Justus Steinberger to First Regiment Washington Territory Volunteers, June 16, 1862
SPECIAL ORDERS, ) HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE PACIFIC,
June 16, 1862.
No. 100. f San Francisco, Cal., June 16, 1862. * * * * * * *
2. The headquarters of Companies K and L, Second Cavalry California Volunteers, will be prepared to move on the Overland Mail Route by the 1st of July. The quartermaster’s department will provide the necessary transportation for this force.
By order of Brigadier-General Wright:
R. ©. DRUM, Assistant Adjutant- General.
Tucson, Ariz. Ter., June 16, 1862. Lieut. BENJAMIN C. CUTLER, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General, Column from California:
LIEUTENANT: In compliance with orders received from the colonel commanding, dated June 8, 1862, I have the honor to report that I on that day left Tucson, Ariz. Ter., having with me the number of men allotted, and taking such precautionary measures as to insure the secrecy of my movements. Arrived in a deep canon about six miles from the Patagonia Mine, at 12 m. on the 12th instant, and camped. Atl a.m. on the 13th left camp, marched to within 400 yards of the residence of Sylvester Mowry, where an arroya leads to a place called the Commission. Here I detached Captain Fritz with thirty men, with orders to surround the Commission; to search each house and arrest all persons he might find there; while I with the rest of the command moved on to and surrounded the corral, inside of which was the house of Mr. Mowry. It was about3 a.m. I found the gateway closed and fastened, but on knocking it was at once opened by a man whom I afterward learned was the night watchman. On the gate being opened I immediately passed through, taking with me Captain Willis and twenty men. On being admitted to the yard I inquired of the man who opened the gate if Lieutenant Mowry was at home. He replied in the affirmative, and pointed to his bedroom door. I knocked at the door and almost immediately thereafter Mr. Mowry made his appearance in his night clothes. I informed him who I was and the object of my unseasonable visit. He was then placed in arrest, as well as all those who were found inside the corral, the list of names of whom being herewith inclosed. On being arrested Mr. Mowry asked for himself, together with the others, to be paroled and left at the mine. This E declined doing, my orders being peremptory to bring them all with me back to Tucson. Soon after daylight Captain Willis and
Mr. Mills, private secretary to Lieutenant Mowry, made an inventory in duplicate of all the movabie property at the mine, signed by Captain Fritz, Captain Willis, Mr. Mowry, and myself, and I placed Captain Willis with twenty-four men in charge of the same. Lieutenant Mowry and Col. P. Robinson handed me each a written protest against their arrest, which I herewith inclose. Colonel Robinson, I understand, served the notice of confiscation of Colt’s silver mines. He at the time of his arrest was the guest of Lieutenant Mowry. On the morning of the 14th instant left the mine with Lieutenant Mowry and twenty-one other prisoners for Tucson, where I arrived on the 16th instant, and turned over the prisoners to Lieutenant-Colonel West, First Infantry California Volunteers,
by order of the colonel
commanding.
I am, lieutenant, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Lieutenant-Colonel First Cavalry California Volunteers, Comdy.
San Francisco, Cal., June 16, 1862.
First Regiment Washington Territory Volunteers,
SIR: The general commanding the department desires you to give