A Brief History
On May 11, 1889, a US Army paymaster escorted by 11 “Buffalo” Soldiers were ambushed on their way from Fort Grant to Fort Thomas in the Arizona Territory by between seven and 13 bandits. The attack left eight of the soldiers wounded and the bandits absconded with the entire payroll of $28,000 in gold and silver coins.
Digging Deeper
The shootout resulted in two of the soldiers earning the Medal of Honor and the rest of the soldiers awarded Certificates of Merit, in spite of losing the payroll. The value of the payroll in today’s dollars would be close to a million dollars.
Investigation led to the arrest of 11 men from Pima, a Mormon settlement nearby, and eight of those men were tried for the crime but all were acquitted. It was believed one or two of the bandits were killed in the firefight. The money was not recovered. Other casualties of the ambush included three mules hauling the payroll wagon, killed in the initial burst of gunfire.
Apparently, the robbers thought the African American Buffalo Soldiers would put up little or no resistance, an assumption put to rest by the fierce fighting of the soldiers evidenced by their military awards.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Have you ever heard of this particular robbery?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Ball, Larry. Ambush at Bloody Run: The Wham Paymaster Robbery of 1889- A Story of Politics, Religion, Race, and Banditry in Arizona Territory. Arizona Historical Society, 2000.
Marshall, Otto. The Wham Paymaster Robbery, Boldest In Arizona History. Pima, Arizona Chamber of Commerce, 1971.
The featured image in this article, Holding Up the Pay Escort by Frederic Remington, is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930.
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