{{Infobox person | name = Robert H. Birch | image = Banditti Of The Prairies Birch Throwing The Portmanteau Overboard.jpg | caption = An illustration of Robert Birch from the [[Edward Bonney]] book ''The Banditti of the Prairies, Or, The Murderer's Doom!!: A Tale of the Mississippi Valley'' at 18 years old in 1846 being pursued by the law toward the end of his outlaw period with the [[Midwest United States|Midwestern]] criminals the "[[Banditti of the Prairie]]". | birth_name = Robert Henry Birch | birth_date = c. 1827 | birth_place = [[New York (state)|New York]]<ref name="auto">Thrapp, Dan L. ''Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: In Three Volumes, Volume I (A-F)''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. (pg. 114-115) {{ISBN|0-8032-9418-2}}</ref> or [[North Carolina]]<ref name="auto1">Edward Bonney. (1850) 1963. ''The Banditti of the Prairies, Or, The Murderer's Doom!!: A Tale of the Mississippi Valley''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 97.</ref> | death_date = c. 1866 (aged 39) | death_place = [[Arizona Territory]], present-day [[Arizona]] | other_names = Robert Birch, Henry Birch, "Three-Fingered" Birch, Robert Harris, R. Harris, R. Haris, Haris, Owin, Haines, Gains, Thomas Brown, Tom Brown, Robert Blecher, R.H. Blecher | occupation = bandit, burglar, prospector, postmaster, soldier | module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | allegiance = {{ubl| {{flagcountry|Confederate States of America}} | [[Arizona Territory (Confederate States of America)|Confederate Arizona Territory]] }} | branch = {{army|Confederate States of America|name=Confederate Army|size=23px}} | service_years = 1862-1865 | unit = {{ubl|[[Company A, Arizona Rangers]] | Colonel [[John Salmon Ford|John Salmon Ford's]] [[Second Texas Cavalry]] }} | battles = [[American Civil War]] }} | employer = Confederate States government, self-employed | known_for = Being an accomplice in the torture-murder of Colonel [[George Davenport]] and a member of the notorious [[Banditti of the Prairie]] }}
[[Image:Banditti Of The Prairies Murders Attacking Colonel Davenport.jpg|thumb|right|230px|An illustration from [[Edward Bonney]]'s book ''Banditti of the Prairies'' in which Robert Birch and his accomplices in the [[Banditti of the Prairie]] attacked and murdered Colonel [[George Davenport]] at his home on July 4, 1845. Birch was later captured and arrested for the crimes and escaped from jail in [[Wisconsin]].]] [[Image:Banditti Of The Prairies Fox, Long, And Birch.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Robert H. Birch with his Banditti outlaw partners, William Fox and John Long burying ill-gotten loot]] [[Image:Banditti Of The Prairies Bonney At Mother Long's.png|thumb|right|210px|An illustration of [[Edward Bonney]], from his book ''Banditti of the Prairies'' who as a [[bounty hunter]] and amateur [[detective]] in 1846, began a [[manhunt (law enforcement)|man-hunt]] doggedly pursued Robert Birch and his accomplices in the "[[Banditti of the Prairie]]", from [[Illinois]] to [[Ohio]] and back to [[Chicago]] for the torture-murder of Colonel [[George Davenport]] and [[counterfeit money|counterfeiting]].]] [[Image:Banditti Of The Prairies Execution Of The Two Longs And Young.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Robert Birch was arrested for his part in the torture-murder of Colonel [[George Davenport]] but because he broke out of jail in 1847, through outside help or bribery, in [[Knoxville, Illinois]] his case never went to trial and he vanished without a trace. The October, 1845 hangings of Granville Young and John and Aaron Long, Banditti murderers of Colonel Davenport, from the 1850 book, ''The Banditti of the Prairies, Or, The Murderer's Doom!!: A Tale of the Mississippi Valley'' by [[Edward Bonney]], who is standing to the right of the [[gallows]], wearing a top hat and black suit.]]
'''Robert H. "Three-Fingered" Birch''', born '''Robert Henry Birch''' (c. 1827 – c. 1866), was a 19th-century American adventurer, criminal, soldier, lawman, postmaster, and prospector. He was a member of the infamous "[[Banditti of the Prairie]]" in his youth, whose involvement in the torture-murder of Colonel [[George Davenport]] in 1845 led to his [[turning state's evidence]] against his co-conspirators. Birch was also the discoverer of the [[Pinos Altos, New Mexico|Pinos Altos]] gold mine with [[Jacob Snively]] and [[James W. Hicks]]. During the [[American Civil War]], he served in the [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]] with the Confederate forces of the [[Arizona Rangers]] and [[2nd Texas Cavalry]].
==Early life== Robert Birch claimed to have been born in [[New York (state)|New York]],<ref name="auto"/> but amateur detective, [[Edward Bonney]] alleged, that Birch's father, John "Old Coon" Birch Sr., stated, in their home, which was nine miles southwest of [[Marshall, Illinois|Marshall]], in [[Clark County, Illinois]], that Robert had been born in [[North Carolina]].<ref name="auto1"/> Birch had moved with his father and his two brothers, John Jr. and Timothy, to [[Illinois]], as a child.
==Criminal pursuits in Middle West==
===Banditti of the Prairie=== Robert Birch became involved in crime, as a teenager, being described by Bonney, as "suspected of robbery and even of murder ever since he had attained the age of fifteen". Robert Birch was a close associate of bandit, William Fox, as both were considered notorious "prairie pirates" and longtime members of what were called the [[Banditti of the Prairie]]. Birch was a self-styled Mormon, who conveniently, used his church membership, as a Latter Day Saint, to gain protection in Nauvoo, Illinois, when the law was hot on his trail.
[[File:John-A.-Murrell-Portrait.jpg|thumb|left|140px|A drawing of the infamous [[Southern United States|southern]] criminal gang leader [[John Murrell (bandit)|John A. Murrell]] from the only known, accurate portrait made of him during his lifetime. Robert Birch was said to have had criminal connections with Murrell but this is highly improbable since he would have been only a seven-year-old child or possibly Birch's criminal father was associated with John A. Murrell.]] [[File:Prospectors Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion (1856).jpeg|thumb|left|260px|Robert Birch accompanied [[Jacob Snively]] in 1858 in helping found [[Arizona]]'s first [[gold rush]] boom town [[Gila City]] in which Birch became the first [[postmaster]]. He would later join Snively and [[James W. Hicks]] in discovering gold deposits on Bear Creek. The ghost town [[Pinos Altos, New Mexico|Pinos Altos]] was first named Birchville in his honor.]] [[File:Flagraise.gif|thumb|left|210px|In the beginning of the [[American Civil War]], Robert Birch enlisted in the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] in the [[Confederate Arizona|Rebel-held]], southern half of the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] [[New Mexico Territory]], known as the [[Arizona Territory (Confederate States of America)|Confederate Territory of Arizona]] with [[Company A, Arizona Rangers]]. The Rangers would later occupy [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]] in February 1862, raising the [[Flags of the Confederate States of America|national flag]] of the [[Confederate States of America]].]] [[File:John-Salmon-Ford.jpg|thumb|left|160px|Robert Birch later transferred and served under Colonel [[John Salmon Ford]] in the [[Texas 2nd Cavalry]] of the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] on the [[Rio Grande]]]]
===Alleged criminal connections with John A. Murrell=== Robert Birch, may have had ties to Tennessee outlaw, [[John Murrell (bandit)|John A. Murrell]] and his Mystic Clan, using a number of criminal aliases including; Robert Harris, R. Harris, R. Haris, Haris, Owin, Haines, Gains, Thomas Brown, Tom Brown, Robert Blecher, R. H. Blecher. But, this claim does not hold up to scrutiny, as Birch would have been only seven years old, in 1834, when Murrell was arrested and began serving his ten-year prison sentence. Robert Birch, more likely, might have had older relatives, such as his father, uncles, or cousins, who were on the Mystic Clan's membership rolls in the [[Southern United States|U.S. Southern states]] or were connected to outlaws who were Murrell associates. After the demise of Murrell, many of the members of the future "Banditti" were driven out of "The South" and to avoid arrest, execution, or death at the hands of [[vigilantes|regulators]] and moved farther north, relocating their criminal activities in the still, lawless, frontier of the [[Midwestern United States|Middle West]], mainly in the states of [[Illinois]], [[Indiana]], and [[Ohio]].
===Torture-murder of Colonel Davenport, arrest, and escape=== When Robert Birch was 18 years old, he was alleged by [[James Henry Tevis]] of being involved in the torture-murder of Colonel [[George Davenport]] at his home on July 4, 1845.<ref>Tevis, James H. ''Arizona in the '1950s''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1954.</ref> Robert Birch was one of several members later identified by [[Edward Bonney]] who had infiltrated the gang as a bogus [[counterfeiter]]. Ironically, three years earlier, Bonney had been arrested and charged with [[counterfeit money|counterfeiting]] in [[Indiana]] but escaped before his conviction. Birch was soon apprehended, in part due to information from Bonney, and he soon agreed to testify against the others in exchange for a reduced sentence. Granville Young and brothers John and Aaron Long were later executed for the murder. After several court delays, Robert Birch broke out of jail, through outside help or bribery, in [[Knoxville, Illinois]], March 22, 1847.
==Honest pursuits in New Mexico Territory==
===New Mexico Gold Rush=== Disappearing into the frontier, of the [[Midwest United States]], Robert Birch resurfaced, almost, a decade later, a reformed, honest man and an associate of Jacob Snively,<ref>{{cite web |title=Jacob Snively Image |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gerrybaconking/ChristianBreitenbucher/jacobsnively1(1856-1927).jpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409111556/https://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gerrybaconking/ChristianBreitenbucher/jacobsnively1(1856-1927).jpg |archive-date=April 9, 2017}}</ref> the founder of [[Arizona]]'s first [[gold rush]] boom town [[Gila City]], and became the first [[postmaster]] on December 24, 1858. Two years later, Birch followed Snively and [[James W. Hicks]] to the [[New Mexico Territory]] where they discovered gold deposits on Bear Creek. A mining camp soon sprang up around the claim, on the site of what is today the [[ghost town]] of [[Pinos Altos, New Mexico|Pinos Altos]], and was originally named Birchville in his honor.
==American Civil War service== When the [[Confederate Army]] invaded the territory of New Mexico, at the start of the [[American Civil War]], they created the [[Arizona Territory (Confederate States of America)|Confederate Territory of Arizona]] Robert Birch possibly because of his [[Southern United States|southern]] family leanings volunteered for military service. He initially served with [[Company A, Arizona Rangers]] under 2nd Lieutenant James Henry Tevis however, according to Tevis, Birch asked to be transferred to Colonel [[John Salmon Ford]]'s Second Texas Cavalry on the [[Rio Grande]].
==Death== Robert Birch died in 1866, in [[Arizona Territory]], present-day [[Arizona]].<ref name="auto"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Books== * [[Edward Bonney|Bonney, Edward]]. ''The Banditti of the Prairies, Or, The Murderer's Doom!!: A Tale of the Mississippi Valley''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, (1850) 1963. * Tevis, James H. ''Arizona in the '50s''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1954. * Thrapp, Dan L. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography: In Three Volumes, Volume I (A-F). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. * [[Paul Wellman|Wellman, Paul L.]] ''Spawn of Evil''. Doubleday and Company, 1964.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, Robert H.}} [[Category:1820s births]] [[Category:1860s deaths]] [[Category:American male criminals]] [[Category:American escapees]] [[Category:American prospectors]] [[Category:Fugitives]] [[Category:Criminals from Illinois]] [[Category:Criminals from New Mexico]] [[Category:Escapees from Illinois detention]] [[Category:19th-century American murderers]]