Search the Encyclopedia Mavericana:   ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Arizona Territory

Territory of the United States, organized by an organic act of Congress on February 24, 1863.[1]

Originally the western half of the New Mexico Territory.[1] Arizona was admitted in the Union as the 48th state on February 14, 1912.[2]

Named for the Spanish name Arizonac, meaning "small spring."[2]

Before the establishment of Prescott, Fort Whipple served as the first territorial seat. The capital officially moved to Prescott on September 26, 1864.[2]

Trail West to Fury: In 1867, Bret Maverick was trail boss for the Miller cattle drive from Little Bend, Texas to Fort Adobe, Arizona Territory. Bart Maverick tracked the Tall Man to Fort Adobe two days ahead of the Miller Drive, but arrived to late to catch him.[3]

On November 1, 1867, the territory's second governor, Richard McCormick, officially moved the territorial capital from Prescott to Tucson in order to gain the town's political support.[2]

In November of 1874,[5] Bret Maverick traveled to Clovis and met Donna Seely. Though their romantic relationship was short, their friendship would last for years.[6]

In the mid-1870s, the notorious outlaw Cliff Sharp carried a price on his head for robbery and murder in Arizona Territory.[7]

The Thirty-Ninth Star: Thomas O'Brien was a resident of Tucson is 1876.[7]

The Long Hunt: Bret Maverick spent a great deal of 1877 in the Arizona Territory in an attempt to keep his promise to Lefty Dolan to absolve Jed Ferris of a murder committed by Dolan himself.[4] On March 14, Bret visited the office of Territorial Governor Anson P. K. Safford,[5] hoping to convince him that Jed Ferris, sentenced to life in Yuma Territorial Prison, was innocent. But the governor's decision to commute Ferris' sentence from hanging to life imprisonment cost him political friends, and Bret's appeal was summarily dismissed.[4]

A ruling of the 9th Arizona Territorial Legislature officially moved the capital from Tucson back to Prescott on May 7, 1877.[2]

The Long Hunt: On September 28, 1877,[5] Bret Maverick visited Jed Ferris in Yuma Territorial Prison to bring closure to his promise to Lefty Dolan. Upon hearing Bret's story, Ferris asked him to deliver a message to his wife in Dry Springs. Bret delivered the message and while there, broke his arm while helping Ben Maxwell with a chore at the Ferris Ranch.[4]

Bret spent the next several weeks in Tucson, recovering from his injury, and finally moved on to Prescott, where the poker games were better. With a new governor in office and the territorial seat having moved to Prescott, Bret tried to appeal Jed Ferris' case again, but to no avail. But on December 5, still in Prescott,[5] Bret learned he was playing poker with Rex Clark and Whitey Brandon, two of Lefty Dolan's partners in a bank robbery in Dry Springs. If either of them confessed, Jed Ferris could go free.[4]

Bret confronted Clark and Brandon, but Clark was accidentally killed. Brandon fled the scene, apparently making a run for the Mexican border. Bret tracked him back to Dry Springs, where he learned that Ben Maxwell had been the fourth partner in the bank robbery. Maxwell killed Brandon and was subsequently fatally shot by the sheriff. Before dying, Maxwell signed a confessional affidavit that cleared Ferris of murder.[4]

Declared innocent and released from prison, Jed Ferris returned home to his wife, Martha, at their ranch in Dry Springs[4] on February 10, 1878.[5]

In July of 1878, Mandy Packer invited Bret Maverick to a poker contest at the Red Ox Saloon in Sweetwater.[5] There, she told Bret about Carl Jimson's brace joint, the Square Deal Saloon, in Silver Springs, New Mexico Territory.[6]

Search the Encyclopedia Mavericana:   ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ