Hi Joe,
No, I haven't seen that before. Very cool pics from you and Paul. I have a map around here somewhere that has enough detail to show where each building was, I'll post it if I can track it down. If you don't already have it
A few years back I did some digging on the movements of Sherrod Hunter's advance cavalry force that went along the river burning supplies before the California column got there. Kind of a cool spy story. Ammi White, the owner of White's Mill, had prior knowledge of the CA column's advance into the territory, and their planned route. He had purchased a bunch of foodstuffs etc. from the Indians and pre-positioned it for them.
At the same time, the Confederates also had a spy somewhere and learned what White was up to. So they went along the river and burned all the supplies, just before the Californians got there...they timed it so there would be no time to replace the supplies...they actually saw the Union troops coming while they were destroying supplies at Stanwix Station, so they turned back at that point.
They went back to White's Mill, took Ammi White prisoner as a spy, then changed into civilian clothes. Soon enough, an advance force of Union troops showed up at White's Mill. One of the Confederates was impersonating White. The Confederates took the Union Capt. prisoner, then took him and White back to New Mexico as POW's.
They weren't held long, as that Union column took charge in NM territory (which included AZ at the time) after the Battle of Glorieta Pass and it's leader, Col. Carleton, was placed in charge of the territory. He was a general then, IIRC.
One of those Confederate troops that burned the supplies on the Gila, and escorted the POWs back to NM, was none other than Jack Swilling.
The story of how Jack Swilling, Jacob Snively (of Lost Adams Diggins), Hunter and Baylor got together and raised troops leading up to the Civil War is quite interesting.
Carleton had been informed that Snively was a Confederate spy and was trying to lay hands on him. Strangely enough, Carleton allowed Swilling to roam freely in NM Territory...which kind of suggests that he and Swilling had come to some sort of agreement. Keep in mind that Carleton had imposed martial law, and nobody was allowed loose in the territory without written permission from him. One also had to swear an oath of loyalty to the Union in Santa Fe. So why was Swilling allowed to go free?
My theory is that Swilling knew Mangas Coloradas, and Carleton wanted that guy bad. This is kind of supported by the fact that Swilling joined the Walker Party at Santa Fe, and the first thing they did was link up with some Army troops and take Mangas prisoner.
I wonder if the Confederates buried any thing on their hasty retreat out of AZ?
White's Mill and the Adamsville area was where they started moving fast back to NM proper.
Caveat: This is all from memory, which isn't the best these days
