Governorship
The Governor's party, consisting of most of Arizona's appointed officials, left Washington, D.C., for Fort Leavenworth. They then took the Santa Fe Trail, arriving in Santa Fe, New Mexico on November 26, 1863. The party then crossed into Arizona, and on December 29, 1863 held a ceremony at Navajo Springs to formally establish the Arizona Territory and administer oaths of office to the territorial officials.
As Congress had not specified the location of the territorial capital, it fell to Goodwin to select an initial location. Tucson as the largest settlement in the territory had been considered a likely location, but based upon the recommendation of General James H. Carleton who viewed Tucson as full of Mexicans and Confederate sympathizers, Fort Whipple was instead selected. The governor and his party reached Fort Whipple on January 22, 1864.
Shortly after establishing the temporary capital, Goodwin set out with a military escort on a tour of the new territory. The purpose of the tour was to familiarize the governor with his new territory and to search for suitable locations for a more permanent capital. The mining district near Fort Whipple was seen first, followed by the areas around the Verde and Salinas rivers. In April and May, he was in southern Arizona. Following this tour, Goodwin decided to place the new capital at a site near Granite Creek, roughly 20 miles south of Fort Whipple's location. The military camp was moved and on May 30, 1864 the new capital was named Prescott at a public meeting.
Goodwin's duties encompassed dividing the territory into judicial districts and appointing a variety of officials to conduct governmental tasks. Following an initial census overseen by U.S. Marshal Milton B. Duffield, the governor proclaimed an election for the selection of a territorial legislature and delegate to Congress would occur on July 18, 1864. When the 1st Arizona Territorial Legislature convened, Goodwin called for immediate removal of peonage and imprisonment for debt from the set of laws Arizona had inherited from New Mexico Territory along with creation of a commission to create a new legal code for Arizona. The governor also asked the legislature to minimize the number of appointed officials, combining multiple part-time positions into a single full-time position where practical. Other topics Goodwin raised with the legislature were taxation and location of the territorial capital.
To deal with the Apache and other tribes, Goodwin called for assistance from the U.S. Army along with creation of a volunteer force to combat the hostiles. A force of 350 men and 11 officers was raised and divided into five companies. For peaceful tribes, the governor called for Congress to create reservations along the Colorado river and appropriate funds to build irrigation systems.
Other efforts Goodwin pursued were establishment of postal routes and creation of schools.
Read more about this topic: John Noble Goodwin