King Woolsey's 1864 Campaign for Revenge

King Woolsey was away from his Agua Fria ranch, which was located around present-day Dewey. Instead, he was with Governor John Goodwin along the Verde when a messenger came with disturbing news. Fifty Native Americans “made a descent on [his] herd at mid-day, and before the herders could alarm the men at the ranch, they succeeded in driving off all the animals but one or two, which they killed,” the Arizona Miner described. Except for three yoke of oxen that were actively plowing the land, 30 head of livestock were lost.

This was not the first large loss Woolsey experienced, and he vowed to wreak revenge. “He will organize a company to hunt and punish the thieves, and if it is as successful as the party he headed [previously], which slaughtered twenty or more of them, he will have a good revenge,” the paper continued. “He is one of our most daring and skilled Indian fighters, and believes fully…in the extermination policy. And in view of the importance of the expedition, the Governor has made Mr. Woolsey an aide upon his staff, with the rank of Lt. Colonel.” The chance of capturing the 50 Natives who actually made the raid was so slight, it was never even considered, so revenge it was.

The Odd Jobs of Prescott's First Reverend

Rev. HW Read was Agent for the Duke's and Co. stage.

For Reverend William H Read, ministering in the Central Arizona wilderness in 1864 was challenging. There weren’t many anglos to begin with and even fewer were interested in religion. As a result, Read needed to to take regular employment and the jobs he worked were civic in nature.

Read was Postmaster of Tucson before coming to Prescott in 1864. The Arizona Miner reported that he had “received orders from the Post Office Department, authorizing him to establish an office at the capital wherever it may be.” He arrived in Prescott with the Governor’s party and was the first clergyman to lay eyes on the fledgling camp. 

The Indian Uprising of 1872

The ruins of Camp Date Creek

From February through June 1872, Native Americans launched raiding attacks around and surprisingly close to Prescott. The newspapers were filled with accounts of Indian depredations during this time, and the citizenry was both frightened and filled with consternation.

Orders came from Washington to change the practice of largely shooting Indians on sight to one of feeding and educating them instead. Initially, however,  the Indians, many of whom were starving, became emboldened and started to attack.

1863: The Indian Raid on Peeples Valley

Abraham Harlow Peeples was one of the true early settlers of Central Arizona. He first arrived at Ft. Yuma in 1863 to prospect in the virgin wilderness of what would become Yavapai County. 

Peeples not only made mining claims, but he also quickly made a homesteading claim in a valley, 35 miles southwest of Prescott, which now bears his name. However, that winter, the Peeples’ ranch would suffer the crippling theft of 29 horses and mules.

The First Prescottonians Killed in the Indian Conflicts

As Prescott began to develop into a small, isolated bastion of Anglo civilization, conflicts with Native Americans were immediate and regular.

Although trappers and miners were killed in the area prior, here are the accounts of the first Fort Whipple soldier and the first citizen of Prescott to be killed in the Indian Conflicts.

The Battle of the "Pinole Treaty"

PINOLE: A food made of maize, cacao beans, and spices that originated with the Aztecs.

It was January 4th, 1864. A.H. Peeples had just given his friend, William Kirkland, a watchdog with a new litter of puppies.

It was a decision that Peeples would regret the following night.