Benjamin Franklin Davis: Service in the 1st U S Dragoons, Part II

While most of the 1st Dragoons who were stationed at Camp Moore were on campaign against the Apache in May and June 1857 the post at Camp Calabasas was abandoned and moved closer to Tucson. Fort Buchanan, named in honor of President James Buchanan, was established in June 1857 40 miles from Tucson and 25 miles northeast of Camp Moore “on a slightly timbered bench above the junction of the Sonoita and Santa Cruz Rivers” in what is now Santa Cruz County, Arizona.

Accommodations at Fort Buchanan were primitive at best. Like most frontier forts erected in the era the buildings were not surrounded by walls or palisades because “they were designed primarily as shelter for small communities of officers, enlisted men, family members and civilian camp followers rather than defensive structures” which enabled the Indians to roam about the grounds at will, especially at night. In a February 1859 “Sanitary Report - Fort Buchanan, (Arizona), Assistant Surgeon B. I. D Irwin noted “Fort Buchanan consists of a series of temporary jacal (jackal) buildings, which have been erected from time to time, over a distance of a half mile, and built without any regard to the permanent occupation of the present immediate location. The site of these buildings is irregularly elevated some thirty or forty feet above the level of the surrounding cienega, a swampy morass which encircles it on the east, south and western aspect. The structures used as quarters for the men, most of those used by the officers, the laundresses quarters, storerooms, and workshops are formed of pickets placed perpendicular to the ground, the chinks filled with mud, and the roofs covered with the same material. The chinking remains only long enough to dry, shrink and tumble out, never to be replaced.” The rooms were low, narrow and lacked, neatness, comfort and ventilation.

Health and morale at Fort Buchanan were chronically low throughout the years the site was occupied, in part because the post was very remote but also because the fort had been established in an area that was inherently unhealthy. The marshy cienegas (springs) where malarial mosquitoes breeding grounds. According to Surgeon and Medical Director William J. Sloan intermittent and remittent fever was prevalent, especially during the rainy season.

Grimes Davis continued in command of Company B, 1st Dragoons at Fort Buchanan throughout September 1857. Alfred B. Chapman of Company K was absent on leave. Another classmate Horace Randall was also at Fort Buchanan assigned to Company G, 1st Dragoons.

On October 31, 1857, a little less than a year after the original event occurred, 2nd Lt. Davis wrote a letter to the the Adjutant General in Washington D.C., in response to correspondence he had received from that office. He noted in his letter “I have just received a letter from the War Department informing me that I have been reported to the President for dismissal for non rendition of accounts for the 3rd quarter of 1856.” Davis continues his response by noting “the only accounts which I had open with the government at that time, was for three hundred dollars of quartermaster money received from Lieutenant (Milton) Cogswell, AAQM, 8th Infantry, at Fort Stanton, N.M., about the 10th of August. This money was for the purchase of forage for the company whilst in route to (Arizona). As the command did not arrive there until sometime in November it was not convenient to make out the account until the last quarter of 1856. The returns were then sent to the proper office, but through some neglect, without the necessary explanation…In conclusion I would state that all my accounts with the government of whatever nature will be closed by this mail.” Davis letter would be received in the office of the Adjutant General January 2, 1858 and must have resolved any issues regarding his dismissal from the service.

The remainder of 1857 passed without notice. January 1858 saw both Captain John W. Davidson and 2nd Lieutenant Benjamin F. Davis away from Fort Buchanan on detached service. 1st Lt. Orren Chapman remained at the fort in command of the enlisted men of Company B who were there present for duty. He was sick much of the time however. Both Davidson and Davis left the fort on January 30, 1858. Davidson returned on the 1st. Grimes Davis was back at the fort on the 6th. Both men left again on February 15 and did not return until March 7. They were probably out scouting however the returns are not specific as to their whereabouts. By April 30, 1858 Benjamin Davis was in command of Company B at Fort Buchanan because both his superior officers were sick.

In early May 1858, the 72 enlisted men and 2 officers of Company B and the 71 rank and file and 3 officers of Company K, 1st Dragoons were transferred from Fort Buchanan, New Mexico to Fort Tejon, California in the Department of the Pacific, in accordance with General Order No. 5 Headquarters of the Army, issued January 27, 1858. The order specified “ Two companies of the 1st Dragoons at Fort Buchanan will remain to garrison the post. The other two only are transferred to the Department of the Pacific and will march for Yuma accordingly.” Companies B & K left Fort Buchanan May 11, 1858, in route to California. Companies D & G 1st Dragoons remained at Fort Buchanan.

Fort Tejon had been established in August 1854 in Grapevine Canyon about fifteen miles southwest of the Sebastian (Tejon) Indian Reservation south of present day Bakersfield, California. The wagon road running between San Francisco and Los Angeles ran in an east - west direction just north of the main complex. Joseph Mansfield noted in a February 1859 inspection report “the post is situated in the Paso de Las Uvas,… about six miles from the outlet into the Tulare or San Joaquin Valley at an elevation of about 2500 feet in vertical altitude above the valley; and in consequence is cold and damp, and an unpleasant climate through the whole fall, winter and spring, and on the 1st and 2nd of this month the ground was white with snow and ice.

The post is 374 miles from San Francisco, and 100 miles from Los Angeles, and all of its supplies are received through that place having first been landed at (the port of) San Pedro, and transported 25 miles by land. Thus 382 miles from Fort Yuma via Los Angeles, Temecula and Cariso Creek.

An August 13, 1858 article in the Baltimore Sun noted: “Captain John W. Davidson of the first dragoons with his command, consisting of companies B & K, numbering about 150 men, arrived at San Bernardino on the 18 ultimo (probably June 18, 1858) from Fort Buchanan having left that place on the 12th of May last. Lieutenants B. F. Davis and A. B. Chapman are with the command.” They would all arrive at Fort Tejon on July 7, 1858, having “joined by transfer from Fort Buchanan.”

On June 22, 1858, probably while at San Bernardino, Lt. Davis, Acting Assistant Quartermaster (AAQM), executed a contract with Phineas Banning, the owner of a stagecoach line and freighting business, who later in life would be known as “the father of the Port of Los Angeles”, for the transportation of supplies. Banning was to “furnish 5 10-mule teams, with good wagons, drivers, wagon-masters etc., each of the teams to be capable to convey 7000 pounds, of such supplies as shall be designated, from San Bernardino to Fort Tejon. The teams to leave the port of San Pedro on the 22nd of June 1858 and go to San Bernardino and load, and leave for Fort Tejon June 25, 1858. Compensation $30 per day for each team in going from and returning to San Pedro.”

On June 29, 1858 Davis signed a second contract with Banning again for the transportation of supplies. This contract called for Banning to furnish “1 10-mule team, wagon, driver, and wagon-master; the team to be capable to convey 7000 pounds of supplies from Los Angeles to Fort Tejon. The team to leave the port of San Pedro June 29, 1858 and to go to Los Angeles, and load, and leave there for Fort Tejon June 30, 1858. Compensation $30 per day from port San Pedro to Fort Tejon, and returning. (ibid)

When Company B and K, 1st Dragoons arrived at Fort Tejon on July 7, Company F was assigned to the fort. Company F was under the command of 2nd Lt. John T Mercer a classmate of Chapman and Davis. They had a short time to reminisce before Mercer and his command departed for Stockton, California on July 8.

Upon arrival at Fort Tejon 2nd Lieutenant Davis was appointed AAQM and Acting Assistant Commissary of Subsistence (AACS) for the fort, replacing 1st Lt. William T. Magruder who had previously held the positions. Grimes Davis would serve as the post AAQM and AACS until early December when the regimental quartermaster, 1st Lieutenant Henry Brevard Davidson, a Mexican War hero and 1853 West Point graduate, relieved him.

In early October 1858 Benjamin Davis was on detached service for a number of days, otherwise he appears to have remained at Fort Tejon most of the time from his arrival there in July through the end of December 1858. His duties as AAQM could have included being responsible for the civilian employees who worked at the fort including a wheelwright, six carpenters, four masons, a sawyer, three herders, four laborers and six teamsters.

One perk associated with being stationed at Regimental Headquarters of the 1st U. S. Dragoons was that the regimental band was there as were the field and staff officers. The band was probably made up of sixteen musicians in accordance with Army regulations. The regimental band of the 1st Dragoons was described by someone who saw it in September 1854 at Fort Union, New Mexico. An observer noted in his diary, “the band came out and played today. They were all mounted on black horses. They looked fine and played well. This is the first brass band I have heard since 1850. The first tunes played was “Old Folks at Home” and “Sweet Home.”

January 1859 finds 2nd Lieutenant B. F. Davis at Fort Tejon commanding Company B, 1st Dragoons up through January 8 when he is relieved by John Davidson who returned to the post from detached service. On January 9, 2nd Lieutenant Alfred B. Chapman, of Company K, was promoted to 1st Lieutenant of Company B, replacing Orren Chapman who had died January 6 in St. Louis. Chapman might not have received notice of this promotion until early April. He left Fort Tejon April 7 on leave and did not return until May 9 when he joined Company B from leave. Chapman’s promotion and transfer put Grimes Davis’s classmate immediately over him in the command structure of Company B.

In February 1859 Inspector General Joseph K. F. Mansfield arrived at Fort Tejon. He would remain at the post until March 3rd. While at the fort Mansfield reported on Company B. In an inspection report written March 5, 1859 and submitted to Bvt. Major General Irwin W. McDowell at Army Headquarters Mansfield report “Company B, 1st Dragoons, Captain J. W. Davidson (commanding) had been stationed here since July 1858. The company did not have a 1st Lieutenant. B. F. Davis served as 2nd Lieutenant. The company had 4 sergeants, 4 corporals, 1 farrier and 48 privates “of which 3 were sick, 7 confined and 16 on on extra duty and 57 horses.” 

Mansfield noted “the company is armed with Model 1833 (Ames) sabres, Sharps Carbines and Colt belt pistols. It was in uniform, except for the cap, of the old pattern. ( In 1858 a new uniform had been prescribed for the two regiments of dragoons consisting of a “refined” version of the 1854 jacket, dark blue trousers, and a new “Hardee” hat of stiff black felt with a folded brim, ostrich feather, orange cord and brass company letters.) No sword knots—was neat on inspection, and appeared with arms in order. There was a deficiency of clothing of all kinds - some had no stocks on. The company is quartered in a good adobe building, shingled; but the mess, room and kitchen, not yet worked in and a temporary one in use. There were no bunks yet made.”

Map Fort Tejon from Mansfield's 1859 Inspection Report 

“The horses were kept in temporary stables. There was no long forage on hand…For the last 7 months (the horses) have had but half long forage…The horses are daily herded on the scanty grass in the neighborhood within 8 miles. Barley is had in abundance.”

Mansfield’s report also described the Fort Tejon in some detail. He noted “There is no garden here, and no grazing of consequence for animals short of five miles. There is, however, a good spring of water, and abundant oak for fuel. It is particularly exposed to earthquakes, and every building is cracked by them; and on one occasion the gabled ends of two buildings were thrown down by earthquakes: in a few miles off, I saw an immense crack and crevice in the earth extending for many miles, caused recently by them…One person has been killed by the fall of an adobe building, and a cow has been swallowed up.


”On February 22 Mansfield reviewed and inspected Companies K & B of the 1st U. S. Dragoons. After the inspection and review were completed Mansfield noted the 2 companies of dragoons were “resolved into a squadron. I put Maj. (James H.) Carleton in command, in the absence of Lt. Col. Benjamin L. Beall at Los Angeles; and the following named officers to wit, Capt. J. W. Davidson, 1st Lieut. Charles H. Ogle, 2d Lieut. B.F. Davis, each in succession took the squadron through the various movements and the sabre exercise with the exception of the charge, which, with little practice they had it was deemed advisable not to attempt, and finally Major Carleton drilled the squadron as skirmishers both as mounted and dismounted. The squadron was broken up, and each company fired at the targets 6’ x 22” mounted, with Sharps carbine at 100 yards…They then fired at the same target 20 yards with Colts pistols and mounted…On the 23rd both Companies fired at the same target with Sharps carbines, on foot, at 100 yards…The men fired at will.”

“On the whole the military exercises were conducted by Major Carleton, and indicate a better state of military instruction and target firing in our service can be had if the rank and fire are properly instructed. These companies have been practicing at the targets preparatory to taking the field on the Mojave River, and Major Carleton on the day of my arrival, paid three premiums out of company fund for the 3 best shots.

                        Officers Quarters Fort Tejon (LOC image)

Benjamin Davis would remain at Fort Tejon through the early spring of 1859. On May 2, 1859 he left the post on detached service headed for San Francisco. He would not return until September 27. He could have gone overland some 300 miles to San Francisco or by ship from the Port of San Pedro. When exactly he arrived at the bay city is unclear. After arriving in San Francisco it is likely 2nd Lt. Davis went to Benecia Barracks and picked up the “35 recruits from Fort Walla Walla, (Washington Territory) in route to Fort Crook” that had arrived at the barracks on June 17 with 2nd Lt. George B. Dandy of the 3rd Infantry. Davis and 34 recruits left San Francisco in mid to late June traveling to Fort Crook in accordance with Special Order #56 Department of California, dated June 15, 1859.

Fort Crook, named after 1st Lieutenant George Crook of the 4th Infantry, was established on the north bank of the Falls River seven miles north of the Pitt River Ferry (Lockhart’s Ferry) in Shasta County on July 1, 1857, by Captain John W. T. Gardiner and forty-seven rank and file of Company A 1st Dragoons, to protect miners, settlers and travelers on the wagon road between Yreka and Red Bluffs, California. The post was established, in part, to address the murder of five white men, the burning of their homes, mill and two ferries by the Pitt River Indians earlier in the year in retaliation for depredation of the whites against Indian women.

After covering over 250 miles, Grimes Davis and his detachment of recruits arrived at Fort Crook, which was garrisoned by Companies A & F, 1st Dragoons, in July 1859. It was noted in the post returns “Lt Davis having lost the descriptive roll of these men, nothing definite is known regarding them.” Before leaving Fort Crook, to head back to San Francisco, Lt. Davis was probably able to catch up with two classmates from West Point, 1st Lt Milton T. Carr, Company A, 1st Dragoons and 2nd Lt. John T. Mercer of Company F.

Benjamin Davis was back in San Francisco, at the Presidio, by July 22, 1859. In a letter dated July 23, Headquarters, Presidio, Lt. Colonel Charles S. Merchant wrote, “I have the honor to report the departure on the 22nd of the U. S. troops under the command of 2nd Lt. B. F. Davis, 1st Dragoons.” Davis and the 32 recruits under his command, destined for Company C, 6th U. S. Infantry, were outbound on board the government transport brig (a two masted sailing vessel) Floyd for Yuma via the Port of San Pedro. Once the recruits got to San Pedro they could go overland to the mouth of the Colorado River where they could catch a steamboat for the 160 mile trip up the river to Fort Yuma.

In 1859 San Francisco city and county were the largest metropolitan areas in California, boasting a population of over 36,150 people in 1852 of which approximately 30,150 were white males. Los Angeles county and the city of Los Angeles, which were close to Fort Tejon, in contrast, had a population of about 7,800. Although everything was expensive in post gold rush era San Francisco it must have been exciting for young Benjamin Davis to spend a few days in the cosmopolitan city by the Golden Gate after spending most of the time since graduating from West Point in small, remote, isolated army posts with a few hundred army officers, enlisted men, contractors and camp followers.

The remainder of Company C, 6th U. S. Infantry had left the Presidio in San Francisco on July 15, just days before Davis sailed with his recruits. They arrived at Fort Yuma on August 1, 1859. The Returns for the 6th Infantry indicate Davis and his recruits arrived at Fort Yuma sometime in August 1859 as they were included on the months roster as present for duty.

By August 12 2nd Lieutenant Davis had another assignment. The post returns for Fort Tejon reported Davis on detached service since August 13 to the Colorado River in accordance with a post order dated August 12, 1859. It is unclear what this assignment entailed however, it would keep him away from Fort Tejon until September 27, 1859.

In his almost 5 months away from Fort Tejon on detached service Grimes Davis had traveled almost the entire length of the State of California. He went from Fort Tejon in Kern County to San Francisco, from San Francisco to Fort Crook in Shasta County, a distance of over 550 miles, and back to San Francisco, thence by sea to the port of San Pedro and on to Fort Yuma and finally back to Fort Tejon. One officer in charge of more than 30 recruits who at anytime might elect to desert and make a beeline for the gold fields. Not only did he have to keep the men in line he also probably had to take care of all the logistics for the expedition and ensure there was adequate food for the men and forage for their horses, if they had them of the trip between San Francisco and Fort Crook. It must have been an interesting, educational and at times trying summer for the young officer.

After returning to Fort Tejon Davis was back in command of Company B, 1st Dragoons for periods of time in October and November 1859. 1st lieutenant Milton T. Carr was transferred from Company A to Company B on September 27, replacing 1st Lt. Alfred Chapman who joined Company A. Carr would not join Company B at Fort Tejon until December 24, however. Captain John W. Davidson retained command of Company B. He had spent periods of the year on detached service campaigning against the Mojave, settling a despite at the San Sebastian Reservation and leading an expedition to Owens Lake River wherein the troops under his command marched 630 miles between July 21 and August 18.

To be continued.

Most of the information in this post comes from the "Returns from Military Posts, 1806-1916" and "U. S. Returns from Regular Army - Non Infantry Regiments, 1821 - 1916.


Mansfield's Inspection Report was downloaded from the following site. (Inspection Report and Muster Roll, Ft. Tejon 28 February 1859, downloaded January 18, 2020 from http://www.chargeofthedragoons.com/2009/09/fort-tejon-muster-28-february-1859/)