Daley's Ferry Post

Last updated

Daley's Ferry Post was located at Daley's Ferry crossing of the Mad River nearly three miles from the town of Arcata in Humboldt County. On June 6, 1862 the ferry had been attacked by Native Americans:

Headquarters Humboldt Military District,

Fort Humboldt, June 8, 1862.

Major: I have the honor to report that on the 6th instant, at 4 p. m., the house or hotel at Daley's Ferry, on Mad River, about five miles from Arcata, and on the most constantly traveled trail, was attacked by a band of Indians, some fifty or sixty in number, all well armed with rifles and shotguns. There were but two soldiers stationed there, as the owner deemed it hardly necessary to have any guard so near to town, and on a public highway. The Indians opened the attack by a volley from the brush. Private Bacon was wounded in the groin at the first fire, but he and his comrade, Private Wyatt, rushed to the house and commenced firing from the windows. Daley also ran to the house, but leaving his family behind, he seized his rifle and fled to his boat in the river. Our soldiers, thus left alone, directed the women and children to endeavor to reach the boat, and they would remain and keep the Indians at bay. The family were successful in making good their escape to the boat, when our men, keeping up their fire, retired slowly, both being now wounded and faint from the loss of blood. Wyatt only was able to reach the boat. Bacon concealed himself behind a log in the brush, and from that position saw and counted twenty-seven Indians who entered the house, pillaged and set it on fire. The party in the boat were immediately fired upon by about twenty Indians on the opposite bank. An old lady (mrs. Dausken), mother of Mrs. Daley, was struck by three balls and killed. Mrs. Daley was wounded in the arm, and Private Wyatt was again wounded, and in the arm under the shoulder, the ball grazing his breast, he being in the act of firing. His first wound was in the groin, and similar to that of Bacon. They were then forced to put back to the shore, escaping into the brush. Mrs. Daley struggling along with two children at last fell from exhaustion, upon which her husband cowardly abandoned her, throwing his infant that was in his arms into the bushes and making for Arcata. Some Indians came up to Mrs. Daley, robbed her of her rings and purse, and said they would not "kill white squaw. " The brave woman made another effort and walked some distance; then taking off off some of her clothing wrapped it around the two eldest (two and three years old), hid them in the bushes and kept on, carrying her infant in her arms, one of which was torn open from the elbow to the wrist by a rifle bullet. She was rescued at last by people from Arcata who came out for the purpose, and who by her directions found the children calmly sleeping at about 2 a. m. Our wounded men were also found, and are now in the hospital at this post, their wounds, though severe, not proving dangerous. I hired man is missing and supposed to be killed, and the Indians carried off a nephew of Mrs. Daley, about five years old. I beg leave most respectfully to bring to the notice of the general commanding Private Joseph N. Bacon, Company I, and Private Henry H. Wyatt, Company H, Second Infantry California Volunteers, for admirable coolness and bravery under the most trying circumstances. I omitted to mention that the soldiers finding themselves disabled put their arms out of the reach of the Indians, one hiding his musket in the brush the other throwing his piece into the stream.

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

Jas. N. Olney,

Lieutenant Colonel Second Infty. Colonel Vols., Commanding Humboldt Mil. Dist.

Major R. C. Drum, U. S. Army,

Assistant Adjutant-General, San Francisco.: [1]

The following order to Captain E. B. Gibbs, Company E, 2nd California Infantry Regiment at Camp Curtis established a California Volunteer post at the ferry, likely in response to the above attack:

Special Orders, No. 4.

Hdqrs. Humboldt Military District, Fort Rumboldt, January 6, 1863.

I. Captain Gibbs, commanding at Camp Curtis, will put a detachment of twenty men under Lieutenant Gonnisson at Daley's Ferry, as soon as he is notified that Mr. Daley is ready to proceed thither.

II. Lieutenant Gonnisson will guard the ferry and ferry-house from attack, and will use every exertion to capture or destroy every band of hostile Indians that may come into his neighborhood, leaving always a sufficient force at the ferry for its defense.

III. In case of need Captain Gibbs will re-enforce Lieutenant Gonnisson to any extent that may be requisite. lie will forward Lieutenant Gonnisson's reports of scouts or military operations to these headquarters.

By order of Colonel Lippitt:

W. F. Swasey,

First Lieutenant and Regimental Quartermaster Second Infantry California Volunteers, Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen. [2]

Later in March 1863, the post was ordered reduced in strength:

Special Orders, No. 23.

Hdqrs. Humboldt Military District, Fort Humboldt, March 18, 1863.

Capt. E. B. Gibbs, Second Infantry California Volunteers, will withdraw the detachment at Daley's Ferry, except nine men, who will he kept posted there under a reliable non-commissioned officer. By order of Colonel Lippitt:

CHAS. H. BARTH, First Lieut, and Adjt. 2nd Infty. Cal. Vols., Actg. Asst. Adjt. Gen. [2]

Company E left Camp Curtis in May 1863, apparently not being replaced by Company C, 1st Battalion California Volunteer Mountaineers until they were mustered in at Camp Curtis on August 29, 1863. The post is not referred to in department correspondence after March 1863 and so presumably was abandoned by May of that year.

Related Research Articles

Lassic was a Wailaki leader during the Bald Hills War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp Lincoln (California)</span> Historic site in Crescent City, California

Camp Lincoln, in Crescent City, California, was a United States military post. It was established June 13, 1862, by the men of Company G, 2nd Regiment, Infantry, California Volunteers to keep peace between the Tolowa tribe of Native Americans and the miners and settlers of northwestern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiyot</span> Indigenous people of California

The Wiyot are an indigenous people of California living near Humboldt Bay, California and a small surrounding area. They are culturally similar to the Yurok people. They called themselves simply Ku'wil, meaning "the People". Today, there are approximately 450 Wiyot people. They are enrolled in several federally recognized tribes, such as the Wiyot Tribe, Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, Blue Lake Rancheria, and the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Humboldt State Historic Park</span> State historic park in Eureka, California

Fort Humboldt State Historic Park is a California state park, located in Eureka, California, United States. Its displays interpret the former U.S. Army fort, which was staffed from 1853–1870, the interactions between European Americans and Native Americans in roughly the same period, logging equipment and local narrow gauge railroad history of the region. Within the collection, there are trains, logging equipment, including a fully functional Steam Donkey engine, and an authentic Native American dug-out canoe. The Fort overlooks Humboldt Bay from atop a bluff. The North Coast regional headquarters of the California State Parks system is located onsite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum</span> Maritime museum in California, United States

The Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum is located in Samoa, California, a small town across Humboldt Bay from Eureka. The focus of the museum is the preservation and interpretation of its collection of artifacts, photographs, library archives and materials which relate principally to the maritime history of California's North Coast. The museum is located in what was the head cook's house next to the Samoa Cookhouse and was founded in 1977.

The Wiyot massacre refers to the incidents on February 26, 1860, at Tuluwat, near Eureka in Humboldt County, California. In coordinated attacks beginning at about 6 am, White settlers murdered 80 to 250 Wiyot people with axes, knives, and guns. The February 26 attacks were followed by similar bloody attacks on other Wiyot villages later that week in what were part of the broader California Genocide.

Albeeville is a former settlement in Klamath County, now located in Humboldt County, California. Albeeville was located on Redwood Creek, within an easy day's travel from Fort Gaston. The post office was named for Joseph Porter Albee, its first postmaster, who was murdered by Indians, and the Albeeville post office burned in November 1863.

Fort Gaston was founded on December 4, 1859, in the redwood forests of the Hoopa Valley, in Northern California, on the west bank of the Trinity River, 14 miles (23 km) from where the Trinity flows into the Klamath River. It was located in what is now the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. Fort Gaston as part of the Humboldt Military District was intended to control the Hupa Indians and to protect them from hostile white settlers. The post was named for 2nd Lieutenant William Gaston, of the First Dragoons, who had been killed May 17, 1858, during the Spokane–Coeur d'Alene–Paloos War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2nd California Infantry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States. Organized at San Francisco and Carson City September 2, 1861, to December 30, 1862, and attached to Department of the Pacific. The regiment was first assembled at the Presidio, San Francisco, and after completing its organization, five companies were sent to Oregon and Washington Territory, to relieve the regular troops, and two companies were sent to Santa Barbara. The troops of this regiment sent to Oregon were afterwards returned to California. It was mustered out during the month of October, 1864.

The 6th Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States attached to the Department of the Pacific. The Regiment was organized at Benicia Barracks, San Francisco on February 1, 1863. 6th Regiment mustered out from October 25 to December 20, 1865. The only recorded engagements of the Regiment occurred with the detachment sent to the Humboldt Military District in 1864, near the end of the Bald Hills War. It had engagements with the Indians in the Skirmish at Booth's Run, May 1 and Kneeland's Prairie May 2, near Boynton's Prairie May 6 and at Grouse Creek May 23.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1st California Mountaineers Battalion</span> Military unit

1st Battalion California Volunteer Mountaineers was an infantry battalion in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States, attached to the Department of the Pacific. It was organized from men from the counties of Humboldt, Mendocino, Trinity, Klamath, Siskiyou, and Del Norte, and other parts of California, between May 30, 1863, and March 16, 1864, for special service in the redwood forests and mountains that was being fought over in the Bald Hills War in Humboldt County within the Humboldt Military District. The Battalion mustered out June 14, 1865.

Elk Camp was an American settlement between Redwood Creek and the Klamath River, fifteen miles northwest of Fort Anderson in modern Humboldt County, California it was formerly located in Klamath County. Elk Camp was a post office from January 31, 1859, to December 19, 1862.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis J. Lippitt</span> United States Army general

Francis James Lippitt was an American lawyer and veteran of the Mexican–American War, the Bald Hills War and the American Civil War. For the later he was made a brevet brigadier general.

The Keyesville massacre was a mass killing which occurred on April 19, 1863, in Tulare County, California during the Owens Valley Indian War. A mixed force consisting of American settlers and a detachment of the United States Army's 2nd California Cavalry Regiment under Captain Moses A. McLaughlin killed 35 indigenous Californians from the Tübatulabal and Mono peoples "about ten miles from Keysville [sic], upon the right bank of Kern River".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bald Hills War</span> American war against the indinegous peoples of Northern California from 1858 to 1864

Bald Hills War (1858–1864) was a war fought by the forces of the California Militia, California Volunteers and soldiers of the U.S. Army against the Chilula, Lassik, Hupa, Mattole, Nongatl, Sinkyone, Tsnungwe, Wailaki, Whilkut and Wiyot Native American peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp Curtis</span>

Camp Curtis, California State Historic Landmark #215, was located about one mile north of Arcata, California, and served as the headquarters and garrison of the 1st Battalion California Volunteer Mountaineers from 1862 to 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owens Valley Indian War</span> 1862–1863 armed conflict between Native Americans and settlers

The Owens Valley War was fought between 1862 and 1863 by the United States Army and American settlers against the Mono people and their Shoshone and Kawaiisu allies in the Owens Valley of California and the southwestern Nevada border region. The removal of a large number of the Owens River indigenous Californians to Fort Tejon in 1863 was considered the end of the war. Minor hostilities continued intermittently until 1867.

The 56th United States Colored Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863. The regiment was originally organized as the 3rd Arkansas Volunteer Infantry (African Descent) on May 22, 1863.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">12th Texas Cavalry Regiment</span> Military unit

The 12th Texas Cavalry Regiment was a unit of mounted volunteers recruited in Texas that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was enrolled in state service in September 1861 and in Confederate service the following month. The regiment fought at Whitney's Lane, Cotton Plant, and L'Anguille Ferry in 1862, Goodrich's Landing in 1863, and Blair's Landing and Yellow Bayou in 1864. The unit also participated in numerous skirmishes and scouts. It disbanded in May 1865.

References

  1. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I. Vol. L, in Two Parts. Part One -- Reports, Correspondence, Etc. Washington D. C.: Government Printing Office. 1897. pp. 67–68.
  2. 1 2 The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I. Vol. L, in Two Parts. Part Two -- Reports, Correspondence, Etc. Washington D. C.: Government Printing Office. 1897. First order on page 277. Second order on page 357.

40°54′03″N124°01′49″W / 40.9009°N 124.0303°W / 40.9009; -124.0303