March 8, 1887
On this day, one of the Old West’s deadliest grazing disputes had already claimed its first victim, adding fuel to the fire in Arizona’s Pleasant Valley War. 
It ended only when all of the combatants were dead.
Part of a decade-long family feud, it started six years earlier with a friendship between two Arizona ranchers that turned ugly. Tom Graham, (right) the son of a large immigrant Irish family, had already established a prosperous spread near Pleasant Valley, Arizona. The Tewksberry siblings, four sons and a daughter, were new to 
ranching when one of the sons, John Tewksberry, (left) struck up an amicable relationship with Tom Graham.
The two friends originally joined forces against a third even bigger rancher, James Stinson, but they soon grew competitive with each other. John Tewksberry’s mother was Native American, adding an element of racial animus, as well.
What followed was a meandering litany of violence and revenge, the carnage ending only when all the males in both families were annihilated.
Using the strategy of divide and conquer, third-party rancher Stinson (left) accused both families of stealing his cattle and sent one of his ranch hands to make a citizen’s arrest of the Tewksberrys. It didn’t go well. Both Edwin Tewksberry and Stinson’s man were wounded in the encounter.
Stinson was nothing if not persistent, offering the Grahams payment to falsely accuse the Tewksberrys of rebranding his cattle. After igniting a fire storm, Stinson abruptly dissolved his herd, handed the mess over to the Grahams and left Arizona.
That fire storm soon engulfed cattlemen, sheep men, lawmen, and cowboys when the Tewksberry’s branched out into sheep, universally hated by cattle ranchers for their destructive grazing habits.
The first fatality in the conflict occurred in 1885. A Basque herder hired by the Tewksberrys was murdered by a Graham hired hand named Andy Blevins. Bodies quickly began piling up after that.
In a truly gruesome event, in February of 1887 Tom Graham shot a Navajo sheep herder employed by the Tewksberrys, beheaded him and left his remains in a shallow grave.
Soon after, the Blevins family scion, Mart, went looking for some missing horses, sure the Tewksberrys were behind the theft. He went missing and was never found.
After Mart’s disappearance, members of the Graham faction, including Andy Blevins, ambushed John Tewksberry, Jr. and his hired hand, William Jacobs, in September, 1887. Blevins, overheard admitting to the killings, sent legendary Apache County sheriff Commodore Perry Owens (right) scurrying off to make an arrest. The subsequent shootout left three of the Blevins men dead; Andy, his brothers, John and 15-year-old, Sam Houston Blevins, as well as a family friend, Mose Roberts.
In quick succession, another Graham sympathizer, Henry Middleton, mysteriously turned up dead. In another murky confrontation shortly after, Prescott sheriff William Mulvenon and his posse shot and killed John Graham and Charles Blevins. Six weeks after that, Graham cohort, Al Rose, was killed by eight unknown gunman. In case you’ve lost count, that leaves at least 14 dead, two wounded and one missing in action.
Following several lynchings, more unsolved murders and death by misadventure, Tom was the sole male member of the feuding Grahams. With no one much left to fight, he fled to Tempe and married a minister’s daughter. But starting over was not to be. On August 2, 1892, he was shot in the back by 
two assailants while delivering a wagon load of wheat. With his dying breath he named Ed Tewksberry as his killer.
Tewksberry (right) was arrested and after surviving an assassination attempt by Tom Graham’s widow, was acquitted, proving to the jury’s satisfaction he had an alibi for the time of the murder.
The last man standing, Ed Tewksberry died in Globe, Arizona, hopefully of natural causes on April 4, 1904, the only survivor of a pointless conflict that in the end produced an estimated 50 casualties. In addition, the Pleasant Valley War got much of the blame for delaying Arizona statehood for some eight years. Congress felt the place just wasn’t civilized enough to become a state until 1912.
The Pleasant Valley Historical Society Museum grounds, Young, Arizona, is open to the public during Pleasant Valley Days, traditionally held the third weekend in July. In addition to a variety antique farm equipment, the grave sites of the feuding families can be found next door. The grave marker of the Native American herder killed in the conflict is located on the Chamberlain Trail west of Highway 288. For information on Pleasant Valley Days call, (928) 462-3661.
More history of the region can be found at the Rim Country Museum, 700 S. Green Valley Parkway, Payson. In addition to books and information on the Pleasant Valley War, visitors can tour a replica of the Western writer Zane Grey’s cabin. The author’s book “To the Last Man” is based on the Graham, Tewksberry dispute. The museum is open Wednesday through Monday, 10 to 4 weekdays and Saturday, 1 to 4 on Sunday. Closed Tuesdays and holidays. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors 55 and older and $3 for students 12 to 18. Children under 12, free. For more information go to rimcountrymuseum.org, call (928) 474-3483 or write Rim Country Museum and Zane Grey Cabin, 700 S. Green Valley Parkway, Payson, AZ 85541.
© Text Only – 2018 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain or fair use.