Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 28.djvu/233

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States i ""in 1862.

lirst organization of the Territory of Arizona, by the Confederate States ? I did not state it definitely, and it may not appear quite clearly from my article as it was published, that the Confederate States Territory of Arizona, as defined and laid out by the act of the Confed- erate States Congress, in Feb., 1862, embraced or included the whole of the old-time, ante-bellum territory of New Mexico, to the Colo- rado river, as the west boundary line, excepting a little point or area in the northwest corner of the old-time New Mexico, north of the Colorado river. An inspection of an old map, and of the limits or lines as defined by the act of the Confederate States Congress in 1862, will make it very plain to any reader or student who may wish or care to verify this statement. Then the act of the United States Congress of February 24, 1863, created or defined the lines of the present Territory of Arizona, which overlaid or covered the western portion of the Confederate States Territory of Arizona, which was the old-time Territory of New Mexico. The new Territory of Ari- zona includes that point or area in the northwestern corner that lies north of the Colorado river, that was not in the Confederate States Arizona. If the Confederate States had been successfully and per- manently established, then there would not have been any more of the Territory of New Mexico but that little corner above the Colo- rado river, and the present Territories of Arizona and New Mexico, together, excepting that corner, would be the Confederate States Arizona, as organized first by the Confederate States in 1862.

So it may be observed that whenever the present Territories of New Mexico and Arizona shall be admitted into the union of States, "on an equal footing with the original States," they will comprise that area which was once the Territory of Arizona, as it was first organized by that name, by the Confederate States of America, ex- cepting the little northwest corner as stated. As a matter of fact in history, this may be of some interest, and may be worthy of note for future reference.

Very truly yours,

ROBERT L. RODGERS. Atlanta, Ga., August 6, 1900.