Archive for the 'Mesilla' Category
Monday, February 27th, 2012
Picacho Cemetery
Virtually nothing is known of this abandoned cemetery in Picacho, even by residents. The cemetery is on private land. Only two stones exist, but mounds and other signs indicate other burials.
See also:
Picacho Peak
Picacho — A Brief History
Picacho — Forgotten Butterfield Stage Stop
Tags: History, Mesilla, Stage Coach, Butterfield Overland Mail
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
Picacho — A Brief History
Evangelisto Chavez
Picacho had long been a camping spot because it was located just south of a natural Rio Grande River crossing known as Apache or Indian Ford. It was also near one of the few places where it was possible to get wagons or coaches up the western slope of the Mesilla Valley. Even though the valley is not that steep, the west side consists of deep sand that provides a formidable barrier to horse-drawn conveyances.
Local tradition says that Evangelisto built the first house in Picacho. He established a large farm and a mercantile business and began employing many workers. He also started a ferry boat service at Apache Ford. Because he owned almost the entire town, it was sometimes called Chaves.
With Evangelisto’s financial acumen and the business provided by the Overland Mail Stage Stop established in 1858, the settlement grew fast. Just how fast can be seen in an 1859 Territorial vote:
Dona Ana, 240
Las Cruces, 100
Brazito, 19
La Mesa, 212
Santo Tomas, 69
Mesilla, 1101
Picacho, 136
Tucson, 267
Colorado City (Rodey), 100
These numbers are votes, i.e., United States male citizens, but they give an idea of the relative populations of the towns of southern New Mexico at this time (Arizona was part of New Mexico until February 24, 1863).
Picacho’s close proximity to the mountains made it vulnerable to Indian attacks, and there are accounts of raids in which livestock were taken and citizens lost their lives. Here is a typical account:
“On the morning of the 30th ult., five Apaches stole out of a corral at the village of Picacho, two hundred head of cattle. To show the audacity of these Indians, we will note that the stock was stolen within five miles of a camp of 650 soldiers.” (September 30, 1861)
During the Civil War, Picacho’s position as a transit point to Arizona led to its use for that purpose by both Confederate and Union troops.
With the arrival of the train at Las Cruces in 1881, Picacho along with Mesilla, La Mesa, Dona Ana, and Santo Tomas began a decline that led, by 1900, to almost insignificance.
Evangelisto, who is enumerated in the census of 1880 as living in Picacho, recognized Picacho’s dwindling importance and moved to Las Cruces in July, 1881, where he built a large house. In Las Cruces he had many business interests and served as Justice of the Peace, county treasurer, and school commissioner. He died unexpectedly on March 2, 1886.
*Although about 250 Spanish men and a few wives settled in Santa Fe following Don Juan de Oñate’s expedition there in 1598, by 1608 only about 50 remained, of which Pedro Gomez Duran Y Chaves was one. He was appointed Military Commander of New Mexico in 1627. His descendents spell the name both Chavas and Chavez.
See also:
Picacho Cemetery
Picacho Peak
Picacho — Forgotten Butterfield Stage Stop
Sources:
Research by Dan Aranda; Photo of Evangelisto Chaves Copyright 2012 Dan Aranda; “Santa Fe Weekly Gazette,” January 8, 1859; “The Daily Dispatch,” November 5, 1861; “Rio Grande Republican,” March 6, 1886; Chavez, A Distinctive American Clan of New Mexico, by Fray Angelico Chavez.
Tags: History, Mesilla, Stage Coach, Butterfield Overland Mail
Thursday, October 27th, 2011
Picacho — Forgotten Butterfield Stage Stop
Many who have written about the Butterfield Overland Mail have left out the Picacho stage stop, sometimes called Rancho Picacho, in their accounts. This is a bit surprising as the very first written account of the Butterfield trail mentions the Picacho stop.
Waterman Lilly Ormsby, a special correspondent for the New York Herald, took the first stage from St. Louis to San Francisco so he could report on the experience. He was the only passenger with a straight-through ticket. He left St. Louis on September 16, 1858 and arrived in San Francisco 24 days later, the stage having traveled day and night, stopping so passengers could sleep only every second or third night.
During the trip Ormsby wrote 8 articles about the trip, which were published in the Herald.
Mesilla was almost exactly half way between St. Louis and San Francisco.
Here is what Ormsby wrote on leaving Mesilla:
“A few miles from Messilla [Mesilla] we changed our horses for another team of those interminable mules, and started on a dreary ride of 52 miles for Cook’s Spring. This is the commencement of that series of deserts without water extending from the Rio Grande to the Gila – one of the most tedious portions of the route.
Our road lay through what was called the Pecatch [Picacho] Pass, and, as I walked nearly all the way through it, it seemed to me rather mountainous. It was about 2 miles long and had some very bad hills. In comparison with other passes and canyons on the route, it was not very bad, though quite bad enough and all uphill. When, however, we reached the summit, we were upon the border of a broad and level plain extending as far away as the eye could reach. At our backs were the ranges of the Oregon [Organ] Mountains, the debris of the Rocky Mountains, forming the Eastern boundary of the Messilla [Mesilla] Valley. In front we could just see in the distance Cooke’s peak, rising from the plain in bold prominence from among the surrounding hills.”
The stop where the stage changed from horses to mules was the Picacho stop. Mules were used when the road was rough and mountainous. Mules could handle rougher terrain, but were slower than horses, so the Picacho stop was important, else mules would have had to be put on in Mesilla, making it a tough pull to reach the first stage stop after Picacho, Rough and Ready.
As noted in this post and confirmed by the Ormsby quote above, the stage went north of Picacho peak, not south as almost all writers have it. There was a southern road that stayed on the plains, which horse riders often took, but the water necessary for animals pulling a stage was available only on the mountainous route.
The last remains of the stage stop in Picacho were torn down in 1954, but here is the location today in the old village of Picacho:
Below is a Google satellite image with the location of the Picacho station marked (white square). The GPS is 32.32459, -106.84989. The black line shows the route the stage took through Picacho.
Here is an old adobe in Picacho probably built in the 1890s.
See also:
Picacho Cemetery
Picacho — A Brief History
Picacho Peak
Stage Coach from Mesilla – Unfulfilled Promise
Mesilla Stage Coach – More
Tags: History, Mesilla, Stage Coach, Butterfield Overland Mail
Monday, August 8th, 2011
Mesilla Duel — Legal Considerations
As noted in the post Colt’s Six-Shooters at 15 Paces, Jose Manuel Gallegos and Judge John S. Watts fought a duel “near the Mexican line” on September 10, 1859. Neither man was injured, although they each fired five bullets using what were then advanced, modern weapons.
Why did they choose to fight “near the Mexican line?”
They did so because the legal sanctions against dueling in New Mexico at the time were severe.
Section 20 of Chapter 11 of the Territorial laws in 1859 stated:
“Every person who shall by previous engagement or appointment fight a duel within the jurisdiction of this Territory, and in so doing shall inflict a wound upon any person, whereof the person so injured shall die, shall be deemed guilty of murder in the second degree.”
The punishment provided in the same statues for second degree murder if premeditation was involved was life in prison.
It was also against the law to fight a duel even if no one was wounded or killed:
“Every person who shall engage in a duel with any deadly weapon, although no homicide ensues, or shall challenge another to fight such duel, or shall send or deliver any written or verbal message purporting or intending to be such challenge, although no duel ensues, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail or territorial prison not less than one year, or shall be fined in any sum not leas than two hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars.”
But it wasn’t just duelers who faced extreme legal liability. Their seconds also could be charged with murder:
“Every person who shall be the second of either party in such duel as is mentioned in the preceding section, and shall be present when such wound shall be inflicted, whereof death shall ensue, shall be deemed to be an accessory before the fact to the crime of murder in the fifth degree.”
The strict provisions of the law intended to prevent dueling didn’t end there, however. Both the act of issuing and accepting a challenge were illegal:
“Every person who shall engage in a duel with any deadly weapon, although no homicide ensues, or shall challenge another to fight such duel, or shall send or deliver any written or verbal message purporting or intending to be such challenge, although no duel ensues, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail or territorial prison not less than one year, or shall be fined in any sum not leas than two hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars.”
“Every person who shall accept such challenge, or who shall knowingly carry or deliver any such challenge or message, whether a duel ensues or not; and every person who shall be present at the fighting of a duel with deadly weapons, as an aid, or second, or surgeon, or who shall advise, or encourage, or promote such duel, shall pay a fine of not less than five hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars.”
See also:
Colt’s Six Shooters at 15 Paces
Monday, February 1st, 2010
Picacho Peak
Picacho Peak, 4959 feet, about 7 miles from Las Cruces. (Click for a larger image.)
The old village of Picacho is located southeast of the peak, at the edge of the Mesilla Valley. Picacho was a stage stop on the Butterfield Overland Stage Line , the first stop after Mesilla. From Picacho, the stage climbed the mesa and went around the north side of Picacho Peak through Box Canyon. This lead to a very difficult route through several mountain ranges, but was the only route on which water could be supplied at the stage stops, which were located about one hour of travel time apart.
From Mesilla the stage stops to the Arizona border were: Picacho, Rough and Ready, Goodsight, Cooke’s Springs, Mimbres, Cow Springs, Soldiers’s Farewell, Barney’s, Steins Peak.
The Butterfield Stage began operation on September 15, 1858, with stages leaving San Francisco and St. Louis, the two ends of the line, on that day. Mesilla was located about the middle of the route.
The Butterfield Stage was put out of operation by the start of the Civil War.
See also:
Picacho Cemetery
Picacho — A Brief History
Picacho — Forgotten Butterfield Stage Stop
Stage Coach from Mesilla – Unfulfilled Promise
Mesilla Stage Coach – More
Tags: History, Mesilla, Stage Coach, Butterfield Overland Mail
Saturday, January 16th, 2010
Colt’s Six-Shooters at 15 Paces
DUEL NEAR MESILLA — Correspondence dated Mesilla, 10th September, says:
On Sunday (4th September) Otero, the Democratic nominee for Delegate from New Mexico, made a speech in the Plaza in this town. He was answered by Judge [John S.] Watts, a Galligos [Gallegos] stumper. In the course of his remarks he made allusion to the family of Otero in such a manner that Otero gave him the lie. A challenge ensued, and the parties, accompanied by their seconds, surgeons, etc., met yesterday morning, near the Mexican line. Three shots were exchanged. Weapons, Colt’s navy six-shooters; distance, fifteen paces.
After the first fire the seconds endeavored to effect a reconciliation, but were unable to do so. Two more shots were exchanged without effect, when the seconds withdrew their principals from the field. The difficulty still remains unsettled, however. Both parties behaved with especial gallantry and coolness. After the second shot, Otero lighted his cigarito and enjoyed his smoke, while Watts amused himself with whistling.
Source: Sacramento Daily Union (newspaper), October 5, 1859
In the election referred to in this article, Delegate from New Mexico to the legislature of the United States, Jose Manuel Gallegos was defeated by Miguel Antonio Otero. This was a continuation of a very personal political war between the two men that begin in 1855.
Gallegos and Otero dominated early New Mexico politics.
Jose Manuel Gallegos
Gallegos was born in New Mexico in 1815 while it was still part of Mexico and was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1840. When New Mexico became a territory of the United States as a result of the Mexican-American war, Gallegos participated in the planning of a plot to revolt against American authorities and restore New Mexico to Mexican control. As a result of that activity and other conflicts with the Catholic Church, Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy forced Gallegos’ resignation from the priesthood in 1846.
Always very political, Gallegos had served in the Department of New Mexico Assembly under Mexican rule from 1843 to 1846. Even though he opposed American rule following the Mexican-American war, he evidently decided that if you can’t beat them, join them. Gallegos was elected to the American New Mexico Territorial Council in 1851, and then won election as the Territory’s Delegate to the US Congress in 1853.
In 1855, Gallegos ran against Otero for the first time, and won a second term as Delegate. But Otero alleged massive voter fraud in Mesilla and he eventually prevailed, due primarily to his party’s control of the certification process. Gallegos was forced to give up his position several months before his term ended, and Otero replaced him.
Miguel Antonio Otero
So the 1859 election contest between Gallegos and Otero was a blood match between two men who heartily despised each other. Adding to the open bitterness of the conflict, Bishop Lamy strongly supported Otero, making the election a continuation of his old feud with Gallegos.
After Gallegos lost as Delegate in 1859, he won election to the New Mexico Territorial legislature in 1860 and served as Speaker of the House.
Gallegos failed again as Delegate candidate in 1862, but in 1871, after switching to the Democratic Party, he succeeded in defeating J. Francisco Chaves and becoming Delegate for a third time.
The Gallegos/Chavez contest was the cause of the Mesilla Riot, August 27, 1871, which resulted in at least seven deaths and 30 woundings. More on the Mesilla Riot in a later posting.
Gallegos died April 21, 1875 and is buried in the Rosario Cemetery in Santa Fe.
See Also:
Mesilla Duel — Legal Considerations
Sources:
Hispanic Americans in Congress, Carmen E. Enciso and Tracy North, 1996.
History of New Mexico: From the Spanish Conquest to the Present Time, Helen Haines, 1891.
The Leading Facts of New Mexican History, Ralph Emerson Twitchell, 1917.
