Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - April - 2005 Issue
Wild Times in the Wild West from Arthur H. Clark
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Item 85 is the sad tale of an American filibustering expedition to Mexico headed by one Henry Crabb, a former California State Senator. The year was 1857 and Crabb was one of those adventurers who hoped to colonize a portion of Mexico. Having married into the Ainsa family, prominent in California and the Mexican state of Sonora, Crabb may have thought he would be welcome. On top of that, Sonora was in the midst of a political struggle between followers of Ignacio Pesqueira and Manuel Gandara. Supposedly, Pasqueira made a deal with Crabb to provide him land in northern Mexico in return for his military support. If there were any truth to this, and Pasqueira denied it, he had no need for Crabb well before the latter crossed the border, as he achieved power without the American's aid. From that point on, any association with Crabb would have been an embarrassment to Pasqueira.
Nevertheless, Crabb and a band of around 70 men crossed the border near Yuma, Arizona. Some 90 miles inland, near the town of Caborca, Crabb's forces were attacked by a group of Mexicans, who killed a few of them before fleeing to town. The Mexicans barricaded themselves inside a church, while Crabb's forces holed up in a nearby house. With superior forces, the American's kept the church surrounded for several days as they tried to force the Mexicans out. What they weren't prepared for was a gathering large force of Mexicans surrounding the town. The Americans found themselves trapped, and negotiated a surrender with Mexican Commander Hilario Gabilondo, providing they would be treated as prisoners of war. Gabilondo had no intention of keeping the deal. Mexicans had seen vast amounts of their country taken by the Americans only a few years earlier in the Mexican War, and had no sympathy for Americans trying to grab even more. Crabb and all but one of his men, a sixteen-year-old, were shot the next day. The other men were executed on the outskirts of town, but Crabb was taken to the town plaza where he was shot and his head cut off. The Mexicans wanted to send a message to any other American adventurers with thoughts of taking over parts of Mexican territory. They proceeded to track down some of Crabb's troops that were following behind, and even four of his men still across the Arizona border, and implemented the same justice. The book is History of the Crabb Expedition into North Sonora. Decapitation of the State Senator of California, Henry A. Crabb and massacre of ninety eight of his friends, at Caborca and Sonoita, Sonora, Mexico 1857, by J.A. Ainsa. $110.
You may find The Arthur H. Clark Company, and this catalogue, online at www.ahclark.com or they can be reached by phone at 800-842-9286.
