%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en The Civil War in Colorado http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/civil-war-colorado <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The Civil War in Colorado</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3825--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3825.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/battle-glorieta-pass"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Battle_of_Glorieta_Pass_Action_at_Apache_Canyon_0.jpg?itok=6GBX4Ujn" width="1090" height="728" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/battle-glorieta-pass" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Battle of Glorieta Pass</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Referred to as the "Gettysburg of the West," the Battle of Glorieta Pass pitted Union troops from Colorado against Confederates from Texas. The battle took place south of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the spring of 1862. Although it was a stalemate on the field, the Colorado troops destroyed the Confederate supplies, ending the Confederacy's ambition to take the western territories.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> <div class="carousel-item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3826--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3826.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/civil-war-soldier-statue-denver"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/Denver_Civil_War_Monument_by_Jakob_Otto_Schweizer_%28cropped%29_0.jpg?itok=yO_VvKJz" width="1090" height="2080" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/civil-war-soldier-statue-denver" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Civil War Soldier Statue, Denver</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>From 1909 to 2020, a statue honoring the Coloradans who fought in the American Civil War stood outside the State Capitol building in Denver. It incorrectly listed the Sand Creek Massacre, in which Colorado troops slaughtered more than 200 women, children, and elderly Indigenous people, as a "battle" in the war. Civil Rights protesters took down the statue during demonstrations against police abuses and institutional racism in 2020.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> <button class="carousel-control-prev" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="prev"> <span class="carousel-control-prev-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Previous</span> </button> <button class="carousel-control-next" type="button" data-bs-target="#carouselEncyclopediaArticle" data-bs-slide="next"> <span class="carousel-control-next-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Next</span> </button> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2022-09-13T14:14:34-06:00" title="Tuesday, September 13, 2022 - 14:14" class="datetime">Tue, 09/13/2022 - 14:14</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/civil-war-colorado" data-a2a-title="The Civil War in Colorado"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fcivil-war-colorado&amp;title=The%20Civil%20War%20in%20Colorado"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>Colorado’s role in the American Civil War (1861–65) was part of a broader geopolitical contest: control of the American Southwest. The war began in 1861, just two years after the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>Colorado Gold Rush</strong></a> and mere months after Congress established the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-territory"><strong>Colorado Territory</strong></a>. Although the territory was largely pro-Union, the Confederacy and its <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/reynolds-gang"><strong>local sympathizers</strong></a> immediately realized Colorado's strategic and monetary value and wanted to take advantage of it.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Federal troops from Colorado turned back the Confederate invasion in New Mexico, ensuring that the Rocky Mountain <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/precious-metal-mining-colorado"><strong>gold mines</strong></a> remained under US control. This paved the way for further conquest and development in Colorado and the rest of the West. The Civil War had wide-reaching effects, especially on Indigenous people. The <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/homestead"><strong>Homestead Act</strong></a>, passed during the war in part to promote free labor over slave labor in western territories, was a direct assault on Indigenous people’s sovereignty that increased tensions between whites and Native nations. Before the war was even over, Union troops committed the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/sand-creek-massacre"><strong>Sand Creek Massacre</strong></a>, one of the worst atrocities on US soil and an event that would influence future conflicts between Americans and Indigenous people.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As it has elsewhere, the Civil War left a complicated legacy in Colorado, one that laid the foundation for the successes and struggles of the state to the present day. </p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Origins</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The tensions that eventually placed Colorado in the western theatre of the Civil War were tied to the same issue that caused the war: the expansion of slavery. In 1848 the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/treaty-guadalupe-hidalgo"><strong>Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo</strong></a> ended the Mexican-American War and added almost one million square miles to the United States. Southern politicians and elites wanted to expand slavery into this newly acquired land. The California Gold Rush followed in 1849, leading to the Compromise of 1850: Congress admitted California into the Union as a free state but reinforced the Fugitive Slave Act to satisfy southern complaints. In 1853 President Franklin Pierce appointed Jefferson Davis as Secretary of War. In that role, Davis, who would later become president of the Confederacy, wanted to create a southern transcontinental railroad that would cross New Mexico on its way to California.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, the Colorado Gold Rush of 1858–59 had put the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/rocky-mountains"><strong>Rocky Mountains</strong></a> on the map for many Americans. The resulting influx of white gold seekers and the myriad enterprises accompanying them created a need for law and order. After establishing a <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/treaty-fort-wise"><strong>treaty with the Cheyenne and Arapaho</strong></a>, the federal government organized Colorado Territory in February 1861, about a month and a half before the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter and ignited the Civil War in the east.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With the outbreak of war, gold in Colorado and California and the latter’s Pacific ports represented valuable prizes for the new Confederacy. To win those prizes, the Confederates would need control of the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/santa-f%C3%A9-trail-0"><strong>Santa Fé Trail</strong></a>, whose Mountain Branch followed the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/arkansas-river"><strong>Arkansas River</strong></a> through Colorado before turning south over <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/raton-pass-0"><strong>Raton Pass</strong></a> and into New Mexico<strong>. </strong>The trail was one of the major commercial routes in the West, and it was protected by Fort Union, the Army’s major supply depot north of Santa Fe. In addition, the scattered villages and towns of New Mexico territory were protected in the south by Fort Bliss near present-day El Paso, Texas, Fort Craig south of Albuquerque, and Fort Marcy at Santa Fe. The Confederate strategy was to invade north from Texas, take New Mexico and Colorado, and then turn west toward California.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Choosing Sides</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The outbreak of war east of the Mississippi River led the US government to relocate federal troops from the West for service in the East. Some officers resigned from the US Army to fight for the Confederacy. One was Major <strong>Henry Hopkins Sibley</strong>, who resigned on May 13, 1861. Colonel William Loring, Commander of the Military Department of New Mexico, quit on the same day, leaving Lt. Colonel <strong>Edward R. S. Canby</strong> of the Tenth Infantry to command federal troops in New Mexico.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1860 Colorado had 30,000 non-Indigenous residents, 70 percent of whom were from northern states and territories. The territory was largely pro-Union. But as Colonel Canby begged for reinforcements, Territorial Governor <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-gilpin"><strong>William Gilpin</strong></a> explained that a “malignant secession element” of 7,500 Confederate sympathizers had to be controlled. In <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver"><strong>Denver City</strong></a>, Charley Harrison’s Criterion Bar was the pro-Confederacy headquarters, while other sympathizers from across the territory secretly gathered at Mace’s Hole north of <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/pueblo"><strong>Pueblo</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Harrison was eventually arrested, fined, and exiled from the territory. Scattered skirmishes and other clashes between Union- and Confederate-aligned Coloradans continued throughout the war, although no major battles were fought in the territory.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Battle Lines</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In May 1861, Canby received orders to send four infantry companies from Colorado and New Mexico to Fort Leavenworth in eastern Kansas. He kept troops to garrison Albuquerque and Forts Craig, Marcy, Union, and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fort-garland-0"><strong>Fort Garland</strong></a> in southern Colorado. In September, he appointed <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/kit-carson"><strong>Kit Carson</strong></a> as Colonel of the First Regiment of New Mexico volunteers, newly recruited from the territory’s <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/terminology-latino-experience-colorado"><strong>Hispano</strong></a> population. Canby left some troops at Fort Union to build an earthwork; the rest he sent to Albuquerque. But Sibley, now a Confederate Brigadier General, led an army out of Texas and up the Rio Grande, intending to take Colorado. Canby needed more troops.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>He appealed to Gilpin for volunteer troops to replace and support his garrisons. Gilpin was newly appointed by President Abraham Lincoln. Before he left Washington for Colorado, Secretary of War Simon Cameron assured Gilpin that the federal government would cover the costs of raising troops to defend the territory. Upon arriving in Denver City in May 1861, Gilpin raised two companies of volunteers, which grew by August to become the First Regiment of <strong>Colorado Volunteers</strong>. He appointed Denver lawyer John Slough as Colonel.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With their own weapons and civilian clothes, the recruits assembled at Camp Weld along the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/south-platte-river"><strong>South Platte River</strong></a> upstream from Denver City. Gilpin covered their expenses by issuing $375,000 in promissory notes, payable by the federal government, earning First Colorado the nickname “Gilpin’s Pet Lambs.” Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase refused to honor Gilpin’s promissory notes, and Denver merchants went to Washington to demand payment. Gilpin followed to explain his actions. The Treasury Department honored the notes, but President Lincoln fired Gilpin on March 18, 1862, and replaced him with <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/john-evans"><strong>John Evans</strong></a>.     </p>&#13; &#13; <p>Fortunately for Canby, Gilpin had other troops to send. Independent of the First Colorado, two companies of volunteers assembled in August at <strong>Cañon City</strong>, led by Captains Theodore Dodd and James Ford. In September, Gilpin ordered them to Fort Garland in the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-luis-valley"><strong>San Luis Valley</strong></a>. They arrived in December 1861 and mustered into federal service, rounding out Colorado’s federal forces.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Battle of Valverde    </h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Sibley’s Confederate force entered New Mexico on February 7, 1862, with 2,515 men, most of them Texans, and fifteen artillery pieces. While in overall command, Sibley was derided by his soldiers as “a walking whiskey keg” who somehow managed to be sick in a wagon during every battle in New Mexico.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The wagon road from Fort Bliss to Santa Fe ran along the east side of the <strong>Rio Grande River</strong>. Fort Craig lay on the west side of the river. Canby had a garrison of 3,810 soldiers, a mix of regular US army troops, New Mexico militia volunteers, and Dodd’s company of Colorado troops. On February 21, 1862, Canby tried to block Sibley’s advance near the abandoned village of Valverde, resulting in a day-long battle that claimed more than 100 casualties on both sides.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Sibley’s men won the battle of Valverde, but Canby still had 3,000 men in a strong position, and the Confederates had to give up on the food and fodder in Fort Craig, provisions they had counted on for their advance.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, federal forces abandoned Albuquerque and Santa Fe, falling back up the Santa Fé Trail to Fort Union. The Texans occupied Santa Fe on March 10, 1862, and turned their sights on Fort Union. Acting Governor <strong>Lewis Weld</strong> of Colorado sent the First Colorado Volunteers to reinforce Fort Union’s garrison of 800 men. On March 11, the Volunteers arrived at Fort Union, which they found in a dangerous position. The fort was tilted toward the hills to the west, where Confederate artillery could shoot exploding shells straight into the star-shaped earthwork. Believing the only possible defense was offense, Colonel Slough outfitted and resupplied his men, marching them down toward Santa Fe on March 22, 1862.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Battle of Glorieta Pass         </h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Slough led a combined force of 1,342 men, including assorted regulars and volunteers from Colorado and New Mexico. Unaware of the Union reinforcements, Confederate Major Charles Pyron probed forward from Santa Fe with a smaller battalion of 400 men and two six-pounder cannons. Slough sent an advance force of 418 infantry and cavalry, led by Major <strong>John Chivington</strong>, to try to find the Texans. On the night of March 25, the federals captured four Texans at Kozlowski’s Ranch, east of Glorieta Pass. Advancing west the next morning into Apache Canyon, Chivington captured thirty-two more Texans, opening the Battle of Glorieta Pass.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Pyron set up his cannons on the road in Apache Canyon but soon had to pull back as the Union forces threatened to surround his position. Pyron’s new position was behind an arroyo, spanned by a bridge that the Confederates burned. In front of his guns, with the arroyo at their front, Pyron’s cavalry formed a defense.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the most dramatic moment in Colorado’s Civil War, Company F of the First Colorado mounted a cavalry charge, leaping its horses over the arroyo and rolling over the Confederate line. In hand-to-hand fighting, Pyron got his cannons away to the rear. Night fell, ending the fighting in Apache Canyon and the first day of the Battle of Glorieta Pass. The federals lost five killed and fourteen wounded. Of Pyron’s 420 men, four were killed, twenty wounded, and seventy-one taken prisoner, the costliest single day of battle in the New Mexico campaign.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Texans withdrew to Johnson’s Ranch at the west end of Apache Canyon, and Chivington’s command pulled back for water to Pigeon’s Ranch at the east end. Both sides agreed to a truce for the night and prepared to repel an assault by the enemy the next day. Neither side attacked.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Chivington did move farther east, to Kozlowski’s Ranch, for more water.  Slough arrived there at 11:00 pm with the rest of the regiment. Then, at 3:00 am on the 27<sup>th</sup>, Confederate Colonel Scurry reinforced Pyron, taking command of the now 1,000 men at Johnson’s Ranch. Unaware of Scurry’s arrival, Slough planned a two-pronged attack for the 28<sup>th</sup>. Chivington was to lead 490 men on a sixteen-mile march over the mesa that formed the southern flank of Apache Canyon. His guide would be New Mexican volunteers led by Lt. Colonel Manuel Chaves. As Slough fought the Confederates on the Santa Fé Trail, Chivington’s command would fall upon the Texans’ rear.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>On the early morning of the 28<sup>th</sup>, the Colorado troops advanced, with Chivington’s command splitting off to the south just before Pigeon’s Ranch. At the same time, the Texans left their supplies behind at Johnson’s Ranch as they struck at the federals. At 11:00 am, the two forces met west of Pigeon’s Ranch and began a six-hour artillery duel, with infantry pushing against each other’s lines. Without Chivington, Slough had 850 men to Scurry’s 1,000. Outnumbered, the federal forces had to fall back to avoid encirclement by the Texan infantry slowly. The Union position was eventually forced back five miles to Kozlowski’s Ranch. By about 5 pm, the Texans held the field at Pigeon’s Ranch, and the day was a tactical victory for the Confederates.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>However, in the meantime, Chivington’s command had arrived on the bluff above Johnson’s Ranch and found that the Texans had left the entire Confederate supply train undefended below them. At 4 pm, they swept down into the canyon, captured the guards, and destroyed eighty wagons, a cannon, all the Texans’ food and supplies, and 500 mules and horses. Freeing federal prisoners, the Colorado troops retraced their steps, arriving at Kozlowski’s Ranch at 10 pm on the 28th.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Slough was ordered to return to Fort Union, where he resigned, and Chivington took command. Casualty counts vary, but contemporary sources estimate that the federal troops lost forty-nine killed, sixty-four wounded, and twenty-one taken prisoner. On the Confederate side, Scurry reported thirty-six Texans killed, sixty wounded, and twenty-five captured.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Without food and ammunition, the Texans could go no farther. They retreated to Santa Fe, and then south to Albuquerque. They headed back to Texas, loosely pursued by federal forces. An afternoon sandstorm ended an inconclusive artillery duel at the village of Peralta on April 16. Canby saw no reason to engage the retreating Confederates, and the last defeated Confederates straggled into Texas on July 8.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Later Engagements</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, now-Colonel Chivington was put in charge of the Military District of Colorado. The Colorado Volunteers shifted from patrolling for Confederates to patrolling for Indigenous parties who sought to repel the invaders from their homelands. In November 1862, the First Colorado was converted into cavalry. Chivington kept them in Colorado, centered on <strong>Fort Lyon</strong> (formerly Fort Wise), but that post’s commander sent some of the garrison east to Kansas. The First spent the rest of the war guarding wagon trails in Colorado and Kansas; in July of 1863, Major <strong>Ned Wynkoop</strong> led four companies to patrol the Oregon Trail all the way to Fort Bridger in southeastern Wyoming.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Dodd’s and Ford’s Companies of the Second Colorado arrived at Fort Lyon from New Mexico in April 1863, joining six companies recruited by Colonel Jesse Leavenworth; Theodore Dodd became second in command. On April 11, 1863, Lt. George Shoup and a recruiting party of eleven men encountered a camp of three Confederate “guerrillas” near present-day <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-springs"><strong>Colorado Springs</strong></a>, killing one, wounding one, and capturing the last. The War Department soon authorized a Third Colorado Infantry regiment. The Third Infantry later merged with the Second Infantry and was sent to Missouri to fight irregular enemy forces there. After outfitting as cavalry near St. Louis in December of 1863, Second Colorado deployed across Missouri, combatting Confederate guerrillas known as “bushwhackers.” Over the next year, the volunteers fought in several pitched battles as they defended St. Louis and Kansas City from advancing Confederates.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In Colorado, assorted pro-Confederate guerrillas tried to operate, but territorial troops and vigilantes hunted them down as outlaws.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>From Saving the Union to Massacring the Innocent        </h2>&#13; &#13; <div>&#13; <p>In 1864 Governor Evans and Chivington wanted to remove the Cheyenne and Arapaho people from Colorado’s eastern plains. This objective arose from increased tensions after the 1851 <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/treaty-fort-laramie"><strong>Treaty of Fort Laramie</strong></a> was revised in 1861. The Homestead Act of 1862 gave white immigrants “free” land that many Cheyenne and Arapaho still considered theirs. Following the directives of the 1861 treaty, <strong>Moketaveto</strong>’s Cheyenne and <strong>Hossa</strong>’s Arapaho camped near Fort Lyon in November 1864. They had an American flag raised over the camp, indicating their allegiance to the treaty and distinguishing their camp from other warrior groups who resisted the new treaty.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In early June 1864, a party of Indigenous warriors—possibly Arapaho—<strong>killed a young family</strong> who worked for a homesteader on the plains outside of Denver. The murders were most likely reprisals from the earlier killing of an Indigenous man that day, but Denver residents blamed the Cheyenne and Arapaho. With a family killed and scattered attacks on wagons and homesteads occurring throughout the summer, Evans saw in the fears of the trespassing white population an opportunity to rid the territory of both the Cheyenne and Arapaho. He authorized Chivington to enlist a new Third Colorado Cavalry for 100 days, and Chivington, who hated Indigenous people as much as he hated Confederates, went on the warpath. On November 29, 1864, he found and attacked the peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho camp at Fort Lyon, killing more than 200 women, children, and elders in what became known as the Sand Creek Massacre.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Praised as heroes in Denver, Chivington and the Third were seen as bloodthirsty murderers in the eastern United States. Chivington resigned to avoid a military court martial while war exploded across the plains. On January 7, 1865, 1,000 Cheyenne and Lakota fell on <strong>Julesburg</strong>, and on February 2, they burned the town before moving north out of Colorado. The so-called “<strong>Colorado War</strong>” resumed in March through July. President Andrew Johnson fired Evans over his role in precipitating Sand Creek.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Legacy</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado’s experience in the Civil War can best be described as a successful defense of empire. When the war started, the territory was essentially defenseless and held a vast amount of vulnerable wealth; as the war came to its doorstep, Coloradans mounted a furious and successful defense of that wealth, even as Confederate sympathizers sought to sabotage it from the inside.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With the successful defense of the gold fields came federal military activity on a scale never before seen in the territory. With Indigenous people already facing <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/impact-disease-native-americans"><strong>disease</strong></a> and starvation due to poorly understood and enforced <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/indigenous-treaties-colorado"><strong>treaties</strong></a> and the contempt of white settlers and politicians, the militarization of Colorado after the Civil War led to destruction and disaster for the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and eventually the Nuche (<a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/search/google/ute"><strong>Ute</strong></a> people) who lived in the Rocky Mountains. Eventually, the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/medicine-lodge-treaties"><strong>Treaty of Medicine Lodg</strong>e</a> in 1867 forced Colorado’s Cheyenne and Arapaho to cede their remaining land in the territory and assigned them to reservations in Oklahoma.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, for Colorado’s invading American population, the Civil War had dried up eastern sources of capital needed to fund mining, even as it helped them feel more secure in what was still a fledgling territory. Foreign technology arrived with <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/nathaniel-p-hill"><strong>Nathaniel Hill</strong></a>’s <strong>smelter </strong>in 1867, reviving the mining industry. With North and South at peace, the transcontinental<strong> railroad</strong> was finished and linked to Denver in 1870. Emancipation and a growing mining economy caused Colorado’s Black population to increase substantially from 1870 to 1900.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado achieved statehood in 1876. In 1898, as troops boarded trains in Denver to fight in the Spanish-American War, Union veterans lined one side of Seventeenth Street and Confederate veterans assembled on the other side. As a show of unity, they boarded the train together, seemingly burying the hatchet.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The past is still with us, of course. Despite the train station moment and other reconciliation between whites, the racism that brought the Civil War to Colorado has lingered in the state to the present. <strong>Redlining</strong>, or excluding Black residents from buying homes in certain neighborhoods, persisted throughout Denver and other cities, as did institutional discrimination in housing, education, and employment. Several Colorado towns, including <strong>Golden</strong>, <strong>Louisville</strong>, <strong>Loveland</strong>, and parts of Colorado Springs, were known at various times as “Sundown” towns—places where Black people were not welcome and would be run out of town at sundown. Police violence is still disproportionately aimed at Colorado’s Black residents and people of color.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Sand Creek Massacre was later erroneously listed as a “battle” on the plaque of a statue commemorating Colorado’s Civil War veterans. Chivington’s actions were considered horrific even during his time, but the plaque remained, igniting controversy until activists removed the statue during the 2020 <strong>Civil Rights</strong> demonstrations in Denver. As of this writing, streets, university buildings, and even mountains once named for those associated with the Sand Creek Massacre have either been renamed or are being evaluated for renaming in an ongoing reconciliation process.</p>&#13; </div>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/geoffrey-hunt" hreflang="und">Geoffrey Hunt</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/civil-war-colorado-0" hreflang="en">civil war in colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-civil-war-history" hreflang="en">colorado civil war history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/confederates-colorado" hreflang="en">confederates in colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/confederate-history-colorado" hreflang="en">confederate history colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-gold-rush" hreflang="en">Colorado Gold Rush</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-territory" hreflang="en">Colorado Territory</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/maces-hole" hreflang="en">maces hole</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/julesburg" hreflang="en">julesburg</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/sand-creek-massacre" hreflang="en">Sand Creek Massacre</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/cheyenne" hreflang="en">cheyenne</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/arapaho" hreflang="en">arapaho</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/nuche" hreflang="en">nuche</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ute" hreflang="en">ute</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/treaty-fort-wise" hreflang="en">Treaty of Fort Wise</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/treaty-fort-laramie" hreflang="en">Treaty of Fort Laramie</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/santa-fe-trail" hreflang="en">Santa Fe Trail</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/moketaveto" hreflang="en">moketaveto</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/hossa" hreflang="en">hossa</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/black-kettle" hreflang="en">black kettle</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/hungate-murders" hreflang="en">hungate murders</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/redlining" hreflang="en">redlining</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/george-floyd-protests" hreflang="en">george floyd protests</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/sundown-towns" hreflang="en">sundown towns</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/golden" hreflang="en">golden</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/louisville" hreflang="en">louisville</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/loveland" hreflang="en">loveland</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-springs" hreflang="en">colorado springs</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/battle-glorieta-pass" hreflang="en">battle of glorieta pass</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/john-chivington" hreflang="en">John Chivington</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/john-evans" hreflang="en">John Evans</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-gilpin" hreflang="en">William Gilpin</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-volunteers" hreflang="en">colorado volunteers</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/us-army-colorado" hreflang="en">us army colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/indigenous-history" hreflang="en">indigenous history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/indigenous-removal" hreflang="en">indigenous removal</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/treaties" hreflang="en">treaties</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/fort-lyon" hreflang="en">Fort Lyon</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ned-wynkoop" hreflang="en">ned wynkoop</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/rio-grande-river" hreflang="en">rio grande river</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/lewis-weld" hreflang="en">lewis weld</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/apache-canyon" hreflang="en">apache canyon</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/henry-hopkins-sibley" hreflang="en">henry hopkins sibley</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/edward-canby" hreflang="en">edward canby</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ers-canby" hreflang="en">ers canby</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/hh-sibley" hreflang="en">hh sibley</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Don E. Alberts, <em>The Battle of Glorieta: Union Victory in the West</em> (College Station, Texas: Texas A&amp;M University Press, 1998).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Don E. Alberts, <em>Rebels on the Rio Grande: the Civil War Journal of A. B. Peticolas </em>(Albuquerque: Merit Press, 1993).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ovando Hollister, ed. Richard Harwell, <em>Colorado Volunteers in New Mexico, 1862 </em>(Chicago: R.R. Donnelly and Sons Co., reprinted 1962).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Nolie Mumey, <em>Bloody Trails Along the Rio Grande: the Diary of Alonzo Ferdinand Ickis </em>(Denver: Old West Publishing Co., 1958).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Christopher M. Rein, <em>The Second Colorado Cavalry: A Civil War Regiment on the Great Plains</em> (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2020).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Micah Smith, “<a href="https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/sundown-towns-uncovering-colorados-dark-past-dangers-for-black-people-staying-out-after-sunset">Sundown towns: Uncovering Colorado’s dark past, dangers for Black people staying out after sunset</a>,” <em>Denver 7</em>, February 26, 2021.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>William Clarke Whitford, <em>Colorado Volunteers in the Civil War: the New Mexico Campaign in 1862 </em>(Denver: State Historical and Natural History Society, 1906).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Flint Whitlock, <em>Distant Bugles, Distant Drums: The Union Response to the Confederate Invasion of New Mexico </em>(Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2006).</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, 9 </em>(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880; reprinted 1985 by Historical Times, Inc.).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Eugene H. Berwanger, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=ti%3A%22The%20Rise%20of%20the%20Centennial%20State:%20Colorado%20Territory,%201861-76%20%22" title="Find in a library with WorldCat"><em>The Rise of the Centennial State: Colorado Territory, 1861–76 </em></a>(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ray C. Colton, <em>The Civil War in the Western Territories: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah </em>(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Tue, 13 Sep 2022 20:14:34 +0000 yongli 3823 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org San Luis http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-luis <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">San Luis</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2022-02-11T10:04:29-07:00" title="Friday, February 11, 2022 - 10:04" class="datetime">Fri, 02/11/2022 - 10:04</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-luis" data-a2a-title="San Luis"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fsan-luis&amp;title=San%20Luis"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The oldest continuously occupied town in Colorado, San Luis sits along Culebra Creek, just west of the <strong>Sangre de Cristo Mountains</strong> in the southeast portion of the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-luis-valley"><strong>San Luis Valley</strong></a>. In April 1851, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/terminology-latino-experience-colorado"><strong>Hispanos</strong></a> from Taos, New Mexico, founded San Luis on the <strong>Sangre de Cristo Land Grant</strong>, which the Mexican government originally issued in 1843. Today the town has a population of around 700 and is the county seat of <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/costilla-county"><strong>Costilla County</strong></a>. In addition to being the oldest town in present-day Colorado, San Luis maintains the state’s oldest continually held <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/water-colorado"><strong>water</strong></a> right in the acequia —a community irrigation ditch—developed by residents in the early 1850s.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Origins</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the nineteenth century, the San Luis Valley was frequented by several Indigenous nations, most commonly the Tabeguache, Muache, and Capote bands of the Nuche, or <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/search/google/ute"><strong>Ute</strong></a> people.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After winning independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico laid claim to the valley. Over the next two decades, in an attempt to check the influence of the expanding United States, the Mexican government issued several <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/mexican-land-grants-colorado"><strong>land grants</strong></a> in the valley. Still, it could not establish settlements there, due to Ute resistance. The Sangre de Cristo grant, where San Luis would eventually be founded, was awarded to Narciso Beaubien and Stephen Luis Lee in late 1843.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The San Luis Valley became part of the United States in 1848, given up by Mexico in the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/treaty-guadalupe-hidalgo"><strong>Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo</strong></a><strong>.</strong> In 1849 the US government and local Nuche leaders signed the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/treaty-abiqui%C3%BA"><strong>Treaty of Abiquiú</strong></a>. The treaty allowed the United States to establish a military presence in the San Luis Valley and granted free passage to American citizens, which now included New Mexicans. With the treaty in place, colonizers from New Mexico felt safer venturing north to the valley. Over the course of 1850 and 1851, Hispanos established numerous small villages on Nuche land in today’s Costilla County, many of which were abandoned and repopulated several times.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the spring of 1851, a group of ten Hispanos from the Taos Valley in New Mexico—including Dario Gallegos, Juan Salazar, Faustin Medina, and Mariano Pacheco—returned to the banks of Culebra Creek. In traditional Spanish fashion, the colonists built their homes around a central public area, a plaza. On April 5 they established the plaza that would become San Luis, then known as San Luis de la Culebra.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The colonists stayed until the fall, when a Ute attack killed three in the party, then left for the winter. When they returned in the spring of 1852, they immediately set to work building the irrigation ditch that would be the lifeblood of the new community.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>The People’s Ditch and the Pasture</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In April 1852, Dario Gallegos and the other founders began hand-digging an acequia, or irrigation ditch, to bring water from Culebra Creek to the narrow strips of farms dug out by the villagers. The ditch eventually became known as the San Luis People’s Ditch and held the first official <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/water-law"><strong>water right</strong></a> in Colorado, dating from April 10, 1852. First crops included wheat, beans, corn, and other vegetables.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>While the colonists at San Luis built their farms and furrows, Charles (Carlos) Beaubien served as its administrator. He enacted rules to keep order, set up a permission system for newcomers, and acted as the local justice of the peace. He also granted the San Luis colonists a 900-acre public pasture on the outskirts of town, called La Vega, for their livestock.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Conflict with the Nuche in and around the San Luis Valley persisted through the 1850s, but the town of San Luis endured. In 1857 Dario Gallegos opened the first dry goods store in town, and in 1859 he gifted the community a chapel, marking the beginning of organized Catholic worship in San Luis.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>As it did elsewhere in the San Luis Valley, the isolation and precariousness of life at San Luis nurtured a fiercely independent culture that retained heavy Spanish influence. While some colonists belonged to the region’s early parishes, others followed the ways of the Penitentes, an unofficial Catholic brotherhood whose roots stretched back centuries in Spain. The group was known for its extreme methods for cleansing sin, which included self-flagellation and members tying themselves to wooden crosses. As more official Catholic activity increased in the San Luis Valley and the region drew itself closer to American laws and culture, authorities sanctioned the Penitentes and discouraged their activities.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Indigenous slavery was another distinct feature of life in the nineteenth-century San Luis Valley. Many enslaved people were Diné (Navajo) taken in attacks by the Nuche and traded to Spanish colonists in places like Taos. Indigenous slaves in the San Luis Valley often worked as domestic servants. The family of Dario Gallegos, for example, had an enslaved Indigenous person as the family cook.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Further Development</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Two events in 1858 helped spur further development in San Luis and the surrounding valley. First, the valley’s main US military institution, the ineffective Fort Massachusetts, was relocated and recommissioned as <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fort-garland-0"><strong>Fort Garland</strong></a>. The new fort was better positioned and equipped to discourage Nuche resistance. Then, the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>Colorado Gold Rush</strong></a> drew thousands of immigrants to Colorado. Recognizing that the swelling ranks of miners to the north would need more grain, Taos residents <strong>Ceran St. Vrain</strong> and H. E. Easterday built a new flour mill in San Luis in 1859. The mill made San Luis a local hub, as farmers from all around came to deposit their grain.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The town got a post office in 1860, and by 1872 the <em>Pueblo Chieftain </em>estimated its population to be around 1,000. The <em>Chieftain</em> described San Luis that year as “quite a large village, containing four stores, a blacksmith shop, carpenter shops, a good hotel, and among the rest several very neat dwellings.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>With the creation of the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-territory"><strong>Colorado Territory</strong></a> in 1861 and the removal of most of the Muache bands in <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/ute-treaty-1868"><strong>1868</strong></a>, American influence within and around San Luis grew, spurring conflicts over water and land rights. The US government officially recognized the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant in 1860. In 1864 Beaubien died, but not before he agreed to sell his stake in the grant to Colorado territorial governor <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-gilpin"><strong>William Gilpin</strong></a>. Gilpin eventually acquired much of the grant and began offering tracts for sale to investors elsewhere in the United States, England, and Europe. These new investors had their own plans, in which the existing Hispano residents of San Luis figured little. The citizens of San Luis and other towns on the grant were eventually forced to give up some communal rights to water and timber, though not without protracted legal fights. These tensions between descendants of the grant’s original colonists and developers continued throughout the twentieth century and persist today.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Twentieth Century</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, San Luis’s status in the broader valley declined as regional economic ties shifted away from Hispano New Mexico and toward an increasingly Anglo-developed Colorado. In the late 1860s, <a href="/article/otto-mears"><strong>Otto Mears</strong></a> helped establish the town of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/saguache-0"><strong>Saguache</strong></a> in the northern part of the San Luis Valley; he later connected his mountain toll roads to the town, making it a magnet for commercial and agricultural interests. In 1878 the <strong>Denver &amp; Rio Grande Railroad</strong> extended to <strong>Alamosa</strong>, creating another regional hub.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Even though it was now the seat of Costilla County—with a courthouse built in 1883—San Luis sat in relative isolation in the southern part of the valley, developing far more slowly than some of its regional neighbors. In January 1920, San Luis got its first bank, the State Bank of San Luis. An article announcing the bank’s opening described the town’s residents as “Spanish-speaking people of the old school, polished, courteous, energetic and prosperous.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Over the next several decades, San Luis continued to be an out-of-the-way farming community. Perhaps some of the most significant developments in the twentieth century were changes to the People’s Ditch. A series of dry years in the 1960s prompted the incorporation of the ditch at the urging of state and federal authorities. The State Engineers Office and the Army Corps of Engineers believed that paving the ditch would reduce evaporation and absorption and allow more water to reach downstream farmers during drought years. Although some expressed concern about the environmental effects, San Luis ditch members ultimately agreed to pave the original channel of the People’s Ditch, the Acequia Madre.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the late 1980s, the Rev. Patrick Valdez came up with an idea to use San Luis’s Catholic heritage to revive the town’s lagging economy:  an outdoor shrine commemorating the fifteen stations of the cross. The shrine would draw religious tourists from across the country. For the site, Valdez got the county to sell off eighty-two acres atop a mesa overlooking the town, and local sculptor Huberto Maestas created a series of fifteen bronze statues that were placed along a trail leading to an adobe church built in the Spanish-Moorish style—the <strong>Capilla de Todos Los Santos</strong>, the Chapel of All Saints. Although it fell short of rejuvenating the San Luis economy, the shrine does attract visitors and remains a holy site and point of pride for many locals.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Today, the town of San Luis has a population of around 680. Like many other towns in the valley, it still faces challenges associated with its isolation. One out of every four residents in the San Luis Valley is impoverished, and San Luis residents struggle to get basic internet access to augment work and school. Agriculture continues to be the main economic activity, but recent droughts have exacerbated a water shortage that threatens to cut productivity.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Despite its economic struggles, San Luis remains a uniquely rich bastion of Hispano culture. Each year, for example, the town hosts the Fiesta de Santiago y Santa Ana, a gathering that celebrates the community’s patron saints. The fiesta is a celebration of the town’s past and present, with a car show, historical speaking events, a mass, and concerts. </p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/san-luis" hreflang="en">san luis</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/costilla-county" hreflang="en">costilla county</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/san-luis-history" hreflang="en">san luis history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/shrine-stations-cross" hreflang="en">shrine of the stations of the cross</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/san-luis-valley" hreflang="en">San Luis Valley</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/dario-gallegos" hreflang="en">dario gallegos</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/muache-ute" hreflang="en">Muache Ute</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/indigenous-history" hreflang="en">indigenous history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/hispano" hreflang="en">hispano</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/hispano-culture" hreflang="en">hispano culture</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/catholicism-colorado" hreflang="en">catholicism in colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/catholics-colorado" hreflang="en">catholics colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/sangre-de-cristo-land-grant" hreflang="en">Sangre de Cristo Land Grant</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/carlos-beaubien" hreflang="en">Carlos Beaubien</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-gilpin" hreflang="en">William Gilpin</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Erica Breunlin, “<a href="https://coloradosun.com/2021/08/11/rural-colorado-education-schools-broadband-internet-access-san-luis-pandemic/">A Rural Colorado School District Is Spending $3 Million to Connect Kids’ Homes to the Internet. Will It Be Enough?</a>” <em>Colorado Sun</em>, August 11, 2021.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=ALC19200117-01.2.12&amp;srpos=3&amp;e=--1920---1950--en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22San+Luis%22+costilla-------0------">Colorado Village Gets Its First Bank</a>,” <em>Alamosa Courier</em>, January 17, 1920.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Joseph C. Gallegos and Devon G. Peña, “San Luis People’s Ditch,” <em>Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States</em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=CFT18721204.2.15&amp;srpos=19&amp;e=-------en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22San+Luis%22+costilla-------0------">New Mexico. The Towns of San Luis and Taos—Peculiarity of Mexican Life and Institutions—Another Sound Letter From Our Traveling Correspondent</a>,” <em>Pueblo Chieftain</em>, December 4, 1872.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Mark Obmascik, “<a href="https://coloradosun.com/2021/08/29/san-luis-valley-water-diversion-drought-climate-change/">The Water Supply of the San Luis Valley Faces Pressure as Never Before</a>,” <em>Colorado Sun</em>, August 29, 2021.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=DNP19871225-01.2.37&amp;srpos=2&amp;e=-------en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22stations+of+the+cross%22+%22san+luis%22-------0------">Priest Wants to Build Shrine to Help Community’s Economy</a>,” <em>Douglas County News-Press</em>, December 25, 1987.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Virginia McConnell Simmons, <em>The San Luis Valley: Land of the Six-Armed Cross</em>, 2nd ed. (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 1999).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Town of San Luis, Colorado, “<a href="https://townofsanluisco.org/santana.html">2021 Fiesta de Santiago y Santa Ana</a>,” 2021.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Town of San Luis, Colorado, “<a href="https://townofsanluisco.org/shrine.html">The Shrine of the Stations of the Cross</a>,” n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Sally Vigil, “La Plaza de San Luis de Culebra,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form (November 1975).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Alamosa.org, “<a href="https://www.alamosa.org/things-to-do-in-alamosa/alamosa-arts-and-culture/405-stations-of-the-cross">Stations of the Cross: San Luis Bronze Sculptures and Art</a>.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Phillip Gallegos, “Religious Architecture in Colorado’s San Luis Valley,” in <a name="_Hlk81820274" id="_Hlk81820274"><em>Enduring Legacies: Ethnic Histories and Cultures of Colorado</em>, ed. Elisa Facio, Daryl Maeda, and Reiland Rabaka (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2011).</a></p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.thesacredartgallery.com/artists/huberto-maestas/">Huberto Maestas</a>,” the Sacred Art Gallery.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Susan P. MacAulay, “Pictorial Narratives of San Luis, Colorado: Legacy, Place, and Politics,” in <em>Enduring Legacies: Ethnic Histories and Cultures of Colorado</em>, ed. Elisa Facio, Daryl Maeda, and Reiland Rabaka (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2011).</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a href="https://townofsanluisco.org/">San Luis, Colorado</a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado Tourism, “<a href="https://sanluis.colorado.com/">San Luis Valley Heritage</a>.”</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Fri, 11 Feb 2022 17:04:29 +0000 yongli 3662 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org Sangre de Cristo Land Grant http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/sangre-de-cristo-land-grant <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Sangre de Cristo Land Grant</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2021-12-02T12:49:45-07:00" title="Thursday, December 2, 2021 - 12:49" class="datetime">Thu, 12/02/2021 - 12:49</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/sangre-de-cristo-land-grant" data-a2a-title="Sangre de Cristo Land Grant"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fsangre-de-cristo-land-grant&amp;title=Sangre%20de%20Cristo%20Land%20Grant"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The Sangre de Cristo land grant was a <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/mexican-land-grants-colorado"><strong>Mexican land grant</strong></a> possessed in January 1844 by Narciso Beaubien and Stephen Luis Lee. Covering almost 1.4 million acres in the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-luis-valley"><strong>San Luis Valley</strong></a> and <strong>Sangre de Cristo Mountains</strong> in southern Colorado, the grant gave rise to the first permanent settlement in Colorado in the town of <strong>San Luis</strong> (originally San Luis de la Culebra) in 1851. The Sangre de Cristo land grant was among the first and few Mexican land grants to be approved in its entirety by the US Supreme Court.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado’s longest-running land dispute concerns descendants of the families originally hired to settle the grant. In 2002 the <strong>Colorado Supreme Court</strong> ruled in favor of the descendants’ access to firewood, pasturage, and timber on the privately owned Cielo Vista Ranch (formerly Taylor Ranch). Cielo Vista’s owner appealed the decision, and the descendants successfully defended their claim in the Colorado Court of Appeals in 2018.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>History</h2>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Establishment</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>The Sangre de Cristo land grant spanned the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and San Luis Valley, a high alpine desert in southern Colorado. With its rivers and abundant wildlife, the valley was the traditional spring and summer hunting ground for the <strong>Nuche</strong> (<a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/search/google/ute"><strong>Ute</strong></a>), <strong>Apache</strong>, and other Indigenous peoples. During the time of nominal Spanish and later Mexican rule of the region, the presence of <strong>Utes</strong> in the San Luis Valley deterred permanent European settlement there.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>It was only in the late stages of Mexican rule that the San Luis Valley saw a permanent Hispano presence. Mexico awarded land grants in the area to encourage settlement to check the rapid expansion of the United States. The Sangre de Cristo land grant was petitioned by Narciso Beaubien and Stephen Luis Lee in late 1843, awarded a week later, and possessed in January 1844. Both men were killed in the Taos Pueblo Uprising of 1847. The following year, Narciso Beaubien’s father, <strong>Carlos Beaubien</strong>, bought his son’s and Lee’s portion of the grant after their death, making him the sole owner of the entire 1.4-million-acre Sangre de Cristo land grant.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Early Settlement</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carlos Beaubien settled the land by recruiting immigrants from New Mexico, mostly from the Taos valley, and inviting German and French merchants to build trading posts along the Costilla and Culebra Rivers. Settlers were awarded <em>varas</em>, privately owned long-lots of land along major creeks and fertile fields. The first colonization effort involved about one hundred <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/terminology-latino-experience-colorado"><strong>Hispano</strong></a> families who established the town of San Luis de la Culebra in 1851 as a central location among the <em>varas</em>. Families also had rights to use common land, which extended beyond the lowland <em>varas</em> to the foothills, forests, and mountains. Common land could be used for collecting firewood, ranching, hunting, fishing, lumber, and other communal purposes. The communal land in San Luis was known then as La Sierra and continues to be called as such by locals today.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Beaubien’s settlement was consistent with Spanish and Mexican custom, which envisioned communal land, called the <em>ejido</em>, accessible to all villagers. The <em>ejido</em> remains an important concept in current Mexican property law, recognized as an almost sacred cooperative system of shared land use and usufructuary rights, which allows nonowners to derive benefit from the property. Beaubien also produced written documents that reflected the Spanish and Mexican conception of land rights: deeds for individual <em>varas</em> and a covenant letter (known as the “Beaubien document”) that listed all settlers, guaranteeing their rights to use but not own the communal highlands.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1848, the same year that Carlos Beaubien gained sole ownership of the Sangre de Cristo land grant, the United States won the Mexican-American War. The <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/treaty-guadalupe-hidalgo"><strong>Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo</strong></a> gave Americans control of thousands of square miles of northwest Mexico, including the Sangre de Cristo land grant and much of the rest of what is now Colorado. The terms of the treaty obligated the US government to honor all existing Spanish and Mexican land grants. While this did not happen in most cases, the Sangre de Cristo land grant was approved by Congress in 1860. At that time, the area had about 1,700 Hispano residents. Carlos Beaubien continued to award land to settlers until his death in 1864.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Ownership, 1864–1960</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p>When Beaubien died, his heirs sold the land grant to former Colorado territorial governor <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-gilpin"><strong>William Gilpin</strong></a> and included communal land rights protections in their legal agreement. Gilpin did not respect Beaubien’s covenant, however, and sold both private and communal land in subdivisions to investors. Eventually, much of the grant was acquired by the Costilla Estates Development Company, which owned the land from 1902 to 1960. From Gilpin’s ownership through 1960 there were several attempts to develop the land, including mining ventures, and to restrict, harass, and obstruct the communal use of land by original settlers. Communal customs, though, remained mostly unchanged in practice. However, the Costilla Estates Development Company did redistribute water rights, favoring some properties over others and resulting in the reduction of farmed land in the region.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Taylor Ranch Conflicts</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Changes to common land use began after 1960, when <strong>Jack Taylor</strong>, a North Carolina investor and lumberman, bought 77,000 acres of the communal highland, La Sierra, which became known as Taylor Ranch. Within months of buying the ranch, Taylor filed a claim in US District Court to clear his title of all competing claims from other ownership, which was awarded in 1967. Meanwhile, he also began enclosing his ranch to restrict outside access and use. Several conflicts ensued over the years. Hispano villagers were intimidated, beaten, and harassed, and Taylor himself was shot.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Taylor’s actions precipitated a movement for land and resource rights among local Hispanos, spearheaded by the <strong>Land Rights Council</strong>, formed in 1978 in San Luis. For more than a century, US courts had denied the claims of Hispanos in land grant cases and facilitated the work of Anglo-Americans in gaining ownership to land grants throughout the American Southwest. In 1981 the descendants of the original settlers brought forward legal action (<em>Rael v. Taylor</em>) asking for legal recognition of their historic rights to use the land.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>After decades of failed legal challenges to reclaim lost access, in the 2002 <em><strong>Lobato v. Taylor</strong></em> case, the Colorado Supreme Court surprisingly reversed decades of precedent by awarding successors of grant settlers renewed access to La Sierra for grazing, firewood, and timber but not for fishing, hunting, and recreation. The court took into consideration Spanish and Mexican legal customs, recognized injustices in past decisions, and set a precedent with great significance to property rights law in the American Southwest. In 2003 the court issued an additional ruling directing the trial court to identify all landowners who have access rights to Taylor Ranch. The process of identification of landowners ended in 2017.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By that time, Taylor had left the scene. He sold the ranch to Enron executive Lou Pai in 1996, who in turn sold it in 2002 to two owners who renamed it Cielo Vista Ranch. In 2017 Cielo Vista was sold for $105 million to Texas millionaire William Harrison, its current owner. He immediately filed an appeal of the ruling regarding landowner access to the ranch. In 2018 the Colorado Court of Appeals not only denied Harrison’s claim but determined that more heirs to the original settlers should be identified and given access to the land. Currently, more than 5,000 heirs have been identified and given access, though many no longer live in the region to exercise those rights. Individuals are given keys that allow them to enter the ranch at designated gates.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Today</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The original Sangre de Cristo land grant resembles the current borders of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/costilla-county"><strong>Costilla County</strong></a>. It is a place rich in history, traditions, and natural resources. As of 2019 the population stood at 3,887, with more than 60 percent of citizens claiming Hispano heritage. Castilian Spanish is commonly spoken there, and its inhabitants preserve a Spanish-inflected culture with unique food, music, folklore, and folk art, including weaving and the creation of santos and bultos (carved and painted religious images). The village of San Acacio is <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/capilla-de-viejo-san-acacio"><strong>home to a mission church</strong></a> that is generally considered the oldest non-Indigenous religious space in Colorado that is still in use today. La Vega, adjacent to the town of San Luis, is Colorado’s only communal pasture, established in 1851 and still used by descendants of the original settlers. San Luis is home to the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/timeline-date/san-luis-peoples-ditch"><strong>People’s Ditch</strong></a>, an 1852 acequia that is Colorado’s oldest <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/water-law"><strong>water right</strong></a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Outside the historic settlements in the valley, a large portion of the Sangre de Cristo land grant became Trinchera Ranch, Colorado’s largest contiguous ranch and a land conservation easement managed by <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-parks-and-wildlife"><strong>Colorado Parks and Wildlife</strong></a>. Cielo Vista Ranch remains privately owned and offers access to private hunting and hiking.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/simmonds-ricardo" hreflang="und">Simmonds, Ricardo</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/mexican-land-grants" hreflang="en">mexican land grants</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/san-luis-valley" hreflang="en">San Luis Valley</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/sangre-de-cristo-land-grant" hreflang="en">Sangre de Cristo Land Grant</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/sangre-de-cristo-mountains" hreflang="en">sangre de cristo mountains</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/cielo-vista-ranch" hreflang="en">Cielo Vista Ranch</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/jack-taylor" hreflang="en">Jack Taylor</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-gilpin" hreflang="en">William Gilpin</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/carlos-beaubien" hreflang="en">Carlos Beaubien</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/narciso-beaubien" hreflang="en">Narciso Beaubien</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/stephen-luis-lee" hreflang="en">Stephen Luis Lee</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Richard D. Garcia and Todd Howland, “Determining the Legitimacy of Spanish Land Grants in Colorado: Conflicting Values, Legal Pluralism, and Demystification of the Sangre de Cristo/<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=ti%3A%22Rael%22" title="Find in a library with WorldCat"><em>Rael</em></a> Case,” <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=ti%3A%22Chicana/o%20Latina/o%20Law%20Review%22" title="Find in a library with WorldCat"><em>Chicana/o Latina/o Law Review</em></a> 16, no. 1 (‎1995).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ryan Golten, “<em>Lobato v. Taylor: How the Villages of the Rio Culebra, the Colorado Supreme Court, and the Restatement of Servitudes Bailed Out the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo</em>,” <em>Natural Resources Journal</em> 45, no. 2 (2005). </p>&#13; &#13; <p>Keith W. Lindner, “Returning the Commons: Resource Access and Environmental Governance in San Luis, Colorado” (PhD diss., Syracuse University, 2012).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Keith W. Lindner, “The Struggle for La Sierra: Sovereignty, Property, and Rights in the San Luis Valley,” <em>Political Geography</em> 33 (2013).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Richard L. Nostrand, <em>The Hispano Homeland </em>(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>M. L. Stoller, “Grants of Desperation, Lands of Speculation: Mexican Period Land Grants in Colorado,” <em>Journal of the West</em> 19, no. 3 (1980).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Dorceta E. Taylor, <em>The Rise of the American Conservation Movement: Power, Privilege, and Environmental Protection</em> (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>“<a href="http://www.southwestbooks.org/sangredecristo.htm">Landmark Ruling on the Sangre de Cristo Grant</a>,” Center for Land Grant Studies, June 24, 2002. </p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Thu, 02 Dec 2021 19:49:45 +0000 yongli 3651 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org William Gilpin http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-gilpin <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">William Gilpin</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: x field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-article-image.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-article-image.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div id="carouselEncyclopediaArticle" class="carousel slide" data-bs-ride="true"> <div class="carousel-inner"> <div class="carousel-item active"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * node--3343--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--3343.html.twig x node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig * node--image.html.twig * node--article-detail-image.html.twig * node.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image--image.html.twig * field--node--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--field-encyclopedia-image.html.twig * field--image.html.twig x field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-encyclopedia-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_formatter' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> <a href="/image/william-gilpin"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image_style' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'image' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/William-Gilpin-Media-1_0.jpg?itok=lCzX42jY" width="900" height="1395" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-wide" /> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-style.html.twig' --> </a> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/image-formatter.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field.html.twig' --> <div class="carousel-caption d-none d-md-block"> <h5><a href="/image/william-gilpin" rel="bookmark"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--image.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">William Gilpin</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> </a></h5> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--image.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig * field--node--image.html.twig * field--body.html.twig x field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A gifted speaker and ardent promoter of "Manifest Destiny," William Gilpin of Missouri served as the first governor of Colorado Territory.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--text-with-summary.html.twig' --> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/content/node--image--article-detail-image.html.twig' --> </div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--field-article-image--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2020-01-15T15:10:31-07:00" title="Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - 15:10" class="datetime">Wed, 01/15/2020 - 15:10</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-gilpin" data-a2a-title="William Gilpin"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fwilliam-gilpin&amp;title=William%20Gilpin"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>William Gilpin (1815–94) served as the first governor of <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-territory"><strong>Colorado Territory</strong></a> in 1861–62. A gifted speaker with a flair for the dramatic, Gilpin was a firm believer in <strong>Manifest Destiny</strong> and in Colorado’s importance to the young American West. As governor during the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/civil-war-colorado"><strong>Civil War</strong></a>, Gilpin illegally raised the <strong>Colorado Volunteers</strong>, the Union troops who turned back a Confederate Army at <strong>Glorieta Pass</strong> in 1862. Raising the volunteers cost Gilpin his job but saved the territory and its all-important goldfields from falling into Confederate hands.</p> <p>Before serving as governor, Gilpin was a member of the US Army. He fought in the Seminole Wars in Florida and accompanied army explorer <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/john-c-fremont"><strong>John C. Frémont</strong></a> through Colorado in 1843. Today, Gilpin is remembered as one of the most bombastic and significant founders of Colorado.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>William Gilpin was born in 1815 into a large Delaware Quaker family. He was home-schooled and became partial to history, poetry, and geography. When he was twelve, his father sent him to school in England for two years, and in 1833 Gilpin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Thereafter, he embarked on a series of military adventures, including a semester at West Point in 1834–35, a participant in Florida’s Seminole Wars in 1836, a journey across the Rockies with John C. Frémont in 1843, and a campaign to protect the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/santa-f%C3%A9-trail-0"><strong>Santa Fé Trail</strong></a> from Indian attacks during the <strong>Mexican-American War</strong> in 1847.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <h2>Champion of the West</h2> <p>By the 1850s, Gilpin had settled in Missouri. There he solidified his reputation as a passionate, if incessant, orator, as well as a premier booster of western settlement. In speeches and writing, Gilpin waxed poetic about America’s Manifest Destiny. According to Gilpin, “to subdue the continent” was a “divine task” that would bring the United States to the pinnacle of world civilization. At a time when many Americans believed that the West was a “<a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article"><strong>Great American Desert</strong></a>,” Gilpin made a habit of emphasizing the immense potential of the land west of the Mississippi.</p> <p>After its <a href="/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>Gold Rush</strong></a> in 1858–59, Colorado, and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a> specifically, lay at the center of Gilpin’s vision for the future of the country. He imagined a worldwide railroad network that spanned from Denver across the Bering Strait to Asia and eventually to Europe. In his mind, Colorado’s mineral wealth would be the linchpin of this industrial American empire.</p> <h2>Governor of Colorado</h2> <p>In the wake of the Colorado Gold Rush, the US government organized Colorado Territory in 1861. Many in the territory believed that the governor post would go to Denver founder <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-larimer-jr"><strong>William Larimer, Jr</strong>.</a> But to gain favor in an important border state ahead of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln chose Gilpin at the recommendation of Missouri governor Frank Blair.</p> <p>Preoccupied with the looming Civil War and without much money to send with him, President Lincoln hastily ordered Gilpin to Denver in the spring of 1861. When Gilpin arrived on May 27, he faced a multitude of challenges: rival cities vied to become the new territory’s capital, immigrants feared Indian attacks, and a nascent southern secession movement threatened Colorado’s future as part of the United States.</p> <p>The lack of funds did not deter Gilpin from his duty. In his first few months as governor, he organized the territorial courts, which legitimized haphazard laws within Colorado’s mining districts, and the legislature, which began its first session on September 9, 1861. The legislature met in Denver, but the mining camp of <strong>Colorado City</strong> (part of present-day <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-springs"><strong>Colorado Springs</strong></a>) was named the territory’s capital because its residents successfully lobbied for the territory’s creation in Washington, DC.</p> <p>In his typical booster fashion, Gilpin waxed poetic in his inaugural address, booming to the legislature that “our territory will be [bi]sected by the grandest work of all time,” a “transcontinental railway” that will “draw the travel and commerce of all the nations, and all the continents of the world.” Copies of the speech were distributed throughout the territory, including a Spanish version in the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/san-luis-valley"><strong>San Luis Valley</strong></a> that referred to Gilpin as “Guillermo Guilpin.”</p> <p>Moving toward his long-held vision of Colorado as a universal nexus of civilization, Gilpin worked closely with the legislature to establish a tax system, roads, police, schools, and universities, including the <strong>University of Colorado</strong>. He was directly involved in publishing the first map of the territory, developing irrigation systems, and incorporating water companies. The legislature divided the territory into seventeen counties, naming one <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/gilpin-county"><strong>Gilpin County</strong></a>.</p> <p>As the territory’s superintendent of Indian affairs, Gilpin leaned on the expertise of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/indian-agencies-and-agents"><strong>Indian agents</strong></a>, such as <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/lafayette-head"><strong>Lafayette Head</strong></a>. As a veteran Indian fighter in Florida and along the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/arkansas-river"><strong>Arkansas River</strong></a>, Gilpin feared that Colorado’s Indians would band together to assault the territory or assist the Confederacy. Still, Gilpin generally preferred to deal peacefully with Native Americans, especially those who had agreed to the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/treaty-fort-wise"><strong>Fort Wise Treaty</strong></a>, signed just before he assumed his post.</p> <h2>Confederate Crisis</h2> <p>Of the all the problems in his fledgling territory, the Confederate threat was perhaps Gilpin’s greatest challenge. From Denver to <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fairplay"><strong>Fairplay</strong></a> and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/breckenridge-historic-district"><strong>Breckenridge</strong></a>, Colorado was filled with southerners who had either come during the Gold Rush or fought for slavery in neighboring Kansas during the 1850s. By September 1861, the territory’s chief justice, B. F. Hall, reported to Lincoln that there were about 6,000 Coloradans “with Confederate proclivities.” In response, Gilpin thwarted a Southern sympathizer’s scheme to sell Colorado arms and ammunition to the Confederate Army, and he set up a jail for Confederates in Denver. He also got other army posts to supply guns and ammunition for the territory’s defense.</p> <p>The gravest threat appeared in July 1861, when Confederate general Henry H. Sibley began organizing an army in Texas to invade New Mexico and, ultimately, Colorado. As the Confederates advanced in 1862, Gilpin petitioned the federal government for resources to raise an army. His requests were denied, even though in August 1861 he received orders from the army’s Western Department Headquarters to “increase your force to 1,000 men.” Lacking an alternative and finding plenty of willing recruits in Colorado, Gilpin created two regiments of Colorado Volunteers, illegally offering vouchers amounting to $375,000 from the US Treasury. That March, the Volunteers turned back Sibley’s Confederates at Glorieta Pass in New Mexico.</p> <p>Gilpin’s quick action would save the Colorado and New Mexico territories from falling to the Confederacy. But in the meantime, the soldiers, as well as the merchants who supplied them, wanted their money. The federal government refused to redeem Gilpin’s vouchers, turning his constituents against him. Gilpin’s political rivals in Colorado, including <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/william-n-byers"><strong>William Byers</strong></a> of the <strong><em>Rocky Mountain News</em></strong>, territorial representative <strong>Jerome B. Chaffee</strong>, and congressional delegate <strong>Hiram Bennet</strong>, seized on the unrest. They argued that Gilpin had raised an unnecessarily expensive force to meet an exaggerated Confederate threat, thus casting his fellow Coloradans as rebels and hurting their business interests. They petitioned Lincoln to replace Gilpin as governor. &nbsp;On March 18, 1862—eight days before the troops Gilpin raised gave the Union a decisive victory at Glorieta Pass—the president acquiesced, replacing him with <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/john-evans"><strong>John Evans</strong></a> of Illinois. Gilpin remained in office until May, leaving him enough time to welcome his victorious volunteers back to Denver.</p> <h2>Later Life</h2> <p>After the Civil War, Gilpin made a small fortune in land deals in Colorado and New Mexico. In 1874 he married Julia Pratt Dickerson of St. Louis. They had three children: twins named William and Mary, and another son, Louis, who died in a fall in Platte Canyon in 1893.</p> <p>Gilpin’s marriage was reportedly tumultuous, as he and his wife, a devout Catholic, disagreed over everything from child-rearing to where their charitable donations should go. He and Dickerson separated in 1887. He devoted much of his later life to promoting his idea for a global railroad route across the Bering Strait. Gilpin died in Denver on January 20, 1894, and, in a final jab, his wife chose a Catholic cemetery—Mt. Olivet—for her late husband.</p> <h2>Legacy</h2> <p>Although a few later observers chose to focus on Gilpin’s financial misadventures and removal, Gilpin biographer Thomas L. Karnes and Colorado historian Thomas J. Noel credit Colorado’s first governor for bringing order to the territory and raising the troops to defend it from the Confederacy. Along with <strong>Horace Greeley</strong>, Gilpin can be considered the quintessential Western “booster” whose writings and speeches undoubtedly helped hasten the Euro-American conquest of the West.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/william-gilpin" hreflang="en">William Gilpin</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-governors" hreflang="en">colorado governors</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-territory" hreflang="en">Colorado Territory</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/first-governor-colorado" hreflang="en">first governor of colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/territorial-governor-colorado" hreflang="en">territorial governor colorado</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/civil-war" hreflang="en">Civil War</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-volunteers" hreflang="en">colorado volunteers</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>Hubert Howe Bancroft, <a href="https://ia903100.us.archive.org/4/items/historylifewill00bancgoog/historylifewill00bancgoog.pdf"><em>History of the Life of William Gilpin: A Character Study</em></a> (San Francisco: History Company, 1889).</p> <p>&nbsp;“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=SPS18940127-01.2.2&amp;srpos=16&amp;e=--1882---1894--en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22William+Gilpin%22-------0-">Important Colorado News—Death of William Gilpin</a>,” <em>Silver Standard </em>(Silver Plume, CO), January 27, 1894.</p> <p>Thomas L. Karnes, <em>William Gilpin: Western Nationalist</em> (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1970).</p> <p>Thomas J. Noel, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2009/10/08/noel-remembering-colorados-windbag/">Remembering Colorado’s ‘Windbag,’</a>” <em>The </em><em>Denver Post</em>, October 8, 2009.</p> <p>Elliott West, <em>The </em><em>Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to the Rockies </em>(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998).</p> <p>“<a href="https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/archives/william-gilpin">William Gilpin</a>,” Colorado State Archives, n.d.</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>Clarence S. Jackson, “<a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2018/ColoradoMagazine_v26n3_July1949.pdf#page=46">My Recollections of William Gilpin</a>,” <em>Colorado Magazine</em>, July 1949.</p> <p>Kenneth Porter, “<a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2018/ColoradoMagazine_v37n4_October1960.pdf#page=4">William Gilpin: Sinophile and Eccentric</a>,” <em>Colorado Magazine</em>, October 1960.</p> <p>J. Christopher Schnell, “<a href="https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2018/ColoradoMagazine_v46n2_Spring1969.pdf#page=21">William Gilpin and the Destruction of the Desert Myth</a>,” <em>Colorado Magazine</em>, Spring 1969.</p> <p>Wallace Stegner, <em>Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West</em> (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1954).</p> <p>Amy Zimmer, “<a href="https://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/resource-sharing/state-pubs-blog/colorado-governors-william-gilpin/">Colorado Governors: William Gilpin</a>,” Colorado Virtual Library, March 13, 2017.</p> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-4th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-4th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-4th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-4th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-4th-grade"><p>William Gilpin (1815–94) was the first governor of Colorado Territory during the Civil War. Gilpin raised the Colorado Volunteers. The Volunteers were Union troops. They turned back a Confederate Army at Glorieta Pass in 1862. Raising the Volunteers cost Gilpin his job. However, it saved the territory and its goldfields from falling into Confederate hands.</p> <p>Gilpin is remembered as one of the most important founders of Colorado.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>William Gilpin was born in 1815. He had a large Delaware Quaker family. He was home-schooled. He became partial to history, poetry, and geography. After he graduated from college, Gilpin went on a series of military adventures. These included a semester at West Point in 1834–35. Gilpin then took part in Florida’s Seminole Wars in 1836. He journeyed across the Rockies with John C. Frémont in 1843. He helped protect the Santa Fé Trail from Indian attacks during the Mexican-American War.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <h2>Champion of the West</h2> <p>By the 1850s, Gilpin had settled in Missouri. He gained a reputation as a speaker. He was also a booster of western settlement. At the time, many Americans believed the West was a “Great American Desert.” Gilpin spoke about the potential of the land.</p> <p>After its Gold Rush in 1858–59, Colorado lay at the center of Gilpin’s vision for the future of the country. He imagined a worldwide railroad network. The network would run from Denver across the Bering Strait to Asia and Europe. Gilpin thought Colorado’s mineral wealth would help create an industrial American empire.</p> <h2>Governor of Colorado</h2> <p>The US government organized Colorado Territory in 1861. Many believed that the governor post would go to Denver founder William Larimer, Jr. However, President Abraham Lincoln needed to gain favor in Missouri before the Civil War. Lincoln chose Gilpin at the recommendation of Missouri governor Frank Blair.</p> <p>Lincoln was preoccupied with the looming war. The president didn't have much money to send to Colorado. President Lincoln ordered Gilpin to Denver in the spring of 1861. When Gilpin arrived, he faced a many challenges. Rival cities were vying to become the new territory’s capital. Settlers feared Indian attacks.</p> <p>The lack of funds did not stop Gilpin. He organized the courts. The legislature began its first session on September 9, 1861. They met in Denver.</p> <p>In his inaugural address, Gilpin said, “our territory will be [bi]sected by the grandest work of all time,” a “transcontinental railway” that will “draw the travel and commerce of all the nations, and all the continents of the world.” Copies of the speech were given out across the territory. There was even a Spanish version in the San Luis Valley that referred to Gilpin as “Guillermo Guilpin.”</p> <p>Gilpin worked with the legislature. Together they created a tax system, roads, police, and schools. Gilpin was involved in publishing the first map of the territory. He also developed irrigation systems. The legislature divided the territory into seventeen counties. They named one Gilpin County.</p> <p>Gilpin leaned on Indian agents, such as Lafayette Head. Gilpin feared that Colorado’s Indians would band together. If they did, the Indians could assault the territory or assist the Confederacy. Gilpin preferred to deal peacefully with Native Americans, especially those who had agreed to the Fort Wise Treaty.</p> <h2>Confederate Crisis</h2> <p>The Confederate threat was perhaps Gilpin’s greatest challenge. Colorado was filled with southerners. They had come during the Gold Rush. Some had arrived after fighting for slavery in Kansas during the 1850s. By September 1861, there were about 6,000 Coloradans “with Confederate proclivities.” Gilpin stopped a scheme to sell Colorado guns and ammunition to the Confederate Army. He set up a jail for Confederates in Denver. He also got army posts to supply guns and ammunition for the territory’s defense.</p> <p>The gravest threat appeared in July 1861. Confederate general Henry H. Sibley began organizing an army in Texas. Sibley intended to invade New Mexico and Colorado. Gilpin asked the federal government for resources to raise an army. His requests were denied. In August 1861 he received orders from the army’s Western Department Headquarters. He was to “increase your force to 1,000 men.” Gilpin created two regiments of Colorado Volunteers. He illegally offered vouchers amounting to $375,000 from the US Treasury. The Confederates advanced in 1862. The Volunteers turned back Sibley’s men at Glorieta Pass in New Mexico.</p> <p>Gilpin’s actions saved the Colorado and New Mexico territories from falling to the Confederacy. But the soldiers wanted their money. The federal government refused to redeem Gilpin’s vouchers. This turned people against Gilpin. Gilpin’s political rivals seized on the unrest. They argued that Gilpin had raised an expensive force and the Confederate threat was exaggerated. They petitioned Lincoln to replace Gilpin as governor.&nbsp; On March 18, 1862, the president agreed. Gilpin was replaced with John Evans of Illinois.</p> <h2>Later Life</h2> <p>After the Civil War, Gilpin made a small fortune on land deals in Colorado and New Mexico. In 1874 he married Julia Pratt Dickerson of St. Louis. They had three children.</p> <p>Gilpin and his wife disagreed over everything. The couple separated in 1887. Gilpin devoted his later life to promoting a global railroad route across the Bering Strait. He died in Denver on January 20, 1894.</p> <h2>Legacy</h2> <p>Gilpin brought order to the Colorado Territory. He raised the troops to defend it from the Confederacy. Gilpin was a Western “booster.” His writings and speeches helped hasten settlement of the West.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-8th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-8th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-8th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-8th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-8th-grade"><p>William Gilpin (1815–94) served as the first governor of Colorado Territory in 1861–62. As a governor during the Civil War, Gilpin raised the Colorado Volunteers. The Volunteers were Union troops. They turned back a Confederate Army at Glorieta Pass in 1862. Raising the Volunteers cost Gilpin his job. However, it saved the territory and its goldfields from falling into Confederate hands.</p> <p>Today, Gilpin is remembered as one of the most significant founders of Colorado.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>William Gilpin was born in 1815 into a large Delaware Quaker family. He was home-schooled. He became partial to history, poetry, and geography. In 1833 Gilpin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Afterwards, he went on a series of military adventures. These included a semester at West Point in 1834–35. Gilpin then took part in Florida’s Seminole Wars in 1836. He journeyed across the Rockies with John C. Frémont in 1843. He helped protect the Santa Fé Trail from Indian attacks during the Mexican-American War.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <h2>Champion of the West</h2> <p>By the 1850s, Gilpin had settled in Missouri. He gained a reputation as a speaker. He was also a booster of western settlement. At the time, many Americans believed the West was a “Great American Desert.” Gilpin spoke about the potential of the land.</p> <p>After its Gold Rush in 1858–59, Colorado lay at the center of Gilpin’s vision for the future of the country. He imagined a worldwide railroad network. The network would run from Denver across the Bering Strait to Asia and Europe. Gilpin thought Colorado’s mineral wealth would help create an industrial American empire.</p> <h2>Governor of Colorado</h2> <p>The US government organized Colorado Territory in 1861. Many believed that the governor post would go to Denver founder William Larimer, Jr. However, President Abraham Lincoln needed to gain favor in an important border state before the Civil War. Lincoln chose Gilpin at the recommendation of Missouri governor Frank Blair.</p> <p>Lincoln was preoccupied with the looming Civil War. The president didn't have much money to send to Colorado with Gilpin. President Lincoln ordered Gilpin to Denver anyway in the spring of 1861. When Gilpin arrived, he faced a many challenges. Rival cities were vying to become the new territory’s capital. Settlers feared Indian attacks.</p> <p>The lack of funds did not deter Gilpin. He organized the courts. The legislature began its first session on September 9, 1861. They met in Denver. However, the mining camp of Colorado City (part of present-day Colorado Springs) was named the territory’s capital. Its residents had successfully lobbied for the territory’s creation in Washington, DC.</p> <p>In his inaugural address, Gilpin said, “our territory will be [bi]sected by the grandest work of all time,” a “transcontinental railway” that will “draw the travel and commerce of all the nations, and all the continents of the world.” Copies of the speech were given out across the territory. There was even a Spanish version in the San Luis Valley that referred to Gilpin as “Guillermo Guilpin.”</p> <p>Gilpin worked closely with the legislature. Together they created a tax system, roads, police, schools, and universities. Gilpin was involved in publishing the first map of the territory. He also developed irrigation systems. The legislature divided the territory into seventeen counties. They named one Gilpin County.</p> <p>Gilpin leaned on the expertise of Indian agents, such as Lafayette Head. Gilpin feared that Colorado’s Indians would band together. If they did, the Indians could assault the territory or assist the Confederacy. Gilpin preferred to deal peacefully with Native Americans, especially those who had agreed to the Fort Wise Treaty.</p> <h2>Confederate Crisis</h2> <p>The Confederate threat was perhaps Gilpin’s greatest challenge. Colorado was filled with southerners who had come during the Gold Rush. Some had arrived after fighting for slavery in Kansas during the 1850s. By September 1861, there were about 6,000 Coloradans “with Confederate proclivities.” Gilpin stopped a scheme to sell Colorado guns and ammunition to the Confederate Army. He set up a jail for Confederates in Denver. He also got army posts to supply guns and ammunition for the territory’s defense.</p> <p>The gravest threat appeared in July 1861. Confederate general Henry H. Sibley began organizing an army in Texas. Sibley intended to invade New Mexico and Colorado. Gilpin petitioned the federal government for resources to raise an army. His requests were denied. In August 1861 he received orders from the army’s Western Department Headquarters to “increase your force to 1,000 men.” Gilpin created two regiments of Colorado Volunteers. He illegally offered vouchers amounting to $375,000 from the US Treasury. The Confederates advanced in 1862. The Volunteers turned back Sibley’s men at Glorieta Pass in New Mexico.</p> <p>Gilpin’s actions saved the Colorado and New Mexico territories from falling to the Confederacy. But the soldiers wanted their money. The federal government refused to redeem Gilpin’s vouchers. This turned people against Gilpin. Gilpin’s political rivals seized on the unrest. They argued that Gilpin had raised an expensive force to meet an exaggerated Confederate threat. They petitioned Lincoln to replace Gilpin as governor.&nbsp; On March 18, 1862, the president agreed. Gilpin was replaced with John Evans of Illinois. Gilpin remained in office until May. This left him enough time to welcome his victorious volunteers back to Denver.</p> <h2>Later Life</h2> <p>After the Civil War, Gilpin made a small fortune on land deals in Colorado and New Mexico. In 1874 he married Julia Pratt Dickerson of St. Louis. They had three children.</p> <p>Gilpin and his wife disagreed over everything. The couple separated in 1887. Gilpin devoted his later life to promoting a global railroad route across the Bering Strait. He died in Denver on January 20, 1894.</p> <h2>Legacy</h2> <p>Gilpin is credited for bringing order to the territory. He raised the troops to defend it from the Confederacy. Gilpin was a Western “booster.” His writings and speeches helped hasten the Euro-American settlement of the West.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-10th-grade--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-10th-grade.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-10th-grade.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-10th-grade field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-field-10th-grade"><p>William Gilpin (1815–94) served as the first governor of Colorado Territory in 1861–62. As governor during the Civil War, Gilpin illegally raised the Colorado Volunteers. They were Union troops who turned back a Confederate Army at Glorieta Pass in 1862. Raising the volunteers cost Gilpin his job. However, it saved the territory and its goldfields from falling into Confederate hands.</p> <p>Before serving as governor, Gilpin was a member of the US Army. He fought in the Seminole Wars in Florida. Gilpin also accompanied army explorer John C. Frémont through Colorado in 1843. Today, Gilpin is remembered as one of the most significant founders of Colorado.</p> <h2>Early Life</h2> <p>William Gilpin was born in 1815 into a large Delaware Quaker family. He was home-schooled and became partial to history, poetry, and geography. When he was twelve, his father sent him to school in England for two years. In 1833 Gilpin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. Afterwards, he went on a series of military adventures. These included a semester at West Point in 1834–35. Gilpin then took part in Florida’s Seminole Wars in 1836. He journeyed across the Rockies with John C. Frémont in 1843. He participated in a campaign to protect the Santa Fé Trail from Indian attacks during the Mexican-American War in 1847.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <h2>Champion of the West</h2> <p>By the 1850s, Gilpin had settled in Missouri. He gained a reputation as a passionate orator and booster of western settlement. In speeches, Gilpin talked about America’s Manifest Destiny. According to Gilpin, “to subdue the continent” was a “divine task” that would bring the United States to the pinnacle of world civilization. At the time, many Americans believed the West was a “Great American Desert.” Gilpin emphasized the potential of the land west of the Mississippi.</p> <p>After its Gold Rush in 1858–59, Colorado lay at the center of Gilpin’s vision for the future of the country. He imagined a worldwide railroad network that spanned from Denver across the Bering Strait to Asia and Europe. In his mind, Colorado’s mineral wealth would be the linchpin of this industrial American empire.</p> <h2>Governor of Colorado</h2> <p>The US government organized Colorado Territory in 1861. Many in the territory believed that the governor post would go to Denver founder William Larimer, Jr. However, President Abraham Lincoln needed to gain favor in an important border state before the Civil War. Lincoln chose Gilpin at the recommendation of Missouri governor Frank Blair.</p> <p>Preoccupied with the looming Civil War and without much money to send with him, President Lincoln ordered Gilpin to Denver in the spring of 1861. When Gilpin arrived on May 27, he faced a multitude of challenges. There were rival cities vying to become the new territory’s capital. Immigrants feared Indian attacks. A southern secession movement threatened Colorado’s future as part of the United States.</p> <p>The lack of funds did not deter Gilpin. He organized the territorial courts. The courts legitimized laws within Colorado’s mining districts. The legislature began its first session on September 9, 1861. The legislature met in Denver. However, the mining camp of Colorado City (part of present-day Colorado Springs) was named the territory’s capital. Its residents had successfully lobbied for the territory’s creation in Washington, DC.</p> <p>In his inaugural address, Gilpin said, “our territory will be [bi]sected by the grandest work of all time,” a “transcontinental railway” that will “draw the travel and commerce of all the nations, and all the continents of the world.” Copies of the speech were distributed throughout the territory. There was even a Spanish version in the San Luis Valley that referred to Gilpin as “Guillermo Guilpin.”</p> <p>Gilpin worked closely with the legislature to establish a tax system, roads, police, schools, and universities, including the University of Colorado. He was directly involved in publishing the first map of the territory, developing irrigation systems, and incorporating water companies. The legislature divided the territory into seventeen counties, naming one Gilpin County.</p> <p>As the territory’s superintendent of Indian affairs, Gilpin leaned on the expertise of Indian agents, such as Lafayette Head. Gilpin feared that Colorado’s Indians would band together to assault the territory or assist the Confederacy. Gilpin preferred to deal peacefully with Native Americans, especially those who had agreed to the Fort Wise Treaty.</p> <h2>Confederate Crisis</h2> <p>The Confederate threat was perhaps Gilpin’s greatest challenge. Colorado was filled with southerners who had come during the Gold Rush. Some had arrived after fighting for slavery in neighboring Kansas during the 1850s. By September 1861, the territory’s chief justice, B. F. Hall, reported to Lincoln that there were about 6,000 Coloradans “with Confederate proclivities.” Gilpin thwarted a Southern sympathizer’s scheme to sell Colorado arms and ammunition to the Confederate Army. He set up a jail for Confederates in Denver. He also got other army posts to supply guns and ammunition for the territory’s defense.</p> <p>The gravest threat appeared in July 1861. Confederate general Henry H. Sibley began organizing an army in Texas to invade New Mexico and Colorado. As the Confederates advanced in 1862, Gilpin petitioned the federal government for resources to raise an army. His requests were denied, even though in August 1861 he received orders from the army’s Western Department Headquarters to “increase your force to 1,000 men.” Gilpin created two regiments of Colorado Volunteers. He illegally offered vouchers amounting to $375,000 from the US Treasury. That March, the Volunteers turned back Sibley’s Confederates at Glorieta Pass in New Mexico.</p> <p>Gilpin’s quick action saved the Colorado and New Mexico territories from falling to the Confederacy. But in the meantime, the soldiers wanted their money. The federal government refused to redeem Gilpin’s vouchers. This turned his constituents against him. Gilpin’s political rivals in Colorado seized on the unrest. They argued that Gilpin had raised an expensive force to meet an exaggerated Confederate threat. They petitioned Lincoln to replace Gilpin as governor.&nbsp; On March 18, 1862—eight days before the troops Gilpin raised gave the Union a decisive victory at Glorieta Pass—the president agreed. Gilpin was replaced with John Evans of Illinois. Gilpin remained in office until May. This left him enough time to welcome his victorious volunteers back to Denver.</p> <h2>Later Life</h2> <p>After the Civil War, Gilpin made a small fortune in land deals in Colorado and New Mexico. In 1874 he married Julia Pratt Dickerson of St. Louis. They had three children.</p> <p>Gilpin’s marriage was tumultuous. He and his wife disagreed over everything from child-rearing to where their charitable donations should go. Gilpin and Dickerson separated in 1887. He devoted much of his later life to promoting his idea for a global railroad route across the Bering Strait. Gilpin died in Denver on January 20, 1894.</p> <h2>Legacy</h2> <p>Although a few later observers chose to focus on Gilpin’s financial misadventures and removal, Gilpin biographer Thomas L. Karnes and Colorado historian Thomas J. Noel credit Colorado’s first governor for bringing order to the territory and raising the troops to defend it from the Confederacy. Along with Horace Greeley, Gilpin can be considered the quintessential Western “booster” whose writings and speeches undoubtedly helped hasten the Euro-American conquest of the West.</p> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Wed, 15 Jan 2020 22:10:31 +0000 yongli 3115 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org