Weapons of Early Arizona

The terrain around Picacho Pass lay deceivingly quiet under a bright blue Arizona sky on the morning of April 15, 1862.

Cautiously approaching the Pass was a detachment of twelve blue-coated Union cavalrymen. They had made a rapid march from the main camp of the nearly 2400-man California Column at the Pima Villages to intercept a small Confederate group known to be in the vicinity.

Suddenly the Union cavalrymen caught sight of the Confederate scouting force. The bark of the cavalrymen's Sharps carbines drew a quick response from the guns of the Confederates. A brief but fierce exchange left two Union cavalrymen and their leader Lt. Barrett dead; two Confederates were wounded and three captured. The remaining Confederates escaped toward Tucson, starting a retreat which, pressed by California Volunters on the west and Colorado Regiments on the north, escalated into a full withdrawal of Confederate forces from Arizona and New Mexico to Texas whence they had come.

This brief skirmish at Picacho Pass, about forty-five miles north of Tucson, is sometimes termed the westernmost battle of the War Between the States.

As a matter of general comparison, the Union forces under General James H.

Carleton of the California Column had been provided with 255 of the strong and efficient Sharps breechloading carbines for the cavalry. There were 185 Colt .36 caliber navy caplock six-shooters, and a considerable amount of ball cartridges along with some buckshot cartridges. The cartridges of this period were nonmetallic, the powder and ball being encased in a stout paper cylinder. Some cartridges contained an ounce ball and three buckshot; others contained a plain round ball or the concave-base conical Minié ball. Many of Carleton's men were equipped with .58 caliber rifled muskets; teamsters had 60 of the big Colt .44 armysize caplock six-shooters. The heavy guns in Carleton's command were 12-pound howitzers. All in all, it was a very well armed command for the period.

On the other hand, we are told that the Confederate Volunteers were equipped with a great variety of weapons including squirrel rifles, shotguns, bowie knives, and lances. No doubt many of these nonmilitary items were replaced when General Sibley took command and had access to some of the Mississippi rifles, Sharps rifles, flintlock and caplock muskets, and Colt six-shooters, which had been purchased for the Texas state troops before the war. The Confederates also had a few howitzers.

Arizona's geographical position, except for the brief occupation of warring military forces in the early 1860s, has spared it from the physical devastations of our nation's major wars. But violence was a way of life in the Southwest for many years, growing out of conflict with the more warlike Indian natives and various lawless elements in the non-Indian population.

The role of the gun from the earliest European penetration into this Indian domain by the Spanish has been prominent and varied. There has been violence both offensive and defensive in which its voice was heard. The gun became the most efficient instrument in providing food; and as Arizona Territory proceeded into United States statehood, the recreational pursuits of hunting, match shooting, and gun collecting have kept weapons as a major focus of attention for many people who have chosen Arizona as a place to live.

But now let us turn back some pages of history.

Early contact with the Indians of what is now Arizona occurred when Francisco Vasquez de Coronado led an ill-fated, armor-clad expedition north from Mexico in 1540 searching for the always-elusive Seven Cities of Cibola.

The natives must have been somewhat amazed to see men wearing metal armor in the hot desert sun, but they were very awed and frightened when Coronado's arquebus arms belched fire and smoke. The Spanish soldiers are said to have brought with them shining steel-tipped lances, swords, crossbows, and some heavy matchlock and wheel-lock arquebuses. Obviously these were the instruments for conquest as well as defense in the Spanish expedition. While hesitant progress was made up the Santa Cruz and Gila River basins by the missionaries, and some colonists from Mexico had been induced to establish a foothold in Tubac and Tucson, little progress had been made in other areas as the 1800s dawned. During this time the arms of soldiers sent to protect the Spanish settlers and those of the settlers themselves had undergone important changes. While the lance and sword and knives were still standard pieces of equipment, the firearms were no longer the bulky matchlock or wheel-lock guns known as an arquebus. Spanish advances in weap-

ons had centered on a flint-fired musket

with an outside mainspring a form known as a miquelet.

As time went on, a simpler form of flint-fired gun was developed in Europe. After independence in 1821 it became cheaper for Mexican forces to purchase some outmoded Tower muskets from England than to obtain the more expensive miquelet guns in Spain. Most of these English muskets were smoothbore, longbarrel arms with a full wood stock to the end of the barrel. However, many barrels were cut off to an approximate carbine length for horsemen, and these are often loosely referred to as an escopeta.

The stone-headed spears, stone axes, and bows and arrows of the Indians had proven no match for the more formidable weapons of the Spanish and Mexican soldiers and colonists. Even though the Spanish-Mexican foothold in the few settlements and in the developing mines was somewhat insecure, these places were a relatively safe haven for what the Indians regarded as "hated intruders."

The Mexican War in 1846 drew an influx of Americans from the United States to the Southwest, into this uneasy situation. Actually, restless adventurers Like Jedediah Smith, Sylvester and James Ohio Pattie, Paulino [Pauline] Weaver, Kit Carson, Ewing Young, and others had moved west from Santa Fe twenty years earlier and explored the already-old trails. This venturesome, hardy breed of men, mostly trappers in search of good beaver streams, were generally known as "Mountain Men." It is assumed that most found the trapping prospects in Arizona not particularly attractive, especially in the face of unfriendly attitudes of residents.

They were the first, however, to bring into the area an advanced type of gun strongly-built caplock rifles of about .54 caliber made by Sam and Jake Hawken of St. Louis.

Josiah Gregg, one of the early developers of the Santa Fe trade, describing guns of the Hawken type, wrote: "Severe winds are prevalent upon the western prairies. It will often blow a gale for days and even weeks together. It is for this reason, as well as on account of rains, that percussion (caplock) guns are preferable, particularly for those who understand their use." When Colonel (later General) Stephen Watts Kearny started out from Fort Leavenworth for New Mexico and California with a force of mounted dragoons in 1846 he evidently took Gregg's advice, for his men were armed with horse pistols, sabers, and breechloading Hall caplock carbines. (They also dragged along some burdensome mountain howitzers which the men cursed every mile of

the way!)

From the 1820s forward, when the natives of New Mexico became more dependent on the commerce down the Santa Fe Trail than on commerce with Mexico, the Mexican hold on New Mexico began to weaken, and thus when Kearny led his force into Santa Fe in 1846 that historic 236-year-old town capitulated without a shot being fired.

With Kit Carson as a guide, Kearny then led part of his Army of the West across the southern portion of what would become the Territory of New Mexico (part of which is now Arizona) and into California where they joined the men from the Pacific Squadron in the "Conquest of California."

As important as was this first presence of a U.S. military force across Arizona, a battalion to follow soon thereafter led by Colonel Philip St. George Cooke contributed even more to encouraging a flow of Americans into this territory heretofore little known to them.

Cooke's command was known as "The Mormon Battalion," because it was com-posed mostly of Mormons who had been ARIZONA HIGHWAYS Magazine sincerely appreciates the assistance of the Arizona Historical Society, Tubac Museum, private collectors, and all who lent their cooperation to the preparation of this article.

Lever-action saddle guns have always been popular with Westerners. Among the favorites are, from top to bottom: Winchester models 1873, 1876, 1886, 1892, and 1894.

The army experimented with an attachable shoulder stock designed to turn a six-shot pistol into a carbine. From top: Colt's Navy model, the army model of 1860, and the earlier big Dragoon model pistol.

(Far left) Beaded shot pouch, powder horn, iron trade tomahawk, and Hawken caplock rifle used by early trappers in Arizona Jerry Jacka (Left) Various arms, including a Sharps breechloading carbine, a Mississippi Rifle, a Colt Navy model revolver, and a light cavalry saber, were used by warring factions in Arizona. Jerry Jacka (Bottom left) Against a background of the old Tumacacori Mission are shown weapons of the Spanish period which include a flint fired rifle, Arizona Historical Society Collection and a flint fired pistol from the Tubac Museum Collection. Jerry Jacka on the trek to Salt Lake but agreed to a brief enlistment devoted to building a wagon road from Santa Fe to California.

This was a paramilitary organization as well as a work force. The Mormons were issued various types of shoulder arms, including some of the efficient .54 caliber brass-bound rifles, known officially as the U.S. Model 1841 but popularly called "Mississippi Rifles." A condition of the mass Mormon enlistment was that they could keep their arms when mustered out in California.

In a study of weapons throughout Arizona's past we have now reached a period when the percussion or caplock ignition system had outmoded earlier types.

The flintlock arms had variations, such as the miquelet of the Spanish, the snaphaunce of the Brescians, and simple varieties of the English, French, and Germans. In all variations, however, the principle was similar. There was a springactivated cock or hammer into which a piece of flint was clamped. When the cock was released it fell forward and the projecting flint struck a hinged L shaped steel piece covering the flash pan, known as a "frizzen." The frizzen was forced back by the blow of the hammer-held flint, causing sparks to drop into the exposed powder-filled pan whence the flash of fire passed through the customary barrel vent as in previous types.

The flintlock was simpler in its working parts and the frizzen when closed protected the powder from the damp. Flintlock weapons proved to be popular for two hundred years, until about 1820-40. Here in Arizona, the matchlock or wheel-lock arquebus arms touched us but lightly, and it was not until the flintlock ignition period that firearms have any appreciable recorded history.

American involvement in the Southwest, however, did not make itself strongly felt until the flintlock arms were being discarded for the caplock. Hence, from the 1840s until well after the War Between The States the arms of the percussion or caplock system saw most of the action.

The caplock ignition system was a further simplification. The old gooseneck cock or hammer with clamped jaws to hold a piece of flint was replaced by a hammer with a plain striking face. The entire outside battery of flintlock was removed and in its place a hollow tube or nipple was screwed directly into the barrel.

Strangely enough, it was a minister of Scotland's Belhelvie Parish, an amateur chemist, who discovered an explosive compound that detonated when struck a sharp blow, and his discovery led to the percussion cap. With this, all that was needed to fire a gun was to slip a small percussion cap or cup, with its detonating compound on the inside, over a hollow tube (cone or nipple) leading to the barrel; a blow from the hammer would send the fire directly into the barrel and explode the charge.

As Josiah Gregg had indicated, the caplock system was far more reliable in the uncertain weather and hard usage experienced in the West.

After the Mexican War, with the New Mexico Territory firmly a part of our nation, the number of emigrants from the east rapidly increased, coming through Texas from the south, and across the plains down the Road to Santa Fe.

With the acquisition of the new Territory came responsibilities for the U.S. government. In the absence of much resemblance of organized protection or law enforcement, the army undertook the task of patrolling the trails and protecting the settlements. This necessarily led to the establishment of various military posts.

The military posts were relatively few prior to the 1860s, but such posts as Fort Defiance, and Fort Buchanan on Sonoita Creek played important roles.

As had been mentioned, the first military force across Arizona carried Hall caplock carbines, the big single-shot horse pistols, and sabers.

In 1849 the Hall carbines were replaced by musketoons; the musketoon was simply a shorter full-stock version of a caplock musket, suitable for horsemen. In 1853 breechloading Sharps carbines were issued to some posts. But the army liked to experiment, and in 1858 issued some Colt pistol-carbines. These were heavy .44 caliber Dragoon revolvers (caplock) to which a separate, detachable shoulder stock could be affixed, thus making the arm a six-shot carbine. There were also issues of a big single-shot Springfield pistol with a detachable shoulder stock, along with some breechloading Burnside carbines.

The hand arms of this period in Arizona had progressed from the old singleshot pistols to the Colt six-shooters, mostly the four-pound, .44 caliber Dra-goon Model or the well-balanced, lighter .36 caliber Navy Model (of which more were used by the army or civilians than the navy).

One of the most popular guns in the West was the Model 1841 caplock rifle. It had been used with such success by Mississippians under Jefferson Davis that it was often referred to as the “Mississippi Rifle.” The government made some of these rifles available to emigrants in 1849 as well as to some of the volunteer units in New Mexico and Arizona.

For horsemen and general use, there can be no doubt that the Sharps breech-loading caplock carbine was an early favorite. Having the advantage of rapid loading with prepared paper or linen wrapped powder-and-ball cartridges, it was strongly built and easy to maintain. Captain R. S. Ewell, 1st U.S. Dragoons, wrote from Fort Buchanan in 1858 of the Sharps: “It is far superior to either rifle, musketoon or carbine pistol . . . I urgently request that my company be armed with them.” As early as 1854 when Andrew B. Gray was commissioned to head a railroad surveying party through Arizona, the Sharps rifles and Colt Dragoon pistols with which his party were armed helped them to stand off a large band of Apache in the Sonoita Valley.

Maker of those popular six-shooters, Samuel Colt, had become a major stock-holder in the Sonora Mining and Exploring Co. in 1859 and established a sales depot at Tubac under direction of James Dean Alden. After the colorful Yankee armsmaker had received some copies of the Arizonian, he wrote Alden this bit of advice in his special brand of spelling and with typical intolerance for other arms: “I am noticing in the newspapers occaisionally complementary notices of the Sharps and Burnside Rifles and anec-dotes of there use upon Grisley Bares Indians Mexicans &c. Now this is all wrong, it should be published Colts Rifles Carbines &c. If there is a chance to du a few good things in this way give the editor a Pistol or Rifle compliment in a way it will tell. You know how to do this and Do not forget to have his columns report all the axidents that occur to the Sharps and other humbug arms.” The impact of the War Between the States has been briefly mentioned, but the war had also brought with it certain side effects and aftereffects. The fratricidal strife had meant little to the Indians in Arizona, but as some of the military posts were abandoned they saw increased opportunities to drive out the White Men.

Fortunately for the settlers, the period of scant military protection was relatively short, and when the Civil War came to an end the focus of activity shifted to territories west of the Mississippi River. In the 1860s and 1870s military posts sprang up all through the West. No less than forty-six sites were eventually listed within Arizona while two dozen additional camps are mentioned.

With all this post activity, new weapons made their appearance. The exigencies of war had expedited development of new firearms models and forms of ammunition. Prominent among new guns were the Henry and Spencer lever-action repeating rifles. Equally important was that these new rifles used self-contained metallic-cased cartridges. Smith & Wes-son led the way in metallic cartridge small arms with several quick-loading “break-open” revolvers using copper-cased rim-fire ammunition.

In the 1860s and 1870s there ensued an active scramble among arms manufacturers to develop rifles, shotguns, and revolvers using the new copper or brass cartridges. This transition period holds especial interest in that many methods were employed to convert the old caplock arms to use the metallic cartridges.

The 1860s were especially vital in Arizona because early in 1863 the dream of becoming a separate Territory was realized and the western portion of New Mexico became the Territory of Arizona, its eastern boundary running north and south in a straight line a little east of the present-day settlements of Portal, Springerville, and Fort Defiance.

The Arizona Territory was entitled to some special considerations from the federal government, and the first allotment of Territorial arms were 105 smoothbore muskets of caliber .69, and 20,000 buck and ball cartridges. These guns were effective only at short range, but better than nothing. Governor Goodwin was not satisfied, however, for he had had experience with the new Spencer repeating rifles.

Rifled muskets of the 1861-64 type had become the major federal shoulder arms in the four year North-South conflict, and as the areas of military activity

shifted to the West, the muzzleloaders were among the first arms that reached the army posts. A breakthrough occurred in 1865, however, when an employee at Springfield Arsenal named Allin devised a simple method by which the muzzleloaders could be converted into breechloaders using the metallic cartridges. Here was born what became known as the "trapdoor" Springfield, and with some improvements and variations, rifles and carbines of this type were used right up to the Spanish-American War. The "trapdoor," or hinged breech Springfields in .50-70 or .45-70 calibers, were the most prevalent arms in what is generally called "The Indian Wars." Arizona received 224 of the "trapdoor" Springfield rifles and 112,000 rounds of 50-70 metallic cartridges for them in 1869. And a year later the Territory was charged with 250 of the .50 caliber Spencer carbines Governor Goodwin had favored and 250 Sharps .50 caliber carbines, along with a supply of ammunition for each. It should be noted that it had been a very simple changeover to alter the Sharps breechloader to chamber 50-70 metallic cartridges rather than the earlier paper or linen wrapped cartridges. During A. P. K. Safford's administration as Territorial governor (1869-77) He reported that he had received 724 Springfield rifles along with cartridges for them, and stated that, as he had found many Arizonans armed with inferior arms, had considered it his duty to place the rifles in the hands of those most exposed to hostilities and least able to afford them. During Safford's term of office great advances were made nationally in weapons development, the most significant starting after 1870. In 1871 and 1872 Smith & Wesson's big .44 caliber "topbreak" cartridge revolvers were issued to the 1st and 5th Cavalry for testing in Arizona. In 1873 Colt introduced what has proven to be the most popular revolver ever produced, known as the single action army revolver. First introduced in chambering for .45 caliber center-fire Colt cartridges, it soon was made for .44-40 center-fire cartridges produced by Winchester for its first center-fire cartridge rifle, the famed Winchester Model 1873. Thus the Colt six-shooters and the Winchester repeating rifles could use the same cartridges. The Colt single action army revolver, sometimes called the "Frontier" or "Peacemaker" model, continues in production to the present. Winchester's Model 1873 rifles were produced in greatquantity until 1925 and were chambered for a variety of calibers; they were sometimes referred to rather expansively as "the gun that won the West." It should be noted here that the first rifle to bear the Winchester name was the model of 1866, a brass-framed successor to the Henry rimfire rifle, and like the Henry, shot a copper rim-fire cartridge. Oliver Winchester liked to describe his rifle as "a machine to throw balls." With the development of breechloading, repeating rifles, reloadable cartridges, and big easy-to-load cartridge revolvers, the Indians were placed at an even greater disadvantage. A wily foe, the Indians managed one way or another to obtain guns and ammunition and began to reduce the weaponry odds against them. Guns in Indian hands, however, often suffered from hard or careless use and lack of knowledge or means to keep them in good order. There were three decades prior to 1890 which held intense danger for civilian settlers and military personnel in Arizona. The Navajo hostilities, encouraged by the Ute tribe to the north, had neared their end by 1868. But the Apache conflicts had gained new intensity. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s the man who stands out as leader of the military forces in The Colt .58 caliber caplock muskets (above), dated 1864, were a type made in quantity for the federal government during the Civil War and carried west by settlers for years after its conclusion. By 1866 it was discovered that muzzleloading caplock rifles could be easily converted into breechloading cartridge rifles. From this system developed the improved models of 1873 and 1884 "trap-door" rifles and carbines (left).

Arizona was the bearded career soldier General George Crook, whose dogged campaigns led to the final surrender of the last hostile Apache band, headed by Geronimo, although that surrender was made to General Nelson A. Miles. It was in this period that the artist Frederic Remington visited the Southwest. Through his pictures and articles in magazines like Century and Harper's he added much to understanding of Arizona.

General Crook was a practical man. When his pursuits led him into rough country he carried a double-barreled shotgun, a weapon found very efficient for stagecoach guards riding "shotgun," for desperate men like Doc Holliday of Tombstone, for John Slaughter and other lawmen, and for putting meat in the pot of the settlers.

The major weapons used by General Crook's men, including a sizeable force of Indian scouts, were the Springfield 45-70 caliber "trapdoor" carbines and rifles, and Colt revolvers. The big topbreak .44 Smith & Wesson revolvers, a Remington .44 six-shooter and an odd .44 Merwin and Hulbert six-shooter were active competitors of the Colt, but never quite reached its popularity. Colt revolvers were evident in varied activities in Arizona such as the mining The town of Tombstone, whose boom was started by the discovery of silver there by Ed Schieffelin in 1877. Confrontation between rival factions in the Tombstone area led to the activities which have been extravagantly described, expanded, and romanticized.

The reports of dramatic stagecoach holdups, Indian raids, and some bawdy living in those years have tended to obscure the fact that many hard-working, honest people were steadily bringing the finest features of European civilization into the Southwest.

Patriotic men like W. O. "Bucky" O'Neill, who were familiar with the use of weapons, were quick to enlist in the First United States Volunteer Cavalry, later referred to as Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders." Some of the men assembled to embark for Cuba were issued the old .45-70 single-shot rifles, but Roosevelt wanted no old models for his men, and obtained some of the new Krag bolt-action magazine rifles. Few bolt-action rifles had been seen in Arizona up to that time, and those that had were mainly the Hotchkiss rifles tested by the army in 1883. While some of the old military installations such as Fort Huachuca remain (although in different roles), the major emphasis on weapons in Arizona now may be found in the recreational areas of hunting, match target shooting, and gun collecting.

The marksmanship facilities at the Black Canyon range owned by Maricopa County north of Phoenix are among the finest in the nation and draw competitors to national and international matches. The new $400,000 trap and skeet shooting facilities at Tucson are as fine as anything west of the Mississippi. Many sportsmen's groups actively support (financial and otherwise) conservation and safety education.

Large groups of gun collectors may now be found throughout Arizona who have great interest in the history of arms development and their use by pioneers in their struggles to establish a new life on the frontier.

From the troubled beginnings over four centuries ago, the American Southwest has developed into the orderly and prosperous society found here today. If there was any other way to accomplish this but by hard work, raw courage, and efficient weapons in law-abiding hands, that way could not be found. Those who struggled so hard and accomplished so much, indeed have left us a very rich heritage.