Boldly They Rode; A History Of The First Colorado Regiment

This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com

To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books – picklepublishing@gmail.com

Or on Facebook

Text originally published in 1949 under the same title.

© Pickle Partners Publishing 2015, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

BOLDLY THEY RODE

A History of the First Colorado Regiment of Volunteers

BY

OVANDO J. HOLLISTER

With an Introduction by

WILLIAM MACLEOD RAINE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 5

Salute to a Frontier Reporter 6

1 — Introductory.—Sam H. Cook and associates strike a Lode.—Organization of P Company.—Life in Quarters.—Condition of the Territory.—Organization and Recruiting of the Regiment.—Life at Camp Weld. 9

2 — Detachment sent to Fort Laramie on Escort.—Description of Trip and Country.—Hunting Antelope.—Arrival at Fort Laramie. 14

3 — Life at Laramie.—Description of the Post.—Garrison.—Camp Incidents.—Court Martial.—Sports.—Indian Encampment.—Ceremonies, etc. 17

4 — Arrival of Transportation—Return to Denver—Chug Water—Cougar Hunt—Cheyenne Pass—Marshall and Teamster have a Row—Capt. Sexton—St. Vrain’s—Sexton’s Party Arrested—Arrival at Denver, etc., etc. 21

5 — Affairs in Town.—Departure for Wise.—Discipline.—Description of Country—Colorado City and Vicinity.—Haines’ Ranche.—Arrival in Denver.—Condition of things, etc. 25

6 — First Regiment a Humbug.—Desertion.—Denver Police.—Holidays.—Foraging.—Removal to Camp Weld.—Companies H and B go to Fort Wise.—Dutro in the Calaboose.—Before the Police Court.—News from Mexico.—Detachment of Company off to Fort Wise. 28

7 — Fort Wise.—Description of.—Robbery of Sutler.—Lieut. Warner.—Cook goes to Denver.—Finds the boys furnishing their own grub and clothing.—Affair with Jews.—Decease of Lieut. Buell.—Death of Henderson.—Arrival of Detachment at Wise. 31

8 — Departure for Union.—Exciting Rumors.—News from Denver.—Meet the Balance of the Regiment at the Purgatoire.—Col. Slough.—Crossing the Range.—View from the Summit.—Red River.—Forced March.—Cimarron.—Maxwell’s Ranche.—The Reyado.—Approach to Union.—Description of Post Garrison.—Camp, &c. 36

9 — Shooting of Lieut. Gray by Sergeant Philbrook.—Issue of Clothing and Arms.—March on Santa Fe.—Robbing the Sutler.—Description of Los Vegas.—Teculote.—Ojo de Vernal.—Movement of Advance to Coslosky’s.—Pecos Ruins. 42

10 —Battle of Apache Canon, March 26, 1862. Battle of Pigeon’s Ranche, March 28, 1862. Burning of Texan Train. Backward Movement List of Killed and Wounded. 47

11 — Night Scouting.—Arrival at Union.—Departure for Santa Fe again.—Desertion.—San Miguel.—Return of Prisoners.—Conversation.—March to Galisteo.—To Pino’s and back.—Resignation of Col. Slough. 59

12 — Junction with Canby.—Chivington appointed Colonel.—Night March.—Reflections.—Battle of Peralta. 66

13 — Pursuit. Peralta. River Bottom. Simoom. in Camp. Disappearance of the Texans. Agriculture. Gen. Canby. Col. Paul. Cross the River, Socorro. Texan Hospital. 72

14 —EPISODE. — Description of Fort Craig and vicinity.—Approach of Sibley’s Force.—Maneuvering.—Canby outwitted.—Annihilation of Sibley’s Lancers.—Texans Capture McRae’s Battery.—Canby retires into the Post. 78

15 — NARRATIVE RESUMED — Pursuit abandoned.—Camp at Val Verde.—Renewed alarm from Texans.—Crossing the River.—Drowning.—Mountain Resort.—Navajos.—Comanche.—Scout of Company L.—Arrival of Col. Howe and departure of Chivington.—Expedition to Mesilla.—Started.—Ordered back.—Regiment ordered to Fort Union. 85

16 — Arrival of Major Fillmore at Craig.—Trip to Santa Fe.—Notices of Towns.—Pueblo Indians.—Albuquerque.—Fandango.—Mexican Muheres.—Rio Grande.—Santa Fe.—Divine Service.—Horse Racing, Arrival at Union.—McDonald and Lord’s whiskers. 93

17 — Indian Hunt.—Lieut. Russell.—Red River.—Discussion.—Waiting for Indians to bite.—Shower on the Virmejo.—Return.—Lieut. Nelson resigns and leaves. 100

18 — Abo Pass.—Ruins.—Navajos.—Regiment transformed into Cavalry.—Arrival of General Carlton at Santa Fe.—Summing up.—Condition of New Mexico.—Volunteers versus Regulars.—Pike’s Peakers on Subsistence.—Concentration of the Regiment at Colorado City to be mounted.—Arrival at Denver.—Reception by the Citizens.—Conclusion. 104

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 121

ROSTER OF THE FIRST CAVALRY OF COLORADO — As Mustered for Pay, February 28, 1863 122

FIELD AND STAFF. 122

COMPANY A. 122

COMPANY B. 124

COMPANY C. 126

COMPANY D. 127

COMPANY E. 129

COMPANY F. 131

COMPANY G. 132

COMPANY H. 134

COMPANY I. 136

COMPANY K. 137

COMPANY L. 139

COMPANY M. 141

APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS OF OFFICERS OF THE FIRST REGIMENT COLORADO VOLUNTEERS 144

FIELD AND STAFF OFFICERS. 144

COMPANY OFFICERS. 144

A. 144

B 145

C 145

D. 145

E. 145

F. 146

G. 146

H. 146

I. 146

K. 146

L. 146

M. 147

Officers of the First who have Deceased or Resigned 148

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Publishers wish to thank Dr. Herbert O. Brayer, State Archivist of the Colorado Museum of History, and the State Historical Society of Colorado for making this contemporary publication of Hollister’s History of the First Regiment of Colorado Volunteers possible.

Dr. Brayer and his colleagues supplied the Golden Press with photostatic copies of every page from their single original edition dated 1863, which this book duplicates with only such enhancements as were deemed valuable to the reader.

The body type of this book is set in Excelsior, 10 point, to the same line measure of the prototype, a near approximation to the original face.

Typography was chosen by Mr. William J. Barker who created the format, layouts and designs throughout the volume.

Again, Mr. Barker, as Editor, only made such minor corrections in punctuation and spelling as seemed advisable to ensure greater readability. Ovando J. Hollister’s spellings of foreign words remain unchanged.

This is a complete and unabridged version of the original as written by Hollister.

Salute to a Frontier Reporter

The few remaining original copies of this book, printed but once before as a limited edition in 1863, the year following the hard and reckless events herein described, are highly-prized collector’s items. An offer of one thousand dollars for a copy recently went the rounds of the dealers in Western Americana, and there were no owners who would sell. So valuable is the single volume held by the Denver Public Library, for example, that it is kept wrapped in cellophane and under lock and key. Only serious scholars (and rabidly enthusiastic Western authors) are customarily allowed to examine it.

But that is not why this 20th century re-publication of Ovando James Hollister’s vigorous eye-witness account of rip-roaring Denver City, the savage tribal customs of the plains Indians, the almost forgotten but no less murderous fight between the Colorados and the Texans in Apache Canyon, is valuable.

The re-issuance of this book is, in my opinion, the most important publication of the year amongst those which tell of the turbulent Rocky Mountain country and its salty first citizens.

Hollister, hardened, realistic soldier-author, seemed to know, as he made daily entries in his diary, that his on-the-spot reportage of the rawhide passions and broadrange loyalties, the hearty campfire humor and the grim punishment of forced winter marches, the ignoble details of life as he saw it in a fighting man’s era, must be set down for all of us who were to come after his rugged breed.

Hollister was a private in the First Regiment of Colorado Volunteers which fought the New Mexican campaign against the invading Texan troops in March, 1862. This book might have been a dry recital of facts. Fortunately Hollister was not only an educated man but natural writer who brought to his task imagination, a deep human interest, and a careful reporter’s news sense. Here is no grandfather’s tale but a narrative so live that it might have taken place yesterday. Here is history that echoes with thrilling adventure.

The true importance of the campaign between the Coloradans and the Texans goes far beyond a local effect. It was one of the decisive struggles of the Civil War. If Sibley’s seasoned Texas Brigade had won, they surely would have dominated the West and its resources. They would have seized the defenseless gold mines which were the potential treasure cache of the armies of the North. The war might have been prolonged indefinitely.

Hollister’s book adds a penetrating chapter to the early history of Denver. Few of us know how tense the feeling was between the quick-tempered partisans on both sides. More than forty Confederate sympathizers were held prisoners at Denver for months to prevent them from joining the armies of the South. One citizen was tried as a spy, convicted, and sentenced to death. He was killed while trying to escape.

The members of the First Colorado Volunteers were wild, gay, rollickling, tempestuous sons of the frontier, hard drinkers and hard fighters, with little respect for formal law but with an innate sense of fundamental justice. They were individualists and at first completely undisciplined. Since they were ill-clothed and ill-fed for lack of funds, they looted Denver hen roosts and smoke houses, broke into saloons to get whiskey and champagne, and in the protesting presence of storekeepers helped themselves to clothes.

A hundred anecdotes humorous and tragic enliven this book. It shows vividly the life of a frontier combat man and his reactions to it. Quarrels were frequent. Lieutenant McDonald resented the overbearing attitude of a superior officer and soundly thrashed him to the huge delight of the privates. On the Purgatoire one of the soldiers killed a man with no provocation. He escaped, but the company to which he belonged raised $400 to aid his victim’s family.

At a fandango in New Mexico a shooting started that resulted in the death of more than twenty. Along the trail south, women of the villages were openly pursued.

Discipline was enforced more sharply as the campaign progressed: a drunken sergeant who wounded a commissioned officer was executed. But, to the end, less serious offences were winked at. Several times a group of privates burglarized the sutler’s quarters and carried away canned fruit, oysters, and wine.

When they got down to the serious business of battle, the courage of the men was amazing. They believed in their cause and had a spirit that was unbeatable. A quotation from a story written by a captured Texan and published in the Rocky Mountain News of the day shows what the enemy thought of the Colorados.

They had no sooner got within shooting distance of us, than up came a company of cavalry at full charge, with swords and revolvers drawn, looking like so many flying devils. On they came to what I supposed certain destruction, but nothing like lead or iron seemed to stop them, for we were pouring it into them from every side like hail in a storm....It looked as if their horses’ feet never touched the ground, until they were among us. There was a deep arroyo between the forces. We felt safe, the Confederate continued, but they turned their horses, jumped the ditch, and like demons came charging on us.

It is worth noting that the loss of dead and wounded at Glorieta Pass was proportionately greater than at Gettysburg.

Loyal to his comrades, Hollister writes that he would match the thousand men in the First Colorado Regiment against any like number in the country as good and worthy citizens.

Since this was set down in the heat of the Civil War there is considerable prejudice in its treatment as might be expected. The author was less than fair to the Mexicans and Indians and he made the mistake of assuming that our rugged country was too barren ever to have much value.

For all Hollister’s biased viewpoint, and in spite of the eighty years which separate us from his gun-ready day, this strong, extremely readable document will excite your imagination like the quick smell of powdersmoke and the sharp ring of saber on saber.

WILLIAM MACLEOD RAINE

Denver, Colo.

July 20, 1949

BOLDLY THEY RODE

1 — Introductory.—Sam H. Cook and associates strike a Lode.—Organization of P Company.—Life in Quarters.—Condition of the Territory.—Organization and Recruiting of the Regiment.—Life at Camp Weld.

I propose to write a History of the First Regiment of Colorado Volunteers; its organization and discipline at Camp Weld; campaign in New Mexico, with notices of the most striking features of that Territory, and the condition and strength of the Regiment at present.

I make no pretensions to literary merit or taste. The work was originally written for my own amusement, with no thought of publication, The fact that the members of the Regiment wanted it, and were willing to pay for it, induced me to have it published. It is common, in such cases, to beg indulgence for the constant use of the personal pronoun, but as I am a broken down soldier, consequently as low as I can get on the social ladder, I submit my work to the gentle public to judge of as they please. To the Regiment I would say that the seemingly invidious prominence given to F Company, is owing to the fact that I was isolated in a great measure from the others. It could not be changed in this respect without more time and labor than my means would warrant. As a record of our marches and fights, should we unfortunately never have any more, it will, I trust, be of some value. It will at least be a tie to bind us together in the days that are to come.

In the latter part of July, 1861, three men were sitting at dinner, round a rough table in a rougher country—the mining district of South Clear Creek. To those familiar with the style of living in the mountain placers, it will perhaps be unnecessary to say that their meal was neither extra in quality nor profuse in quantity. Judging from the appearance of the country and people, mining at that time was not exceedingly inviting or profitable. If they could make grub out of their claims they were satisfied; flattering themselves with the various wild things they would do when they struck the pay-streak. Through a strong hope in the future and a stronger faith in luck, the industrious and sanguine persevered in their hard, thankless task, while the bummer and loafer avoided all labor that was not necessitated by the state of their larder. That of our friends’ was nearly empty, and as this spasmodic gold-digging was intensely disagreeable, they were discussing their bread and beef and the chances of raising the wind in some easier way, at the same time.

Casting their eyes about for a new lode, the state of the country, plunged in a gigantic civil war, attracted their attention, and the idea of taking advantage of the patriotic uprising of the nation’s heart and of the hard times in the mines, to raise a company of volunteers for the war, thus securing commissions for themselves, struck them as being a lode, which, once open, might be worked with ease and profit. Accordingly, Sam H. Cook, who was perhaps the most self-reliant and decisive of the three friends, instantly struck off a few advertisements for Volunteers to form a mounted company, proceed to the States and enter the service under Jim. Lane, with whom Cook had been somewhat associated in the Kansas war of ‘56. These bills, which promised service to the admirers of Lane, under the very eyes of their loved chief—an immediate return to America—a sentiment sufficiently powerful of itself to enlist a company—and which chose the mounted arm of the service as the field of the projected company’s future action, were posted in conspicuous places through the mines, and owing to the skill with which they were drawn, eighty or more men had engaged in the enterprise by the middle of August.

Cook was to be Captain—the others Lieutenants. One named Nelson, having been in the service before, consequently somewhat posted on military affairs, was to be First—the other, named Wilson, ambitious and energetic, yet lacking the self-reliance with which Cook was so bountifully provided, was to be Second. With this programme they were well pleased, as it was calculated to advance their personal interests.

Soon, advertisements under the auspices of one W. F. Marshall appeared in the Denver papers, inviting proposals for the transportation of the company to Leavenworth. The expenses of the trip across the plans were to be defrayed by a contribution of five dollars from each enlisted man.

About the 20th of August they all repaired to Denver, expecting to start for the States as soon as the requisite transportation could be procured. But Gov. Gilpin, unwilling to have these men leave the Territory, where he was then recruiting a Regiment of Volunteers, tried to induce them to remain and form one company of the First Colorados. Having pledged his honor that they should be well mounted, armed and equipped, and have active service till they couldn’t rest, they concluded to stay.

They were furnished quarters on Ferry Street, West Denver, and immediately proceeded to elect officers—commissioned and non-commissioned. It seems the W. F. Marshall mentioned above was an old acquaintance of Cook’s, and had held a commission as Second Lieutenant in the Kansas Militia, under Lane, For this reason, and his services in enlisting men, he was the Captain’s choice for Second Lieutenant, if not for First; but the Company disliking his haughty style and reserved manner, would not have him First nor even Second, until Wilson, at Marshall’s earnest entreaty waived his claims and withdrew his name from the canvass.

Wilson became Orderly Sergeant, the hardest and most thankless position in the business. The other non-coms. were indicated by those who had secured the most important positions, rather than elected by the men.

As the Ferry Street quarters became too small for the increasing number of the company they were moved down to the old Buffalo House, where they remained two or three months. A corral just below and across the road contained the company horses, and was used as a guard house. There was no trouble in getting out at the back side, however, and prisoners confined in the corral enjoyed the freedom of the town.

A guard was stationed before the doors of the Captain’s and Orderly’s rooms, to prevent privates from passing in. Here the non-coms, chiefly congregated, while the privates occupied the upper story. Judging from their appearance, they were well possessed of the idea of their own importance. The finest clothes in the market were none too good, and these, with the skill of the barber and tailor, made a very tangible contrast between these fifteen day soldiers, and recruits who were constantly coming in. Collissions between them and the town secesh occurred occasionally, but they