Filibuster Camp is the historic locale of a camp along the

Gila River The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of n ...

route of the

Southern Emigrant Trail :''The Southern Emigrant Trail should not be confused with the Applegate Trail, which is part of the Northern Emigrant Trails.'' Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, Southern Trail and the Butterfield Stage ...

Yuma County, Arizona Yuma County is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 203,881. The county seat is Yuma. Yuma County includes the Yuma, Arizona Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county bor ...

, named in memory of a failed

filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...

expedition to

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

that began there in 1856.

History

Filibuster Camp

Filibuster Camp acquired the name because it was the site from which Henry A. Crabb led an 1856 expedition into

, Mexico, to help put

Ignacio Pesqueira Ignacio Pesqueira García was a 19th-century Mexican general and politician. He was the Governor of Sonora over six times, with two of the six terms being an insurgent governor during the Second French intervention in Mexico. Childhood His par ...

into power. At the time Crabb was suspected of trying to conquer Sonora like the

William Walker William Walker may refer to: Arts * William Walker (engraver) (1791–1867), mezzotint engraver of portrait of Robert Burns * William Sidney Walker (1795–1846), English Shakespearean critic * William Walker (composer) (1809–1875), American Ba ...

had done only a few years prior. Crabb's venture resulted in the death of all but one or two of the expedition and the beheading of Crabb. Its former site is located just north of Old Highway 80 on the east side of S Ave 34 East, east of

Wellton, Arizona Wellton is a town in Yuma County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town is 2,882. It is part of the Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Wellton is located at (32.671436, -114.140972). Ac ...

on Wellton Mesa,

Filibuster Camp Station

One of the original

Butterfield Overland Mail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service i ...

stage stations, Filibuster Camp Station was located nearby the old camp at .Sanders, Kirby, Butterfield Overland Mail Route Through New Mexico and Arizona, Kirby Sanders and Amazon Createspace, 2013 The site then served as a station in 1858 and 1859. It was 18 miles east of Swiveler's Station, 19 miles west of Peterman's Station. Antelope Peak Station, a later station located 15.14 miles east of the new Mission Camp Station, 12.83 miles to

Mohawk Station Peterman's Station is a historic locale, site of a ranch and stage station located along the Gila River. It was first established by a man named Peterman, in 1857 along the route of the San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line, later a station of its s ...

, at the foot of Antelope Peak. It replaced Filibusters Camp Camp Station, 9.14 miles to the west. Filibusters Camp Station 6 miles from Mission Camp was replaced because Antelope Hill Station had a better water supply.Ahnert, Gerald T., The Butterfield Trail and Overland Mail Company in Arizona, 1858–1861, Canastota Publishing Co., Canastota, NY, 2011 The addition of these new stations decreased the distance between water stops and team changes in this desert region, something the company was also doing elsewhere in New Mexico Territory, California and Texas.

References

External links

Filibusters Camp, Arizona from topoquest.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Filibusters Camp Ghost towns in Arizona Butterfield Overland Mail in New Mexico Territory American frontier History of Arizona Former populated places in Yuma County, Arizona Stagecoach stops in the United States