Lt. Manuel Eyre, Jr., 1st Lieutenant, 14th U.S. Infantry, assumed command of Camp Cady in June 1867. He was also breveted lieutenant colonel for Civil War service. His assignment carried more responsibility than ordinary command of a small frontier garrison. In addition to serving as post commander, Eyre acted as commissary of subsistence and acting assistant quartermaster. He therefore supervised the purchase and issue of food, other supplies, transportation, forage, and government vouchers. [1]
Camp Cady stood on the Mojave River far from the Army’s main supply and command. The garrison depended on those nearby and contractors for vital goods and services. When the Army had no ready cash at the post, Eyre could issue vouchers, or certificates acknowledging what the government owed, to local suppliers. A voucher had value, but its holder had to wait for payment or sell it at a discount to someone able to redeem it. This frontier system made the supply officer’s work essential, but it also invited dispute and placed Eyre’s official conduct under close scrutiny. [1]
In August 1867, a store belonging to P. N. Dean was burned by soldiers stationed at Camp Cady under Eyre’s command. A later history of the post reported that Eyre had complained to higher headquarters that Dean sold cheap liquor to enlisted men, and that Eyre afterward restricted the amount of alcohol soldiers could buy. The same account held Eyre responsible for the conduct of the troops under his command. [2]
Civil authorities in San Bernardino later charged Eyre with arson. A War Department memorandum recorded that he was released on May 28, 1868, and returned to Camp Cady on June 8. The memorandum places him under military arrest on June 10; Eyre himself gave the date as June 9. The best wording is that he was placed under military arrest immediately after his return to Camp Cady, in early June 1868. [3]
The military arrest did not merely repeat the civil arson charge. Official Army correspondence identifies three broad allegations against Eyre:
- Trafficking in government vouchers;
- Conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman; and
- Conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline. [3]
The surviving papers do not yet establish the exact wording of every specification or the finding on each one. They do show that the Army’s concerns spanned beyond the burned store to Eyre’s official conduct and his management of government obligations.
Eyre remained under arrest at Camp Cady for months. In a report dated November 7, 1868, he stated that he had received no copy of the charges and no information about the cause of his arrest. He repeated the complaint in a January 1, 1869, letter to the Adjutant General, saying that he had been under arrest since June and still had not received a copy of the charges. [4]
Army correspondence admitted the delay. Headquarters ordered a court-martial, but no general court-martial was available to hear the case yet. The records also show that Generals Irvin McDowell and E. O. C. Ord did not consider Eyre fit to command a post. The Army therefore kept him under arrest at the remote station instead of returning him to duty. [3]
The trial took place at Drum Barracks in February 1869. The National Archives identifies the surviving record as Court-Martial Case File PP-181, titled “Eyre, Manuel — 1st Lieutenant, 14th Infantry,” in Record Group 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General. The file itself is not digitized, but it is the principal source for the complete charges, testimony, findings, sentence, and review. [5]
Eyre avoided conviction on the San Bernardino arson charge, but the Army held him under arrest on separate military charges. A court-martial at Drum Barracks dismissed him from the United States Army on May 18, 1869.
References
[1] “The Court-Martial of Lt. Manuel Eyre.” Digital-Desert, accessed 2026.
[2] “The History of Camp Cady.” Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly, 1952.
[3] National Archives and Records Administration. Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780s-1917, “1868 – Eyre, Manuel – File No. E344,” Record Group 94.
[4] National Archives and Records Administration. Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780s-1917, “1869 – Eyre, Manuel – File No. E21,” Record Group 94.
[5] National Archives and Records Administration. Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), Court Martial Case Files, “Eyre, Manuel — 1st Lieutenant, 14th Infantry,” February 1869, Case PP-181, Record Group 153.
[6] National Archives and Records Administration. Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780s-1917, “1869 – Eyre, Manuel – File No. E170,” Record Group 94.
