Arizona's First Army Volunteers (1866)

Camp Lincoln C. 1868

 In 1866, Gov. Goodwin organized two companies of “native volunteers”, the first volunteers of Arizona, to be stationed at Camp Lincoln. Historian Donald W Lockhart wrote about them in 1936: They were “unique and almost comical in appearance. They were composed of Mexicans, renegade Tonto and Mohave Indians, Frenchmen, [and others], all poorly clad and practically all barefooted. Many [of the] Indians were in native dress, but all seemed disciplined and obedient to their superior officers. When these volunteers were on duty, the brutal Apaches knew they had met their match.”

1868: Four Daring and Successful Indigenous Raids in Four Days

The Weekly Arizona Miner was shocked. “The Indians…commenced the most daring, vigorous, persistent, and may we add, successful raids against the whites of this section that we have ever known or heard of them to make.” The newspaper was referring to a series of four raids in as many days. “And in every instance,” the paper continued, “ [they] have come out winners in the game of life and death.” 

It started in late October 1868. “Our people have been in a high state of excitement ever since our wily foes started upon this, their most brilliant campaign,” the paper declared.

Arizona's 1st Telegraph Pole Was Erected at Ft. Whipple

Officer's Quarters Ft. Whipple (1871)

As 1873 dawned, the Weekly Arizona Miner lamented that Arizona was “about the only great geographical division of the Union that is not now connected with the Capital of said Union…by telegraph.” Indeed, Lt.-Gen. George R. Crook, the man in charge of fighting in the Indian Conflicts, requested that the War Department build a telegraph line from California into the Arizona Territory in 1871. However, by 1873, Crook had already made peace with the Apaches, and the “Indian Wars,” as they were called, were winding down. Yet the wiring of Arizona to the rest of civilization would still be of great benefit in case of conflict from Mexico, and Arizona “would no longer be isolated,” the Miner observed.

1878: Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman is Amazed With Prescott

It was Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s first trip to Arizona. He was on the way to inspect the area Army camps. He would visit Camp Verde before Prescott, and then would head “to Yuma and thence to the Pacific,” the Weekly Arizona Miner wrote. It was a trip that he had “been contemplating for a long time past.”

Sherman would traverse a wide portion of Arizona, but his welcome in Prescott would be the one he would remember the best.

Nuclear Testing Affected Prescott UPDATED

For those back east, it meant troubling news stories, but for residents of the southwest, the Cold War was much more tangible. It was a time when Prescott residents would occasionally be awakened to the ground shaking and an orange glow in the western sky from nuclear testing at Nevada’s Yucca Flat Proving Ground.

My Life as an Indian Scout (Albert Sieber)

Pleasure to meet you. 

My name is Albert Sieber, and I was considered one of the best Indian scouts in the Arizona Territory, if not the Southwest. I was born in Germany on February 19, 1844, and came to America as a young boy, the 13th of 14 children. 

Early in 1862, I enlisted in Company B, 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. I saw some terrible sights during the Peninsula Campaign in the Army of the Potomac as a Corporal and a sharpshooter. I thought I was a goner at Gettysburg when a piece of a shell hit me in the head. I sat lying on the battlefield until long after the fighting before they found me. 

Early Independence Day Celebrations

Surrounding the Civil War, not everybody was inclined to celebrate Independence Day. Many who lived in Yavapai County were sympathetic to Southern causes. “There was an apprehension that such diversity might exist here,” the Prescott paper observed, “and interfere with a genuine and hearty observance of the day.”

Remembering the Mingus Mountain Inn

Mingus Mountain Inn, 1949.

In the 1920s, cars were far less dependable and, as a result, service stations were more numerous and spaced closer together. Particularly, the tops and bottoms of mountains were excellent locales for a motorist to take the necessary precautions of checking his water and brakes before traversing the steep grade.

It was from this need that the Mingus Mountain Inn was born on Forest Service land in 1925. Yet the Inn was far more than just a gas station; it also provided light groceries, camping and hunting supplies, and a sit-down restaurant.

Buffalo Soldiers March Into Whipple

When the newspaper announced in March 1885 that “it has been definitely settled that the headquarters of the 10th Cavalry [of Buffalo Soldiers] will be on their arrival in this Territory at Whipple and that a company of the colored troops will also be stationed at that post,” the citizenry was apprehensive. They had read about “the inevitable [poor] reputation given the 10th Cavalry by certain journals in southern New Mexico and Arizona.”

However, the proud 10th Cavalry would quickly allay such fears, and the people of Prescott would become completely impressed by them. “Since their arrival in Prescott,” the paper later wrote, “the members of the 10th…are as well behaved and as soldierly looking a set of men that have ever been stationed at Whipple.”

The Indian Offensive of 1868

Although Indian attacks were a constant fear in the 1860s, they were not a constant occurrence. However, in the last third of 1868, the Native Americans definitely took the offensive.

Ice Cream in Early Prescott

Prescott's first ice cream ad.

It took 10 years after Prescott’s founding before ice cream appeared at a social function, and then it was an exotic luxury.

JFK Recuperated at Castle Hot Springs

After his PT-109 was rammed by a Japanese destroyer in World War II, John Fitzgerald Kennedy fought back problems. During his recuperation, he spent about a year in Arizona and at Castle Hot Springs. It wasn’t JFK’s first trip to Arizona, nor would it be his last.

The Rocky Road That Brought the Rough Rider Monument

As soon as news reached Prescott of William “Buckey” O’Neill’s death in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, one of his closest friends, MJ Hickey, was inspired to see that a memorial to the late sheriff and mayor be made in his hometown. This idea of a memorial would quickly grow into a monument, and its journey from conception to inception would grow monumental as well.

The Amazing Mascots of the Arizona Rough Riders

Arizona Roughrider mascot "Cuba"

The Arizona Regiment of the Roughriders had three different animal mascots. Two were canine, and one was feline. All were extremely popular among the entire army.

1952 Saw Six Air Accidents

In the early 1950s, the Prescott Airport was a bustling place. Two airlines, Frontier and Bonanza, offered commercial service while many planes, including military, used Prescott Airport as a refueling stop. Of course, with increased activity comes the chance of increased mishaps and accidents.

Such was the case in 1952 when no less than six airplane accidents occurred around Prescott.

1919: Murder Plot at the Pioneers' Home

For attorney AG Baker, it was a routine chore. He left his office with a will in hand to be signed by a paralytic Pioneers’ Home resident, William Debus. Debus asked Baker to come down to the car for the formal signature that would leave nurse Clarance Dyer Debus’ worldly possessions upon his death.

“Two copies of the will were made for him. The name William E Debus was written in the proper space and with his left-hand, (the man) executed a cross. The document was witnessed by Baker and…the legal work (was paid for) with two $5 bills.” 

It was at that moment that undersheriff Ed Bowers suddenly appeared and leveled a large six-shooter directly at the aged man’s chest.

“Throw up your hands!” He shouted…

The Mysterious, Phantom Fort Misery Near Oro

Many are familiar with the first building in Prescott, and the oldest surviving log cabin in Arizona, “Fort Misery.” 

Then there was a second Fort Misery near Oro—or maybe there wasn’t. The mystery and controversy about the military presence near the banks of Humbug Creek during the Indian conflicts has flared up in recent years.

The History of Palace Station

Palace Station, located 17 miles south of Prescott, is one of the most famous stage stops in Yavapai County. Having been built in 1875, its history is long, and its future is bright. 

“Palace Station is one of the few remaining stagecoach stations dating from the settlement of the Arizona Territory. The station played an important role in the social and economic development of the new territory and is now…on the National Register of Historic Places.”

The Story Behind Prescott's Street Cars UPDATED!

"Today, May 19, 1903," the newspaper proclaimed, "will mark the beginning of a new era in the industrial progress of the city of Prescott." That day saw "the beginning of work on the first electric street railway in northern Arizona, and Prescott now takes her place among the up-to-date cities of the west."

It was this level of excitement that announced the mundane arrival of the first railroad ties for the Prescott and Mt. Union Railway Company.

Prescott's Other History Museum: Ft. Whipple

Due to a mature tree rooting its way into a sewage pipe, the Fort Whipple Museum had been closed for six months. But now it's reopened, and it offers a unique and charming visit into the fort's past.

"If you want to learn the history of Fort Whipple from its military beginnings in 1864 to the modern-day Veterans hospital, it’s all here in riveting exhibits with crisp text, historic photographs, and compelling artifacts. Friendly, knowledgeable docents will give you a tour of the exhibits and answer any questions you might have."