Fort Bliss Monitor

Guardians of the Pass – the story of the U.S. Army in El Paso

William Wallace Smith Bliss, 1815-1853, veteran of the Florida Indian War, Mexican American War and private secretary and son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor (seated) later became adjutant general of the Western Department. He died of yellow fever at the age of 37. The army named Fort Bliss in his honor in 1854.

Editor’s note: The birthday of Fort Bliss is approaching and The Monitor will feature a multipart series taken from “Guardians of the Pass, The story of the U.S. Army in El Paso.” We hope the series informs our readers to the longstanding history and friendship Fort Bliss and the El Paso community has shared over the years.

William Wallace Bliss Smith
1815- 1853

William Wallace Smith Bliss was born in Whitehall, N.Y., in 1815, the son of Captain John Bliss, an 1811 graduate of West Point. He was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy from New Hampshire and graduated 9th in his class in 1833.

While at the academy he earned the nickname “Perfect Bliss” because of his overall scholastic excellence that included the command of several languages and because of his attention to the smallest grooming detail and uniform appearance.

Following graduation he was assig-ned to the 4th Infantry and saw duty at Fort Mitchell, Ala. From 1833-34 he served in action against the Cherokee Nation.

In 1834 he returned to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as an assistant professor of mathematics. He occupied this post for six years, gaining a reputation as a scholar as well as a Soldier. He earned several honorary degrees and awards for his scholastic achievements.

Bliss was sent to fight against the Seminoles during the Florida War. During this period he was assigned as Chief of Staff to the Commanding General, General Zachary Taylor. In 1841 he was appointed Assistant Adjutant General of the 16th Military District at Fort Jesup, La. He accompanied General Taylor to the Grand Council of Indian Tribes in Oklahoma.

He served as Chief of Staff for General Taylor from 1845-49. From 1845-46 he was with the general during the Military Occupation of Texas. From 1846-47 he saw action in the Mexican War and was cited for gallantry in action during the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey and Buena Vista. He received the Gold Medal from the State of New York for these actions.

He returned from the Mexican War as a brevet lieutenant colonel and, Dec. 5, 1849, less than a month after General Taylor’s election to the Presidency of the United States, Bliss married the President’s daughter, Betty. Taylor’s other daughter had married Jefferson Davis, then a young Army officer and later the Confederate States of America President.

Bliss was named private secretary to President Taylor in 1849. When Taylor died after six months in office, Bliss returned to the Army as Adjutant General of the Western Department in New Orleans. He was stricken with yellow fever and died Aug. 5, 1853. He was 37.

Army officials decided to honor him by naming the new post at Magoffinsville after him. General Orders No. 4, War Department, Washington, D.C., March 8, 1854, state:

“The Military Post near El Paso, will be hereafter known as Fort Bliss.”

The story does not end at this point. In 1954, a retired Fort Bliss colonel and his wife discovered that the cemetery in which Bliss was buried was being removed so that a new depot and freeway could be built on the site. Concerned El Pasoans and Fort Bliss personnel negotiated with Christ Episcopal Church, New Orleans and Louisiana officials to move Bliss’ body and his monument to Fort Bliss.

Bliss’ body was reburied at the Fort Bliss National Cemetery in the fall of 1955 with full military honors. His monument, with renovations done by the Memorial Arts Monument Company of El Paso, was dedicated during special ceremonies at Howze Field, near the corner of Adair and Pershing Roads.

Chapter 1 - In the Beginning

Spain controlled the American Southwest when the first U.S. soldiers visited the El Paso area. The occasion was detailed in the journal of Capt. Zebulon Pike, who led an expedition to explore portions of the Louisiana Purchase along the Arkansas and Red Rivers in July of 1806.

His party inadvertently strayed north and west of their intended destination and entered the Rocky Mountains near present day Colorado Springs, Colo., in the early fall. When the weather turned cold and caused several in the party to succumb to frostbite, Pike and those still able to march trekked out of the high mountains into the San Luis Valley near the headwaters of the Rio Grande.

Assistance sought from the Spanish in Santa Fe materialized in the form of troops who placed Pike’s expedition under arrest. After questioning and examination of their documents, it was determined they would have to be presented to higher authorities for final disposition. For the Spanish in New Mexico this was in Chihuahua City, more than 500 miles to the south.

Disarmed and marched down the Rio Grande along the Camino Real (Royal Road) the Americans were generally well treated. Stopping in El Paso del Norte (present day Juarez) March 21, 1807, the Americans and their captors rested for several days. Pike noted the orchards, cultivated fields and pastures, the livestock, and the friendliness of the inhabitants of the area. After further questioning in Chihuahua, they were marched across Texas to the Spanish/American border at Natchitoches, La., and released July 1. Pike’s account of the expedition was published in 1810 and provided valuable intelligence on the region that would, in time, come under the sovereignty of the U.S.

It would be 39 years before the next representatives of the United States Army would arrive at the Pass of the North. The intervening years were filled with establishing ourselves as a nation to be respected internationally and internally. The War of 1812, Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, the resettlement of the Five Civilized Tribes to Oklahoma, and the Seminole Indian War in Florida kept the Army gainfully employed until tensions with Mexico brought the Southwest back into the national consciousness. Annexation of the Republic of Texas caused Mexico to break diplomatic relations with the U.S. and led to sending a strong American force under Zachary Taylor to Texas just north of the Rio Grande across from Matamoros, Mexico. A larger force of Mexican regulars crossed the river and were defeated at the Battles of Palo Alto and Reseca de Palma. The United States used this series of events to declare war May 13, 1846, with seizure of all Mexican territory north of the Rio Grande and the Gila River westward to the Pacific Ocean as objectives.

Col. Stephen Kearny was charged with executing the war in the west and took Santa Fe Aug. 18. Marching south down the Rio Grande, Kearny divided his forces leaving Col. Alexander Doniphan of the 1st Missouri Mounted Volunteers at Val Verde, taking the main body westward to California. Dec. 12, Col. Doniphan, after a short campaign against the Navajos in northwest New Mexico, led his troops southward down the river toward El Paso del Norte. Mexican forces totaling more than 1,200 regulars, national guard, and volunteers assembled at the Pass under the command of Lt. Col. Luis Vidal who assured them the American forces they would have to face were a rag tag outfit of no more than three or four hundred. Christmas Day an estimated 600 Mexican troops placed under Lieutenant Col. Antonio Ponce de Leon moved north to destroy the invaders, in what they believed would be an easy victory. Vidal kept the other half of his force at the Pass improving fortifications at the narrows (present site of the La Hacienda Café and historic fording site of the Rio Grande).

Doniphan’s main force had made an early camp at Brazitos (near present day Vado, New Mexico) about thirty miles upriver from El Paso del Norte, and were waiting for the trail elements to close when the Mexican force was sighted. The Americans, numbering an estimated 500, rapidly assembled and prepared for battle. Colonel de Leon sent an officer forward demanding Doniphan accompany him into the Mexican line. When he offered to meet halfway, the Mexican officer ordered him to surrender his forces or they would be killed without quarter. Undaunted, the leader of the Missouri Volunteers refused the terms and the Mexicans immediately advanced. The ensuing fight, called the Battle of Brazitos, lasted about thirty minutes with the Mexicans suffering an estimated 100 killed and wounded. The Americans had seven wounded and no fatalities. Superior leadership, marksmanship, and fighting spirit prevailed, and the routed Mexican forces stopped only long enough in El Paso del Norte to panic their comrades, commandeer supplies and horses from the residents, and continue their flight south.

When Doniphan’s forces entered the Pass on the 27th, they were warmly received and shown every courtesy by the townspeople. Not hearing from Gen. Wool, leader of an American army coming from the east, whose forces he was to join for a campaign in Chihuahua, Doniphan ordered his troops to occupy the town until reinforcing artillery arrived from Santa Fe. For 42 days many of the largely undisciplined Missourians enjoyed the good life of El Paso del Norte engaging in gambling, dancing, drinking, and brawling to pass the time. Feb. 1, 1847, the artillery arrived and a week later, the Americans advanced on Chihuahua City. A numerically superior Mexican force was met and again routed at the Battle of Sacramento, on the outskirts of Chihuahua, Feb. 28. After a short occupation of the city, the Missourians, who had volunteered for a year’s service, mustered out and departed Mexico, marching east through Saltillo then by boat to New Orleans.

Col. Sterling Price, newly installed military governor of New Mexico, leading another volunteer force from Missouri, were the next soldiers to arrive at the Pass Nov. 8, 1847. After three months of inactivity, and believing rumors that a Mexican army was staging in Chihuahua, Price decided to take matters into his hands and marched into Chihuahua again; occupying the state capitol. Hearing unofficially that the war had ended, he nevertheless, pursued an inferior force led by Governor Trías and soundly defeated them at Santa Cruz de Rosales, causing their surrender in the last battle of the Mexican-American War. Unfortunately, the battle was fought forty-two days after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed ending the war. Receiving official word the war was over, Price’s force returned to the United States through El Paso del Norte and across the new international boundary - the Rio Grande.

The Post Opposite El Paso, 1849-1851, founded by Maj. Jefferson Van Horne and troops from the 3rd Infantry Regiment on land leased from Benjamin Franklin Coons.

Chapter 2 - The First Post

At the conclusion of the Mexican American War with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo the United States assumed responsibility for the security of its newest possession - the American Southwest; comprising the present states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. To this end, General Order No. 58 was issued by the War Department Nov. 7 1848, declaring “…the six companies of the [3rd] Regiment now in Texas, will, as soon as the necessary reconnaissance can be made in the direction of El Paso, be put enroute for that post.”

Successful reconnaissance efforts encouraged by Gen. William J. Worth, commander of the Eighth Military District in San Antonio, and led by Texas Ranger veterans Robert S. Neighbors and John S. “Rip” Ford in the north and by Lieutenants W.F. Smith and W.H.C. Whiting of the Corps of Topographical Engineers in the south, opened the Upper and Lower Roads, respectively, across West Texas. The Lower Road ran along a trail previously marked by John Coffee Hays through the Big Bend country to Presidio, then followed the Rio Grande to the Pass of the North. It was along this route the Regimental Headquarters and six companies traveled, pursuant to Orders No. 8, issued by the Headquarters of the 8th and 9th Departments in San Antonio Feb. 3, 1849, to establish an outpost in the vicinity of El Paso del Norte.

June 1, 1849, saw Maj. Jefferson Van Horne marching Companies A, B, C, E, I, and K, the regimental staff, a howitzer battery, a party of surveyors and road builders, a mixed herd of 2,500 head of livestock, and an undetermined number of immigrants, across 673 miles of dry and rugged terrain before reaching the Rio Grande five miles below El Paso del Norte Sept. 8, after one hundred days of travel. Scouting the area for a week, Van Horne selected a site and marched into what is now downtown El Paso Sept. 14, 1849, establishing the first United States Army garrison at the pass on land and buildings rented from Benjamin Franklin Coons. It became known as the Post Opposite El Paso, referring to El Paso del Norte across the river in Mexico. Brevet Maj. William S. Henry and Companies I and K, and the howitzer battery, occupied the presidio at San Elizario, twenty miles to the southeast the next day.

The first post returns indicate the area was considered part of the Department of New Mexico and it was not until the next year that Congress established the 32nd Parallel of Latitude as the boundary between Texas and New Mexico, thereby placing the Post Opposite El Paso in Texas. The garrison consisted of the regimental staff (1 officer and 13 troops), Company A (1 officer and 42 troops commanded by Brevet Lt. Col. Louis S. Craig), Company B (3 officers and 34 troops commanded by Brevet Maj. Oliver L. Sheperd), Company C (2 officers and 43 troops commanded by Capt. William E. Johns), and Company E (2 officers and 39 Soldiers commanded by Brevet Maj. Jefferson Van Horne, who was also the post commander). Companies I and K at San Elizario were commanded by Brevet Lt. Col. Daniel T. Chandler and Brevet Maj. Henry.

The regimental staff was ordered to departmental headquarters in Santa Fe, Nov. 1, 1849, and the soldiers at the Pass immediately began executing a wide variety of missions. Company E moved against Apaches threatening the copper mines near Santa Rita. Companies A and C pulled escort duty, meeting supply trains at the crossing sites on the Pecos River and providing security from there to post. With the transfer of Company B to Doña Ana Dec. 4, there were only five officers and 124 troops left to man the garrison and conduct external operations until the spring of 1850. At that point Company A went on extended duty to Socorro from May 13 to Nov. 13, then was tasked to escort the Boundary Survey Commission as it established the international border westward to California.

The units at San Elizario were also on the move. Sept. 28, 1850, Company K exchanged posts with Company C from the Post Opposite El Paso because their commander, Maj. Henry, became seriously ill; dying the following March. Company I was also reassigned to Cebollita Sept. 3, 1850, leaving one company in San Elizario and two companies at the Pass.

Indian depredations in the El Paso area decreased dramatically after the establishment of the garrison to the point the Army decided to send the units closer to the remaining areas of hostility in the region. The decision to abandon the Post Opposite El Paso and the Presidio at San Elizario was also an economic one. There were now 11 lightly manned forts along the Rio Grande and consolidation was seen as a cost effective solution. In September of 1851 the troops were transferred to Fort Fillmore near Mesilla (Headquarters and Companies A, E and K); Fort Conrad near Valverde (Company B); Fort Union (D and G Company and the howitzer battery); Camp Burgwin at Taos (H Company); and Fort Defiance (C, F, and I Company). Upon completion of the survey mission, Company A began the long trek back from the Pacific coast. Encountering two Army deserters in the Sonora Desert east of Fort Yuma, Lt. Col. Craig offered to intercede on their behalf. Instead of accepting his help they killed him.
|
The findings of the Boundary Commission were rejected by members of Congress because of the compromise reached between John Russell Bartlett, head of the American commission, and his Mexican counterpart, Gen. Pedro García Conde. The map used during negotiations of the Guadalupe Hildalgo Treaty to establish the border west of the Rio Grande placed El Paso del Norte too far north and the river too far east. The agreement to extend the line west from the Rio Grande forty-two miles north of the Pass left most of the fertile Mesilla Valley in Mexico.

The rejection of the Bartlett-Conde line, and the subsequent threat of the territorial governor of New Mexico to seize the area by force, caused Chihuahua Governor Trías to deploy with 750 Soldiers to El Paso del Norte. President Pierce replaced New Mexico Governor William C. Lane and appointed James Gadsden as minister to Mexico to negotiate a settlement.

“Guardians of the Pass – The story of the U.S. Army in El Paso” will continue in next week’s edition of The Monitor.

The 208th Signal Company returned to Fort Bliss last week after nearly a month at Fort Polk. The 3rd Infantry Div. will be deploying to Southwest Asia in late 2004 or early 2005.



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	October 14, 2004

	Guardians of the Pass – the story of the U.S. Army in El Paso William Wallace Smith Bliss, 1815-1853, veteran of the Florida Indian War, Mexican American War and private secretary and son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor (seated) later became adjutant general of the Western Department. He died of yellow fever at the age of 37. The army named Fort Bliss in his honor in 1854. Editor’s note: The birthday of Fort Bliss is approaching and The Monitor will feature a multipart series taken from “Guardians of the Pass, The story of the U.S. Army in El Paso.” We hope the series informs our readers to the longstanding history and friendship Fort Bliss and the El Paso community has shared over the years. William Wallace Bliss Smith 1815- 1853 William Wallace Smith Bliss was born in Whitehall, N.Y., in 1815, the son of Captain John Bliss, an 1811 graduate of West Point. He was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy from New Hampshire and graduated 9th in his class in 1833. While at the academy he earned the nickname “Perfect Bliss” because of his overall scholastic excellence that included the command of several languages and because of his attention to the smallest grooming detail and uniform appearance. Following graduation he was assig-ned to the 4th Infantry and saw duty at Fort Mitchell, Ala. From 1833-34 he served in action against the Cherokee Nation. In 1834 he returned to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as an assistant professor of mathematics. He occupied this post for six years, gaining a reputation as a scholar as well as a Soldier. He earned several honorary degrees and awards for his scholastic achievements. Bliss was sent to fight against the Seminoles during the Florida War. During this period he was assigned as Chief of Staff to the Commanding General, General Zachary Taylor. In 1841 he was appointed Assistant Adjutant General of the 16th Military District at Fort Jesup, La. He accompanied General Taylor to the Grand Council of Indian Tribes in Oklahoma. He served as Chief of Staff for General Taylor from 1845-49. From 1845-46 he was with the general during the Military Occupation of Texas. From 1846-47 he saw action in the Mexican War and was cited for gallantry in action during the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey and Buena Vista. He received the Gold Medal from the State of New York for these actions. He returned from the Mexican War as a brevet lieutenant colonel and, Dec. 5, 1849, less than a month after General Taylor’s election to the Presidency of the United States, Bliss married the President’s daughter, Betty. Taylor’s other daughter had married Jefferson Davis, then a young Army officer and later the Confederate States of America President. Bliss was named private secretary to President Taylor in 1849. When Taylor died after six months in office, Bliss returned to the Army as Adjutant General of the Western Department in New Orleans. He was stricken with yellow fever and died Aug. 5, 1853. He was 37. Army officials decided to honor him by naming the new post at Magoffinsville after him. General Orders No. 4, War Department, Washington, D.C., March 8, 1854, state: “The Military Post near El Paso, will be hereafter known as Fort Bliss.” The story does not end at this point. In 1954, a retired Fort Bliss colonel and his wife discovered that the cemetery in which Bliss was buried was being removed so that a new depot and freeway could be built on the site. Concerned El Pasoans and Fort Bliss personnel negotiated with Christ Episcopal Church, New Orleans and Louisiana officials to move Bliss’ body and his monument to Fort Bliss. Bliss’ body was reburied at the Fort Bliss National Cemetery in the fall of 1955 with full military honors. His monument, with renovations done by the Memorial Arts Monument Company of El Paso, was dedicated during special ceremonies at Howze Field, near the corner of Adair and Pershing Roads. Chapter 1 - In the Beginning Spain controlled the American Southwest when the first U.S. soldiers visited the El Paso area. The occasion was detailed in the journal of Capt. Zebulon Pike, who led an expedition to explore portions of the Louisiana Purchase along the Arkansas and Red Rivers in July of 1806. His party inadvertently strayed north and west of their intended destination and entered the Rocky Mountains near present day Colorado Springs, Colo., in the early fall. When the weather turned cold and caused several in the party to succumb to frostbite, Pike and those still able to march trekked out of the high mountains into the San Luis Valley near the headwaters of the Rio Grande. Assistance sought from the Spanish in Santa Fe materialized in the form of troops who placed Pike’s expedition under arrest. After questioning and examination of their documents, it was determined they would have to be presented to higher authorities for final disposition. For the Spanish in New Mexico this was in Chihuahua City, more than 500 miles to the south. Disarmed and marched down the Rio Grande along the Camino Real (Royal Road) the Americans were generally well treated. Stopping in El Paso del Norte (present day Juarez) March 21, 1807, the Americans and their captors rested for several days. Pike noted the orchards, cultivated fields and pastures, the livestock, and the friendliness of the inhabitants of the area. After further questioning in Chihuahua, they were marched across Texas to the Spanish/American border at Natchitoches, La., and released July 1. Pike’s account of the expedition was published in 1810 and provided valuable intelligence on the region that would, in time, come under the sovereignty of the U.S. It would be 39 years before the next representatives of the United States Army would arrive at the Pass of the North. The intervening years were filled with establishing ourselves as a nation to be respected internationally and internally. The War of 1812, Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, the resettlement of the Five Civilized Tribes to Oklahoma, and the Seminole Indian War in Florida kept the Army gainfully employed until tensions with Mexico brought the Southwest back into the national consciousness. Annexation of the Republic of Texas caused Mexico to break diplomatic relations with the U.S. and led to sending a strong American force under Zachary Taylor to Texas just north of the Rio Grande across from Matamoros, Mexico. A larger force of Mexican regulars crossed the river and were defeated at the Battles of Palo Alto and Reseca de Palma. The United States used this series of events to declare war May 13, 1846, with seizure of all Mexican territory north of the Rio Grande and the Gila River westward to the Pacific Ocean as objectives. Col. Stephen Kearny was charged with executing the war in the west and took Santa Fe Aug. 18. Marching south down the Rio Grande, Kearny divided his forces leaving Col. Alexander Doniphan of the 1st Missouri Mounted Volunteers at Val Verde, taking the main body westward to California. Dec. 12, Col. Doniphan, after a short campaign against the Navajos in northwest New Mexico, led his troops southward down the river toward El Paso del Norte. Mexican forces totaling more than 1,200 regulars, national guard, and volunteers assembled at the Pass under the command of Lt. Col. Luis Vidal who assured them the American forces they would have to face were a rag tag outfit of no more than three or four hundred. Christmas Day an estimated 600 Mexican troops placed under Lieutenant Col. Antonio Ponce de Leon moved north to destroy the invaders, in what they believed would be an easy victory. Vidal kept the other half of his force at the Pass improving fortifications at the narrows (present site of the La Hacienda Café and historic fording site of the Rio Grande). Doniphan’s main force had made an early camp at Brazitos (near present day Vado, New Mexico) about thirty miles upriver from El Paso del Norte, and were waiting for the trail elements to close when the Mexican force was sighted. The Americans, numbering an estimated 500, rapidly assembled and prepared for battle. Colonel de Leon sent an officer forward demanding Doniphan accompany him into the Mexican line. When he offered to meet halfway, the Mexican officer ordered him to surrender his forces or they would be killed without quarter. Undaunted, the leader of the Missouri Volunteers refused the terms and the Mexicans immediately advanced. The ensuing fight, called the Battle of Brazitos, lasted about thirty minutes with the Mexicans suffering an estimated 100 killed and wounded. The Americans had seven wounded and no fatalities. Superior leadership, marksmanship, and fighting spirit prevailed, and the routed Mexican forces stopped only long enough in El Paso del Norte to panic their comrades, commandeer supplies and horses from the residents, and continue their flight south. When Doniphan’s forces entered the Pass on the 27th, they were warmly received and shown every courtesy by the townspeople. Not hearing from Gen. Wool, leader of an American army coming from the east, whose forces he was to join for a campaign in Chihuahua, Doniphan ordered his troops to occupy the town until reinforcing artillery arrived from Santa Fe. For 42 days many of the largely undisciplined Missourians enjoyed the good life of El Paso del Norte engaging in gambling, dancing, drinking, and brawling to pass the time. Feb. 1, 1847, the artillery arrived and a week later, the Americans advanced on Chihuahua City. A numerically superior Mexican force was met and again routed at the Battle of Sacramento, on the outskirts of Chihuahua, Feb. 28. After a short occupation of the city, the Missourians, who had volunteered for a year’s service, mustered out and departed Mexico, marching east through Saltillo then by boat to New Orleans. Col. Sterling Price, newly installed military governor of New Mexico, leading another volunteer force from Missouri, were the next soldiers to arrive at the Pass Nov. 8, 1847. After three months of inactivity, and believing rumors that a Mexican army was staging in Chihuahua, Price decided to take matters into his hands and marched into Chihuahua again; occupying the state capitol. Hearing unofficially that the war had ended, he nevertheless, pursued an inferior force led by Governor Trías and soundly defeated them at Santa Cruz de Rosales, causing their surrender in the last battle of the Mexican-American War. Unfortunately, the battle was fought forty-two days after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed ending the war. Receiving official word the war was over, Price’s force returned to the United States through El Paso del Norte and across the new international boundary - the Rio Grande. The Post Opposite El Paso, 1849-1851, founded by Maj. Jefferson Van Horne and troops from the 3rd Infantry Regiment on land leased from Benjamin Franklin Coons. Chapter 2 - The First Post At the conclusion of the Mexican American War with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo the United States assumed responsibility for the security of its newest possession - the American Southwest; comprising the present states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. To this end, General Order No. 58 was issued by the War Department Nov. 7 1848, declaring “…the six companies of the [3rd] Regiment now in Texas, will, as soon as the necessary reconnaissance can be made in the direction of El Paso, be put enroute for that post.” Successful reconnaissance efforts encouraged by Gen. William J. Worth, commander of the Eighth Military District in San Antonio, and led by Texas Ranger veterans Robert S. Neighbors and John S. “Rip” Ford in the north and by Lieutenants W.F. Smith and W.H.C. Whiting of the Corps of Topographical Engineers in the south, opened the Upper and Lower Roads, respectively, across West Texas. The Lower Road ran along a trail previously marked by John Coffee Hays through the Big Bend country to Presidio, then followed the Rio Grande to the Pass of the North. It was along this route the Regimental Headquarters and six companies traveled, pursuant to Orders No. 8, issued by the Headquarters of the 8th and 9th Departments in San Antonio Feb. 3, 1849, to establish an outpost in the vicinity of El Paso del Norte. June 1, 1849, saw Maj. Jefferson Van Horne marching Companies A, B, C, E, I, and K, the regimental staff, a howitzer battery, a party of surveyors and road builders, a mixed herd of 2,500 head of livestock, and an undetermined number of immigrants, across 673 miles of dry and rugged terrain before reaching the Rio Grande five miles below El Paso del Norte Sept. 8, after one hundred days of travel. Scouting the area for a week, Van Horne selected a site and marched into what is now downtown El Paso Sept. 14, 1849, establishing the first United States Army garrison at the pass on land and buildings rented from Benjamin Franklin Coons. It became known as the Post Opposite El Paso, referring to El Paso del Norte across the river in Mexico. Brevet Maj. William S. Henry and Companies I and K, and the howitzer battery, occupied the presidio at San Elizario, twenty miles to the southeast the next day. The first post returns indicate the area was considered part of the Department of New Mexico and it was not until the next year that Congress established the 32nd Parallel of Latitude as the boundary between Texas and New Mexico, thereby placing the Post Opposite El Paso in Texas. The garrison consisted of the regimental staff (1 officer and 13 troops), Company A (1 officer and 42 troops commanded by Brevet Lt. Col. Louis S. Craig), Company B (3 officers and 34 troops commanded by Brevet Maj. Oliver L. Sheperd), Company C (2 officers and 43 troops commanded by Capt. William E. Johns), and Company E (2 officers and 39 Soldiers commanded by Brevet Maj. Jefferson Van Horne, who was also the post commander). Companies I and K at San Elizario were commanded by Brevet Lt. Col. Daniel T. Chandler and Brevet Maj. Henry. The regimental staff was ordered to departmental headquarters in Santa Fe, Nov. 1, 1849, and the soldiers at the Pass immediately began executing a wide variety of missions. Company E moved against Apaches threatening the copper mines near Santa Rita. Companies A and C pulled escort duty, meeting supply trains at the crossing sites on the Pecos River and providing security from there to post. With the transfer of Company B to Doña Ana Dec. 4, there were only five officers and 124 troops left to man the garrison and conduct external operations until the spring of 1850. At that point Company A went on extended duty to Socorro from May 13 to Nov. 13, then was tasked to escort the Boundary Survey Commission as it established the international border westward to California. The units at San Elizario were also on the move. Sept. 28, 1850, Company K exchanged posts with Company C from the Post Opposite El Paso because their commander, Maj. Henry, became seriously ill; dying the following March. Company I was also reassigned to Cebollita Sept. 3, 1850, leaving one company in San Elizario and two companies at the Pass. Indian depredations in the El Paso area decreased dramatically after the establishment of the garrison to the point the Army decided to send the units closer to the remaining areas of hostility in the region. The decision to abandon the Post Opposite El Paso and the Presidio at San Elizario was also an economic one. There were now 11 lightly manned forts along the Rio Grande and consolidation was seen as a cost effective solution. In September of 1851 the troops were transferred to Fort Fillmore near Mesilla (Headquarters and Companies A, E and K); Fort Conrad near Valverde (Company B); Fort Union (D and G Company and the howitzer battery); Camp Burgwin at Taos (H Company); and Fort Defiance (C, F, and I Company). Upon completion of the survey mission, Company A began the long trek back from the Pacific coast. Encountering two Army deserters in the Sonora Desert east of Fort Yuma, Lt. Col. Craig offered to intercede on their behalf. Instead of accepting his help they killed him. \| The findings of the Boundary Commission were rejected by members of Congress because of the compromise reached between John Russell Bartlett, head of the American commission, and his Mexican counterpart, Gen. Pedro García Conde. The map used during negotiations of the Guadalupe Hildalgo Treaty to establish the border west of the Rio Grande placed El Paso del Norte too far north and the river too far east. The agreement to extend the line west from the Rio Grande forty-two miles north of the Pass left most of the fertile Mesilla Valley in Mexico. The rejection of the Bartlett-Conde line, and the subsequent threat of the territorial governor of New Mexico to seize the area by force, caused Chihuahua Governor Trías to deploy with 750 Soldiers to El Paso del Norte. President Pierce replaced New Mexico Governor William C. Lane and appointed James Gadsden as minister to Mexico to negotiate a settlement. “Guardians of the Pass – The story of the U.S. Army in El Paso” will continue in next week’s edition of The Monitor. The 208th Signal Company returned to Fort Bliss last week after nearly a month at Fort Polk. The 3rd Infantry Div. will be deploying to Southwest Asia in late 2004 or early 2005.