El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-10-30


/ naming in FL Paso of the days when I
I was here so years ago, as a soldier Of
| the old California column" said Capt.
/ L. Z. Mitchell, OF Oelwein, Iowa, who
I home from the reunion OF the
] Grand Army veterans recently held in
/ Los Angeles, Calf, "and I have been
{ strOlling around the city for several
/ hours trying to find some familiar object.
I The old adobe buildings stood on the
/ site Of The FL PasO herald building and
/ where the White House and Mills build
( ings stand now, ana our old bar
! racks, where SambranO's store and the
! Menger house are, have gone also. The
! transformation is complete. All that
| remains recognizable is the thorough
! fare leading over to Mexico"
| Tall and erect, Capt. Mitchell, al
! though Just IS years of age on the day
! Of his visit, is as vigorous as a man of
| 40 years and his memory of the old
| days spent here is remarkable.
/ Il went to California in August, 1861"
said Capt. HOlgate, when I was "A
years old, and as the civil war soon
/ broke out I enlisted at Sacramento in
| October Of the same year, and became
| first sergeant of company E, OF the
/ Fifth California infantry, under the
I command Of Col George ". Bowie
California raised Is 900 volunteers for
the union army Our regiment and also
( the First cavalry of California vOlun-
/ teers. under the command Of Col Joseph
Z r. West. became part Of the famous
California column. We proceeded by
| steamers. the one I went on being the
/ John P. Wright. down the coast to the
/ harbOr Of San Pedro, opposite Los An
geleS, where we landed January s, 1862.
Los Angeles was then a little adobe
town Of 400 people
March Across the Desert.
I'VE soon after marched across the
desert OF southern California to Yuma,
and early in Nay we proceeded over
land through the hot deserts of Arizona
eastward The heat was so intense
! that we had to march in the nights,
During the days we suffered fearfully
from heat and thirst, our only prOtec-
ton being the giant cacti Of the desert,
and our only water being the muddy
water from the ella river. Our supplies
were hauled all the way from Califor-
MIA, as there was then nothing raised
in Arizona to feed an army; and our
water was hauled in water wagons
holding 500 to 1000 gallons, pulled by
eight mule teams. We moved in small
bodies, hauling our artillery and heavy
guns by oxen and horses At Yuma we
met many guerillas or bushWhackers,
who harassed US somewhat and as we
proceeded eastward we found the cOun-
try alive with Apsches, who kept US
busy all the time.
Established Old Fort Bowie.
I'VE passed through the old adobe
town Of Tucson and finally established
old Fort Bowie, on the western side Of
the San Simon valley, naming It after
our colonel. Capt Pettis. who died
four years ago in Rhode Island. was
secretary and treasurer Of the CalifOr-
MA Association Of Veterans and has
written the history Of our march, which
should be obtained by your Carnegie
library as part Of the history Of FL
PasO. He was captain Of company K,
First infantry Of California volunteers.
The march was about 1000 miles. !
from san Pedro to the Rio Grande, and
it took several months. We arrived
finally a "a MeEi1H2 the side
OF the Rio Grande, opposite Las Cruces, I
n NJ, in June 1862 Soon after, we
marched down to old Franklin. as FL
PaSO was then called. The California
column was composed of four or five
companies of cavalry and only two
regiments Of infantry Col. George W. !
Bowie. afterward general was our COM
handing officer in FL PaSO, and there
were between 500 and 400 men stationed |
here, Of the First and Sixth regiments.
We were organized here to 90 out ana
fight indians who were constantly I
depredating and attacking our supply |
trains.
The FL PasO Quarters.
"On arriving here. we chartered in |
the old Overland Mail building, which /
stood at the corner Of Fl PaSO and /
Overland streets. 1t was large. one
story adobe structure, surrounding a
hollow square or patio, and was then l
called the Bee Hive" There was 4 1
long porch in front, supported by arches /
made Of adobe.
When we arrived, Col. Joseph r |
West afterWard general occupied the
old Harris mill and mansion, above this /
city, as headquarters Gen. James H. /
Carleton was in command Of all the !
forces Of the Rio Grande valley, in i
GLIDING Franklin, and had his head /
quarters at Santa Fe, n. NJ
The famous battle Of Val Verde had /
been fought, in March, 1862, preceding !
our arrival at Fort Craig, about 100 /
miles north Of Las Cruces, n. NJ, and /
the confederate forces had abandoned /
this section. That battle was the decisive
battle OF this section It was fought 4
between the Colorado forces, called /
the pixies Peakers,' and volunteers
from New Mexico on the one side, and 4
the cOnfederaLes under Gen Sibley, on
the other The former were under conf
mand of Col. ChiVingtOn- Kit Carson
was with the Colorado forces, in COM
mand Of a regiment Of Mexicans, na-
tiVes Of New Mexico. We were told
that the confederates charged Carson's !
Mexicans and stampeded them and cap
tured their battery and took it away
and cached or buried it somewhere up
the river. Col. Baylor and Maj. T T /
long afterWard the latter dug Up a
number OF the old cannon.
"Our sOjourn here, until we were
out. in November, 1864 was /
rather uneVentful, as the enemy had
gone east in Texas. Most Of our fight
ing was with the indians. But there |
were one or two exciting incidents in
those days, which I will mention.
In MesiIIa Riot.
zone Of these was what was called
the Mesilla riot. One night a sergeant
and a corporal were on guard there
and the next morning it was reported
that a prisoner had escaped in the
night. The sergeant reported it to his
superior officer. He was Immediately
arrested The corporal thereupon pro-
tested and demanded th-t the sergeant
be turned loose, and a number Of SOL
diers Joined him and started a riot. The
was taken and shot under or
der OF Col. West and that stopped the
riot
Clash With MeXfcans.
Another episode that came near pre-
war with Mexico occurred |
1t was while president BenitO Juarez |
occupied PasO del NOrte as his capital. /
We used to see him very often, and the
most friendly feeling existed between !
our men and officers and the Mexicans |
In fact, our officers used to supply |
IT, H4E 4