b'EARLY U.S. MARSHALSNOT HEROESBy Bill Roberts Reprinted from The TravelerE ARLY MARSHALS WERE a far cry from the image portrayed through the years by Hollywood. They were mostly aged political cronies of Senators and Congressmen back east who were appointed tomuusethe post of top federal lawmen in Arizona Territory byot Hall MSharlpresidents as a political favor to politicians in Congress.By many in the territory, themarshals were considered carpetbaggers and mere political hacks, interested in protecting those of their own political party more than they were in upholding the law of the land. They were poorly paid, making some $200 per year at a time when the editor of The Miner in Prescott thought $2,500 annually would have been an equitable wage. Small wonder that these federal lawmen at times absconded with funds meant for payment of jurors and at other times found it impossible to enforce U.S. laws in the territory due to lack of funds.Marshal Milton B. Duffield was born about 1810 into learn that the territorial government had suspended all West Virginia. That made him 53 years old when he wasproceedings based on the Confiscation Acts. Seems territorial appointed federal marshal for Arizona Territory. DuffieldAttorney General Gage had a mishap while crossing a river was well-connected in Washington. He associated withand all of the papers pertaining to such prosecutions were Kansas Senator Samuel Pomeroy in President Lincolns planlost. Marshal Duffield was then reduced to merely watching to create a colony for former slaves in Central America.the known Confederates in Tucson, where he had made his That plan failed and Pomeroy asked the president to appointheadquarters. This resulted in a fight between the marshal Duffield as marshal of Arizona Territory. and one of the subjects of his spying on the streets of Tucson. According to Duffield, he won the fistfight and then sent a The first federal marshal in the new territory, DuffieldDerringer Pill after the Confederate who had confronted was a fanatical unionist in a territory where many citizenshim, a man named Colonel Kennedy. Duffields extreme had supported the Confederacy and were anti-union,hatred of rebels was widely known. The marshal placed particularly in the area of Tucson. Pioneer Charles Poston,himself in the southern part of the state in the haven of the territorys delegate to Washington said Duffieldsrebels. He appointed three deputies to help him enforce appointment would benefit the African element in thefederal laws in the rest of the territory. territory. Poston, who opened and operated a silver mine near Tubac in the Tucson area in the late 1850s, knew thatAmasa Dunn, a carpenter in Prescott, became a deputy in some mines in the area, some 25% of the miners weremarshal in the First Judicial District. Gilbert Hopkins African Americans. became a deputy in the Third Judicial District. Hopkins was an engineer for the Maricopa Mining Company. Charles A. Since Duffield was known to be openly keeping a woman ofPhillips was Duffields deputy during the census and served mixed blood in Tucson in addition to his Anglo wife whoas deputy marshal in the Third Judicial District. Due to the lived elsewhere, Poston apparently thought his sympathiesnot an easy one. There were no jails. He had to keep anyextremely low pay of deputy marshals, it was necessary for would be with the African American miners. This openlawbreakers in either military guardhouses or chain them tothese federal lawmen to stay active in their businesses or living arrangement by the new marshal did not endeara building or a tree. professions and work part-time as lawmen.him to those citizens of Tucson who held Confederate sympathies. His first task was to conduct a census of the new territory.DEPARTURE NOT REGRETTEDAn untimely Indian uprising made taking the first censusDuffield was reappointed as marshal for the territory in CONFISCATION ACTS somewhat more than a routine task. While in Prescott1866. He did not last long in his second term, resigning a Duffield found there were few U.S. laws to enforce in thethe census job became more difficult for Duffield whenfew months later due to the low salary. The Miner noted new territory but that the ones there appealed to his radicalsomebody, perhaps a Confederate sympathizer, stole theDuffield would not have lasted as long as he did at the job unionism. Congress had passed, in 1861 and 1862, themarshals horse. The marshal, angered by this affront toif he had not had a small income from a couple of mines Confiscation Acts which allowed the federal governmenthis authority and dignity, posted a small reward. Thehe owned and operated. More than low salary contributed to seize the property of Confederates and Confederatecensus was completed but Duffield did not consider thatto Duffields resignation. He had managed to alienate many sympathizers. These laws appealed to Duffields personaljob his first priority. To him, zealous enforcement of thein Washington and in Arizona Territory as well as in the taste for justice. After all, Confederates were guilty ofConfiscation Acts was his most important task. ThisU.S. military during his short tenure as the territorys first treason against the Union and in his view of Congress, andpriority put him at odds not only with his boss, Attorneyfederal marshal.should be punished. General Bates but with the territorial governor Goodwin. The governor wanted to unify the territory by mollifyingBy 1865, he had lost the support of Charles Poston, who Attorney General Bates had more moderate views, shapedthe former Confederates who resided in various areas of theasked the president to consider replacing Duffield with in his home state of Missouri, a border state, and delayedwilderness and who were a powerful force in Tucson. King Woolsey. He had been a thorn in the efforts of the new the harsh imposition of the Confiscation Acts, seeking theterritorial government to bring unity between Unionists use of discretion in their implementation. Duffield didLOST PROSECUTION PAPERS and Confederates in the territory. He had alienated the not hold the views of his boss. When Duffield arrived inAn interesting situation arose in the territory as Marshalcavalry by his assurances to superiors in Washington that Arizona Territory in 1864, he soon learned that his job wasDuffield enforced the Confiscation Acts to the hilt onlycontinued on page 18ArizonaRealCountry.com May 2023 17'