Henry A. Crabb
{{short description|American politician and filibuster}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Henry Alexander Crabb
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| image = Henry A. Crabb.jpg
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| birth_date = 1822 or 1824
| birth_place = Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
| death_date = April 7, 1857 (aged 35 or 37)
| death_place = Caborca, Sonora, Mexico
| death_cause = Execution by firing squad
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| allegiance = {{flag|United States|1851}}
| branch = {{flagdeco|United States|1851}} Filibuster Army
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| unit = Arizona Colonization Company
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| battles = Reform War
- Battle of Caborca {{Executed}}
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| spouse = Filomena Ainsa
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Henry Alexander Crabb (died April 7, 1857) was an American soldier from Tennessee and Mississippi, and an early member of the California State Senate, who served during a term ending in 1854. He is famous for coming to an ignominious end as a filibuster (freelance colonizer), when he was killed by Mexican troops who reportedly sent his decapitated head to the capital city preserved in a barrel of wine.
Biography
He was a leader of the Whig party and was known as a pro-slavery activist.{{Cite web|title=Henry A. Crabb|url=http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/11977|website=JoinCalifornia|access-date=September 28, 2022}} Crabb was originally from Tennessee.{{Cite news |date=1963-07-01 |title=Henry A. Crabbe Jr. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-vicksburg-post-henry-a-crabbe-jr/167019618/ |access-date=2025-03-02 |work=The Vicksburg Post |pages=125}} His father was a lawyer and a judge, Henry A. Crabb Sr.{{Cite news |date=1818-07-31 |title=Toasts |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/kentucky-gazette-toasts/168854589/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |work=Kentucky Gazette |pages=3}} He moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1844 where he worked as a lawyer. He killed Edward Jenkins, editor of the Vicksburg Whig newspaper, in a street fight.{{Cite news |date=1888-01-31 |title=Southern Duels |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-weekly-telegraph-southern-duels/164429989/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=The Weekly Telegraph |pages=8}} Jenkins apparently pulled a knife and stabbed Crabb several times, in response to which Crabb pulled out a gun and fatally shot Jenkins in the heart.{{Cite news |date=1848-09-19 |title=Fatal Affray |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-delta-fatal-affray/170038221/ |access-date=2025-04-11 |work=The Daily Delta |pages=2}}
Crabb also married Filomena Ainsa and had two children with her. Crabb was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate on the Know Nothing party ticket in 1857. After losing, he organized a filibustering expedition to the Mexican state of Sonora to aid the Liberal rebels in Mexico's ongoing Reform War, specifically the leader of the Liberals in Sonora, Ignacio Pesqueira. After Crabb crossed the border, however, Pesqueira turned on him{{clarify|date=March 2023}}, and Crabb's forces were defeated in an eight-day battle at Caborca in April 1857.{{Cite web|title=Henry A. Crabb: Cd. Obregon en Sonora, Fierro por la 200!!!|url=https://obson.wordpress.com/tag/henry-a-crabb/|website=obson.wordpress|date=19 July 2014 |access-date=September 28, 2022}} The survivors, including Crabb, were captured and then executed what has been termed the Crabb massacre. According to one report in a Mississippi newspaper, "his head was preserved in spirits of wine and sent to the city of Mexico."{{Cite news |date=1888-01-31 |title=Southern Duels |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-weekly-telegraph-southern-duels/164429989/ |access-date=2025-02-01 |work=The Weekly Telegraph |pages=8}} Other accounts claim it was mezcal.{{Cite news |date=1857-06-16 |title=The Fate of the Crabb Expedition |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cleveland-leader-the-fate-of-the-cra/169965140/ |access-date=2025-04-10 |work=The Cleveland Leader |pages=2}}
References
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Sources
- [http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/1973/january/crabb/ Henry A. Crabb, Filibuster, and the San Diego Herald] {{dash}} The Journal of San Diego History, Winter 1973, Volume 19, Number 1
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crabb, Henry A.}}
Category:California state senators
Category:American filibusters (military)
Category:American proslavery activists
Category:American people executed abroad
Category:American people murdered abroad
Category:California Know Nothings
Category:Politicians from Nashville, Tennessee
Category:People executed by Mexico by firing squad
Category:19th-century members of the California State Legislature
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