The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 84, July 1980 - April, 1981 Page: 18
502 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
In early September, 1846, James Magoffin and party began their
march down the Rio Grande in the hope that a settlement with the
Mexican officials could be negotiated and peace restored. But on Sep-
tember 27, 1846, Sebastian Bermidez, the prefect of El Paso del Norte,
reported that don Santiago Magoffin, a naturalized Mexican citizen,
and four others had been detained by the juez de paz of Dofia Ana and
ordered to El Paso del Norte under escort, where they were to be
placed under arrest, their final disposition to be decided by the juez
of El Paso del Norte. All of Magoffin's wagons, equipment, and papers,
said Bermidez, had been carried off by the Apaches at Brazito. Finally,
the prefect said that he was greatly concerned about the possibility that
Kearny and his army of 2,ooo might proceed to California by way of
El Paso del Norte.43
Documents in the Juarez Archives indicate that all of Magoffin's
personal effects were recovered and inventoried in El Paso del Norte.
The documents also reveal that Henry Connelly and Francis McManus
were captured with Magoffin, and that all of them, highly suspect in
the eyes of Mexican officials, were to be sent under heavy guard to be
confined at the presidio of Carrizal.44
Juarez historian Armando Chavez has published a document, dated
October 12, 1846, which indicates that on at least one occasion the
higher authorities in Chihuahua, doubting the ability of Mexican
forces to resist successfully the coming invasion because of the lack of
arms, horses, and munitions, decided in favor of a systematic retreat,
the employment of a guerrilla-style warfare, and the destruction of all
resources that could be utilized by the invader. Such a strategy, how-
ever, even if it was seriously considered, was discarded in favor of
making a stand north of El Paso del Norte in an effort to halt the ad-
vance of a force of Missouri volunteers under the command of Colonel
Alexander Doniphan. "The sacrilegious invaders of Mexico are ap-
proaching the city of El Paso," Governor Trias told some soldiers he
has assembled in Chihuahua, and "it is necessary that you go--you de-
fenders of the honor and glory of the Republic, that you may give a
lesson to these pirates." Then, after alluding to a report which he had
received of dissension and insubordination in the local militia at El
48Connelley, Doniphan's Expedition, 198-i99; Susan Magoffin, Down the Santa Fe
Trail, xxvii; Sebastian Bermudez to the governor of Chihuahua, Sept. 27, 1846, Ponce de
Le6n, Reseilas histdricas, 336.
44Documents concerning Magoffin's capture and an inventory of his personal effects are
in the JuArez Archives, Reel 60, frames 49-55, 39, 150, 172.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 84, July 1980 - April, 1981, periodical, 1980/1981; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101225/m1/38/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.