A Western Adventurer

Confederate Colonel Granville Henderson Oury took his oath of allegiance to the United States Government October 8^th 1865 at Fort Mason, Arizona.

Granville Henderson Oury was born March 12^th 1825 in Abingdon, Virginia.  The family moved in 1836 to Bowling Green, Missouri.  He studied law and was admitted to the bar 1848, the same year he moved to San Antonio, Texas.  He caught gold fever and moved in 1849 to Marysville, California to mine.  Oury gave up mining in 1856 and moved to Tucson in the New Mexico Territory, where he would be appointed district judge.  He was involved in the Crabb Massacre in April 1857, in which General Henry Crabb crossed the Mexican border and he and about 100 men with him were killed.

When the Civil War started Oury was elected to the Confederate Provisional Congress from the Arizona Territory.  At about the same time a band of Apaches attacked the town of Tubac, Arizona, and Oury raised a small party of Confederate militia, saving the people of the town.  Oury resigned his seat in the Confederate Congress in 1862 and joined Herbert’s Battalion of cavalry as a Captain.  He was promoted to Colonel and served as a staff officer for Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley in Texas and Louisiana.  When the war ended Oury took the oath allegiance at Fort Mason in Arizona on October 8^th 1865.

After the war Oury went back to his law practice in Tucson, Arizona.  He served in the Arizona Territorial Legislature, was the Speaker of the House, and in 1869 was the Attorney General of the Territory.  Moving to Phoenix, Arizona in 1871 he became the Maricopa County District Attorney.  He would serve the state as a Democrat in the United States House of Representatives from 1881 through 1885.  Oury died January 11^th 1891 in Tucson, Arizona from throat cancer.  He is buried in the Adamsville Cemetery in Florence, Arizona.

The First Band

The United State 1st Cavalry Band left their post in Fort Mason, Texas March 29th 1861, when it was turned over to the Texas Confederate Authorities.

The 1st United States Cavalry Band was created March 3rd 1855. In December of that year it was organized at Camp Verde, Texas. The band was assigned to the 2nd Cavalry in Texas. It took part in the war with the Comanche in 1856.

With Civil War on the brink the Band along with the United State 2nd Cavalry left their post March 29th 1861. Fort Mason, Texas was turned over to the Texas Confederates. The Band arrived at the Carlisle Barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where they were reorganized and were assigned to Union General George B McClellen’s Army of the Potomac. The Band members turned infantrymen fought in the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21st 1861. Then under an act of congress August 3rd 1861 the Band along with the 2nd United States Cavalry were reassigned as the 5th United States Cavalry Regiment. The Band supported the regiment through out the war, including actions at Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Appomattox.

When the war ended the Band was disbanded at Camp Sedgwick, Washington, DC December 1866. Threes years later the Band was brought back, reorganized and reassigned to the 5th United States Cavalry. It took part in the Indian Wars, and in 1916 the Band was part of General Pershing’s Mexican Expeditionary Force.