"We propose to take one hundred chosen men under the command of Lieut. Col. Dan Showalter"...

The idea of retaking the former Territory of Arizona for the Confederacy and then continuing on to pro-secessionist Southern California held great importance for many throughout the Civil War, not the least because of the allure of the open Port of Los Angeles.

This letter of February 14, 1864, written to General Edmund Kirby Smith, the Confederate general in charge of the western front, advocated an army be formed for that purpose under the command of Dan Showalter.

In addition to the signatures of Dan Showalter and others are those of Granville H. Oury, who had been the representative of the Territory of Arizona to the Confederate Congress, and Showalter's second-in-command, Major F.E. Kavanaugh.

Although still nearly a year and a half before the end of the war in Texas, no further attempts were made by the Confederacy to reach the Pacific.

Photograph of Granville H. Oury.