King S. Woolsey was an American pioneer

American pioneer

American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...

 rancher, Indian-fighter, prospector and politician in 19th century Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

. Woolsey Peak and other features of Arizona geography have been named after him, but he has also been criticized by historians for brutality

Brutality

Brutality or brutal may refer to:* Brutality , an American death metal band* Brutality , a 1912 film* Brutality , a finishing move in the video game Mortal Kombat* Brutalist architecture, an architectural style...

 in his battles with Apache

Apache

Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...

 native Americans.

Biography

Woolsey, born in Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, moved to Arizona from California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

  in 1860, first at Yuma, Arizona

Yuma, Arizona

Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of the state, and the population of the city was 77,515 at the 2000 census, with a 2008 Census Bureau estimated population of 90,041....

 and Fort Yuma

Fort Yuma

Fort Yuma is a fort in California that is located in Imperial County, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. It was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861 and was abandoned May 16, 1883, and transferred to the Department of the Interior. The Fort Yuma Indian School and a...

, where he sold supplies to the U.S. Army. In 1862, Woolsey and a partner bought the Agua Caliente ranch

Agua Caliente, Arizona

Agua Caliente in Maricopa County, Arizona is a place north of the Gila River near Hyder, Arizona. The location was the site of a resort established at the site of nearby hot springs...

, near the Gila River

Gila River

The Gila River is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.-Description:...

 in what is now western Maricopa County, Arizona

Maricopa County, Arizona

-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*73.0% White*5.0% Black*2.1% Native American*3.5% Asian*0.2% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.5% Two or more races*12.7% Other races*29.6% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

. They dug irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

 ditches from the river and planted crops. Woolsey operated Arizona's first flour mill at Agua Caliente, and brought the first threshing machine

Threshing machine

The thrashing machine, or, in modern spelling, threshing machine , was a machine first invented by Scottish mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle for use in agriculture. It was invented for the separation of grain from stalks and husks. For thousands of years, grain was separated by hand with flails,...

 into the territory . Woolsey Peak in the Gila Bend Mountains

Gila Bend Mountains

The Gila Bend Mountains are a 35-mile long mountain range of the north-central Sonoran Desert southwest of Phoenix, Arizona and in southwest Maricopa County....

 - a prominent landmark near his ranch - and the Woolsey Peak Wilderness Area, were both later named to honor him.

American Civil War service

In 1863, Woolsey joined the Walker Party to explore the Hassayampa River

Hassayampa River

The Hassayampa River is a mostly underground river, the headwaters of which are just south of Prescott, Arizona, and flows mostly south towards Wickenburg entering the Gila River near Hassayampa, Arizona...

 for gold. Soon after, he homesteaded and established the Agua Fria ranch, near present-day Dewey, Arizona. Woolsey is most famous (or notorious) for his forays against the native Indians

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 in central Arizona. During the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, after 1863, practically all troops were withdrawn from Arizona, and Indian attacks on white settlers and their property increased.

In 1864, after a series of livestock thefts, Woolsey led a group of settlers to the vicinity of present-day Miami, Arizona

Miami, Arizona

Miami is a town in Gila County, Arizona, United States. Miami is a classic Western copper boomtown, though the copper mines are largely dormant now...

, where they encountered a large party of Tonto Apache

Tonto Apache

The Tonto Apache is one of the groups of Western Apache people. The term is also used for their dialect, one of the three dialects of the Western Apache language...

s. In the ensuing Battle of Bloody Tanks, the settlers killed (and later scalped) at least 24 Indians, with the loss of one settler. It appears that the settlers opened fire first, during a parley . After this fight, Woolsey was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Arizona territorial militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

 by Governor John N. Goodwin.

Later in 1864, Woolsey and several other men were working their mining claims in the Bradshaw Mountains

Bradshaw Mountains

The Bradshaw Mountains are a mountain range in the Sonoran Desert of central Arizona, USA, named for brothers Isaac and William Bradshaw after their death, having been formerly known in English as the Silver Mountain Range.-History:...

. They were apparently confronted by a large party of Indians, probably Yavapais

Yavapai people

Yavapai are an indigenous people in Arizona. Historically, the Yavapai were divided into four geographical bands that considered themselves separate peoples: the Tolkapaya, or Western Yavapai, the Yavapé, or Northwestern Yavapai, the Kwevkapaya, or Southeastern Yavapai, and Wipukpa, or Northeastern...

. Woolsey called for a parley, after first hiding a sack of pinole poisoned with strychnine

Strychnine

Strychnine is a highly toxic , colorless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine causes muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia or sheer exhaustion...

 nearby. As he had hoped, the Indians found the poisoned meal and ate it while he talked to their chiefs. As the poison took effect, and the others fled, his men opened fire on them. This encounter was later called the Pinole Massacre.

The first Territorial Legislature voted a commendation to King Woolsey and his volunteers for, inter alia

Inter Alia

-Track listing:# Inter Alia# Outfox'd # Righteous Badass # The Altogether feat. Bix, Apt, UNIVERSE ARM and Cal# The Day-to-Daily# Trouble Brewing # The Prestidigitator# The Force...

, "taking the lives of numbers of Apaches, and destroying the property and crops in their country." In 1864 Woolsey was elected to the first Legislature

Legislature

A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...

 of the Territory of Arizona, and was re-elected to several subsequent legislatures.

After the war

The creation of the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 in Arizona Territory was largely due to Woolsey's efforts. Since its creation by a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

-dominated Congress in 1863, the Republicans had controlled Arizona politics. Woolsey called a meeting of like-minded Democrats in February 1873 in Tucson. Presiding at the meeting, he introduced a series of resolutions which led to organization of the Democratic Party in the Arizona Territory. He was the Democratic candidate for Territorial Delegate

Delegate (United States Congress)

A delegate to Congress is a non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives who is elected from a U.S. territory and from Washington, D.C. to a two-year term. While unable to vote in the full House, a non-voting delegate may vote in a House committee of which the delegate is a member...

 to the U.S. Congress in the 1878 election, but was defeated.

Woolsey died of a heart attack at his Agua Fria ranch in 1879. He was 47 years old. He is buried in Pioneer Memorial Park in Phoenix.

External links

• Woolsey Peak Wilderness Area at BLM
  BLM
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