Nathaniel Sharp (1816 - 1906) - Renaissance Men

Chronicling America
Weekly Arizona Miner, October 19, 1872

Nathaniel Sharp was born about 1816 in Tennessee. Very little is known about his early life. Apparently he served in the Mexican War, since his obituary says that he first came through Arizona as a member of an invading army in charge of a company. He was also mentioned as being in Arizona by 1856.

Sharp settled first in Calabasas, intending to raise cattle. However, the outbreak of the Civil War and the expected arrival of Union troops from California caused Sharp, along with Thomas Farrell and Jack Pennington, to pack up and head for Mesilla, New Mexico, in August of  1861. Their wagon train, which would become known as the Ake-Wadsworth Party, was accompanied by herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. This temptation proved to be too much for the Chiricahua Apaches. Under the leadership of  Cochise and/or his son-in-law Mangas Coloradas, the Chiricahuas attacked the 
Ake-Wadsworth party in Cooke’s Canyon. 

During the running battle, Nathaniel Sharp received an arrow through the neck, but witnesses said that he simply broke the arrow in half and pulled the pieces out. Sharp was described as being about sixty years old at the time (he was actually 45).  After Sharp recovered from his injuries, he and Thomas Farrell journeyed to Pinos Altos, where they enlisted in the Confederate Army. Both served as privates in Helms' Company, Herbert’s Arizona Battalion. Farrell was taken prisoner during the unit’s Trans-Mississippi campaign and did not see Sharp again until 1871.

After the Civil War, Sharp went to California and was for a time a lawyer in Sacramento. However, he returned to Arizona around 1869, where he helped to dig the Tempe Canal. Thus assured of water, he started a cattle ranch south of the Salt River. After James T. Priest resigned as zanjero of the Tempe Canal Company to pursue other ambitions, Sharp was elected zanjero, a position of some importance in the community. 

Sharp was living in Los Angeles, California, when he died on 29 September 1906.  His remains were returned by rail to Phoenix, accompanied by his late wife’s daughters, Mrs. Burgher and Mrs. Grubbings. - Adapted from a story by Donna Carr

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