Correspondence of Crawley P. Dake

Crawley P. Dake was Union soldier during the Civil War and U.S. Marshal for Arizona Territory from 1878 to 1882. Dake was born at Kenfield, Ontario, Canada in 1827. When the Civil War broke out, he was commissioned in the 5th Michigan Cavalry. He served at Gettysburg and in other major actions until he was wounded and retired as a major in August, 1864. He worked for the Internal Revenue Service before being appointed as the U.S. Marshal for Arizona Territory on June 12, 1878. For the first two years, he dispatched a number of possess to the Mexican border, trying to control the lawlessness taking place there. Dake had a number of famous frontier characters working for him including; Leslie Blackburn, Virgil and Wyatt Earp, and Joseph Evans. After the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona in October, 1881, he was heavily criticized and replaced in July, 1882. He remained in Arizona, living in Prescott, managing mining and business interests until his death on August 9, 1890.