Bethel Coopwood

Bethel Coopwood (1827–1907) was a soldier in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War, a lawyer, judge, and historian.

Bethel Coopwood was born on May 1, 1827, in Lawrence County, Alabama. He moved to Texas in 1846. In 1847, he enlisted in Bell's cavalry detachment, of Hay's Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers, that served along the Rio Grande frontier in the Mexican–American War. In 1854 he moved to California, where he was admitted to the bar, practicing in Los Angeles. In early 1857, following the killing of Sheriff James R. Barton and two men of his posse, by the Flores Daniel Gang, Coopwood led twenty-six El Monte men, as a division of the posse in the manhunt for the gang.He distinguished himself in the assault on the peak the gang had taken refuge on, up hill, under fire with an injured leg.

In the fall of 1857, at the age of thirty he came to San Bernardino as part of a syndicate that purchased the balance of the Rancho San Bernardino from Ebenezer Hanks for $18,000. Hanks had previously purchased a one-third interest in the grant, with Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich leaders of the Mormon colonists of San Bernardino from the original grantee José del Carmen Lugo.

Coopwood remained in San Bernardino until 1861, as realtor and a lawyer and with an excellent knowledge of Spanish and a number of Californio clients, most of whom were very well off. On June 15th 1859 he had married, Josephine Woodward and they eventually had fourteen children. In September, he ran for San Bernardino County District Attorney in 1859, but lost by a narrow margin. Soon afterward, Coopwood sheltered Doctor Alonzo Ainsworth in his own home from an anti-Mormon mob from El Monte incited by a rival Doctor Frank Gentry, and was one of the wounded in the shootout that was the climax of the September 19th-20th, 1859 "Ainsworth-Gentry Affair."

In the bitterly contested campaign of 1860, Charles W. Piercy was nominated for member of the 1st District of the California General Assembly by one party, and W. A. Conn the incumbent, by the other. Piercy was elected, but there was a claim of fraud. The accusation was that polls at Temescal, maintained by a resident named James Greenwade, kept open shop for three weeks and that whenever candidate Piercy was in need of more votes, they were furnished from this precinct. The case was taken to court, where the two opposing lawyers, H. M. Willis and Bethel Coopwood, had a fight in court wherein Coopwood sustained a slight wound, but won the case.

Civil War

In 1861, Coopwood disposed of his interests in California and returned to Texas with his brothers. He entered the Confederate Army as a captain in the cavalry and served until 1863. In 1861, he formed the San Elizario Spy Company or Coopwood Spy Company, an Independent Volunteer Company of cavalry with men that came with him from California. He commanded the Confederate forces in the Battle of Canada Alamosa, and Skirmish near Fort Thorn the largest of several small battles that occurred in Confederate Arizona along the front with Union held New Mexico Territory. He and his company served in Sibley's New Mexico Campaign. He was ill with smallpox during the Battle of Valverde but recovered in time to join the army at the Battle of Albuquerque and the Battle of Peralta. After the Battle of Peralta he was responsible for saving the remnants of Sibley's army, 1800 men, from Union pursuit by finding a path for them through the rugged mountains west of the Rio Grande to the Mesilla Valley. He was later promoted to Major and then Lt. Colonel.

Later life

After the Civil War he spent a year in Coahuila. He returned to Texas and became recognized as an able lawyer and Spanish scholar in the lower Rio Grande valley. He contributed articles to and wrote book reviews for early issues of the Texas State Historical Association Quarterly, in which he published "Notes on the History of La Bahía del Espíritu Santo" in 1898–99 and "The Route of Cabeza de Vaca" in 1899–1900. Judge Coopwood died in Austin on December 26, 1907.