A look at Arizona's first capital

As the centennial of Arizona statehood (Feb. 14, 2012) races toward us, it's appropriate to look at some heritage sites that discuss the creation of the 48th state. The first of these might as well be the first governor's mansion, which came shortly after Arizona became a territory in its own right.

President Abraham Lincoln signed off on a bill which admitted an area which had come into the possession of the United States in 1848 (the part north of the Gila River) and in 1853 (south of the Gila) as a territory separate from New Mexico on Feb. 24, 1863 in great part because the Union cause needed the precious metals the land produced. The Confederacy had admitted Arizona as a territory in 1861.

The capital was located at the newly established Ft. Whipple, originally near Chino Valley but soon moved to a site near present-day Prescott. Gen. James H. Carleton (leader of the California Column, which maintained a Union presence in Arizona during the Civil War) had just been given military command of the area and he sent two companies to establish a post in Chino Valley.

They arrived Dec. 23, 1863, establishing the post and naming it for Brig. Gen. Amiel Weeks Whipple (West Point Class of 1841), who had fallen in the battle of Chancellorsville, a stunning Union defeat, in May of that year. As a lieutenant in the U.S. Topographical Engineers before the war, Whipple had become familiar with the area when he helped survey for a proposed railroad through northern Arizona along the 35th parallel as early as 1853.

(As a point of trivia, Whipple's first fight in the Civil War was at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), which included a who's who of past and future Arizona history-makers. Whipple, then a captain, worked directly for Gen. Irvin McDowell, who led the Army of Northeastern Virginia in that rout and who was namesake of Fort McDowell in Maricopa County; commanding the 3rd Division was Col. Samuel P. Heintzelman, who had extensive mining interests in Arizona before the war and who was an unceasing lobbyist for creating the Arizona territory; commanding his 2nd Brigade was Col. Orlando B. Willcox, who later would chase Apaches and would get a city in Cochise County named in his honor; commanding the 3rd Brigade was Col. O.O. Howard, who later would make peace with Cochise; and another brigade commander was Col. W.T. Sherman, who later would direct the Indian wars in the West.)

At Ft. Whipple, in the summer of '64, a log house was built as the governor's "mansion." The first two governors of the Arizona Territory, John N. Goodwin and Richard C. McCormick, would live here. It would cease being the seat of government when the capital was moved to Tucson in 1867. The mansion became a private residence, was purchased by the State in 1917 and it would become a museum in 1928.

Now it's part of the Sharlott Hall Museum, one of the finest "small" city museums in Arizona. Here are some reading opportunities if you want to learn more about the generals or about Arizona history in overview.