Episode 2 of 5

Ambush and Theft

Name: Ambush and Theft
Start: 1889-05-11
Location: Arizona Territory

When: May 11, 1889
Where: Arizona Territory
Part of: Event of 1889: Wham Paymaster robbery: An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort in the A

Paymaster Wham and eleven Buffalo Soldiers were ambushed in Arizona Territory on May 11, 1889. Eight soldiers were wounded, and the bandits stole over $28,000 in gold and silver.

Wham was transporting a payroll from Fort Grant to Fort Thomas when his escort was ambushed. The bandits wounded eight soldiers, forcing them to retreat to cover, and stole the money. This was the first highwayman attack on a paymaster in Arizona Territory.

Sources

Wham Paymaster robbery Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-22

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.