Baird, a lawyer and former Indian Agent to the Navajos, was appointed Attorney General of New Mexico in 1860. After the war started, he was forced out of office due to his Southern sympathies. By March 1862, he was indicted for high treason and his property was confiscated. He fled New Mexico and, by 5 July 1862, had made his way to San Antonio where he opened up a law practice. In August, Baird’s law office was doubling as a recruiting base for a mounted ranger company for ousted-Arizona Gov. John Baylor’s proposed 2,000-man battalion to invade and recapture Arizona from the Union.
By April 1863, Baird was advertising to raise his own company of mounted recruits. Capt. Edward Conway was his recruiting captain and the company was intended to become part of the new 4th Regiment of the Arizona Brigade. Baird, 49, also recruited Dan Showalter and T. A. Wilson, two of the infamous California secessionists who had been captured by Union authorities in November 1861, imprisoned at Fort Yuma, then “escaped” to make their way to Texas through Mexico.
The first two companies, each with about 60 men, were organized in May, under Captains Wilson and William Rather. Recruiting efforts slumped after May, however, and Gen. Magruder expressed his impatience. A third company came together in July under Captain Conway. The three companies were based outside San Antonio at “Camp Mariposa,” named after the California county where Showalter and Wilson had been when the war started.
Despite a drop in available soldiers in Texas, Showalter wrote to headquarters that they were “constantly getting men… refugees from California & Arizona (who) had lost everything in making the trip overland…” By late July, Col. Baird received orders to send Conway’s Company C to District HQ to serve special detail under Maj. Dickinson and to send Showalter in command of Companies A and B on a recruiting patrol to Bonham, TX.
Returning three weeks later, Showalter reported there were no men left in the northern counties to recruit. Baird had managed to put together Company D as of 7 August, under Capt. Anizo Bradshaw, and two other companies, under Capts. Andrew Daly and Pablo Aldrete had transferred in to camp with the regiment but were never officially attached. Capt. Rather of Company B suggested moving their patrols to Austin, which Baird received permission to do by late August.
Despite a lack of weapons and horses, Baird remained at Austin scrounging up enough men to form a 5th official company, Company E, under Capt. Henry LeKeasler, in early October. On 7 October, he received approval to begin filling his ranks with conscripts. By Thanksgiving, he had mustered in 420 men and received orders to send Lt. Col. Showalter to northern Texas with Companies A, B and C on a rather mundane mission to Fort Washita in the Indian Territory to guard and transport Confederate prisoners from there to Brig. Gen. McCulloch at the northern HQ in Bonham.
Only 3 days after he left, threats of a Union invasion by sea were growing and Baird received orders to get Showalter back so the 4th Regiment could be deployed to drive cattle south to support troops being moved to the border. Showalter detached a small detail for the prisoner transport and was supposed to return immediately, however, for reasons unknown, he ended up staying in Bonham instead.
On 10 December, Baird was told to prepare his men for deployment to Eagle Pass and by 15 December, Showalter again received orders to return to San Antonio. But, on 22 December, he was still in Bonham, participating in a cavalry raid with McCulloch’s command on the Red River. Responding to reports of wild Indians and “jayhawkers,” McCulloch took 200 men about 20 miles northwest of Gainesville and found nothing.
Still in Austin, Baird received orders to move his men to San Antonio and await orders. Showalter would have to rendezvous with him somewhere along the march. On 18 December, Baird was ordered to report to Col. James Duff in San Antonio. While en route, he received a conflicting order to report to Col. Ford and on 2 January 1864, another order informed him that Ford would be his commanding officer. (Ford had received the official word to raise his “cavalry of the west” on 19 December)
Confused and angry, Baird formally disputed the order to report to Ford, saying that Ford had declined his commission as Colonel and did not outrank him since his appointment had never been formalized after the war started. When he arrived in San Antonio, he established a camp at Prairie Lea and apparently did not report to Ford and refused to offer any status of his men. Ford, meanwhile, on 6 January, confirmed that Showalter was indeed en route from the north and assured HQ that he and Col. Baird would not have any problems with the rank issue.
On 7 January, Baird requisitioned 190 muskets for his troops, saying his men were ready but unarmed. He was told the armory had more than 400 arms to hand out, but approval could only come from Col. Ford. Baird wrote HQ on 13 January to question the order that he report to Ford. No reply to that request has been found.
By 14 January, a 6th company in the 4th Arizona, Company F, was organized under Capt. M. L. Cotton. On 18 January, Baird received word from Showalter that he would arrive in San Antonio on 23 January. Worried about the lack of forage for the horses at his own camp, Baird asked Ford if he could direct Showalter to camp along the San Marcos or Guadalupe Rivers outside the city. Ford agreed.
Despite Ford’s primary mission to take his cavalry to recapture Fort Brown from the Union, Baird suggested to HQ that the plan be changed to posting troops between San Antonio and Eagle Pass to protect trade with Mexico with a separate “frontier regiment” assigned to head toward Kansas and prevent Union depredations on the stockraisers. His request apparently went unanswered, because on 5 February, he was ordered to take his men to Helena, toward Fort Merrill. Baird stayed at his camp and sent a note to Ford that would not receive orders until the question of rank had been resolved. Ford thought the issue had died and commented that he wished Baird had gotten things resolved before he had received his arms, clothing, ammunition and money from the Quartermaster.
In a volley of communications with HQ, Baird argued that Ford had not claimed rank over him and the question of leadership was “open to interpretation.” Ford rebounded by saying that Baird couldn’t keep supplies meant for the command, if he wasn’t part of it. On 11 February, Ford sent copies of letters to Baird that described the approval of his rank of Colonel and the prospect of promoting him to Brigadier General. Baird responded that he would gladly obey orders from him if he were legally assigned to command.
A week later, with no resolution, Ford chose to ignore Baird and sent word to discuss plans for the regiment to Lt. Col. Showalter, who was at “Camp Baird” in Prairie Lea with his men. Ford planned to leave San Antonio for Helena, Lagarta and the Nueces River, once he met with Showalter. (He ended up not leaving until 15 March)
On 22 February, Baird requested reassignment, saying he could not continue to be in charge of the 4th Regiment. Three days later, Gen. Magruder sent him to Houston to sit on the Military Examining Board. Showalter was put in command of the regiment.
By the end of July, Baird had assumed command of troops on a mission to protect trade along the Rio Grande, north of Laredo. After the war, he reopened his law practice, this time in Trinidad, Colorado, and died in 1872 in New Mexico.
Just for clarification, even though they were part of the “Arizona Brigade,” Baird’s regiment never set foot in Arizona or New Mexico… not while Baird was commander nor under Showalter. They were also never in far western Texas as some accounts have indicated. I have details of this regiment’s travels through mid-1864, but my research into it drops off after April, when the subject of my research deserted.
Don