Records of the clan and name of Fergusson, Ferguson and Fergus. Supplement

FERGUSONS IN THE UNITED STATES 133
inained for about a year and a half, after which he went
to the United States. He was for about sixteen years in
the service of the United States, most of the time in Cali-
fornia, where he arrived in April 1849 : was chiefly employed
as principal clerk in the Quartermaster's Department, at
the Division Headquarters, until the civil war broke out,
soon after which he was commissioned as Major of Volunteer
Cavalry, and in 1863, while in command of the District of
Western Arizona, was promoted full colonel. In 1862 he
was, by direction of the Secretary of War, ordered ' to
examine the country, its resources,- and the route between
Tucson and Lobos Bay, etc' The Senate ordered the Secre-
tary of War to transmit this report to the Senate, where it
was read on the 14th of March 1863, and 2200 extra copies
of it ordered to be printed — 2000 for the use of the Senate
and 200 for the governor of Arizona. It was also printed
in the volume of Senate Documents, Special Session, 1863.
(Vide Bibliography of the Clan Fergusson, p. 554.) In
January 1863 he was ordered on a special and confidential
mission to the city of Chihuahua, where he arrived, with
his escort, in the middle of the Plaza, without the authorities
having any notice of his approach, which greatly alarmed
the good Alcalde, who imagined the small force was a part
of the French troops, and he exclaimed, ' We are taken
without firing a cartridge,' but was soon relieved on being
assured that we were only friendly Yankee neighbours.
After leaving the service he went to Mexico, and was en-
gaged for several years superintending mines and making
reports on mining property in Sonora and Chihuahua. In
1866 he went to Tepic, in the State of Jalisco, and was for
some years the manager of the business of the old established
and very wealthy firm of Barron, Forbes & Co. In 1871
he was called to the city of Mexico to manage the business
of the firm in the whole Republic, the headquarters of
which is at that capital. In 1874 he was elected Cor-
responding Director of the Mexican Railway Company.
Resigning this post in 1876 he obtained a concession for
the Sonora Railway, of which he for many years was a
director. He was also the means of obtaining the concession
for the Tehuantepec Railroad, and was representative of