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Inter Pocala & History of California (Various Pages) (33 pages)
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Page: of 33
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466 MILITARY.
chant, was one artillery company, Captain Landman,
and Lieutenants Chandler and Hamilton, with recruits, etc., in all 115 men. At Benicia, Colonel
Andrews commanding, the garrison consisted of companies G, and K., 6th infantry, 162 men, lieutenants
Corley, Sawtelle, and Moore. The arsenal was in
charge of Lieutenant McAllister with 41 men of the
of the country to Fort Colville, with a command of 159 men anda supply
train. . He was attacked soon after crossing the Snake river by a combinedforce of several tribes, and forced to fall back, after a hard battle, in which
he lost two dragoon officers, Capt. H. P. Taylor and Lieut William Gaston,
and a number of men. This affair opened the eyes of General Clarke to the
disposition of these tribes, and he ditermined to subdue them. To accomplish this he was forced to bring together troops from the most distant posts,
even from Yuma and San Diego, whence were drawn 3 companies of the 3d
artillery, under Capt. Keyes, and officered by Ist lieuts Robert O. Tyler,
James L. White, Dunbar . Ransom, and 2d lieuts Hylase B. Lyon, George
B. F. Dandy, and Lawrence Kip. From Umpqua another company of this
regiment was taken, pointaiiaed by Lieutenant George P. Ihrie and James
Howard, making with those at the Columbia river posts six companies, a
larger number of this company than had been together since it was wrecked
on the San Francisco five years before. General Clarke accompanied the
, troops to Vancouver, where Steptoe and Wright were summoned for consultation, It was not until August that all things were in readiness, when @
ea force, consisting of dragoons, artillery (serving as infantry), howitzer
and rifle companies, with a large train and guards, moved north of Snake
river over the route pursued iy Steptoe the previous year. On the Ist of
Sept., being at Four Lakes in the Spokane country, the Indians attacked,
and a battle ensued in which they suffered severely. Proceeding onward to
the Cour de Aléne territory, laying waste the native villages, and capturing
and killing the Indian horses, great loss was inflicted, the several tribes enaged in the battle of Steptoe’s butte, a point near the present town of Colax, being utterly subjugated and Sompelisa tosue for peace. The Yakimas
also were punished, and a number of the chiefs hanged. The operations of
this summer, known as ‘Clarke and Wright’s campaign,’ were in direct
pppesiaes to the policy of Gen. Wool, and won for these officers the applause
of the inhabitants of Oregon and Washington. But before the intention of
Clarke to open the country for settlement had been made known, the department of the Pacific was divided into the departments of Cal. and Oregon, and
Gen. William S. Harney placed in command of Oregon, his first act being to
issue a proclamation removing the inhibition against the settlement of the
eastern part of the territories of Oregon and Washington. For this he received the thanks of the legislature and the applause due to Clarke’s design.
The department of Oregon was of brief duration. Harney, for his med°
dling with civil affairs, and his patriotic zeal in the San Juan imbroglio,
creating some anxiety at Washington, being summoned thither in 1860 upon
the pretense that his evidence was required in estimating the Oregon war
debt, and after some gentle reproof placed in command of the department
of the west, relieving Gen. FE. V. Sumner. The two departments on the
Pacific were soon after consolidated under Clark. Meantime the 6th infantry regiment had arrived in Cal. from Utah in 1858 and been distributed to
the different posts. It was strengthened in Dec. 1860, together with the Ist
dragoons by 200 recruits from the east who arrived by sea under the command of Lieut-col C. S. Merchant of the 3d artillery, commanding at the
presidio of S. F. The territory of Arizona, unorganized, belonged to the
"WAR FOR THE UNION. 467
ordnance corps, in all about 500 troops in the vicinity.
In the department were 3,650, of whom 1,725 were
stationed in California, and 1,925 in Oregon and
Washington. .
On the 19th of April, General Johnston resigned
his command, and on the 24th arrived, unannounced,
to succeed him, Brigadier-general Edwin V. Sumner,
of Massachusetts birth, and second only below General Scott in army rank. On the following day the
sententious order was issued: “In compliance with
special order No. 86, war department, adjutantgeneral’s office, Washington, March 23, 1861, I hereby
assume command of this department, All concerned
will govern themselves accordingly.” The moral effect
of this brief warning was to lift a load of suspense and
apprehension off the minds of loyal citizens.
Pacific department, and on account of the ceaseless hostilities of the Apaches
and other tribes, stood in need of a considerable army; but it had, in fact,
two posts, forts Breckenridge and Buchanan, each about 60 miles from
Tucson, in different directions, and a third, Camp Mojave, on the east
bank of the Colorado, none of which could much more than hold their own
in the Indian country. Had it not been for them and the California militia,
immigration must have ceased. In 1858, Edward 0. Smith, a citizen,
rescued 120 persons from starvation at the Mojave crossing of the Colorado
where the Indians had attacked them and prevented them moving. The
Indian war in this quarter in 1859 employed volunteers as well as regulars.
It was expected that sixteen companies from Texas would occupy Arizona
under Lieut-col Pitcairn Morrison, and Reeve; but only four arrived in the
territory before events so shaped themselves that the remainder were called
in another direction.
Late in 1859 Major-gen. Scott arrived in California, whence after a brief
stay he repaired to Puget sound to assert the rights of the United States in;
the San Juan dispute with Great Britain. He returned home in November. ‘\
In October 1860 General Clarke died, and for a few months succeeding Col /
George Wright commanded the dept of the Pacific, to which about the first
of the following year Brevet Brigadier General Albert Sidney Johnston was
assigned. Johnston was an accomplished officer and gentleman, about
whose otherwise spotless fame there must ever hang the suspicion, amounting almost to certainty, that he accepted the command of the Pacific department with the intent to deliver the forts into the hands of rebel conspirators.
He resigned his Utah command about the time of the secession of South
Carolina, and although in sympathy with the rebellious states, which should
have prevented him from accepting another command under the U. S.,
allowed himself to be sent where he knew he would be required by the south.
In a certain case to act asa traitor. That he was saved from the completion
of the scheme was due to the watchfulness of both sides, one discovering
the plot and appointing his successor, and the other weening him of the discovery, so that he could resign before he was superseded. He served in the
om clare army, and died on the field of Shiloh. Of this I have spoken
elsewhere,