

Ex. Doc. No. 41. 1 551 



I 



r^connoissancpj with about sixty menj marching halfway to an In- 

 dian village, ten miles off, where the enemy were stationed. (I in- 

 tended attacking him under favorable circumstaijces, but the path 

 j led me through a dense mezquite forest, very favorable to an am- 

 Dush, I learned, however, that this demonstration caused him to 

 continue his retreat.) 



The 'garrison attempted to force all the inhabitants to leave the 

 ^ town with them. Some of them returned whilst I lay there, and I 

 f took pains that all should be treated with kindness. The day I ar- 

 rived there, a detachment of twenty-five men, who had been posted 

 at the Pimos, to observe or harrass my march, haying been sent for 

 by express, passed unobserved round a mountain, near town, and 

 joined the main body. (I alterward learned that they had made a 

 threatening demand for the mules and goods left for me with the 

 Indian chief. He refused, and expressed his determination to re- 

 sist, by force, any attempt to take them.) On leaving T., I 

 sent to its late commander, Captain Commaduran, by a citizen mes- 

 senger, a letter for the governor of Sonora, (and I afterward re- 

 ceived an answer that it w^ould be transmitted.) It is appended. All 

 i'lngs considered, I thought it a proper course to take toward a 

 reputed popular governor of a State, believed to be disgusted and 

 disaffected to the imbecile central gov-ernment. - It was intimated 

 to me, whilst in Tueson, that if I would march toward the capi- 

 tal of the department, I would be joined by sufficient numbers to 



1 



effect a revolution. 



On the ITth, I marched late, as I did not expect to find water. 

 — ' 8 o'cloQk, p. m., I encamped 24 miles from Tueson, with no 

 water or grass. Ten or fifteen miles further there is a little water, 

 ^n a mountain, close to the road, but it could not be foundj and I 

 Inarched, the second day, thirty miles^ and, at 9, p.'-m.y again en- 

 ^^mped, without w^ater ; but the men, about sundown, had a 

 drink from a small puddle, too shallow for the water to be dipped 

 With a cup. On the thud day, I marched, early, eight or nine miles, 

 ^nd encamped at rain water pools. The next day, I found it ten 

 injles to the Gila, at a small grass bottom, above the Pimo villages. 

 The mules were forty-eight hours without water; the men marched 

 twenty-six of thirty-six consecutive hours, and sixty-two miles in 

 rather more than two days, (in one of which no meat ration was 

 issued.) 



Thus the 90 miles of the guides turned out to be 128 to the vil- 

 ^^g€; 57 miles nearer than the reputed distance by the San Pedro- 

 -Excepting four or five miles, the road was excellent; but over a 

 ^J'ye desert. There is, however, a better watered road from Tueson, 

 ^hich strikes the Gila higher up. • *I believe this route cap 

 te Well taken for six months in the year; and, that like atich of 

 ^lie road on this side, it is impassable in summer, unless for tra- 

 yellers. It is a great gold district; rich mines have been discovered 

 ^n many of the mountains in view; but it is so barren and destitute 

 of water that even a mining population can scarcely occupy it. > 



I halted one day near the villages of this friendly, guileless and 



singularly innocent and cheerful people, the Pimos. There Fran- 



