Season of Terror: The Espinosas in Central Colorado, March–October 1863

Acknowledgments

xv Acknowledgments I am deeply indebted to many people who helped me prepare this book. Foremost among them is my wife, Ruth, who not only tolerated my years-long obsession with the Espinosas but even came to share it, ending by materially assisting in the research; it was she who discovered the whereabouts of the Ethan W. Eaton papers, leading us into a fascinating, labyrinthine, and previously unsuspected byway of the Espinosa story. And as always, Ruth served as my most implacably honest critic and editor. Ruth also selflessly devoted many hours—with my own well-intentioned but often inept assistance—to reviewing the copyedited text and making the many needed corrections and additions, despite her already challenging professional work schedule as a consultant to caregivers whose loved ones suffer from dementia. I’m indebted also to Karl Yambert, the meticulous copyeditor who steered me through the dangerous minefields of endnoting and source referencing. Nor could I have understood the context of my topic—or, more accurately, my obsession—as fully as I have if not for the generosity and counsel of Dr. Jerry D. Thompson, Regents Professor of History at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas, an expert on the Civil War period in the Southwest and author of many books on that subject, who made available to me countless copies of relevant military acknowledgments xvi correspondence bearing on the hunt for the Espinosas and its consequences in the officer corps of the Volunteer Service of the US Army. He was also kind enough to read and comment on selected portions of the manuscript bearing on the cultural and military aspects of the New Mexico–Colorado region during the Civil War period. I also owe an immense obligation to Christie Wright of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, president of the Board of Directors, Park County Local History Archives, who secured for me copies of old newspaper and magazine articles that I was unable to locate in person or online and who served as a fount of information for all things historical pertaining to South Park, that magnificent space in the heart of Colorado, redolent of so much that is stirring in the past of the Centennial State. Nelson Walker of Cañon City, Colorado, a retired forester who served twenty-six years with the US Forest Service and five years with the Bureau of Land Management, courteously but firmly debated with me by email the movements of John McCannon’s California Gulch posse and the location of Vivián Espinosa’s death site in the canyon lands of Fremont County, and brought his intimate and invaluable knowledge of that rugged terrain to bear on both questions in a way that considerably enlightened me. Though neither of us changed the other’s mind, I always found his arguments cogently and clearly stated, and have been happy to include his views in Appendix A to this book. Mr. Walker has read and commented on the manuscript, and the book would have been poorer without his valuable assistance. I am further indebted to Mr. Walker, and to some of his friends, for yet another valuable service. One July day he, along with Bradley K. Nelson, Steve and Bryan McAllister, and my nephew, John Perschbacher, nursed my aging, out-of-condition self through a hike in and out of the rough terrain of Espinosa Gulch to explore Nash Spring, Mr. Walker’s choice for the place where Vivián Espinosa died. That I survived is wholly due to the patience and encouragement of these good men, though I am sure what seemed to me an ordeal was for them but a wholesome stroll. As I drew near the end of this work, I was also privileged to make the acquaintance by email and telephone of James E. Perkins, author of the fine book Tom Tobin: Frontiersman, the work that had originally inspired me to investigate the lives and times of the Espinosas. Mr. Perkins shared with me his ideas about the death site of Vivián Espinosa (also summarized in the appendix), the loca- acknowledgments xvii tion of Sangre de Cristo Canyon, and several other aspects of this compelling period in frontier history. He, too, has been kind enough to read and comment on my manuscript, and the work has benefited from his matchless command of all things related to the past of Colorado and New Mexico. I also owe thanks to Mike...