Arizona. The principal interest of the trip, till the Mexican forces at
Tucson were encountered, then lay in an attack upon the marching column
by a number of wild bulls in the San Pedro Valley. It had been assumed
that Cooke would follow down the San Pedro to the Gila, but, on learning
that the better and shorter route was by way of Tucson, he determined
upon a more southerly course.


Capture of the Pueblo of Tucson

Tucson was garrisoned by about 200 Mexican soldiers, with two small brass
fieldpieces, a concentration of the garrisons of Tubac, Santa Cruz and
Fronteras. After some brief parley, the Mexican commander, Captain
Comaduron, refusing to surrender, left the village, compelling most of
its inhabitants to accompany him. No resistance whatever was made. When
the Battalion marched in, the Colonel took pains to assure the populace
that all would be treated with kindness. He sent the Mexican commander a
courteous letter for the Governor of Sonora, Don Manuel Gandara, who was
reported "disgusted and disaffected to the imbecile central government."
Little food was found for the men, but several thousand bushels of grain
had been left and were drawn upon. On December 17, the day after the
arrival of the command, the Colonel and after fifty men "passed up a
creek about five miles above Tucson toward a village (San Xavier), where
they had seen a large church from the hills they had passed over." The
Mexican commander reported that the Americans had taken advantage of him,
in that they had entered the town on Sunday, while he and his command and
most of the inhabitants were absent at San Xavier, attending mass.

The Pima villages were reached four days later. By Cooke the Indians were
called "friendly, guileless and singularly innocent and cheerful people."