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A Warning.
A Warning.
These writings are meant to be truthful, but they are too rambling and egotistical to possess much historical value. Few subjects are treated of except such as the writer was personally connected with or in which he felt a special interest. Much that he was tempted to write has been omitted out of consideration for the living and the dead and their relations. The book will have little interest except for those who know something of El Paso or of the men and events treated of, or of the writer hi
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EL PASO IN 1858.
EL PASO IN 1858.
El Paso is situated on the Rio Grande River, in the extreme west corner of Texas, within a mile of that river, which forms the boundary line between Texas and Mexico, and very near to New Mexico on the north and on the west. The altitude is 3,700 feet and the climate is mild, pleasant and healthful. El Paso was then a small adobe hamlet of about three hundred inhabitants, more than three-fourths of whom were Mexicans. Nearly all that portion of the village or “ranch” south of San Antonio and San
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ROSTER OF ANTE-BELLUM RESIDENTS OF EL PASO.
ROSTER OF ANTE-BELLUM RESIDENTS OF EL PASO.
J. F. Crosby, then district judge, Confederate; is well known in El Paso. Simeon Hart, mill owner and contractor, Confederate. Died at El Paso. Henry J. Cuniffe, merchant, Union man. Was United States Consul at Juarez. Died at Las Cruces. H. S. Gillett, merchant and Confederate, lives in New Mexico. J. S. Gillett, merchant, Confederate; lives in New Mexico. Col. Phil Herbert, lawyer, Confederate; killed in the war. Col. James W. Magoffin, contractor, Confederate; sutler at Fort Bliss. Died at Sa
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INCIDENTS BEFORE THE WAR AND EARLY IMPRESSIONS.
INCIDENTS BEFORE THE WAR AND EARLY IMPRESSIONS.
On the second night after my arrival in El Paso I had my first experience of the manner of settling difficulties there. Samuel Schutz, still of El Paso, and one Tom Massie had had a misunderstanding about the rent of a house. My brother and I went across the river that afternoon, and on the way we met one Garver, a half-witted fellow, called “Clown,” who said he had been “fixing a canoe” at the river, and in a friendly way he advised us to return early because there would be some fun that night.
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MURDER AND ROBBERY OF GIDDINGS’ STORE (SHELDON BLOCK).
MURDER AND ROBBERY OF GIDDINGS’ STORE (SHELDON BLOCK).
In 1859 the San Antonio Mail Company had its headquarters on the lot where the Sheldon building now stands. They had in the old adobe house as large a stock of general merchandise as any El Paso merchant now carries. The clerks who slept in the store were a Mr. Atkins, familiarly known as “Ole Dad,” and “Fred” ——, a young German. One night Atkins was absent and Fred was sleeping in the store alone. The next morning a window in the south side of the building was found to have been dug out of the
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THE CANBY-SIBLEY CAMPAIGN IN 1861-2.
THE CANBY-SIBLEY CAMPAIGN IN 1861-2.
The following notes are published substantially as they were written soon after the close of the campaign. [1] The remoteness of New Mexico from the scenes of vastly more important conflicts prevented historians of the war from writing of that campaign, which, though insignificant by comparison, was one of the knightliest and most romantic in history. I have here aimed to do justice to the brave men, of both armies, who marched and countermarched, and fought and fled and fought again along the b
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THE BATTLE OF VALVERDE.
THE BATTLE OF VALVERDE.
This peaceful valley, which had scarcely before echoed to the report of the sportsman’s fowling piece, was now to resound to the thunders of artillery and become the scene of bloody conflict. The west bank of the river where we first took position, was an open, level plain. The Texans had advanced their battery and support into a clump of trees about three hundred yards from the bank of the river and almost in the shadow of the mountain. They were in position when McRae arrived. McRae unlimbered
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CAPTAIN MOORE.
CAPTAIN MOORE.
While serving at Fort Craig, as above related, and when the Texans were advancing from El Paso nearer to Fort Craig, we had an outpost of two companies at a village called Alamosa, thirty miles south of Craig, on the Rio Grande, under command of Capt. —— Moore of the United States cavalry. One morning General Roberts said to me: “Take an escort and go and see what is going on at Alamosa.” That was all the order I had. I went and met the younger officers, who told me that their captain was “in a
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A STORY WITHOUT A MORAL.
A STORY WITHOUT A MORAL.
On my return journey from Washington City in 1863, when traveling in the stage coach with driver and two other passengers, we halted for supper and a change of animals at a village seventy miles north of Fort Craig, where, falling in with some officers who had served with me during the then recent campaign, I accompanied them to their tents and there became so interested in telling and hearing stories that I forgot all about time and the stage went forward without me. I was the more to blame for
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BENJAMIN S. DOWELL.
BENJAMIN S. DOWELL.
On previous pages I have mentioned this character as “Uncle Ben” Dowell, the postmaster. He was a Kentuckian, who served through the war with Mexico, and at its close settled at El Paso in the “forties” and married at Ysleta. He was an illiterate man, but of great force of character. One day in the early “fifties” he did good work by killing, in a street fight, a desperado who was known to have broken into the Customs House and robbed the safe and who, with a party of men like himself, was defyi
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BRAD. DAILY.
BRAD. DAILY.
While the hostile Texans were approaching Fort Craig I was a lieutenant and aide-de-camp to the commanding officer at that post, Gen. B. S. Roberts. The General directed me to try to find some intelligent, faithful citizen acquainted with the country to go as a spy to El Paso (from whence I had escaped) and bring him reliable information of the Texan forces in that vicinity. Brad. Daily, whom I had known well at El Paso, was at the time wagonmaster in charge of Ochoa’s train, and in camp near th
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JOHN LEMON.
JOHN LEMON.
In 1861 John Lemon, a gentleman of about my own age, resided with his wife and children at La Mesilla, N. M., fifty miles north of El Paso. I was not then acquainted with Mr. Lemon, but soon after my escape to Fort Craig from the Confederates at Fort Bliss in 1861, and after the Confederates had taken possession of La Mesilla, Lemon and one Jacob Applezoller and a Kentuckian named Critendon Marshall, were arrested and placed in the guard house as “Union men.” One midnight these three were taken
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“BOB” CRANDALL AS A DAMPHOOL.
“BOB” CRANDALL AS A DAMPHOOL.
While I was collector of customs at El Paso a good friend of mine, Captain Crandall, had been honorably discharged from the Union army and had located at Tucson. Crandall came to El Paso and stopped at my house and informed me that his father had died in Indiana and that he (“Bob”) was en route there to get his portion of the estate, and he hoped to return pretty well fixed. After several months Bob returned, and came to my house looking dejected and rather seedy. He told me that others had admi
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ROBBERY OF MY HOUSE IN 1865—INDIAN TRAILERS.
ROBBERY OF MY HOUSE IN 1865—INDIAN TRAILERS.
In 1865 I lived, a bachelor, in a house which is still standing on the lot at the corner of San Francisco and Chihuahua streets. My sleeping room was in the southeast corner of the house with a window opening on the back yard (corral) to the south. My brother, E. A. Mills, and a negro servant slept in the back rooms of the house. One day a number of Mexicans were carrying and stacking adobes in that back yard and of course had left five thousand foot tracks. That night I locked the front door of
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ATTEMPT AT ASSASSINATION IN 1867—A MYSTERY.
ATTEMPT AT ASSASSINATION IN 1867—A MYSTERY.
In 1867 I lived in my home on San Antonio street, two blocks west of where the Court House now stands. There were two rooms opening on the street, one of which had a spare bed in it for guests and was never used by me. Back of this room, with a partition door between and with a door and window giving into the back yard, was my own private room—the room in which I habitually slept. My brother slept in another part of the house. Of course it was my habit to lock the door opening into the back yard
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FATE OF MY CUSTOM-HOUSE DEPUTIES.
FATE OF MY CUSTOM-HOUSE DEPUTIES.
Of the thirty or more young men who were from time to time employes of mine in this Customs District while I was collector (1863 to 1869), I believe only two are now living (1900), my brother, E. A. Mills of Mexico, and Maximo Aranda of San Elizario. Seven of them met violent deaths, four while in the service. Here is the record: Mills (no relative of mine), killed by Indians near Tucson in 1864; Virgil Marstin, killed by Indians near Silver City in 1865; John F. Stone, killed by Indians near Fo
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CHANGE OF CUSTOMS DISTRICT—SAMUEL J. JONES. (1863.)
CHANGE OF CUSTOMS DISTRICT—SAMUEL J. JONES. (1863.)
My last military service was as quartermaster and commissary at District headquarters at Santa Fe, in 1862. In the summer of that year, General Canby granted me a leave of absence for sixty days, and I visited Washington City and received from President Lincoln my commission as collector of customs along with his personal thanks and good wishes. The collection district of Paso del Norte then comprised only the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, the collector’s office being at Las Cruces, N.
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CAPTAINS SKILLMAN AND FRENCH.
CAPTAINS SKILLMAN AND FRENCH.
Capt. Henry Skillman resided near El Paso for many years previous to the Civil War. He was a Kentuckian, a man of magnificent physique, over six feet tall, wearing long, sandy hair and a beard flowing to his girdle. He was an Indian fighter, mail contractor, and a guide and scout for the United States troops and for wagon trains through the Indian country. He was the Kit Carson of this section. He was highly esteemed, almost beloved, by the people of the valley, of both races. He had one fault.
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FURNISHING ARMS TO MEXICO—1865.
FURNISHING ARMS TO MEXICO—1865.
Early in 1865, when the Mexican patriots, under President Juarez, were hard pressed by the French troops and the forces of the usurping Emperor Maximilian, my friend, Don Juan Zubiran, then collector of customs at Juarez, brought a gentleman to my office and introduced him as a confidential agent of the Mexican government. This gentleman did not hesitate to confide to me that his mission was to purchase arms and ammunition for use against the invaders of his country. This was a delicate matter b
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PRESIDENT JUAREZ’ GOVERNMENT AT CIUDAD JUAREZ, NEAR EL PASO—1865-66.
PRESIDENT JUAREZ’ GOVERNMENT AT CIUDAD JUAREZ, NEAR EL PASO—1865-66.
For more than a year, in 1865 and 1866, the village of Paso del Norte (now Ciudad Juarez), opposite El Paso, was the actual capital of the Mexican Republic. Benito Juarez, the patriot President, with his Cabinet and a little remnant of his army, had been driven from his capital by the French troops and the Mexican adherents of Maximilian, and were making a last stand on this frontier, the French troops having possession of the city of Chihuahua, only two hundred and twenty-five miles to the sout
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A VISIT TO WASHINGTON—POLITICAL CONTESTS.
A VISIT TO WASHINGTON—POLITICAL CONTESTS.
This journey was made by stage coach via Santa Fe as far as Kansas City, thirteen hundred miles, in midwinter, and was not without interesting incidents, one of which I will relate. We left Santa Fe with six passengers, Judge S. Watts, two young ladies, two merchants and myself. There was also the stage driver and the driver of a wagon which carried our provisions and baggage. The weather, for the greater portion of the time, was intensely cold, the ground being covered with snow. We slept under
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RECONSTRUCTION—CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868-69.
RECONSTRUCTION—CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1868-69.
In 1868 I was elected to represent El Paso county in the State Constitutional Convention, which was to meet at Austin in May of that year, to frame a constitution under which Texas might be readmitted into the Union. At the start I was opposed for that office by Major Joseph Smith, a popular Democrat, who had been honorably discharged from the United States military service at El Paso, but early in the contest I badgered him into saying that if he found a single “Nigger” in the convention, he wo
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HAMILTON-DAVIS CONTEST OF 1869—ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTION.
HAMILTON-DAVIS CONTEST OF 1869—ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTION.
The reader may think it strange that I give so much space to so common an occurrence as a State election, but the explanation is simple. It was the first reasonable attempt to carry our State back into the Union. The Democrats had made one effort and had failed, because they had offended the dominant sentiment of the country by “Apprentice Laws,” and other measures which virtually reduced the freedman to a state of slavery, and by electing to the United States Senate a man who had presided over
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MARRIAGE AND JOURNEY TO MY EL PASO HOME.
MARRIAGE AND JOURNEY TO MY EL PASO HOME.
I do not know why it is that only in novels and posthumous writings do men speak much of their wives, and even the novel usually ends where I think it should begin , with the marriage. The man who writes of his own career usually treats the most important event of his life incidentally or in a casual way, and if he praises any woman it is usually his mother. I suppose there must be some good reason for this general rule, and I deviate from it only to say that for a third of a century my wife has
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ASSAULT BY KUHN AT FREDRICKSBURG.
ASSAULT BY KUHN AT FREDRICKSBURG.
When we arrived at Fredricksburg, sixty-five miles west of Austin, where Mr. Zabriskie left us for San Antonio, we stopped at Nimmit’s Hotel for a day’s rest, and Mrs. Mills and I were given a room upstairs. During the day I met in the hall of the hotel Albert Kuhn, who has been mentioned in my war story as the man who piloted the party of Texas soldiers who kidnapped me in Juarez in 1861, and who had received the reward for my capture. Kuhn had left El Paso with the Confederates in 1862, and I
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THIRD VOYAGE OVER THE PLAINS—ENEMIES AND PLOTS.
THIRD VOYAGE OVER THE PLAINS—ENEMIES AND PLOTS.
And now, April, 1871, we again turned our faces toward our El Paso home, in the hope of recuperating in other business what we had lost in politics, for my expenses had been very heavy. I still held my town lots, and having faith in the future of El Paso I took out a license as a real estate agent ten years before any one else. “Seymour” and “Blair” and the ambulance were still on hand, and I purchased another pair of very large mules (which we named “Insect” and “Fairy”) and a wagon for our bag
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A. J. FOUNTAIN—MY WORST ENEMY.
A. J. FOUNTAIN—MY WORST ENEMY.
In 1869 there arose a bitter controversy between myself and A. J. Fountain, who had for several years been my special deputy in the customs house at El Paso, which controversy attracted great interest on this frontier, and even in Austin and Washington City. There was much angry correspondence and an official investigation, but as I came out of the contest unscathed I will content myself with publishing only one of Fountain’s letters and “let it go at that.” W. W. Mills, Esq. : My dear Sir — The
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ARREST AT SAN ELEZARIO—ASSAULT BY ATKINSON.
ARREST AT SAN ELEZARIO—ASSAULT BY ATKINSON.
In 1871, when the Davis administration was in full power and the notorious State police of that day were “rough riding” over the State, one John Atkinson (of whom more anon) commanded that force in El Paso County. I went, with my wife and brother, A. E. Mills, in my ambulance to attend court at San Elezario, which was then the county seat. There was a State law against carrying arms, “except when traveling,” and we went armed. Immediately upon arriving at the county seat my brother and myself we
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FROM EL PASO TO AUSTIN—STAGE DRIVERS.
FROM EL PASO TO AUSTIN—STAGE DRIVERS.
In February, 1872, we went in the stage coach from El Paso to Austin. The party consisted of Mrs. Mills, myself, Charles H. Howard and a young St. Louis lawyer named Bowman, who was taking his first lessons in frontier life and customs. If I desired to learn any man’s true character I would want to take a long day and night journey with him in a stage coach. Want of sleep and other annoyances, vexations and privations bring out at times all the ill-nature and selfishness one may possess; and, ag
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SOME TEXAS LAWYERS.
SOME TEXAS LAWYERS.
In 1871 I held a judgment for $50,000 which I had obtained in the El Paso District Court against a citizen of El Paso County for having caused my arrest and imprisonment by the Confederates in 1861, as related in my war story. This judgment being in full force and I being in Austin, my friend, Major De Normandie, then Clerk of the Supreme Court, introduced me to a prominent attorney of De Witt County, Texas, who informed me that the defendant owned property in De Witt County out of which my judg
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CONFISCATION—AN EXPLANATION—NOT AN APOLOGY.
CONFISCATION—AN EXPLANATION—NOT AN APOLOGY.
All Governments, including the Southern Confederacy, have written in their statute books that whoever engages in rebellion or takes up arms against their authority shall forfeit not only his property but his life. I am glad now that my Government did not enforce these harsh penalties against any of the Confederates. In 1864 the United States District Judge for New Mexico, himself a Southern man, held that his Court had the power to libel and confiscate the real estate of such citizens of El Paso
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“STAR” MAIL CONTRACTS—THE FIRST TRUST—1869-70.
“STAR” MAIL CONTRACTS—THE FIRST TRUST—1869-70.
After the war I and my El Paso friends became involved in a bitter contest with the San Antonio and El Paso Mail Company, which continued for several years. At that time the great lines of railroads were reaching out toward the west and southwest, and many mail routes, hundreds of miles in length, were preceding them. These mails were carried in stage coaches, buckboards and on horseback. Millions were expended annually by the Government for this service, and it was harvest time for the two weal
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VICTORIO, THE GREAT APACHE GENERAL.
VICTORIO, THE GREAT APACHE GENERAL.
I could fill a book larger than the one I am writing with true stories of Indian raids and fights and massacres and captivities on this frontier, but I refrain. In my war story I gave an account of one of the most desperate fights, where one who was kin of mine died, fighting bravely but hopelessly, and I will briefly mention here that final “round up” of the hostile savages of this section, the capture of Victorio and his band by the combined troops of our country and Mexico, within forty miles
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THE KILLING OF CLARKE AND WILLIAMS—THE CAUSES—1870.
THE KILLING OF CLARKE AND WILLIAMS—THE CAUSES—1870.
On a fine autumn day, thirty years ago, on El Paso street, where the Mundy Block now stands, Gaylord J. Clarke and B. F. Williams were shot to death within a few moments of each other and within a few feet of each other. In order that the reader may understand the causes which led up to these tragedies I will give a brief sketch of the career of each of the four men most directly connected with the quarrel or quarrels and their relation to each other and to the writer. Clarke was a New York man
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AFFIDAVIT OF ADOLPH KRAKANER.
AFFIDAVIT OF ADOLPH KRAKANER.
“I am the bookkeeper of S. Schutz & Bro., merchants at El Paso, Texas, who are also agents of the Texas and California Stage Company, of which Louis Cardis, deceased, was a sub-contractor, running the U. S. mail between this point and Fort Davis, Texas; hence Cardis had more or less transactions with the firm and came frequently into the store and office. On Wednesday, the 10th day of October, 1877, between 2 and 3 o’clock P. M., Louis Cardis, deceased, came into the office, requesting m
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THE AFTER MATH.
THE AFTER MATH.
It is not pleasant to have to write of what occurred after the mob had dispersed, and therefore I will be brief. The regular force of Rangers had behaved well and obeyed orders, but now Governor Hubbard ordered that an additional force should be recruited at Silver City, New Mexico, to assist the authorities and restore order in El Paso County. About thirty came. Of these the Judge Advocate General of the Army reviewing the testimony says: “Many outrages were committed on innocent people in the
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THE BLOODY REIGN OF MARSHAL STUDEMEIER.
THE BLOODY REIGN OF MARSHAL STUDEMEIER.
Twenty years ago, with the coming of the first railroads to El Paso, there came also many bad men, and our mayor and city fathers concluded in their wisdom that they must have a city marshal who would be “bader en anybody,” and they succeeded beyond their most sanguine expectations. They imported one Dallas Studemeier, and installed him in that office. His coming, if we can trace human events back to their causes, cost the lives of half a dozen men, his own included. The supplanted marshal, a Mr
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LONGMEIER—A CLOSE CALL.
LONGMEIER—A CLOSE CALL.
In the bad times soon after the coming of the first railroad, I returned to El Paso as deputy United States marshal, and encountered many strangers, and was called to the custom house to appraise some liquor which had been smuggled by one Longmeier. Although I had nothing to do with the seizure of the liquor, Longmeier thought I had, or else he thought it no harm to kill a deputy marshal, anyhow. That night, while sitting at supper with my back to a window which opened on the common (which windo
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A HOLD UP.
A HOLD UP.
Soon after the above incident, I went one night about 9 o’clock to call for my wife, who was visiting some friends near McGoffin’s place. As I walked unarmed and with my overcoat thrown over my shoulder, I heard and saw a man walking suspiciously behind me, and determined to watch him, but as he followed a different street at a junction I dismissed him from my mind. Suddenly he sprang from the bushes about fifteen feet from the road, with a very large pistol directed at me, and the following dia
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The North American Review, November, 1889. THE UNION MEN OF THE SOUTH. By W. W. Mills.
The North American Review, November, 1889. THE UNION MEN OF THE SOUTH. By W. W. Mills.
In every Southern State at the commencement of the rebellion there lived a class of men, prominent and influential in political and social life, whose patriotism, devotion to principle, wisdom and courage, trials and sufferings, have been scarcely touched upon by late writers upon the war and its causes and results. Most of them were then of mature years; all of them had been born and reared in the South and were slave-owners. Many of them were Democrats; none of them were then Republicans. Most
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ENEMIES AND PHILOSOPHY.
ENEMIES AND PHILOSOPHY.
In the summer of 1900 my brother, General Mills, and a sister paid Mrs. Mills and myself a visit at the United States Consulate at Chihuahua. One evening he, being in a reflective mood, said, “Will, you and I have had many difficulties, and quarrels and fights with our personal enemies, and it is very gratifying to know, as I am growing old, that these are all over with me. My enemies are all reconciled to me, and I wish you could say as much.” I replied: “I do not know that my enemies are all r
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