Colorado Territory

The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861,^[2] until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the 38th State of Colorado.^[3]

The territory was organized in the wake of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, which brought the first large concentration of white settlement to the region and the Treaty of Fort Wise which formalized US relations with the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. The organic legislative act creating the free Territory of Colorado was passed by the United States Congress and signed by 15th President James Buchanan into law on February 28, 1861. This was during the onset of the American Civil War of April 1861 to June 1865. The boundaries of the newly designated Colorado Territory were very similar with those of the modern State of Colorado. The organization of the new territory helped solidify Union control over the mineral-rich area of the western Rocky Mountains. Newly sworn in President Andrew Johnson vetod statehood in 1865. Statehood was a recurring issue during the subsequent Grant administration.^[3]

Congressional grant of territorial status for the region was delayed by the slavery issue, and a deadlock between Democrats, who controlled the Senate, and the antislavery Republicans, who gained control of the House of Representatives in 1859. The deadlock was broken by the Civil War in which enough Democratic senators from seceding states resigned from the Senate to give control of both houses to the Republicans, clearing the way for admission of new territories.^[6]: 27 Three new territories were created in as many days: Colorado (February 28), Nevada (March 1), and Dakota (March 2).

Colorado Territory was officially organized by Act of Congress on February 28, 1861 (12 Stat. 172), out of lands previously part of the Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, and New Mexico territories. The name Colorado was chosen for the territory after first considering Idaho.^[6]: 27 It had been previously suggested in 1850 by Senator Henry S. Foote as a name for a state to have been created out of present-day California south of 35° 45'.

During the Civil War, the tide of new miners into the territory slowed to a trickle, and many left for the East to fight. The Missourians who stayed formed two volunteer regiments, as well as home guard. Although seemingly stationed at the periphery of the war theaters, the Colorado regiments found themselves in a crucial position in 1862 after the Confederate invasion of the New Mexico Territory by General Henry Sibley and a force of Texans. Sibley's New Mexico campaign was intended as a prelude to an invasion of the Colorado Territory northward to Fort Laramie, cutting the supply lines between California and the rest of the Union. The Coloradans, under the command of Union Army General Edward Canby and Colonel John P. Slough, Lt. Col. Samuel F. Tappan and Major John M. Chivington, defeated Sibley's force at the two day Battle of Glorieta Pass along the Santa Fe Trail, thwarting the Confederate strategy.

Following the end of the American Civil War, a movement was made for statehood; the United States Congress passed the Admission Act for the territory in late 1865, but it was vetoed by President Andrew Johnson. For the next eleven years, the movement for territorial admission was stalled, with several close calls. President Grant advocated statehood for the territory in 1870, but Congress did not act.

In the meantime, the territory found itself threatened by lack of railroads. By the late 1860s, many in Denver had sold their businesses and moved northward to the Dakota Territory communities of Laramie and Cheyenne, which had sprung up along the transcontinental railroad. Faced with the possible dwindling of the town and its eclipse by the new towns to the north, Denverites pooled their capital and built the Denver Pacific Railroad northward to Cheyenne to bring the rail network to Denver. The Kansas Pacific Railway was completed to Denver two months later. The move cemented the role of Denver as the future regional metropolis. The territory was finally admitted to the Union in 1876.

Three Colorado cities served as the capital of the Territory of Colorado:

1. Denver City: from creation on February 28, 1861, until July 7, 1862.
2. Colorado City: July 7 until August 14, 1862.
3. Golden City: August 14, 1862 until December 9, 1867.
4. Denver:^[a] December 9, 1867 until statehood on August 1, 1876.

For much if not all of its existence, the Colorado Territorial government did not actually own its houses of government, instead renting available buildings for governmental purposes. Today, two buildings which served the Territorial government remain: the historic log building in Colorado City, and the Loveland Block in downtown Golden City (which had housed the complete legislature, Territorial Library and possibly Supreme Court from 1866 to 1867, with library remaining to 1868). Others which served include the original Loveland Building (1859–1933, 1107 Washington Avenue in Golden, housing the Territorial House from 1862 to 1866); the Overland Hotel (1859–1910, 1117 Washington Avenue in Golden, housing the Territorial Council from 1862 to 1866); and the Territorial Executive Building (unknown dates, approximately 14th and Arapahoe Streets in Golden, housing the executive branch of the government from 1866 to 1867).

• Bibliography of Colorado
• Colorado in the American Civil War
• Colorado War
• Comanche Campaign
• Geography of Colorado
• History of Colorado
• Index of Colorado-related articles
• List of Colorado-related lists
• List of governors of the Territory of Colorado
• List of territorial claims and designations in Colorado
• List of territorial claims and designations in Colorado
• Outline of Colorado
• Pike's Peak Country
• Pike's Peak Gold Rush
• Territorial evolution of the United States
• Territory of Jefferson

• Hawes, J. W. (1879). "Colorado, a territory of the United States" . The American Cyclopædia.

38°59′50″N 105°32′52″W / 38.9972°N 105.5478°W / 38.9972; -105.5478 (Territory of Colorado (historical))