John R. Baylor
This was a Nephew to the man after whom Baylor University is named.
On this day in 1861, the controversial John R. Baylor declared
himself governor of the Confederate Territory of Arizona in what is
now Mesilla, New Mexico. Yes, Arizona was a part of the Confederacy.
Baylor, born in Kentucky in 1822, had come
to Texas at an early age. He was part of the group which sought revenge for Mexican General Adrian Woll’s illegal crossing of the border and seizure of San Antonio. Baylor was also know for taking action against the Dawson’s Creek Massacre and Indian depredations. He did not stand for injustice and wrong doing. He was a man of action.
During the War of Northern Aggression he organized volunteers in San Antonio which became the Second Texas Mounted Rifles. He commanded the Second Texas Mounted Rifles, who were ordered to occupy a chain of forts protecting the overland route between Fort Clark and Fort Bliss by the government of Texas. In July 1861 Baylor seized Mesilla without opposition and pursued the federal Seventh Infantry, which had evacuated Fort Fillmore, east into the Organ Mountains. Baylor secured their surrender in the battle of Mesilla at San Augustine Pass on July 27. In their hurry to leave the fort ahead of the advancing Texans, the soldiers had filled their canteens with liquor rather than water.
Though Baylor was subsequently promoted to colonel, Baylor was succeeded in Mesilla by Henry Hopkins Sibley and removed from command in the spring of 1862 after ordering the extermination of the local Apache Indians. The victory at Mesilla was nonetheless one of the war’s early and surprising Confederate successes, and Baylor’s dashing actions in the summer of 1861 added to his fame as a folk hero. He died in 1894.
We need more men who like Baylor took stands against injustice and depredations. Assaults on the sovereignty of Texas and its people were met with force. They were not tolerated.
We can learn much from John Robert Baylor
Liberty for Texas and the South!
J Murrah
Arizona history, Culture, John Robert Baylor
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