Mohave War
The Mohave War was an armed conflict between the Mohave people and the United States from 1858 to 1859. With the California Gold Rush of 1849, thousands of American settlers headed west through Mohave country and into California. The influx of migrants passing through, combined with simple misunderstandings, led to conflict. Fort Mohave on the Arizona side of the Colorado River was built for operations against the Mohave and was the second American military post established on the river after Fort Yuma. Eventually advantages in weaponry and tactics brought the Mohave and their allies to surrender. After the signing of a peace treaty in 1859, the Mohave no longer opposed the United States through warfare. The peace also ended a long guerrilla war between the Mohave and the Maricopa of south central Arizona.
Battle of Beale's Crossing
In 1857, President James Buchanan appointed Edward Fitzgerald Beale to survey and build a 1,000 mile road from Fort Defiance in northern New Mexico Territory, to the Colorado River. The road was meant for immigrants, traveling to the California gold fields and crossed the Colorado at Beale's Crossing within Mohave territory. Beale's Crossing in 1857 was little more than a shallow point in the river until a party of emigrants known as the Rose-Baley Party arrived. The wagon train set out from Santa Fe and when they got to the Colorado, they made camp and built a dock for the construction of rafts to ferry the heavier wagon equipment across. Chiefs Irataba, Cairook and Sickahot approached the American settlers and in a pow wow the Mohave asked the party's leader, L. J. Rose if they intended to build a town along the river. Rose responded with no and informed the chiefs that they were headed for California and would only be staying for a short while.Tension arose when the Mohave learned that the Bailey company would be coming through just after the Rose company, so they began stealing cattle for the meat. The Americans noticed that some of their herd had gone missing and when they caught the Mohaves in the act L. R. Rose confronted them, but the Mohave responded as though it was a joke. Also, near the American camp was a patch of cottonwood trees that belonged to the Mohave who used it for buildings and clothing. Rose and his men did not realize that the trees were Mohave property so they were cut down and used to build the rafts. When the Mohave discovered that their valuable cottonwoods had been disturbed, they responded by attacking the settlers with their Walapai allies. The Rose Party included dozens of women and children with only twenty-five men at arms fighting against hundreds of Mohave warriors. The Walapai with a small bunch of Mohaves focused on attacking four women and children held up in a cabin built in the mountains outside of the camp while the main Mohave force attacked the camp itself. In the end seventeen warriors were killed and left on the battlefield while the Americans lost one killed, Alpha Brown, and eleven seriously injured. The settlers won the day by repulsing the Mohave attack but they lost most of their livestock and instead of crossing the border into California, they turned around and went back to New Mexico.
Irataba and his band of Mohaves, who had been key in establishing peace at the end of the Yuma War, were against conflict with the United States and later Irataba became a high-ranking leader among his people after helping end the Mohave War. The war with the Maricopa was also ongoing and this was a major reason why Irataba was for cooperating with the Americans. Irataba's opinion was not accepted in 1858 though, other important chiefs were for war with the United States, including Cairook and Sickahot. The other chiefs were highly popular among their warriors so Irataba was powerless to stop them.
First Mohave Expedition
News of the battle at Beale's Crossing reached the media quickly followed by the United States War Department and General Newman S. Clarke in Los Angeles. Clarke sent Lieutenant Colonel William Hoffman of the 6th Cavalry on an expedition to Beale's Crossing to build a post for protecting settlers crossing the Colorado. Hoffman set out from a ranch in Cajon Canyon on December 28, 1858, hoping to make it across the Mohave Desert along the Mohave Road before the heat of summer could set in.In January 1859, Hoffman was encamped with his fifty men near Beaver Lake. Chief Cairook was in the area with about 300 men and the two sides encountered one another in an Indian war skirmish known as the Battle of Beaver Lake. The American camp was surrounded but accurate musket fire proved deadly for the Mohaves and ten to twelve were seen to fall according to Hoffman's account. The Americans went back to base after this fight without establishing a post on the Colorado. On March 1, Lieutenant Samuel A. Bishop was sent from Los Angeles to deliver fresh supplies to Lieutenant Edward Beale who was working on his road in northern Arizona. With thirty-eight men on camels and several wagons and mules, the column was met at Cave Canyon in the Mohave Desert by employees of the Central Overland Mail company and soon after by 1,500 warriors. The Mohaves opened fire on the small troop of Americans but they reportedly missed their targets intentionally but later moved in closer for a deliberate attack. In the ensuing skirmish, two natives were wounded by musketry, one of whom died later on. Lieutenant Bishop decided it would be best to send the wagons back to the coast while he successfully proceeded to Beale's camp.