John Baylor

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John Robert Baylor

John Robert Baylor (born July 27, 1822 in Paris , Kentucky , † February 8, 1894 in Montell , Texas ) was an American politician and officer in the Confederate Army . He was under Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) military governor in the Arizona Territory .

Career

John Robert Baylor, son of Sophia Marie Weidner († 1862) and the US Army surgeon John Walker Baylor († 1835), was born in Bourbon County about seven years after the end of the British-American War and then lived in various army locations. He moved to Texas at the age of 18. In the course of time he became a prominent citizen there, in 1853 a member of the House of Representatives from Texas , editor of a newspaper called The White Man and Indian agent.

In 1861 he attended the Texas Secession Convention as a delegate. After the outbreak of the Civil War , he set up the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles in 1861 to attack the Union from the southwest. For this he led his men to the New Mexico Territory . After winning the First Battle of Mesilla and the surrender of Union forces in the territory, he proclaimed himself military governor of the Arizona Territory - a territory that encompassed the southern part of what is now New Mexico and Arizona . His position was confirmed by the Confederate Congress . A dispute over articles published in the Mesilla Times led to a confrontation with the editor, Robert P. Kelly, who then died as a result of his injuries. A member of Baylor's cabinet, Attorney General Marcus H. MacWillie , officially pardoned him. Baylor then promoted the election of MacWillie to the first Confederate Congress .

The attempts of the Apaches to drive away the white settlers moved Baylor to issue the following order:

"[U] se all means to persuade the Apaches or any tribe to come in for the purpose of making peace, and when you get them together kill all the grown Indians and take the children prisoners and sell them to defray the expense of killing the adult indians. Buy whiskey and such other goods as may be necessary for the Indians and I will order vouchers given to cover the amount expended. Leave nothing undone to insure success, and have a sufficient number of men around to allow no Indian to escape. "

There is no evidence that anyone ever followed this order. But when the news of this reached President Jefferson Davis, he immediately removed Baylor from his office as governor. His officer license was also revoked.

Baylor was later elected to the Second Confederate Congress. He joined the Confederate Army as a private and took part in the Battle of Galveston . He later got his officer's license as Colonel back and set up a new unit to recapture Arizona Territory at the end of the war.

After the end of the Civil War Baylor lived in San Antonio ( Bexar County ). In 1873 he suffered a defeat in the Democratic nomination for governor of Texas against Richard Coke (1829-1897). During the height of the Black Hills War with the Lakota - Sioux , he offered his services to the US Army in 1876. In 1878 he built a sizable ranch near Montell, Uvalde County , which subsequently flourished. However, he continued to get into violent confrontations. During a feud over cattle in the 1880s, he killed a man named Gilchrist in Ulvade County. Baylor was charged with first degree murder but acquitted in May 1881. He died at the age of 71 in Montell and was buried there in the Ascension Episcopal Cemetery .

family

Colonel George Baylor (1752–1784), who served in the Continental Army during the War of Independence , was his great-uncle. The Congressman Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor (1793-1874) was his uncle. The Baylor University in Waco ( McLennan County ) was named after him in honor. Colonel George Wythe Baylor (1832-1916), who shot his superior, General John A. Wharton (1828-1865), was his brother. John Robert Baylor married Emily Jane Hanna (1827–1917). The couple had at least three children together: Walker Keith (1847-1928), Elizabeth (1851-1931) and Albert Searcy (1869-1929).

literature

  • Thompson, Jerry Don: Colonel John Robert Baylor: Texas Indian Fighter and Confederate Soldier, Hillsboro, Texas: Hill Junior College Press, 1971
  • Allardice, Bruce S .: Confederate Colonels, University of Missouri Press, 2008
  • Allardice, Bruce S .: More Generals in Gray, Louisiana State University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-8071-3148-2
  • Katheder, Thomas: The Baylors of Newmarket: The Decline and Fall of a Virginia Planter Family, New York and Bloomington, Ind., 2009

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Robert Baylor on the website of azrebel.tripod.com
  2. ↑ Texas Facts and Fancies - The weekly democratic statesman, May 5, 1881
  3. ↑ George Wythe Baylor in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  4. ↑ Emily Jane Hanna Baylor in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  5. ^ Walker Keith Baylor in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  6. ↑ Elizabeth Baylor Affleck in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  7. ^ Albert Searcy Baylor in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved February 6, 2015.

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Baylor, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baylor, John Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician and officer in the Confederate Army
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1822
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris , Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 1894
Place of death Montell , Texas