1st Battalion of Native Cavalry, California Volunteers
Encyclopedia
The 1st Battalion of Native Cavalry, California Volunteers was a cavalry battalion in the Union Army
during the American Civil War
. Recruits were largely drawn from the Californio
population (colloquially known as "Native Californians"), though its ranks included Yaqui and Mission Indians
as well as immigrants from Mexico
, Latin America
and Europe
(particularly France
). In addition to its ethnic makeup, the Battalion is also considered unusual for being one of the few lancer
units in the United States Army
.
The Battalion spent its entire term of service in California
and Arizona Territory
.
and Sonoran
Deserts, the Battalion arrived at their new duty station, Fort Mason, near the settlement of Calabazas
on the border in August, 1865. From there, the Battalion was to act against the Apaches as well as patrol the International Line against incursions by the forces of the Mexican Empire
and its French
allies. The neighboring Mexican State of Sonora
had recently fallen to Imperial forces (as part of the French Intervention
), forcing Governor Ignacio Pesqueira to flee northward and take up temporary residence at Calabazas.
Service at Fort Mason was generally considered miserable. Because of its somewhat swampy (by Arizona standards) location on the banks of the Santa Cruz River, the men suffered from an epidemic which at one point rendered over half of them too sick for duty and led to at least 7 deaths, including two of the Battalion's officers. The post suffered from supply problems as well. These conditions caused construction of permanent buildings at the post to slow to a halt, leaving the men to live in tents and temporary brush shelters during their service there and generally curtailing, for a time, operations against the Apaches.
These difficulties did not preclude all active service, however, from time to time, the Battalion was able to organize patrols and scouts. Notably, shortly after their arrival at Fort Mason, Captain Pico led a detachment across the border to Magdalena
, Sonora in an unsuccessful effort to recover deserters being held by Imperialist
forces there. Likewise, in November, 1865, in response to a cross-border incursion at the settlement of San Rafael
by Col. Refugio Tanori and some 350 Opata militia loyal to the Imperialists, a force of Native Cavalrymen pursued the raiders as far south as Ímuris
, Sonora. Finally, the Battalion participated in a campaign against the Apaches from December 1865 to January 1866 which took them as far east as the Chiricahua Mountains
and as far south as Fronteras
, Sonora.
The Battalion left Arizona in February, 1866 and were mustered out in California the following March at Drum Barracks, and Company C in April in San Francisco.
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Recruits were largely drawn from the Californio
Californio
Californio is a term used to identify a Spanish-speaking Catholic people, regardless of race, born in California before 1848...
population (colloquially known as "Native Californians"), though its ranks included Yaqui and Mission Indians
Mission Indians
Mission Indians is a term for many Native California tribes, primarily living in coastal plains, adjacent inland valleys and mountains, and on the Channel Islands in central and southern California, United States. The tribes had established comparatively peaceful cultures varying from 250 to 8,000...
as well as immigrants from Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
(particularly France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
). In addition to its ethnic makeup, the Battalion is also considered unusual for being one of the few lancer
Lancer
A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used in mounted warfare by the Assyrians as early as and subsequently by Greek, Persian, Gallic, Han-Chinese, nomadic and Roman horsemen...
units in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
.
The Battalion spent its entire term of service in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Arizona Territory
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
.
Commanders
- General Andrés PicoAndrés PicoAndrés Pico was a Californio who became a successful rancher, served as a military commander during the Mexican-American War; and was elected to the state assembly and senate after California became a state, when he was also commissioned as a brigadier general in the state militia.-Early...
received a commission as Major in February 1863, but never formally accepted command of the Battalion, having declined the commission on the ground of sickness and inability to ride on horseback. - Major Salvador Vallejo commanded the Battalion from August 1864 to the following February.
- Major John C. CremonyJohn C. CremonyMajor John C. Cremony was an American newspaperman who enrolled in the Massachusetts Volunteers in 1846, serving as a lieutenant....
commanded the Battalion from March 24, 1865 until it was mustered out a year later.
Company assignments
- Headquarters Battalion headquarters were located at Drum BarracksDrum BarracksThe Drum Barracks, also known as Camp Drum and the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, is the last remaining original American Civil War era military facility in the Los Angeles area...
from December 31, 1864 to June 30, 1865. Relocated to Fort YumaFort YumaFort Yuma is a fort in California that is located in Imperial County, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. It was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861 and was abandoned May 16, 1883, and transferred to the Department of the Interior. The Fort Yuma Indian School and a...
July 31, 1865 then at Fort MasonFort MasonFort Mason, once known as San Francisco Port of Embarkation, US Army, in San Francisco, California, is a former United States Army post located in the northern Marina District, alongside San Francisco Bay. Fort Mason served as an Army post for more than 100 years, initially as a coastal defense...
, Arizona TerritoryArizona TerritoryThe Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
, August 31, 1865 to December 31, 1865. Returned to San Francisco in early 1866 to muster out in March 1866. - Company A was largely recruited in San JoséSan Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
and commanded by Captain José Ramón Pico. Initially posted to the Presidio of San FranciscoPresidio of San FranciscoThe Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
, in December 1863, their lances were replaced with Sharps Carbines and they were sent north to support an ongoing Bald Hills WarBald Hills WarBald Hills War was a war fought by the forces of the California Militia, California Volunteers and soldiers of the U. S. Army against the Chilula, Lassik, Hupa, Mattole, Nongatl, Sinkyone, Tsnungwe, Wailaki, Whilkut and Wiyot Native American peoples.The war was fought within the boundaries of the...
, serving at various posts in the Humboldt Military DistrictHumboldt Military DistrictDuring the American Civil War, Army reorganization created the Department of the Pacific on January 15, 1861. On December 12, 1861, the District of Humboldt was created, consisting of the counties of Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Trinity, Humboldt, Klamath, and Del Norte in Northern California...
through February, 1865. They were briefly posted at Benicia BarracksBenicia ArsenalThe Benicia Arsenal 1851-1964, and Benicia Barracks 1852-1866, was a large military reservation located next to Suisun Bay in Benicia, California. For over 100 years, the arsenal was the primary US Army Ordnance facility for the West Coast of the United States.In 1847 a parcel of land adjoining...
before marching south to join the rest of the Battalion at Drum BarracksDrum BarracksThe Drum Barracks, also known as Camp Drum and the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, is the last remaining original American Civil War era military facility in the Los Angeles area...
in June 1865. - Company B was recruited in San Francisco and the Central CoastCentral Coast of CaliforniaThe Central Coast is an area of California, United States, roughly spanning the area between the Monterey Bay and Point Conception. It extends through Santa Cruz County, San Benito County, Monterey County, San Luis Obispo County, and Santa Barbara County...
and initially commanded by Captain Ernest H. Legross from September 1863 to March 1865 when he was replaced by Captain Porfirio Jimeno. They were posted to the Presidio of San FranciscoPresidio of San FranciscoThe Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
until January, 1865, when they were sent to Camp Low in San Juan BautistaSan Juan Bautista, CaliforniaSan Juan Bautista is a city in San Benito County, California, United States. The population was 1,862 at the 2010 census, up from 1,549 at the 2000 census. The city of San Juan Bautista was named after Mission San Juan Bautista...
and to re-occupy the old Presidio of MontereyPresidio of Monterey, CaliforniaThe Presidio of Monterey, located in Monterey, California, is an active US Army installation with historic ties to the Spanish colonial era. Currently it is the home of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center .-Spanish fort:...
and operated against the Mason Henry GangMason Henry GangMason Henry Gang 1864-1865, a bandit gang that posed as Confederate partisan rangers but acted as outlaws, committing robberies, thefts and murders in the southern San Joaquin Valley, Santa Cruz County, Monterey County, Santa Clara County, and in counties of Southern California.- Mason and Henry as...
, a group of bandits with pro-ConfederateConfederate States of AmericaThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
sympathies who were terrorizing the Central Valley. They joined the rest of the Battalion at Drum BarracksDrum BarracksThe Drum Barracks, also known as Camp Drum and the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, is the last remaining original American Civil War era military facility in the Los Angeles area...
in June 1865. - Company C was recruited almost entirely in Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara, CaliforniaSanta Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
and was commanded by Captain Antonio Maria de la GuerraAntonio Maria de la GuerraAntonio Maria de la Guerra, , Mayor of Santa Barbara, California, several times a member of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, California State Senator and Captain of California Volunteers in the American Civil War....
. They were posted to Drum BarracksDrum BarracksThe Drum Barracks, also known as Camp Drum and the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, is the last remaining original American Civil War era military facility in the Los Angeles area...
in September 1864 and remained there until departing for ArizonaArizona TerritoryThe Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
the following year. Mustered out at Presidio of San Francisco April 1866. - Company D was recruited in Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. It was commanded by Captain José Antonio Sanchez from March to May 1864, then by Captain Edward Bale until May 1865 when he was replaced by Captain Thomas A. Young who served until his death from fever in ArizonaArizona TerritoryThe Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
in December 1865. They were assigned to Drum BarracksDrum BarracksThe Drum Barracks, also known as Camp Drum and the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, is the last remaining original American Civil War era military facility in the Los Angeles area...
in March 1864 and were largely employed in construction duties, though later in that year they were increasingly employed in maintaining order in Los Angeles County, in response to threats of violence by Confederate sympathizers around the 1864 electionsUnited States presidential election, 1864In the United States Presidential election of 1864, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected as president. The election was held during the Civil War. Lincoln ran under the National Union ticket against Democratic candidate George B. McClellan, his former top general. McClellan ran as the "peace candidate",...
. In the spring of 1865, they were briefly dispatched to Camp Cady as a base for patrols of the Mojave RoadMojave RoadThe Mojave Road or Mojave Trail is a historic route and present day 'four-wheel drive road' across what is now the Mojave National Preserve in the Mojave Desert of California, United States.-History:...
. They left for ArizonaArizona TerritoryThe Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
with the rest of the Battalion the following July.
Service in Arizona
After a grueling march across the MojaveMojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
and Sonoran
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
Deserts, the Battalion arrived at their new duty station, Fort Mason, near the settlement of Calabazas
Mission San Cayetano de Calabazas
Mission San Cayetano de Calabazas, also known as Calabasas, was founded by Jesuit missionary Father Francisco Xavier Pauer in 1756 when he relocated at least seventy-eight Pima Indians to the site from their village of Toacuquita in what is now Arizona, near Tumacácori...
on the border in August, 1865. From there, the Battalion was to act against the Apaches as well as patrol the International Line against incursions by the forces of the Mexican Empire
Second Mexican Empire
The Second Mexican Empire was the name of Mexico under the regime established from 1864 to 1867. It was created by Napoleon III of France, who attempted to use the Mexican adventure to recapture some of the grandeur of earlier Napoleonic times...
and its French
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
allies. The neighboring Mexican State of Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
had recently fallen to Imperial forces (as part of the French Intervention
French intervention in Mexico
The French intervention in Mexico , also known as The Maximilian Affair, War of the French Intervention, and The Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by an expeditionary force sent by the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain...
), forcing Governor Ignacio Pesqueira to flee northward and take up temporary residence at Calabazas.
Service at Fort Mason was generally considered miserable. Because of its somewhat swampy (by Arizona standards) location on the banks of the Santa Cruz River, the men suffered from an epidemic which at one point rendered over half of them too sick for duty and led to at least 7 deaths, including two of the Battalion's officers. The post suffered from supply problems as well. These conditions caused construction of permanent buildings at the post to slow to a halt, leaving the men to live in tents and temporary brush shelters during their service there and generally curtailing, for a time, operations against the Apaches.
These difficulties did not preclude all active service, however, from time to time, the Battalion was able to organize patrols and scouts. Notably, shortly after their arrival at Fort Mason, Captain Pico led a detachment across the border to Magdalena
Magdalena de Kino
Magdalena de Kino is a city and surrounding municipality located in the Mexican state of Sonora covering approximately 560 square miles . According to the 2005 census, the city's population was 23,101, and the municipality's population was 25,500. Magdalena de Kino is in the northern section of...
, Sonora in an unsuccessful effort to recover deserters being held by Imperialist
Second Mexican Empire
The Second Mexican Empire was the name of Mexico under the regime established from 1864 to 1867. It was created by Napoleon III of France, who attempted to use the Mexican adventure to recapture some of the grandeur of earlier Napoleonic times...
forces there. Likewise, in November, 1865, in response to a cross-border incursion at the settlement of San Rafael
San Rafael, Arizona
San Rafael, is a formerly populated place located in Pima County in the state of Arizona, just north of the border with Mexico.It lies at an elevation of 662 meters.-History:...
by Col. Refugio Tanori and some 350 Opata militia loyal to the Imperialists, a force of Native Cavalrymen pursued the raiders as far south as Ímuris
Ímuris
Imuris is a municipality and a municipal seat in the north of the Mexican state of Sonora.-Area and Population:The municipal area is 1,710.3 km² with a population of 9,988 registered in 2000. Most of the inhabitants live in the municipal seat, which had a population of 5,767 in 2000...
, Sonora. Finally, the Battalion participated in a campaign against the Apaches from December 1865 to January 1866 which took them as far east as the Chiricahua Mountains
Chiricahua Mountains
The Chiricahua Mountains are a mountain range in southeastern Arizona which are part of the Basin and Range province of the southwest, and part of the Coronado National Forest...
and as far south as Fronteras
Fronteras
Fronteras is the seat of Fronteras Municipality in the northeast of the Mexican state of Sonora. The elevation is 1,120 meters and neighboring municipalities are Agua Prieta, Nacozari and Bacoachi. The area is 2839.62 km², which represents 1.53% of the state total.-Geography:Fronteras is located...
, Sonora.
The Battalion left Arizona in February, 1866 and were mustered out in California the following March at Drum Barracks, and Company C in April in San Francisco.