It was not until late June that a scout named John W. Jones was able to outrun pursuing Apaches and get a message to Canby: "The Column from California is really coming." On the march to the Rio Grande, 140 men of Company E, 1st California Infantry, and Company B, 2nd California Infantry, fought the famous Apache leader Cochise at Apache Pass in July.
In California, in 1862 he acted as a scoutfor James Henry Carleton's California Column, the longest trek through desert terrain ever attempted by the U.S. military.
It then became a Union Army cavalry camp in 1862, part of the supply route for Fort Yuma and the California Column march into New Mexico Territory.
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Headquarters: At Camp Union from September 1861 to March 1862 when it moved to Camp Wright, then for a short time was at Drum Barracks before joining the California Column's march across southern New Mexico Territory to Texas.
From San Diego, Willis marched with James H. Carleton's expedition across New Mexico Territory and was involved in the capture of Tucson, an old Spanish presidio defended by a handful of milita.