How EP Streets Got Names: Doniphan Dr.

We’re continuing our weekly feature, “How the Streets in El Paso Got Their Names”. Today, the Upper Valley street that runs parallel to I-10: Doniphan Drive.

Alexander William Doniphan was a military man and politician of the early to mid-1800s.  He made his mark on the El Paso region during the Mexican-American War of 1846.

Doniphan was born in Kentucky in 1808 and practiced as a lawyer and a member of the state legislature. Before the Mexican-American War, he had fought in Indian skirmishes and the so-called Mormon War of 1838 in Missouri.

In 1846, Doniphan was commissioned as a Colonel in the Missouri Volunteer Cavalry.

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Doniphan participated in two major victories for the American forces: The Battle of the Sacramento River, which captured Ciudad Chihuahua, and The Battle of El Brazito which took place near modern-day Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Doniphan Drive was named in his honor many years later.

Alexander Doniphan had many more adventures. It’s worth noting that Doniphan was a man somewhat ahead of his times. The “Indian Skirmish” referenced earlier saw Doniphan take the side of the Potawatomi Indians in a violent fight with white settlers over some stolen Potawatomi horses.

He lived through the American Civil War. He was offered a commission in the Union Army but declined to participate for either side. During a peace meeting preceding the war, President Abraham Lincoln is purported to have remarked, “Doniphan, you are the only man I ever met whose appearance came up to my expectations”.

Also, Alexander Doniphan has been held in high esteem by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. During the Missouri-Mormon War, Doniphan was ordered to summarily execute Mormon founder Joseph Smith and other leading Mormons. Doniphan refused saying it would be cold-blooded murder and telling his commanding officer, “If you execute these men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God”.