David Coopwood, (1832 - 1865) younger brother of Bethel Coopwood, one of the men wounded in the shootout at the end of the Ainsworth - Gentry Affair. In June 1865 he was killed by troops of Mexican General Juan Cortina in the Bell incident on the Rio Grande in south Texas.
Early Life
editDavid Coopwood was born in 1832, in Lawrence County, Alabama. He was the son of David E. Coopwood, an early settler, planter and slave holder in that county.
Texas
editBy 1852 David Coopwood had moved to Texas, where his brother Bethel had moved in 1846 and where by 1850 his brother Benjamin had settled in Tyler County, Texas.[1] There David Coopwood married Mary J. Green on August 19, 1852 in Tyler County, but she passed away in 1853.[2] [3] [4] Soon after he married Martha L. Nowlin, also in Tyler County, Texas, on November 24, 1853.[5]
California
editBy 1855, David Coopwood and his family were living in California where all his children were born. The 1860 census shows he, his wife and three children were living in the San Salvador Township of San Bernardino County. He may have come like several Texans with his family to San Salvador Township from El Monte (where his two brothers also lived), in 1857, purchasing the land during the Mormon exodus from San Bernardino County during the Utah War, like his brothers Benjamin and Bethel.
In September 1859, two San Bernardino doctors began a quarrel that escalated into violence. Bethel Coopwood became embroiled in the Ainsworth - Gentry Affair, by protecting Doctor Ainsworth, from the threatened violence of an anti-Mormon faction of armed men supporting Doctor Gentry in his quarrel with Ainsworth. Bethel sheltered Ainsworth at his adobe house with the aid of some friends and relatives including David. That night, the Gentry faction organized themselves across from the house that sat amidst a fenced cornfield. The defenders quietly arranged themselves along the fence facing them. When the anti-Mormon began their advance they heard the defenders making ready to shoot and withdrew in haste.
However on the following day, a gunfight in the streets of the town, at the end of the affair, on the Ainsworth side, David Coopwood, was wounded in the arm, the ball passing through to the shoulder blade; Bethel Coopwood, was wounded in the leg, wrist and mouth; Mat Welsh, received a slight wound. On the Gentry side, Frank Green of El Monte, was wounded in the back after a hand to hand struggle with Taney Woodward, Bethel's brother-in-law,(both armed and firing handguns).[6]: 2 [7]: 1, col.2 [8], : 95–96
Death in the "Bell" incident
editOn June 25, 1865, while traveling down river from Reynosa to Matamoros with his brother Bethel Coopwood, on the steamboat Bell, with a load of cotton:
- "about one mile below the Dona Estefena Rancho, we -- says Mr. ELLIOTT -- were hailed by a party of men, and rounded to. We landed on the Mexican side. Immediately a Captain and squad of men, acting under authority of CORTINA, came on board. They first overhauled and examined the boat's papers, after which a general search for arms was instituted. All the trunks were ransacked. Some arms belonging to passengers were found and taken, as was also a fine saddle belonging to a Mr. COPELAND, of San Antonio. During these investigations and explorations, there was a force on the shore estimated at about 200 men.
- Under pretence of going to CORTINA to obtain permission for the Bell to proceed, the Captain left, giving the boat in charge of the squad of soldiers who first went on board with him.
- After on absence of about two hours, the Captain returned with orders for the Bell to go up stream and land on the Texas side of the Bio Grande, at the Donna Estefena Ranche.
- When about one hundred yards distant from the landing, a fire was opened on the boat from the men on shore. The passengers, supposing that a general massacre had been ordered, commenced leaning into the river, and endeavored to reach the Texas side. Two gentlemen were known to be drowned, viz: Messrs. COPEWOOD [David Coopwood] and STEPHENSON, of San Antonio; the former is supposed to have been shot while attempting to reach the shore." [9]
Subsequently Bethel Coopwood, who survived the attack, made a claim for restitution against Mexico for himself and the widow and children of his brother David Coopwood, who he claimed was killed on board the Bell, by fire from the troops of General Cortina on the Mexican shore of the Rio Grande. However it was disallowed by the Joint Commission, of American claims against Mexico in 1877.[10]
References
edit- ^ 1850 Census, Tyler County, Texas
- ^ Mary J. Green
- ^ Mary J. Green
- ^ Our Family Saga - 'West Virginia & Beyond'
- ^ Historical Person Search, Search Results, Martha Nowlin (1833 - Unknown) from ancestry.com/genealogy/records, accessed June 28, 2018
- ^ Los Angeles Star, vol. 9, no. 20 , September 24, 1859
- ^ Daily Alta California, Volume 11, Number 268, 27 September 1859, p.1, col.2 OUR LOS ANGELES CORRESPONDENCE - September 24
- ^ Wallace W. Elliott, History of San Bernardino and San Diego Counties, 1883, Riverside Museum Press, San Bernardino County (Calif.), 1965
- ^ CORTINA'S OPERATIONS.; CAPTURE OF THE STEAMER BELL. CORTINA GIVES UP. MATAMORAS GOSSIP. THE CITY OT MEXICO. New York Times, Published: July 17, 1865
- ^ Schedule of American claims against Mexico, presented to the Joint Commission, pp.58-59