For years Pima and Maricopa Indians had been relatively friendly and helpful to whites making their way across their lands in the desert between Tuscon and Yuma and often protected them from the uniformly hostile Apache. In part recognition of this, Congress set aside 64,000 acres and provide $10,000 for farming tools in an official reservation near the Gila River. This area was expanded to 145,000 acres in 1869. (By John Osborne)

Colón, which Americans called Aspinwall at the time, was the Atlantic terminus of the Pacific Railroad across Panama. American warships often visited the port and on this occasion men from the U.S.S. Roanoke were energetically enjoying shore leave and touched off a brawl between police, sailors, and locals, which ended only when the captain of the Roanoke sent men ashore to restore peace. Such incidents at a place where hundreds of Americans travelled almost daily, however, helped President Buchanan to gain authority from Congress the following month to land troops in Panama should American citizens need protection. (By John Osborne)

Panama was important as the place where American and other foreign passengers made their transit between the two oceans on the journey between the east and west coasts of the United States. Passengers waiting for ships often behaved badly and the maltreatment of locals was on the increase, especially around the port areas. In this instance, a drunken American passenger named Jack Oliver took a slice of watermelon from a stand in Panama City and refused to pay for it. One thing led to another and shots were fired. Incensed locals then attacked the crowd of foreign passengers waiting to board the ship for their journey to San Francisco. Official figures reported fifteen dead and sixteen wounded among the foreigners in the riot that Americans popularly called the "Watermelon War." (By John Osborne)

Buchanan sought authority to send U.S. ground and naval units to protect the transit of American citizens and trade across the isthmus of Panama. Increasingly important as a short-cut to the west coast ports of California and increasingly vulnerable to political upsets, the three routes in the area had been disrupted several times during the past few years, most notably in an April 1856 riot in Panama that claimed the lives of fifteen foreign passengers in transit. (By John Osborne)

The Conservative Government was locked in conflict with the Constitutional Government of Mexico, led by Benito Juarez, in the so-called "War of Reform." Washington recognized Juarez as the rightful leader of Mexico at his provisional capital at Veracruz in the first week in April. A week later the angry Conservative leaders, Felix Zuloaga and Miguel Miramon, who controlled much of the country, ordered that all Unites States consulates in these areas be closed and expelled the American consul in Mexico City. (By John Osborne)

Lord Lyons, whose family name was Richard Bickerton Pernell, arrived in Washington to replace the retiring Lord Napier. This was the 41 year old career diplomat's first important assignment in what was to be fifty years of service to the British Foreign Office. He was in Washington throughout the Civil War and was particularly praised for his tact and firmness during the dangerous Trent Affair. He left Washington in the spring of 1865 and later spent twenty years as minister to Paris. (By John Osborne)