f
the town. These Indians were on the best of terms with us, as they had
sold large amounts of their produce to our command, for which they had
been promptly and abundantly paid--a different experience when the
rebels were there. They had been employed by our quartermaster's
department as herders of our beef cattle, and were paid to their own
satisfaction for all services they had rendered, but no inducement that
our commander offered them, no amount of pay, could influence any one of
them to accompany us towards Tucson, so assured were they that we were
to be "wiped out" before we should reach there.

On or about the twelfth day of May, 1862, the advance, constituted as
before stated, with B Company, California Cavalry, Captain Emil Fritz,
added, left the peaceful and hospitable homes of the Pimos, and arrived
at the Sacatone, twelve miles. Here we left the overland mail road,
which we had followed since leaving Los Angeles, and keeping up the
south bank of the Gila to White's Ranch; thence to the celebrated ruins
of the Casa Blanca, so graphically described by Mr. John R. Bartlett in
his "Personal Narratives" of the Boundary Commission; thence to
Rattlesnake Spring; thence to old Fort Breckenridge, which had been so
cowardly deserted the year before by our regular troops; thence to Canon
de Oro. As we now approached Tucson, everything was in fighting trim. A
short halt was made near the town, and the cavalry company, in two
divisions, approached the place from the north and west. The infantry
marched in by the main street from the west, with the field music
playing "Yankee Doodle," and instead of being received by shot and
shell, we found neither friend nor enemy, only a village without
population, if we except some hundreds of dogs and cats.

When we were at the Pimos, Governor Pesquira, of Sonora, Mexico,
arrived there from California on his way home; he was allowed to pass
our lines; he and his party arrived in Tucson a few days before our
command, and found the place nearly deserted. Captain Hunter, with his
rebel soldiers, were far on their way to the Rio Grande, and as they had
assured the native population--wholly Mexican--that when the
"Abs"--meaning the Union troops--arrived they would massacre all the men
and abuse all the women, they stood not upon the order of going, but
went at once for Sonora. Governor Pesquira hurried forward, overtaking
parties of the fugitives each day, and assuring them of different