Brevet Maj. General James Henry Carleton (USA)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Henry_Carleton

James Henry Carleton (December 27, 1814 – January 7, 1873) was an officer in the Union army during the American Civil War. Carleton is most famous as an Indian fighter in the southwestern United States.

Biography

Carleton was born in Lubec, Maine. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant of the Maine militia in the Aroostook War and took part in the Mexican-American War. He served in the 1st U.S. Dragoons in the American West, participating as a Lieutenant in a friendly expedition in 1844 to the Pawnee and the Oto.

Mountain Meadows Massacre

In May 1859, Brevet Major J.H Carleton leading K Company of the First Dragoons Fort Tejon CA escorted Major Henry Prince, paymaster U.S.A. with government funds to the Southern Utah Territory. Arriving at Mountain Meadows, the command rendezvoused with the Santa Clara Expedition of the Department of Utah from Camp Floyd under the command of Captain Ruben Campbell who had arrived in the area the previous week. With orders from General Clarke, commander of the Department of California, to bury the victims of the massacre that occurred in September 1857, the dragoons gathered the remains of 34 found scattered on the plain and buried them in one mass grave. A crude monument was constructed of rocks with a cross of cedar and an engraved marker. Assistant Surgeon Charles Brewer of the Santa Clara Expedition was in charge of a burial detail that had interred the remains of 39 in three mass graves a few days before the arrival of K Company. After an investigation of the incident, Major Carleton felt his findings were of such merit to warrant the issuance of a Special Report to Major W. W. Mackall, Assistant Adjutant-General, U.S.A., San Francisco, California. Major Carleton concluded that Mormons, some dressed as Indians, had murdered and plundered the possessions of 120 men, women, and children of a California bound emigrant train with the assistance of Paiute Tribesmen. In 1860, Major Carleton, attacked suspected Paiute raiders along the Mojave Road with a reinforced 1st Dragoons, Company K.

Civil War Service

In 1861 Carleton raised and was appointed colonel of the 1st California Volunteer Infantry Regiment. In October 1861, Colonel Carleton replaced Brigadier General George Wright as commander of the District of Southern California. In 1862 he led the so-called California Column across California, Arizona, New Mexico, and into Texas. Along the way the Californians fought the Battle of Picacho Pass and, afterward, the Battle of Apache Pass. Carleton was promoted to Brigadier General of volunteers on April 28, during the march from California to Arizona. He also established Fort Bowie near Apache Pass. Carleton finally linked up with Union forces under General Edward R. S. Canby in New Mexico. After the Confederate threat to New Mexico seemed to have been eliminated, Canby and many of the Union forces were sent to the east; so, in late August, Carleton was placed in command the Department of New Mexico. Because of uncertainty as to whether the Confederates would try to re-invade New Mexico, Carleton took measures such as maintaining spies along the New Mexico-Texas border and retaining the services of volunteer units from Colorado which had played a prominent role in expelling the Confederates from New Mexico in the winter and spring of 1862.

During his tenure as department commander, Carleton was mainly concerned with Indian threats. His primary field commander was Colonel Christopher "Kit" Carson. Carleton campaigned relentlessly against the Indians, and although he was strong on discipline, he was popular with his men. Against the Navajo he elected scorched earth tactics. Carleton's campaigning brought the depradations of the Navajo to an end at Canyon de Chelly, and was followed by the "Long Walk". Carleton next sent Carson on an expedition to rid the southwest of Indian raids which resulted in the Battle of Adobe Walls. Carleton was appointed brevet major general in the regular army in 1865, the same year that the Civil War ended. He retained command of his volunteer troops until 1866 when U.S. Regulars took over in the West. Carleton served as a lieutenant colonel of the 4th U.S. Cavalry after the war.

Literary Efforts and Death

Carleton wrote several books on the military: The Battle of Buena Vista (1848), Diary of an Excursion to the Ruins of Abo, Quarra, and the Grand Quivira in New Mexico in 1853 (1855) and The Prairie Log Books (posthumous, 1944). It was partly on the strength of The Battle of Buena Vista that Carleton received an appointment from Secretary of War Jefferson Davis in 1856 to make a study of European cavalry tactics. Carleton did not make the trip abroad himself, but based his report on the observations of Gen. George B. McClellan who had recently returned from Europe. One of Carleton's children, Henry Guy Carleton (1852–1910) was a journalist, playwright, and inventor. General Carleton died in San Antonio, Texas, and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts; his son, Henry was later buried beside him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Henry_Carleton

James Henry Carleton (December 27, 1814 – January 7, 1873) was an officer in the U.S. Army and a Union general during the American Civil War. Carleton is best known as an Indian fighter in the southwestern United States.

Biography

Carleton was born in Lubec, Maine. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1839, during the Aroostook War, and took part in the Mexican–American War. He served in the 1st U.S. Dragoons in the American West, participating as a lieutenant in an 1844 expedition to the Pawnee and the Oto. One of Carleton's children, Henry Guy Carleton (1852–1910) was a journalist, playwright, and inventor.

Mountain Meadows Massacre

In May 1859, Maj. Carleton and K Company of the 1st Dragoons out of Fort Tejon, California, were detailed to escort Maj. Henry Prince, a paymaster with government funds, to the Southern Utah Territory. Arriving at Mountain Meadows, the command rendezvoused with the Santa Clara Expedition of the Department of Utah from Camp Floyd under the command of Capt. Ruben Campbell. With orders from Gen. Newman S. Clarke, commander of the Department of California, to bury the victims of the September 1857 massacre, the dragoons gathered and buried the remains of 34 in a mass grave. A crude monument was constructed of rocks, with a cedar cross and an engraved marker. Assistant Surgeon Charles Brewer of the Santa Clara Expedition was in charge of a burial detail that had interred the remains of 39 in three mass graves a few days before the arrival of K Company.

After investigating the incident, Carleton felt his findings were significant enough to deliver as a special report to Maj. W. W. Mackall, Assistant Adjutant-General, U.S.A., San Francisco, California. Carleton concluded that Mormons, some dressed as Indians, and assisted by Paiute tribesmen, had murdered and plundered the possessions of 120 men, women, and children of a California-bound emigrant train.

In 1860 Carleton, with a reinforced 1st Dragoons, Company K, led the Bitter Spring Expedition, which attacked and killed several suspected Paiute raiders along the Los Angeles – Salt Lake Road and Mojave Road.

Civil War service

In 1861 Carleton raised and was appointed colonel of the 1st California Volunteer Infantry Regiment. In October 1861, Col. Carleton replaced Brigadier Gen. George Wright as commander of the District of Southern California. In 1862 he commanded the so-called California Column during its advance across California, Arizona, New Mexico, and into Texas.

Carleton was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on April 28, during the march from California to Arizona. Along the way the Californians fought the Battle of Picacho Pass and captured Tucson in Arizona. Then marched east engaging the Apache for the first time at the Battle of Apache Pass. As a result, he established Fort Bowie near Apache Pass to guard this critical place on the road between the Colorado and Rio Grande Rivers.

The advance force of the California Column reached the Rio Grande at abandoned Fort Thorn, New Mexico on July 4, finally linking up with Union forces under Gen. Edward R. S. Canby. Carleton's troops were delayed two weeks by a huge flood of the river that year, eventually crossed at San Diego Crossing and with followed after the rearguard of Sibley's Confederate army through El Paso as far as Fort Davis, seizing control of southern New Mexico of most of West Texas.

After the Confederate threat to New Mexico seemed eliminated, Canby and many of the Union forces were sent to the east and in late August, Carleton was placed in command of the Department of New Mexico. Although a strict disciplinarian, he remained popular with his men. Uncertain whether the Confederates would re-invade, Carleton took measures such as maintaining spies along the New Mexico–Texas border and retaining the services of volunteer units from Colorado which had played a prominent role in expelling the Confederates from New Mexico in winter and spring 1862. In fall 1862 Carleton also decreed several security measures including internal passports, curfews, and martial law.

War Against the Mescalero Apache

While New Mexico department commander, Carleton concentrated on the threat posed by Apache and Navajo raiders. His first campaign was against the Mescalero Apache led by Mangas Coloradas. It was led by Christopher "Kit" Carson, leading New Mexican militia and California Volunteers. In October 1862, Carleton established Fort Sumner to house captured Mescalero Apache, despite warnings of its unsuitability for a large human presence.

One notorious quote by Carleton on the Mescalero Apache:

All Indian men of that tribe are to be killed whenever and wherever you can find them. … If the Indians send in a flag of truce say to the bearer ... that you have been sent to punish them for their treachery and their crimes. That you have no power to make peace, that you are there to kill them wherever you can find them.

This policy was followed, even to those under a flag of truce. In January 1863, Mangus Coloradas agreed to meet with U.S. military leaders at Fort McLane, near present-day Hurley in southwestern New Mexico. Mangas Coloradas arrived under a white flag of truce to meet with Colonel Joseph Rodman West, an officer of the California Volunteers. Armed soldiers took him into custody, and West is reported to have ordered the sentries to execute the Apache leader. That night Mangas Coloradas was tortured with heated bayonets, shot and killed, as he was "trying to escape." The following day, soldiers cut off his head, boiled it and sent the skull to the Smithsonian Institution. The mutilation of Coloradas' body increased the hostility of the Apache toward the United States.

Navajo Campaign

Next Carleton concentrated on the Navajo. Against the "great evil" of Navajo raiders he began scorched earth tactics, stating they "must be whipped and fear us before they will cease killing and robbing the people." His campaign against the Navajos was relentless, with his primary field commander being Col. Carson. After the Navajo surrender at Canyon de Chelly, the entire nation was forced on the Long Walk to Fort Sumner. Carleton found "severity would be the most humane course" and felt expropriating the Navajo was in their best interests. After the journey 2,000 Navajos remained unaccounted for, with official records stating 336 died along the way.

Carleton used Fort Sumner, which already held many Mescalero Apaches, to house the Navajos, despite warnings of its unsuitability for such a large human presence.

War with the Comanche and Kiowa

Carleton next sent Carson on an expedition to rid the southwest of raids by Comanche and their Kiowa allies, which resulted in the Battle of Adobe Walls.

1865–1866

Near the end of the Civil War in 1865, Carleton was breveted major general in the regular army. He retained command of his volunteer troops until 1866 when U.S. Regulars took over in the West. After the war, Carleton became a companion of the New York Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

Later life, literary efforts and death

After his discharge from the Volunteer Army, Carleton was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 4th U.S. Cavalry in July 1866.

Carleton wrote several books on the military: The Battle of Buena Vista (1848), Diary of an Excursion to the Ruins of Abo, Quarra, and the Grand Quivira in New Mexico in 1853 (1855) and The Prairie Log Books (posthumous, 1944). Partly on the strength of The Battle of Buena Vista Carleton received an appointment from Secretary of War Jefferson Davis in 1856 to make a study of European cavalry tactics. Carleton did not make the trip abroad himself, but based his report on the observations of Capt. George B. McClellan, recently returned from Europe.

Carleton died January 7, 1873, aged 59, in San Antonio, Texas, serving with the 4th Cavalry Regiment in his permanent rank of lieutenant colonel. He was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts; his son Henry was later buried beside him.

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James Henry Carleton, soldier, son of John and Abigail (Phelps) Carleton, was born at Lubec, Maine, on December 27, 1814. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Maine militia in 1838 and participated in the boundary dispute with Canada known as the Aristook War. He received appointment as a second lieutenant in the First Dragoons on October 18, 1839, and then trained at Carlisle Barracks.

In October 1840 he married Henrietta Tracy Loring of Boston. Henrietta accompanied Carleton to his duty assignment at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, where she died in October 1841. Later in the 1840s Carleton served as assistant commissary of subsistence at Fort Leavenworth, accompanied Maj. Clifton Wharton's expedition to the Pawnee Villages in Nebraska, served as an officer on Col. Stephen Watts Kearny's 1845 expedition to South Pass, and saw action in 1847 in the battle of Buena Vista.

In 1848 Carleton married Sophia Garland Wolfe, niece of Gen. John Garland. During the 1850s Carleton served under Garland in New Mexico Territory. In 1859 he was ordered to Salt Lake City to investigate the massacre at Mountain Meadows (1857).

Stationed in California at the outbreak of the Civil War, Carleton became brigadier general in the California volunteers and commanded the California Column on its march to the Rio Grande. In September 1862 he replaced Gen. Edward R. S. Canby as commander of the Department of New Mexico. One of Carleton's first acts upon assuming command was to reissue Canby's order establishing martial law in New Mexico. He also devised a passport system to distinguish loyal citizens from Confederate spies. Although Carleton never attempted to set himself up as a military governor, he believed he had authority to carry through any policy he deemed essential to the peace and prosperity of the territory. Many of his actions antagonized the citizens.

In addition to securing the territory against Confederate intrigue, Carleton took steps to subdue hostile Indian tribes. He sent Col. Kit (Christopher) Carson and other subordinates against the Mescalero Apaches with orders to kill all Indian men "whenever and wherever you can find them." By February 1863 the Mescaleros had been relocated on the new Indian reservation of Bosque Redondo on the Pecos River. Carleton then waged war against the Navajos, ordering Carson and other officers to destroy all crops in Navajo country to starve them into submission. Carleton's strategy brought immediate results. Some 8,000 Navajos surrendered and then made the "Long Walk" to Bosque Redondo, where Carleton planned to turn them into Christian farmers. The Bosque Redondo experiment ended in failure, however. The Mescaleros quietly fled the reservation, and the Navajo captives faced death, disease, and a constant shortage of food. The cost of maintaining Bosque Redondo persuaded the government to allow the Navajos to return to their homeland. Carleton's policies became ensnarled in territorial politics. Although his superiors believed him an efficient and capable officer, hostile criticism led to his reassignment early in 1867. He later joined his regiment, the Fourth United States Cavalry, in Texas.

He died in San Antonio on January 7, 1873. Carleton and his second wife, Sophia, had five children; two died in childhood. Carleton published several accounts of his military experiences. His oldest son, Henry Guy Carleton, became a journalist, playwright, and inventor.