The Townsend Expedition

The Townsend Expedition Avenging Atrocities Of The Apaches Near Prescott In 1871

WHEN Surveyor General Clark and Captain N. J. Pishon returned to Santa Fe, New Mexico, after their visit to the newly discovered gold fields of central Arizona, in the summer of 1863, and made a report to General Carleton, the latter was so much impressed with the importance of the region and the necessity of affording the miners proper protection in its development, that he lost no time in directing the establishment of a military post at that point.

General Orders No. 27, dated at Santa Fe, October 23, 1863, announced: "All of the territory of Arizona lying north of the Gila River and east of the Colorado except that portion occupied by Fort Mohave, which post at present is garrisoned and supplied from the Department of the Pacific is hereby created into a new Military District, to be known as the "District of Northern Arizona."

"The recent discovery of gold near the San Francisco Mountains, within the District of Northern Arizona, and the flocking thither of many citizens of the United States, both from the Atlantic and Pacific slopes of the country, and the coming into that point of many of the people from the Republic of Mexico, renders it necessary that a small military force should be sent to these new Gold Fields to protect the miners from the Indians, and likewise to preserve order and give security to life and property in that region until the civil officers of Arizona, now en route from the east, shall arrive within that territory and shall establish and set in motion the machinery of a civil government and organize courts for the administration of justice."

For the purpose of establishing the proposed military post the following troops left Fort Wingate on the 7th of November, 1863: "Major Edward B. Willis, 1st Infantry, California Volunteers Captain Herbert M. Enos, U. S. A. Dr. Charles Lieb, Acting Assistant Surgeon and Companies C. and F., 1st Infantry, California Volunteers, under Captains Hargrave and Benson and Captain Pishon, with thirty rank and file of Company D., 1st Cavalry, California Volunteers."

The headquarters of the command were made at the site selected for the post on the 10th of December, but the official establishment of the fort dated from the 23rd of that month.

The fort was named in honor of General Amiel W. Whipple, who fell in the battle of Chancellorsville, and who, as a First Lieutenant of Topographical Engineers, in 1853, explored the country along the 35th parallel of north latitude for a road leading from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the Colorado of the West, which, since that time, has been known as the Whipple Route.

This first location of Fort Whipple was at the head of what was called the Valle de Chino, on the banks of Cienega Creek, a never failing stream of clear, sweet, water. At that time the wide valley abounded in the finest white grama grass, which the Mexicans call "chino," or curley grama and afforded an extensive and excellent pasturage for stock of all kinds. The only drawback to the immediate locality was the lack of timber. Fire wood (cedar) was abundant on the hills three miles to the east, but logs for building purposes had to be brought from Granite Creek, a distance of twenty miles, where excellent pine could be obtained; several thousand feet of planks and boards for use at the post and the nearby mines were cut with pit-saws. (Continued on Page 23)