Bethel Coopwood Bethel Coopwood ( 1827 – 1907 ) was a soldier in the Mexican – American War and the American Civil War , a lawyer , judge , and historian . Early life . Coopwood was born on May 1 , 1827 , in Lawrence County , Alabama . He moved to Texas in 1846 and fought in a cavalry regiment in the Mexican – American War . In 1854 he moved to California , where he was admitted to the bar , practicing in Los Angeles . Following the killing of Sheriff James R . Barton by the Flores Daniel Gang , Coopwood led twenty - six El Monte men , as a division of the posse in the manhunt for the gang . In 1857 , at the age of thirty he came to San Bernardino as part of a syndicate that purchased the balance of the Rancho San Bernardino from Ebenezer Hanks for $ 18 , 000 . Hanks had previously purchased a one - third interest in the grant , with Amasa Lyman and Charles C . Rich leaders of the Mormon colonists of San Bernardino from the original grantee José del Carmen Lugo . Coopwood remained in San Bernardino until 1861 , as realtor and a lawyer and with an excellent knowledge of Spanish and a number of Mexican clients , most of whom were very well off . Coopwood although of southern sympathies himself , sheltered the pro Union Doctor Ainsworth in his own home from a mob of pro southern sympathies and was wounded in the shootout that was the climax of the 1859 " Ainsworth - Gentry Affair . " That same year he married Josephine Woodward and they eventually had fourteen children . In the bitterly contested campaign of 1860 , Charles W . Piercy was nominated for member of the 1st District of the California General Assembly by one party , and W . A . Conn the incumbent , by the other . Piercy was elected , but there was a claim of fraud . The accusation was that polls at Temescal , maintained by a resident named James Greenwade , kept open shop for three weeks and that whenever candidate Piercy was in need of more votes , they were furnished from this precinct . The case was taken to court , where the two opposing lawyers , H . M . Willis and Bethel Coopwood , had a fight in court wherein Coopwood sustained a slight wound , but won the case . Civil War . In 1861 , Coopwood disposed of his interests in California and returned to Texas . He entered the Confederate Army as a captain in the cavalry and served until 1863 . In 1861 , he formed the San Elizario Spy Company or Coopwood Spy Company , an Independent Volunteer Company of cavalry with men that came with him from California . He commanded the Confederate forces in the Battle of Canada Alamosa , largest of several small battles that occurred in Confederate Arizona near the border with New Mexico Territory . He and his company served in Sibley ' s New Mexico Campaign . He was ill with smallpox during the Battle of Valverde but recovered in time to join the army at the Battle of Albuquerque and the Battle of Peralta . He was responsible for saving the remnants of Sibley ' s army , 1800 men , from Union pursuit by finding a path for them through the rugged mountains west of the Rio Grande to the Mesilla Valley . He was later promoted to Major and then Lt . Colonel . Later life . After the Civil War he spent a year in Coahuila . He returned to Texas and became recognized as an able lawyer and Spanish scholar in the lower Rio Grande valley . He contributed articles to and wrote book reviews for early issues of the Texas State Historical Association Quarterly , in which he published " Notes on the History of La Bahía del Espíritu Santo " in 1898 – 99 and " The Route of Cabeza de Vaca " in 1899 – 1900 . Judge Coopwood died in Austin on December 26 , 1907 .