1856 (reports rec’d, Secy. Of Treasury, 1854-1856) National Archives microfilm 177, roll 1, p. 347.
Captain John Gardiner to Frederick Gardner, July 13, 1856. John Gardiner letters at Fort Tejon State Park.
Sacramento Daily Democratic State Journal, January 5, 1854.
Ibid.
Rodenbough, Theo The Army of the United States (Reprinted New York: Argonaut Press 1966) 422.
Special Order #67, July 12, 1848; Persifor F. Smith to Roger Jones, May 21, 1849, California and New Mexico, 31 Cong., 1 Sess., Exec. Doc. 17, 740; Niles National Register, Vol. LXXIV, no. 1913, September 27, 1848.
Ibid, Gen. Bennet Riley to Gen. Roger Jones, June 11, 1849; Asst. Adj. Gen. E. R. S. Canby to Capt. William H. Emory, June 30, 1849, 916, 924.
Ibid, Gen. B. Riley to Gen. R. Jones, April 25, 1849, 873.
Ibid, Gen. B. Riley to Col. W.G. Freeman, A.A. Gen., August 30, 1849, p. 938.
Census of the City and County of Los Angeles, California for the Year 1850 (LA: The Times-Mirror Press 1929) p. 97.
Bell, Reminiscences of a Ranger (reprinted by Univ. Of Oklahoma, 1999), p. 164.
Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress, Part II (31st Congress, 2nd Session, Ex, Doc. No. 1) Nathaniel Lyons to E.R.S. Canby, May 22, 1850, p. 81.
Ibid, at p. 82.
Hurtado, supra, at p. 105-106
Message from the President, supra, Lyons to Canby, p. 82.
George Harwood Phillips, Chiefs and Challengers (Berkeley, University of California Press 1975) pp. 92-94.)
Special Order No. 7, November 7, 1853, National Archives RG 94; Rodenbough, supra, p. 422..
Bee, supra; see footnote 1.
Todd, supra, p. 380.
General Orders No. 31, June 12, 1851.
Todd, supra, p. 380.
Ordnance Manual (Wash. D.C., Gideon & Co. Press 1850), p. 201.
Col. T.T. Fauntleroy to Col. Cooper, 30 October 1854, quoted in Edgar M. Howell and Donald E. Kloster, United States Army Headgear to 1854 (Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Unstitution Press 1969), p. 67, fn. 204.
H. Dean Guie, Bugles in the Valley (Oregon Historical Society 1977) p. 26.
Mansfield, On the Condition of Western Forts 1853-54 (Norman: Univ. Okla. Press 1963), 160.
Bandel, Eugene, Frontier Life in the Army 1854-61 (Glendale, Arthur H. Clark, 1932), p. 128.
Bell, supra, at p. 164.
Mansfield, supra, 162.
Todd, supra, at pp. 115-117.
Reilly, Robert, United States Military Small Arms 1816-1865 (Highland Park, N.J., Eagle Press, 1970), p. 14.
Ulysses Grant, Personal Memories (New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1885–86), p. 60 .
U.S. Army, Ordnance Manual, supra, at pp. 244-247.
Woodward, Arthur, Journal of Lt. Thomas W. Sweeney (Westernlore Press, Los Angeles 1956), p. 147.
Reily, supra, p. 33.
Grant, supra, p. 117.
Grant, supra, p. 119; Ellington, Charles, The Trial of U.S. Grant (Glendale, Cal., Arthur H. Clarke Co. 1987) 60-66; Rodenbough, supra, 461.
Rodenbough, supra, p. 526.
Todd, Frederick, American Military Equipage Vol. II (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1980), pp. 382-83.
New York Daily Times, January 14, 1854.
New York Daily Times, February 10, 1854
Special Order, No. 17, Jan. 27, 1854. “By direction of the President of the United States, a Court of Inquiry will convene in the City of New York, on Monday, the 6th of February, 1854, or as soon thereafter as practicable, to examine into all the circumstances attending the embarkation, in December last, of the troops under the command of Col. William Gates, Third Artillery, on board the steamer San Francisco destined for California; the cause of the failure of the expedition, and the disorganization of the command at sea; and all facts and circumstances which may concern the conduct of the commander, and of the officers and men of the command.”
As of December of 1854, there were 1,365 officers and men stationed in the Department of the Pacific. (Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress, Part II (33rd Congress, 2nd Session, Ex, Doc. No. 1) Report of the Secretary of War, December 4, 1854, p. 6.)
Ibid, p. 3.
San Francisco Daily Alta California, May 5, 1854.
Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress (33rd Congress, 2nd Session 1854), supra, p. 3.
San Francisco Bulletin, May 16, 1856.
Los Angeles Star, May 10, 1856.
San Francisco Bulletin, May 23, 1856.

San Francisco Bulletin, May 16, 1856.
Todd, supra, at pp. 62-64.
Ibid, at pp. 65-66.
In April of 1859, Quartermaster General Thomas Jessup ordered that all remaining stocks of shakos be issued as forage caps. (Howell and Kloster, supra, at p. 67.)
Todd, supra, at pp. 57 and 383.
Swanson, Clifford, The Sixth United States Infantry Regiment, 1855 to Reconstruction (Jefferson, N.C., McFarland & Co. 2001), p.22.
Ibid; Sacramento Daily Bee, November 11, 1858.
Sacramento Union, November 12, 1858.
Riley, supra, p. 22.
Jerry Thompson, Texas and New Mexico on the Eve of the Civil War (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press 2001), p. 54.
Swanson, supra, p. 32.
Message of the President (36th Congress, 1st Session 1860) Volume II, p. 415.
Swanson, supra, p. 43.
Ibid, p. 419.

The Banshee's Lonely Croon: Irish Dragoons

Irish troopers, who formed the backbone of the 1st Dragoons, were generally recent arrivals from Erin's green shores. In the old country, these men, mostly of peasant stock, had been steeped in the lore of the realm of the supernatural. There was the "Evil Eye", a silent, fixed stare that was believed to be fatal if cast upon one sitting before a fire while the moon was full. A person who wished to avoid being falsely accused of casting an "Evil Eye" would say "God Bless You" when looking at another. A grudger had the ability to fix an evil curse upon one's horse. The only known cure was to burn the grudger's coat under the nose of the afflicted animal. The banshee's lonely croon warned of an imminent death in one's family. A horse with one foreleg and one hind leg stockinged was considered to bring bad luck to the rider. Riding a dead man's horse was considered by the Irish to be a bad idea and, indeed proved to be for Trooper John Garven, late of County Tipperary, Ireland.

During the autumn of 1855, Capt. E.A. Townsend visited Fort Tejon, California, in the company of Bishop Kip. In his journal, Capt. Townsend made the following entry: "Before breakfast this morning, the Bishop buried an Irish soldier of [John] Gardiner's company [A]. He was the victim of superstition. He happened, by chance, to be the first man to ride Lieut. [Thomas] Castor's horse after his death, and being soon taken sick with fever, his wife persuaded him that he could never recover because he was the first to ride a dead man's horse. The surgeon says there was no reason why the man should have died if his mind had not been so depressed."

In Irish folklore, the last corpse planted in a grave yard is required to stand guard over the site until the next corpse was buried. On October 15, 1855, in the post cemetery at Fort Tejon, Trooper Garven duly duly reported to relieve the recently departed Lieut. Castor from guard duty.

The Civil War witnessed some amazing innovations in modern warfare such as the railroad, submarines, observation balloons and the telegraph. While not as successful as some of these inventions, James "Paddy" Graydon’s plan to deploy exploding mules on the battlefield receives high marks for its originality.

Graydon sailed into Baltimore Harbor in 1853. As was the case for many a lad fleeing from Erin’s green shores, Paddy quickly discovered “no Irish need reply.” Out of work, he enlisted in the 1st U.S. Dragoons. Sent to the harsh reaches of New Mexico Territory, Paddy soon became the bugler in Captain Richard S. Ewell’s troop. When the Civil War came, Ewell resigned his federal commission and became a Confederate General. Paddy, who had been honorably discharged from the Army in 1858 and had opened a saloon near Fort Buchanan, headed for Santa Fe where he gained a captain’s commission in the New Mexico Volunteers.

Graydon, who spoke fluent Spanish, recruited a company composed of Nuevo Mexicanos, who functioned as an independent command. Its primary function was to watch for invading Texian troops riding out of El Paso. They did not have to look for long. On July 25, 1861, a Confederate expedition under General Henry Hopkins Sibley, a former Dragoon officer, entered New Mexico and proceeded to capture Fort Fillmore without having to fire a shot. The Rebel juggernaut steamrolled all Union resistance in its path and advanced up the Rio Grande Valley bound for Santa Fe and points west.

During the ensuing months, Graydon's scouts remained in the saddle, spying on the Rebel column and harassing it when the opportunity presented itself. On February 19, 1862, Sibley’s troops
approached Ft. Craig. While the invaders slept in their camp across the Rio Grande, the inventive Graydon embarked upon a scheme to stop the Rebel advance in its tracks. He selected two mules that had been ridden too hard and put away wet. Paddy affixed several boxes of exploding cannon shells to the mules and led them across the river. Easing silently past the sentries, he reached the outskirts of the camp. Graydon lit the fuses of the cannon shells and set the mules into motion toward the camp of the sleeping Texians. So far, so good.

As Paddy was heading back across the river he heard a rustling sound in the sage that was fast approaching from the rear—it was the two mules. Graydon spurred his horse down the banks and into the river with the mules trotting fast behind with their fuses fast burning. Suddenly there came the great roar of an artillery battery. Not exactly a battery, but in a sense this is pretty much what it sounded like. The Rebels jolted out of their blankets sprang to arms and ran in every which direction. So did their horses and mules. Many of these critters ended up in Yankee hands.

Alas, these late night antics did not hamper the fighting abilities of Sibley's forces. As General Sibley lay in a drunken stupor, his forces flanked the Yankees at Val Verde and forced them back into their fort. The Rebels continued their march up the valley, capturing Albuquerque and Santa Fe in the process. Once again Grayon’s company, minus two mules, rendered valuable service as it scouted and raiding the Rebel column.

Sibley eventually met his Waterloo at Glorieta Pass on March 26-28, 1862. As his defeated and worn troops retreated back to Texas they were repeatedly raided by Graydon’s pesky troop. Paddy Graydon exited the stage in few months later when he was killed in a frontier duel with an army surgeon.

DESERTION

New York Times November 16, 1859, reported:


From the Arizonian, Oct. 27

On the 14th inst. Corporal GORMAN, and Private CAULFIELD, of G’s Company, 1st Dragoons, deserted from Fort Buchanan, while out in charge of the Fort herd, taking with them three horses, arms and accoutrements, and fled into the State of Sonora, where they met with a reception very different from that which they expected. Some thirty-six hours after their flight they were pursued by the indefatigable Arizonian “Vidocq” JAMES GRAYDON, of Casa Blanco, and overtaken after a hard chase, at Barajito, Sonora. It appears that these misguided men employed some Mexicans to guide them down towards Guaymas, who, in a lonely part of the highway, fell upon and robbed them. One of the robbers snatched GORMAN’s pistol and discharged its contents at his head, the ball passing through his hat, which sent him to the “right about double quick time,” leaving his companion, who was less fortunate, in the hands of the highwaymen. When CAUFIELD was again discovered, he was found hanging to a mesquoite [sic] tree, suspended by means of his own pocket-kerchief, and it is supposed he may have been driven, by his forlorn and desperate condition, to self destruction, as the thieves had plundered him of his horse and everything about him. GORMAN and his horse were recovered and brought back to the Fort by his pursuers, after a hard ride of nearly three hundred miles, performed in sixty hours. This is another sad illustration of the kind of sympathy which Americans will receive in Mexico, as long as barbarous retaliation is the “order of the day” on both sides of the boundary line.

On the 16th, a party of twenty-five dragoons were sent from sent from Fort Buchanan to protect the inhabitants of Tubac and its vicinity, against an imaginary attack from the Apaches, who were reported to be marching in incredibly large numbers for the purpose of “cleaning out” the valley of Santa Cruz. At last accounts, the wolf had not arrived, and the presence of troops allaying the fears of those who were stampeded by this silly canard.

Tom Castor: A Newly Minted 2d Lieutenant

PRO BONO PUBLICO:
1st Lieut. Thomas Castor’s Gravesite


Benny Havens ran a tavern that was located about a mile and one-half from the cadet barracks at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. The saloon quickly became a favorite haunt for generations of cadets. Cadet Edgar Allan Poe wrote that Benny was “the sole congenial soul in the entire God forsaken place.” In 1838, a couple of appreciative young officers, borrowing the Irish tune known as the Wearing of the Green (also known as The Rising of the Moon), composed some verse to honor Benny Havens. The first verse went as follows:
“Come fill your glasses, fellows, and stand up in a row,
To singing sentimentally we’re going for to go;
In the army there’s sobriety, promotion’s very slow;
So we’ll sing our reminiscences of Benny Havens, Oh!
Chorus:
Oh! Benny havens, Oh! Oh! Benny Havens, Oh!
We’ll sing our reminiscences of Benny Havens, Oh!”

The song soon became quite popular among officers. During the ensuing years, many a new verse was added as cadets carried the song with them from the dismal Everglades to Buena Vista’s barren plain and then out to the foothills of California’s Motherlode.
Thomas Foster Castor entered West Point in 1841. His classmates, a rather notable group, included the likes of George McClelland, Thomas Jackson, A.P. Hill, George Crook and George Pickett. The latter cadet seems to have become “addicted to Benny’s enticements.” During the years of Cadet Castor’s stay at the Academy it is likely that he also frequently slipped out of the barracks to partake in a glass of hard cider and join in the good cheer at Benny Haven’s public house.
“Let us toast our foster-father, the Republic, as you know,
Who in the paths of science taught us upward for to go;
And the maidens of our native land, whose cheeks like roses glow,
They’re oft remembered in our cups at Benny Havens, Oh!”

Upon graduation in 1846, Castor was posted to Fort Columbus in New York Harbor. Here is a copy of letter that a freshly minted brevet 2d Lieutenant Castor wrote to the folks back home in Pennsylvania.

Fort Columbus, 3 Sept. 1846

To Mrs. George Castor, Frankford, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Dear Grandmother:

Well here I am snugly fixed on the Island. I arrived in N. York on Tuesday about 2 o'clock and reported myself for duty about 5 on the same day. I was attached to the dragoon recruits now here under the command of Lieut. Sibley. I have nothing to do but to superintend the drills and roll-calls, inspect their rations and keep them in order generally. I suppose that it will afford you a great deal of pleasure to hear that we will probably not sail for a month yet and very likely not that soon. Mr. Sibley told me that he would propose to the Captain when he arrived to take the company from here to Carlisle, mount it there and after drilling it for some time take it down to Mexico by land. if this obtains I would not be surprised if we did not leave this part of the country until November. And if the reports which have just been received prove true (viz. that private advices have been received that the war is over) we will very likely not go to Texas at all. Aunt Eliza I know will clap her hands at this news notwithstanding it cuts me out of all chance of distinguishing myself. I have been so lucky as to get quarters with one of my classmates who has been here for some time and we have to rooms carpeted with tables, sofa, beds, looking glasses and everything complete. To day I am Officer of the Day and it would make you laugh to see me strutting around with my sash and sabre followed all day by an orderly at a respectful distance and having Captains and old Lieuts. asking permission to have boats etc. The Officer of the Day being you know second in command for the time being. I am very well pleased with the post so much as I know of it. The officers are very clever and the society I am told is very good.

I had the blues going up the river and indeed the whole day after I left home. I waved my handkerchief as I passed our house but I suppose it was so foggy you did not see it as I could see none waved in return. Please tell me in your answer how Aunt Eliza and [Bud?] got home and particularly how Josephine is. I was afraid when I left that she would have a spell of sickness. How did she get through wit her teeth, how much did they cost and every thing. you must tell me all. I hope you have gotten over your troubles on account of my departure and if you have not I say you must!!

Yesterday about 700 troops sailed from here for Pt. Isabel. Poor fellows they were glad to get off but many a soldiers wife who was left behind went sorrowing to her home. If there are any letters at home for me please send them on directed to Ft. Columbus, Governors Island, N.Y. I am getting over my home sickness and am in good health. Please write very soon and tell all that has occurred since I left home, and everything that would be of any interest to me. Give my love to Aunts Liz and Buts [?] and take it yourself. I am going to write to all in succession? as I promised and I hope that nobody will fail to write me a long long answer. You dear grandmother must get Buts [?] to write for you. It is near 11 o'clock so good night dear Grandmother and I hope that you will not forget.

Your affectionate grandson

On 6 December 1846, Castor gained a permanent commission as 2d Lt. with the 1st Dragoons and campaigned in Mexico with the regiment, from the siege of Vera Cruz into the Valley of Mexico through the capture of Mexico City. While in Mexico he became quite ill and began to drink heavily. There may not have been much sobriety, but promotion came slow: Castor did not become a First Lieutenant until 1851. Following the war Castor was posted to Forts Snelling and Ripley, Minnesota. On 9 October 1851. While stationed at Fort Lane in Oregon he partipated in a skirmish on the Illinois River on 24 October 1853. The next year Lt. Castor was sent to Fort Miller in California with Company. Later that year he was ordered to start construction on what became Fort Tejon. Castor's drinking and ill health continued to rack his body. In August of 1854, Castor led the first troops to the proposed site of Fort Tejon. The rigors of years of hard campaigning, and the effects of hard drinking, had taken their toll on the Lieutenant. Castor had a bout with tuberculosis and was seriously ill during his posting at Fort Tejon. On September 8, 1855, he died.

“To our kind old Alma Mater, our rock-bound Highland home,
We’ll cast back many a fond regret as o’er life’s sea we roam;
Until on our last battlefield, the lights of heaven shall glow,
We’ll never fail to drink to her and Benny Havens, Oh!”

His remains were ceremoniously buried under the spreading oaks that dot the landscape behind the Lebeck Oak. Fellow officers bought a marble headstone and an iron fence to honor their fallen comrade. Some years later, the fence and marble grave stone were moved to the site of the old post cemetery. As a consequence, no memorial marks final resting place of Lt. Castor.

“To our comrades who have fallen, one cup before we go,
They poured their life-blood freely our pro bono publico.
No marble points the stranger to where they rest below;
They lie neglected far away from Benny Havens, Oh!”

Finis

Captured Mexican Items at Santa Cruz de Rosales

City of Chihuahua
March 26, 1848


The Board met pursuant to the foregoing orders, and soon after the
reception of the captured property, as was practicable, and up to the
present time have been busy in assorting and taking inventories of
said property, which they find to be as follows (incl.(?) accompanying
list or inventory as marked "A").

All the large guns are more or less injured by firing, and some of
them badly cast, full of flaws and honeycombs. The majority of the
muskets and escopetas are in bad order, broken locks and stocks, bent
barrels &c. Three of the muskets are very much injured in the stock
by shot, or shell, of one, the entire stock is gone. The muskets, and
in fact all of the cartridges, are badly made, and only valuable for
the amount of powder they contain. The shells, strap shot, balls, and
canister, are as a general thing very badly made and would be apt to
greatly damage a good piece if fired from one.

One reference to the list, it will be found that there are
eleven large boxes of powder, this is supposed to be for cannons, as
also the five bags. Ten of the kegs contain very fine powder,
supposed to be for rifles, and the remainder for muskets. Having no
means to ascertain the weight, the amount in bulk only is first put
down as it appeared before the Board.

The horses are all small, poor, and weak, and many of the mules are
equally in as bad condition, none of them being fit for present use,
and scarcely any will ever be capable of hard service.

The saddles are of Spanish pattern and much out of order in their
present state worthless.

Of the drums, three are without heads or have but one, and the others
are so heavy and unwieldy as to be almost or quite unserviceable.

The articles, not having (sic) innumerated, are generally
in very good condition, and might, if necessary, be put to immediate
use.

The above is respectfully submitted as a report of the proceedings of
the Board, which, having no further business before it, adjourns sin
die.

B.L. Beall,
Major 1st Dragoons




"A"

A LIST OF ORDNANCE STORES &c. TAKEN AT THE SIEGE OF SANTA CRUZ DE
ROSALES, MEXICO, MARCH 16, 1848

2 Two 32-Lb. Brass Howitzers

1 One 10-Lb. Brass Cannon by Measurement

1 One 8-Lb. " " " "

1 One 4-Lb. " " " "

2 Three Swivels

7 Seven Wall Pieces

1 One Double-Barrel Wall Piece

392 Three Hundred and Ninety-Two Muskets

281 Two Hundred and Eighty-One Musket Bayonets

99 Ninety-Nine Cartridge Boxes & Belts

80 Eighty Escopetas

27 Twenty-Seven Service Rifles

78 Pistols

35 Sabres

122 One Hundred and Twenty-Two Lances Complete

142 One Hundred and Forty-Two Lance Heads and Ferrules

150 ________ Lance Straps

145 Shafts for Lances

6 Six Wipers for Wall Pieces

11 Eleven Large Boxes of Powder

23 Twenty-Three Kegs of Powder

5 Five Bags of Powder

58 Fifty-Eight Cartridges for 32-Lb. Howitzer

72 Seventy-Two Cartridges for 9-Lb. Gun

2600 Twenty-Six Hundred Musket Cartridges

7 Seven Bunches Signal Rockets

9 Nine 32 Lb Grenades

9 Nine 24 lb Shells

4 Four 32 lb Shells

75 Seventy-Five 4 lb Shells

7 Seven 3 lb Strap Shot

24 Twenty-Four 6 lb Strap Shot

4 Four 12 lb Strap Shot

103 One-Hundred and Three 4lb Balls

50 Fifty 3 lb Balls

76 Seventy-Six Cases 32 lb Canister

116 One-Hundred Sixteen Cases 3 lb Canister

1 One Lot Canister for Wall Piece

1 One Lot Balls for Wall Piece

1 One Lot Musket Balls

1 One Ten Ball Roller

10 Ten Bullet Molds

7 Seven Rifle Locks

1 One Lot Gun Flints

11 Eleven Sponges

2 Two Worms

6 Six Hand Spikes

1 One Treatment Scale


A List of Quarter Master Property Captured at the Siege of Santa Cruz
de Rosales, Mexico, March 16th 1848.

98 Ninety-Eight Horses

66 Sixty-Six Mules

7 Seven Wagons

52 Sets of Harnesses, four collars wanting

9 Nine Pack Saddles

35 Thirty-Five Spanish Bridle Bits

32 Thirty-Two Sets Spanish Saddle Rigging

1 One Bulk " " "

35 Thirty-Five Buckles

7 Seven [Screw} Drivers

43 Forty-Three Files

8 Eight Hammers

4 Four Vices

2 Two Wrenches

1 One Grinding Stone

65 Sixty-Five Edge Tools

13 Thirteen Augers

18 Eighteen Saws

3 Three Screw Plates

2 Two Anvils

10 Ten Pounds Rod Steel

2 Two Boxes Tin

2 Two Boxes Shoes

8 Eight Boxes Blue Clothe

1 Lot Printing Type

1 Lot Duct Parts

1 Lot Rosin

2 Lots Steel Yards

12 Twelve Empty Boxes

11 Eleven Boxes Cigarilos

Lt. David Bell's Letter

In 1854, Lt. David Bell, of the 2d Dragoons had engaged in several skirmishes with the Utes and Jicarilla Apaches. When he heard of the attempts to cover up Lt. John Davidson's defeat at Cieneguilla, Bell could not remain contain himself any longer and wrote the following letter to a West Point classmate.

In 1855, a furious Davidson asked for and received a Court of Inquiry which whitewashed his defeat. Recent archaeological studies performed by David Johnson of the US Forest Service have pretty much vindicated many of Lt. Bell's claims.


Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas Territory
December 27th, 1854

Dear William [Lt. Robert Williams]:

The mail from N.M. arrived here two days since and I was truly gratified to hear from you. The mail was delayed several days, as the contractors have succeeded in disproving one of the received axioms of geometry, namely that “a straight line is the shortest distance between two points,” and consequently instead of bringing our mail direct from Independence, they cross the river at Liberty to go to Weston and proceed to this place. As the ice has been running in the river for some days, they were unable to do this and I finally sent a sergeant for the mail and got it after being made annoyed by a delay of several days.

You speak of Lieut. J.W. Davidson of your Regt. and his course and situation to his fight &c. Now as Davidson is an officer of your Regiment, I am perfectly willing that he should see anything I write about him and if you think proper, I am perfectly willing you should show him any letter, for I would scorn to say behind his back that I would not report to himself, and indicate in the proper manner, as this is a subject affecting a member of your Regiment. I will give you my opinion in full, which however you will find to be that of officers at your own post.

On the evening of the 21st of March, Lieut. Davidson at Fort Union from Taos (?) where he had left his Company and reported to Col. Cooke for instructions. I was present when he arrived, and afterwards during several conversations between him and Col. Cooke in relation to the Indians, their mode of and ability for war &c. Col. Cooke and myself occupied the same house, and Lieut. D was our guest. He stated that on his way from Cantonment Burgwin to Fort Union, where he had been ordered by Col. Cooke, he met the Apaches in a canyon between the former place and Moro, that he had halted his command and, with Col. Brooks, had a talk with them; he described them as being overwhelmed with fear and protesting that they desired peace, stating also that he had made advantageous dispositions for battle in case they exhibited any signs of insolence or hostility. He also commented upon the miserable quality of their arms, and their mean, shrinking deportment, at the same time averring that he was sorry they did not show some signs of hostility, for that if they had, he would have “wiped them out”. In the same conversation, he stated that the number of warriors counted at the time amounted to one hundred and seven. When informed that these same Indians had, two weeks previously, when attacked by a command of Dragoons, evinced anything but a cowardly spirit; he reiterated his assertion, for rather brash, as to what he could do with them. On the 22nd instant, I went on a scout down the Canadian and across to Anton Chico, and returned to Fort Union on the 29th. Lieuts. Sturgis and Moore, who left Ft. U. on the 21st and kept further to the east, returned on the 30th. On the 31st an express arrived at Ft. U. from Cant. Burgwin, with a communication from Maj. Blake giving an exaggerated account of the fight at Cieneguilla. In justice to Maj. Blake, however, I will state that the exaggerated account of the affair was founded upon data furnished by Lieut. D. himself. In a few hours, we were en route for Cant. Burgwin, where we arrived on the 1st of April.
Davidson met our command near his quarters, and in reply to some question from Col. Cooke, which was met with much apparent concern as to the result of the affair of the preceding day, he said, in a self-confident and positive tone, that he had “killed fifty or sixty Indians.” This was asserted as a fact. I was present. Lt. D. left Cant. B. on the 2nd instant under orders from Major Blake, to follow and watch the movement of the Apaches, but to avoid if possible bringing on an action” He marched a portion of the night and on the morning of the 30th sent a guide with two men, to ford on the Rio Grande below Cieneguilla, to ascertain if the Indians had crossed the river.

A trail was afterwards discovered leading up a hill, the advance guard was sent to reconnoiter the position of the Indians, and some returned saying that when they arrived at the camp which was on the top of a hill, the Indians had leveled their rifles upon them. Upon being thus informed, Lt. D. says he cursed the corporal and demanded to know of him why he had not fired upon them with his revolver. The corporal also reported that the Indians told him (in Spanish) to “come on.” Lt. D. now dismounted his command in a canyon, divided it into two platoons, and advanced upon the Indian camp which contained the families and now was to fulfill the prediction about “wiping them out”.
It is at least doubtful who fired first, but what matters it? Was not the advance upon the Camp in a hostile attitude a bona fide attack? Nobody would doubt it particularly if his position was that of the Indians and Lt. D. would have been one of the last to do so. If he had been under the command of almost any officer other than Maj. Blake he would have been tried for disobedience of orders. Again let me look at the manner in which the affair was conducted.

The command advanced in two platoons as nearly in line as the nature of the ground and other circumstances would admit. This was the most unmilitary as well as the most exposed order possible--it could not be expected that a display of numbers would intimidate the Indians while a large mark was thus presented to their concentrated fire. This is no labored scientific delusion—a non-commissioned officer who would not have appreciated it upon this ground should have been reduced for incapacity. But if exception is taken to this mode of approaching a crouching and concealed [enemy] for what are we to think of the second attempt to go up a steep hill each man leading his horse. The horses alarmed by the noises and confusion of the fight would refuse to advance and the men would struggle with them unwilling to abandon them and thus instead of using their weapons would fall victims to the fire of a concealed enemy.

An attack could not be made mounted and to attempt to lead the horses would expose the men. What was then to be done? To abandon the horses of course. This ill-advised and unfortunate attack arrived at the top of the hill, leaving behind it those who are killed or wounded, and now the command is given “Mount men a save yourselves.” This Lt. does not or did not deny. This order was calculated to strike terror to heart of the bravest soldier, for he would know that nothing but the utmost exertion could prevent his falling a prey to the merciless savage. This order was alone was sufficient to panic a command. The consequence was a disorderly flight over ground of the difficulties of which the Indians well knew how to take advantage. Every other consideration was forgotten in that of personal safety and hence the entire abandonment of arms & etc. Every man expended his energies to save his own life while he abandoned his wounded comrades to be butchered. I have conversed with Major Blake, Maj. Thompson and Mr. Quinn all of whom visited Cieneguilla the next day and the result of their stories is this that 5 men only were found dead upon the side of the hill up which Davidson advanced, and it is by no means certain they were dead when the retreat was ordered, while 14 men formed on the hill side down which the flight took place, and two other dead in the ravine below. This cannot be denied, and it proves that a command of 57 Dragoons retreated without an attempt to preserve order, when they had lost 5 of their number. Davidson says in his official report which I read there were nearly 250 or 300 Apaches and Utah warriors in the fight he fought for three hours and had every reason to believe he killed a large number of Indians. In the first place there were no Utahs & secondly there were not more than 130 warriors (Apaches) in it, as Carson or any person who followed them will tell you. If 50 or 60 of them been killed the rest must have been wounded if any amt of usual proportion between killed and wounded obtained. As to fighting [for] 3 hours that is the most ridiculously absurd assertion in the whole report. A cartridge box (cavalry) holds some 30 to 50 cartridges. How long would it take a man to fire this number assuming that he fired all of them? But in the excitement of action most men will lose a large portion of their ammunition. I think that any reasonable man will agree that Davidson’s fight have lasted 30 minutes, his assertion to the contrary notwithstanding. In regard to the probable number of killed I forgot to say that it is a probable fact that the number of lodges after the flight was the same as before and we were informed in every Mexican settlement through which we passed in the pursuit, that the Indians said they had lost only two men in the battle. I could pass over most of the things and sincerely sympathize with
Davidson in his misfortune, but when an attempt is made to transform an unskillful attack, a feeble resistance, a disastrous flight, the combined consequences of which entailed upon others days of toil and night of suffering and present that to the world as a glorious triumph. I do not consider it my duty longer to be silent for I am one of those who suffered from these misguided monuments. However, others may regard the matter I cannot but think remaining silent is very near akin to countenancing tacitly a gross imposture. The correspondence recently published in the Santa Fe Gazette, between Lieut. D and Mr. Davis, should silence all who are cognizant of the facts any feeling of forbearance towards the former he attempts to make capital out of what he knows to be an error and wishes to force upon the public what he did not himself believe. There is one other circumstance of which you are probably not aware. Last winter Davidson preferred charges against Major Blake—they were of a very grave nature. A few days after the affair at Cieneguilla the major made some remark to the effect that D. had done as could be expected, when D. instantly offered to withdraw the charges although if xxx Maj. B. had signed a false certificate etc. All of which I was prepared to prove. I am also acknowledge himself that Maj. could have presented him “with a single word” –hence the spirit of martial concession. If D. had sustained no feat why did he offer gratuitously to withdraw these charges? But there is another fact where Davidson’s conduct was assailed and he talked so loudly about asking for a Court of Inquiry why did he change his tone so suddenly when he found it very easy to get the Court and he was even recommended from persons whom he pretended to seek advise. In conclusion I will again say that you are entirely free to show my letter to Davidson or any of his friends for it contains not only my convictions also drawn from unmitigated facts.

We have no news of importance except that there now seems a strong probability that some new regiments will be raised this winter. How many we have no idea but if Congress acts upon the suggestions of the President and Secty. of War it would be very natural to suppose they would raise the force recommended as indispensable. I hope they will for without we have no prospect keeping our [red?] buttons within any reasonable bounds. I have applied for promotion in a new regiment but without much hope of getting it. I will however use what little political influence I can muster for that purpose. I applied to Col. Cooke a few days since for a statement in reference to my standing in my regiment, services, capabilities, etc. And when I received what was willingly handed me an hour or two afterwards, I was almost at a loss to make out my own identity. I had no idea I was half as alone as the Col. made me out and my modesty would hardly allow me to make use of a description by which perhaps I might more afterwards be recognized. The [appropriation?] Bill is expected to pass--it is thought that the new phase under which it will be presented will be of advantage to it. I speak in pay and to the limitation of time. The pay Bill will too come up and as it appears as a fixed fact that Members of Congress are going to raise their own pay [, so] I don’t see how they can get over giving us a little more.

The Sioux War now seems determined upon. We have it from Genl Scott himself. It is still doubtful what troops will be sent out. The 2d Inftry and our companies of Drags, with one or two companies will go of course and if there is an addition to the Army it is expected that the whole 2d Drags will be ordered out in which case we will have a lively time of it. The Indians are reported as being very hostile and confident in their numbers. I think however with a Battery or two and a regiment of Drags we will rather worst them in a pitched battle. We have not received any more recruits, a detachment was ordered here but the order came so late that navigation had closed. It is probable however that they will reach us from St. Louis. Our Hd. Qts. has not yet arrived but we expect them soon. There is very little pretension to gaiety or even sociability here. No parties or amusement. Besides I have been sick ever since I came here and am so badly broken up by Rheumatism that I can scarcely hobble about.

Robertson received your letter addressed to him at Jefferson Bks. and will write you. He, Polk, Haight & etc. send their love.

You must have had quite a lonely time during the absence of the ladies on a visit to Ft. Filmore. I would give anything to be a Ft. Union for a few days. This place is intolerably stupid. My time principally spent in reading. I have been duly engaged for the last two months in the study of some French military works from which I have derived much pleasure and I think some useful knowledge too. I have poured over them for whole nights when my rheumatism would not let me sleep.

I have now three or four other letters to write to Fort Union. It is now late and I must get them in the post office tomorrow morning. So I will have to conclude. My love to Byrne, McCook & Magruder. Remember me to all my friends at your post and don’t forget to write by every mail.

Yours very truly,

D. Bell

P.S. Buford has been ordered to his company and Oakes and Garnett detailed on duty at the Cavalry depot. B. has not arrived here yet.

D.B.

First Dragoons Officers 1849

Get a Look at the Mighty Pacific: Thomas Swords Dragoon Quartermaster

Get a look at the mighty Pacific: Lt. Col. Thomas Swords in Antebellum San Francisco

By William Gorenfeld (c) October 9, 2007

In 1825, Thomas Swords, a nineteen-year-old student at Columbia College, New York, gained entry into the United States Military Academy. Upon graduation in 1829, the Army placed him with the 4th Infantry and he served with the regiment in Alabama and Florida. In 1833, he became a 1st lieutenant in the newly formed 1st Dragoons. In 1846, the Army commissioned Swords as an assistant quartermaster. He was attached to Brig. Gen. Stephen Kearney’s Army of the West and followed the command out to New Mexico and then California. Swords returned to the East but in 1857, now in the position of deputy quartermaster, he was sent by Quartermaster General Thomas Jesup out to San Francisco to take control over the disorganized state of the affairs existing at the quartermaster’s department in the Department of the Pacific.
In 1973, a packet of personal letters written in 1842-1846 by Swords to Lt. Abraham Johnson, written while he was stationed at Ft. Scott, were discovered at the United States Military Academy and published by the Kansas Historical Society. Recently, the author acquired four more letters. Lt. Col. Swords wrote these letters to his friend William A. Gordon, personal secretary to Gen. Jesup in the late 1850’s. This unfiltered correspondence of a senior officer, feeling his career to be at a dead-end and yearning to return to the States, offers insight into the state of military affairs in Antebellum California. Swords’ spelling and grammatical errors have not been corrected.
As is evident in all of his letters, Swords did not suffer fools and had little use for many fellow officers in the quartermaster department. Of particular interest in these letters are references to the nefarious actions of Capt. Thomas Jordan. This enterprising officer soon would be court martialed in 1861 upon allegations that he fraudulently discounted vouchers to contractors in connection with the construction of lavishly overbuilt Fort Dalles in Oregon. The colorful and personally charming Jordan managed to escape punishment by resigning his commission and joining the Confederate Army where he acted as a valuable adjutant for Generals Pierre Beauregard and Albert S. Johnston. He would eventually rise to the rank of general and have a successful post war career as a writer and participant in the Cuba Libre movement.
Colonel Swords had a much less exciting career. He remained loyal to the Union during the war and in 1861, would replace Col. Charles Thomas as the Army’s Assistant Quartermaster, earning a major general’s brevet in 1865. On 22 February 1869, he retired to live in New York.


April 8th 1857.
My Dear [William A.] Gordon
Although I am nearly written out having been hard at it since 5 o’clock this morning, giving instructions ruefully to carry out the orders for the march of the 4th Inf. which I did not receive in detail until last night, I cannot let another mail go, without having a little chat with you. Our trip out was a very pleasant one. Though quite enjoyable I sure would have no objection to making it right over to his return to New York that is if the Dept. should think proper to send me there, which both [Maj. Osborne] Cross and myself have some people say [should] be done. He [Cross] is seen in San Francisco, wrote me word he would be up last night if he was well enough, having been suffering for sometime with intermittent fever. I do not know whether he will defer his departure for Oregon, wait until after the time he has permission to delay or will wait in San Francisco after his return.
I wish assignment could be made so that I might go up in his stead and then return to Washington after having completed my duty. I think his long service here would enable him to make arrangement for the march of the 4th Inf. much better than I can--though I will do my very best and go up to Walla Walla before they leave.
Since I have been here I have been down to San Diego with our distinguished commission and the result of the trip is the breaking up of the seaport there and the removal of the troops from the old fortification. The depot had ceased to be of any use since the post in this section is supplied by the Colorado and was only a unnecessary expense to the Dept. All the stores, etc., will be brought to the seaport here. The number not required in California will be sent from all the ports to Walla Walla and these will number 400 or upwards. So we will get rid of a heavy expense on this account.
I very much fear we will lose [Capt. Ralph] Kirkham, he is an excellent officer and would really be a great Col. I wish the Gen’l [Thomas Jesup] had assigned the officer that is to go with the 4th. [Capt. Robert] Allen is much excited for fear he away go and [Capt. Thomas] Jordan, I suppose would not like it any better. When I submitted my letter to our Col. [Charles Thomas] he did not like to endorse it, in consequence of the illusion I made to Kirkham’s resigning. I thought it necessary that our chief Thomas would be advised of what might probably be the result but told him he might strike it out, or make any remarks on it he thought preferable. So he finally concluded to put his name on it. He and myself have so far got along most harmoniously and I anticipate no difficulty, this thing of submitting to him everything I may write to the Head of the Dept. will necessarily make my correspondence very brief and confined only to the most necessary subjects.
We are residing in a very nice family house, but as soon as it is decided that senior q[uarter]masters are to remain here and that I am to serve out my duty years, will make ourselves more comfortable at housekeeping.
Am much obliged to you for the copy of the correspondence, which does neither of the parties any credit and will do the late Sec’try [of War Jefferson Davis] much harm. I think he may consider himself as no longer one of the prominent candidates for the board of the White House.
Let me know where all the officers of our Dept. are stationed, and what is the prospect of [Capt. William] Chapman or any body coming out--but without I can have discreet, reliable officers, would rather have some. There is one here, who is spending a great deal of money who I would be pleased to get rid of. How is old friend [Maj. Michael] Clark. When you see him tell him to please drop me a line and give me all the gossip, although he may not go out of the house. I know he knows everything that is going on. Is it time that [Maj. Ebenezer] Sibley is to take Col, Thomas’ place. If so, I think our little Col. had better come out to get a look at the mighty Pacific.
Let me have all the news of the office.
Yours truly,
Tho. Swords

_____________________________________________________________Oct. 19th 1857
My Dear [Wm A.] Gordon—
The Eastern mail is not yet in. So we are in ignorance of what has occurred in the great world for the past month and there has not much been done here that would interest you.
I have been down to Monterey and made an inspection of our old buildings there & which are of little value and probably will not likely ever be again required. So I discharged the agent after the end of this month and made arrangements to have the premises occupied and taken charge of without expense. I am trying to hunt up something in regard to our title to the premises, but fear, like most things other things in this country, no record has been kept of it. Will make a report on the subject by the next mail.
Lieut. [Ralph] Kirkham is here. I want him to go up to Walla Walla & Gen’l [Newman] Clarke to the Dalles, how it will terminate I don’t know, he is a past favorite with the Genl. as he belonged to his Regt. He bought a place over the Bay in Oakland, where his family will remain. So, I suppose does not wish to go further off there [if] he can help. The Genl. talks of ordering [Capt. Thomas] Jordan to report to the Q M Genl [Thomas Jessup] when relieved. If [Capt. William] Chapman does not arrive by the Isthmus he may find he will have to go to Walla Walla. I want to get Jordan away from the Dalles, and would send him to Humboldt, if I had my way.
I now come to the old [illegible] I have not one cent on loan and if a remittance is not sent by the mail—will have to draw for the October disbursements.
Yours truly,
TM Swords
What has become of [Col. Charles] Thomas? Was the proud army of QMs with the Utah Expedition but a flash in the pan? I understood [Capt. Stewart] Van Vilet was in New York at last accounts.

____________________________________________________

San Francisco Cal. June 19th '60

Mr. W.A. Gordon

My Dear Gordon:

I have not a word of news that will interest you, and merely write to let you know that you are not forgotten, as it is some time since I last wrote. We are pretty much over the excitement caused by he outbreak of the [Paiute] Indians in Carson Valley. The Regulars [6th Infantry] have procured arms at Pyramid Lake where I suppose they will wait until something is is determine about the establishment of a post. And the Indians have all fled to the mountains, where they will be beyond the reach of our troops, without the right sort of men properly equipped against them. The Regulars, it appears, got along first rate with Jack Hay's volunteers. No quarreling, and each speaks well of the other.

[Captain and assistant quartermaster Tredwell] Moore, they say, is very popular, which may perhaps be attributed in part to the liberal use of Uncle Sam's money and supplies, but I ought not to judge him until his acts come in. He has written for more funds and I have had to tell him until his acts. come in. He has writen for more funds and I have had to tell that I was entirely out. [Moore estimated Fort Churchill would cost $193,000; Swords ordered to Utah Territory October 13, cut off $14,000.] Last mail I got your notification of a remittance of $80,000 for Oregon but none for California. The draft did no come, so [Quartermaster Rufus] Ingalls will have to wait another two weeks. His debts at the end of the month were $65,000 for Fort Vancouver. What they are at Wall Walla and other posts the Lord only knows.

I fear you surmise as to our friend Charlie S. [Lovell] will turn out but too well formed. After he heard of his escape from his last scrape, he got drunk again and has been in arrest ever since, though [Major Albermarle] Cady [6th Inf. commanding Fort Yuma] has not preferred charges and will not do so, if he can help it. He must resign or be disciplined sooner or later, and then what will become of him.

[Brevet Major Robert] Allen [Assistant Quartermaster, Department of Pacific] report about the "Massachusetts" came in a few minutes since. I have not read it, and cannot get Gen'l [Newman S.] Clarke [Commanding the Department] to act on it in time for this mail.

Gen'l Joe Lane was been [politically] killed in Oregon and the Republicans have almost carried the state [and in October, would elect E.D. Baker as U.S. Senatr]. Did the Democrats anticipate this when the state was admitted? We are anxious to hear the result of the Baltimore Convention [for June 16]. Hope they will nominate somebody at least as credible to their party as Lincoln to the Repubicans.

The next time I may be more in the humor of writing or there may be something more interesting to write about.

Yours, truly,

T[HOMAS] W. SWORDS

Letter courtesy of Dr. Robert Chandler


___________________________________________


San Francisco
July 31, ‘60


My Dear Gordon,

I have not had the heart to write since hearing of the death of our dear Gen’l [Thomas Jesup], though an event to be at any time expected at his time of life, I could hardly accept it. So sudden, without any indication of previous illness. The good man has gone to his rest—a gain to him, but an impossible loss to us—particularly to you and myself. Would be to God that he had been granted a few months longer, as I do not think another administration could be found to such injustice to Thomas, or cause such odium on old officers of the Dept. I have heard but one opinion in relation to the appointment of the successor [Joseph Johnston]—all of decided condemnation. To be sure we have not much to expect from the present corrupt administration, but might have hoped to have found protectors in the Senate, to which we have always looked for in protection in our rights. Well the deed is consummated now and I suppose we have but to submit. Johnston and I were classmates but what kind of QM Gen’l he will make I have no idea—that you may find your aspiration with him agreeable, and continue to occupy your old desk for many years, I firmly hope—
As to myself, my military ambition is at an end—and I never again expect to take that interest in the service which I have heretofore felt. I hope I may continue to perform my duty conscientiously but certainly shall not make myself unhappy if things do not go as I should wish.
Thomas has reaped the reward of overzeal and the Executive and Senate have decided that too quick regard for the interests of the Treasury is cause for being unfit for advancement. Well let it be so—I shall act on this principle. The only cause now to be pursued is to make myself popular by yielding to the demands of all.
It is perhaps fortunate for the Gen’l that he did not live a few months longer to witness the disgrace of Charles [Thomas] whose resignation I suppose has been accepted before this. The accounts of him from you are most culpable—and additional charges have been preferred. These I have had withheld until the War Dept. could take action on his resignation. I wrote to [Capt. Lorenzo] Sitgreaves all about him—and we will probably have him in a short time again disgracing himself in Washington. He wanted to leave at once, but I thought it better to keep him out of the way as long as possible.
If the vote on the nomination [of Johnston] has been made public, or proposed to, let me have it. I have heard that [Charles] Thomas thought of resigning–were I he, I would see this done first.
Yours truly,
Thos. Swords ______________________________________________________________

Endnotes

Francis R. Heitman, Historical Register of the Army of the United States Army, from its Organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903 “ Thomas Swords” (Washington, Government Printing Office 1903) 2 volumes, vol. I, 941; George W. Cullum, Register of Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. from March 16, 1802 to January 1, 1850 (N.Y. J.F. Trow, Printer 1850), 155.
Harry C. Myers, From ‘The Crack Post of the Frontier’: Letters of Thomas and Charlotte Swords” 5 Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains (Autumn 1982 Kansas Historical Society) No. 3.
General Order No. 1 War Dep’t, Adjutant General’s Office, Washington D.C., January 18, 1861, General Orders of War Department Embracing the Years 1861, 1862 & 1863 by Thos. O’Brien & Oliver Diefendorf (New York, Derby & Miller 1864) 2 volumes, vol. 1, 1.
Ezra Warner, Generals in Gray, (Baton Rouge: LSU Press 2000) 167.
The 4th Infantry arrived in California in 1852 after a disease-ridden trip across the Isthmus of Panama. By 1861, elements of this regiment were stationed from Fort Yuma to Puget Sound. Thomas Rodenbough, editor, The Army of the United States, Historical Sketches of the Staff and Line with Portraits of the Generals-in-Chief (reprinted New York, Argonaut Press 1966), 463; Will Gorenfeld and George Stammerjohan, Infantry in Antebellum California, Military Collector & Historian. vol. 58, no. 4 (Winter 2006), 241.
Major Osborne Cross graduated from the Military Academy in 1825 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 1st Infantry. In 1836, he was commissioned as an assistant quartermaster and, in 1847, became a major in the quartermaster department. Cullum, 129.
In 1856, tensions arising from the Yakima War resulted in the construction of an army post at Walla Walla, Washington Territory. Robert Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue (New York: The Macmillan Company 1967) 200-201.
Captain Ralph Kirkham graduated from the Military Academy in 1842. He gained second lieutenant’s commission in the 6th Infantry He fought in the Mexican War, earning brevets for heroism at the Battles of Contreras, Churubusco and Chapultepec. In 1856 he was made an assistant quartermaster and transferred from Ft. Tejon to the quartermaster’s depot in San Francisco. Heitman, “Ralph Kirkham”, vol. 1, 604; see also Robert Miller, editor, The Mexican War Journal & Letters of Ralph W. Kirkham (College Station: Texas A&M Press 1991).
In 1808, Thomas Jesup was commissioned a 2d Lt. in the 7th Infantry. Rising in rank during the War of 1812, he became Quartermaster General on 8 May 1819. Heitman “Thomas Jesup, vol. I, 573.
Robert Allen graduated from the Military Academy in 1836 and entered service with the 2nd Artillery. Lt. Allen received a brevet for his actions at the Battle of Cerro Gordo and, on 19 October 1847, he gained a commission as assistant quartermaster. Heitman, “Robert Allen”, vol. 1, 159.
Charles Thomas entered the army in 1819. On 7 July 1838 he was promoted to the rank of Major in the Quartermaster’s Department. On 1 August 1856, Thomas became the assistant quartermaster general. Heitman, “Charles Thomas”, vol. 1, 953.
Swords brought his wife Charlotte with him to California.
William Chapman graduated from the Military Academy in 1837 and received a 2d lieutenant’s commission in the 2d Artillery. He was promoted to Captain in the Quartermaster’s Department on 11 Mat 1846. Chapman received a brevet to the rank of major for his actions at the Battle of Buena Vista, February 23, 1847. He died on 27 September 1859. Heitman, “William Chapman”, vol. I, 296.
Michael Clark of Virginia graduated from the Military Academy in 1826, and gained a 2d lieutenant’s commission in the 2d Artillery. On 18 June 1848 he became an assistant quartermaster and was promoted to major on 1 August 1856. Heitman, “Michael Clark”, vol. I, 305.
Ebenezer Sibley graduated at the top of his class at the Military Academy in 1827 and gained a 2d lieutenant’s commission with the 1st Artillery. He became a captain in the quartermaster’s department on 7 July 1838. Brevetted for gallant conduct at the Battle of Buena Vista, Sibley was, on 22 December 1856, promoted to the rank of major in the quartermaster’s department. Heitman, “Ebenezer Sibley”, vol. I, 885.
Closing the facility in Monterey was in accord with the recommendation made by Inspector General Joseph Mansfield in his 1854 inspection report. See Joseph Mansfield, Robert W. Frazer, editor, Mansfield on the Condition of the Western Forts 1853-54 (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press 1963), 120-121.
In May of 1857, the War Department placed brevet Brigadier General Newman Clarke in command of the Department of the Pacific. Utley, 200. Clarke had entered the military as an ensign during the War of 1812 and rose to the rank of colonel of the 6rh Infantry on 29 June 1846. Heitman, “Newman Clarke”, vol. I, 307.
Captain Kirkham would end up stationed at Fort Walla Walla and participated in the 1858 campaign against the Palouse and Spokane tribes. Lawrence Kip, Indian War in the Pacific Northwest (reprinted Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 1999) 24. He would remain in Oakland for the remainder of his life, becoming one of the town’s founding fathers in the post Civil War era. Miller, 115-116.
Lieutenant Colonel Swords was obviously receiving information at this time that Capt. Jordan was committing a series of unauthorized actions rebuilding Fort Dalles and sought to have him transferred. Carl Schlicke, General George Wright: Guardian of the Pacific Coast (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press 1988) 130; see also infra, footnote 2. Jordan's actions resulted in his being court martialed.
At the time of the writing of this letter, the Utah Expedition of the so-called Mormon War had, on 18 July 1857, left Fort Leavenworth bound for Salt Lake City. As it entered into Utah Territory, the expedition, harassed by Mormon rangers and physically weakened by cold weather, the vanguard retreated to winter quarters at Fort Bridger. Durwood Ball, Army Regulars on the Western Frontier, 1848-1861, 162.
Captain Stewart Van Vilet graduated from the Military Academy in 1840. After rising to a captaincy with the 3d Artillery, in 1847 he became a captain in the Quartermaster’s Department. In 1857, Captain Van Vilet In 1857, Van Vilet was in Utah unsuccessfully attempting to secure provisions for the oncoming expedition. He also tried, with slight success, to mediate the dispute between the Mormons and the federal government. Heitman, “Stewart Van Vilet”, vol. I, 984, Ball, 161.
Thomas S. Jessup had been in the Army since 1808. Rising to the rank of Colonel of Infantry during the War of 1812, he was made Quartermaster General in 1818. He served at t