Yuma War
The Yuma War was the name given to a series of United States military operations conducted in southern California and what is today southwestern Arizona from 1850 to 1853. The Yumans were the primary opponent of the United States Army, though engagements were fought between the Americans and other native groups in the region. Conflict generally took the form of guerrilla warfare, and, over the course of three years, the army engaged in pursuing unfriendly natives, protecting American settlers crossing the Colorado River and preventing conflict between the native tribes. A peace treaty in summer of 1853 was signed, ending hostilities between the Yuma and the United States, but it sparked a short war between the Yuma and the Cocopah. During the conflict, the historic Fort Yuma was constructed and became an important outpost on the frontier.
Yuma War
In October 1850, U.S. Army Topographical Engineer Lt. George H. Derby was ordered to travel from California to the Colorado River to determine a supply route over water to Heintzelman's command. For his voyage, Derby was provided with transport by Captain Alfred H. Wilcox commanding the army transport schooner "Invincible". They departed San Francisco on November 1, 1850. In December, after making it only thirty miles from the Gulf of California, the "Invincible" was unable to proceed up the river any further. Suspecting a problem and nearly out of food, Captain Heintzelman constructed a raft with sails to travel down the river, some sixty miles to the "Invincible". With eight men and two civilians, the captain first sailed down the Colorado for three days before finding the "Invincible", missing an anchor and ran hard aground. After some work trying to free the schooner, it was finally released and Captain Wilcox decided to offload his supplies onto the Sonora side of the river. The raft was too small to carry the provisions so Heintzelman directed First Lieutenant Edward Murray to cross into Mexico with a train of wagons to retrieve the supplies. Fortunately for the Americans, their little invasion of Mexico in January 1851 went unnoticed and the much needed supplies were brought to the fort.