Report - Typescript and photoprint, 1853
Item — Folder: 1
Scope and Content
From the Collection:
This collection consists of one typewritten copy and a photoprint of part of Joseph King Fenno Mansfield's report of the Department of New Mexico from 1853 which includes descriptions, maps, and drawings of Forts Union, Marcy, Massachusetts, Defiance, Conrad, Fillmore, and of the Cantonment Burgwin and El Paso. His report also includes a photoprint and typed copy of Governor William C. Lane's letter to Colonel D. S. Miles, Commanding Officer of Fort Fillmore, regarding the disputed territory of Mesilla, as well as a copy of the statement, originally written by the Honorable Joel. I. Ankrin, Judge of District Court, regarding "Indian Depradations committed in the Valley of El Paso County, Texas" from 1851-1853 following the Army's withdrawal from this area.
His reports of the various forts, temporary military stations, and cantonments detail the location of each, the threats faced by each with regard to local Native American tribes, conditions of the forts, themselves, conditions of the roads and the approximate cost of making these passable in all seasons, as well as local crops, water sources, and histories of the establishment of each. The descriptions also include Mansfield's recommendations to keep or modify each fort. In some cases, he proposes changes to the forts and provides maps detailing these. The report also includes proposals for the locations of prospective new forts. It is clear that westward expansion to California is influential in Mansfield's declaration of various forts as useful or necessary, as certain forts are to be "preserved in the system for regulating the Indian tribes and protecting trades to California." Mansfield proposes that a continuous chain of posts be established to the Pacific. Among other concerns is the provision of protection and aid to travelers and settlers.
The local Native Americans deemed threatening are described by tribe and by number of warriors. These include the Apaches, Utes, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Navajos. The Pueblos are more often described along with Mexican and American settler communities, thus demonstrating their affiliation with these groups rather than with the tribes perceived as a danger to the United States government and population.
Mansfield's report includes Joel I. Ankrim's "Statement of Indian Depredations Committed in the Valley of El Paso County, State of Texas" from 1851-1853 which outlines numerous cases of stolen livestock as well as a few killings. This is followed by a hand-written copy of Governor William C. Lane's letter to Colonel Miles of Fort Fillmore which Lane calls "a proclamation in relation to the disputed (but not neutral) Territory." This letter alludes to the dispute over the territory whose national belonging was left ambiguous in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and later settled by the Gadsden Purchase. Lane warns that "The authorities of the State of Chihuahua have usurped authority in the acknowledged Territory of New Mexico, and trampled upon the rights of the citizens of the United States."
This collection is useful to scholars of military history in the Southwest as well as those interested in ethnic relations of the Southwest in New Mexico's early statehood.
His reports of the various forts, temporary military stations, and cantonments detail the location of each, the threats faced by each with regard to local Native American tribes, conditions of the forts, themselves, conditions of the roads and the approximate cost of making these passable in all seasons, as well as local crops, water sources, and histories of the establishment of each. The descriptions also include Mansfield's recommendations to keep or modify each fort. In some cases, he proposes changes to the forts and provides maps detailing these. The report also includes proposals for the locations of prospective new forts. It is clear that westward expansion to California is influential in Mansfield's declaration of various forts as useful or necessary, as certain forts are to be "preserved in the system for regulating the Indian tribes and protecting trades to California." Mansfield proposes that a continuous chain of posts be established to the Pacific. Among other concerns is the provision of protection and aid to travelers and settlers.
The local Native Americans deemed threatening are described by tribe and by number of warriors. These include the Apaches, Utes, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Navajos. The Pueblos are more often described along with Mexican and American settler communities, thus demonstrating their affiliation with these groups rather than with the tribes perceived as a danger to the United States government and population.
Mansfield's report includes Joel I. Ankrim's "Statement of Indian Depredations Committed in the Valley of El Paso County, State of Texas" from 1851-1853 which outlines numerous cases of stolen livestock as well as a few killings. This is followed by a hand-written copy of Governor William C. Lane's letter to Colonel Miles of Fort Fillmore which Lane calls "a proclamation in relation to the disputed (but not neutral) Territory." This letter alludes to the dispute over the territory whose national belonging was left ambiguous in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and later settled by the Gadsden Purchase. Lane warns that "The authorities of the State of Chihuahua have usurped authority in the acknowledged Territory of New Mexico, and trampled upon the rights of the citizens of the United States."
This collection is useful to scholars of military history in the Southwest as well as those interested in ethnic relations of the Southwest in New Mexico's early statehood.
Dates
- 1853
Language of Materials
From the Collection:
English
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Extent
From the Collection: 1 Folder
Existence and Location of Originals
According to citation by Ronald K. Wetherington in New Mexico Historical Review 81:4, Fall 2006, p. 365-390, original "Report of Inspection of the Department of New Mexico, 1853," is located in the Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780's-1917, Record Group 94, National Archives.
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu