Arizona History

Civil War immediately affected Fort Yuma
BY FRANK LOVE, WHEN ARIZONA WAS YOUNG
Jan 27, 2007

It had become obvious to many that the South would secede from the Union if Abraham Lincoln was chosen as president.

By the time he was elected despite Southern threats and took the oath of office on March 4, 1861, seven Southern states had already left the Union and another eight were considering leaving.

Despite the fact that some states were already gone from the Union, Lincoln told the audience at his inaugural, "We cannot separate."

That the Southern states would leave the Union if Lincoln became president had been obvious to many people months before the election.

Despite Lincoln's attempt to calm Southern fears by announcing that he was not an abolitionist, some Southerners called him a "baboon" and announced that his election would split the Union.

Lincoln's election had an immediate affect on the troops at Fort Yuma. Commanding the Pacific Division of the United States Army at the time was Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston.

Some Southern-born Californians had already approached Johnston about a plan to secede from the United States and form a Pacific Republic. Once created, it would join the Confederacy.

Considering what the group was planning to be treason, Johnston refused, telling the conspirators that he would defend United States property "with the last ounce of blood in my body."

With Johnston's warning, the conspirators gave up the plan. But Johnston was a Southerner from Texas who soon felt his native state needed him despite his important position in the United States Army.

He resigned afterward and returned to Texas. Confederate leaders quickly appointed him a general in the newly created Confederate Army.

Not all Southerners bound for the Confederacy had as easy a time going south as Johnston. One who discovered this was Daniel Showalter, a California assembly member.

Shortly after the war began, assembly member Charles Piercy had made a comment about Showalter that was taken as an insult. Showalter challenged Piercy to a duel to be fought with rifles.

The pair fired at one another from a distance of 40 yards. Showalter proved the better shot, with Piercy killed in their duel.

Whether anger over the death of Piercy was the cause for Showalter's decision to leave California for the Confederacy is unknown, but he soon announced his intentions to join the Confederacy to a group of 17 like-minded Californians.

After gathering at Warner's Ranch in October, he led the group eastward taking the route that led to Fort Yuma and then east to the Confederacy.

The journey eastward probably wasn't as easy as Showalter thought it would be. Maj. Riggs, an officer in command at Fort Yuma, heard the Showalter party was bound for the Confederacy. He had his troops seize the would-be Confederate soldiers and locked them up at Fort Yuma.

The group denied they intended to join the Confederate Army. They claimed they had come to Arizona to search for gold.

Riggs forced them to take an oath of allegiance to the United States.

Having done so, they were released and made their way to Texas where they immediately violated the oath by joining the Confederate Army.

Southern-born Army officers were also forced to consider whether to continue serving the Union or resigning and going east to offer their services to the Confederacy.

It had an immediate affect on Army posts in the West such as Fort Yuma.

One of the first officers at Fort Yuma to indicate his desire to serve the Confederacy was 2nd Lt. James McCall.

When the Tennessee native first left Fort Yuma on Dec. 20, 1860, he was listed as AWOL. His resignation from the U.S. Army wasn't documented until April 25, 1861, when the Fort Yuma Post Returns reported he was serving as a major in the Confederate Army.

Another was Maj. Lewis Armistead ,who was listed as AWOL on Aug. 6, 1861. He was soon serving as a general in the Confederate Arm, but was later killed at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

Lt. Aaron B. Hardcastle was listed as AWOL in the Fort Yuma Post Returns on Aug. 22. A Marylander, he was soon serving as a colonel in the Mississippi Volunteers.

It must not have been easy being a Southerner serving in the United States Army when the Civil War began. Some very difficult choices had to be made, and it is easy to understand the conflict they may have felt as they resigned and headed for the Confederacy.

Frank Love is a Yuma historian.

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