Cross was born in
Lancaster, New Hampshire, son of Ephram and Abigail (Everett) Cross; he attended the common school and academy at Lancaster. When he was fifteen years old, he began writing as a printer for a local newspaper, the
Coos Democrat. He later moved from
New Hampshire to
Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked as a printer for the
Cincinnati Times. He demonstrated writing skills and became a reporter for the newspaper, serving for a while as the paper's
Washington correspondent. In 1854, he canvassed Ohio for the American (Know-Nothing) Party, was the Washington correspondent for the Cincinnati Times during two sessions of Congress, and also wrote articles for other newspapers, including the New York Herald. On July 27, 1858, he left Cincinnati for
Tubac,
Arizona Territory, with the last contingent of the Santa Rita Silver Mining Company. Cross invested in a series of mines and then established the territory's first newspaper, the
Weekly Arizonian. He also served at times in the
United States Army as a scout during occasional expeditions against the
Apache. In 1860, he crossed the border into
Mexico to command a Sonoran army garrison supporting the insurgency of
Benito Juárez. On August 5, 1860, Colonel Cross, assigned to
Fort Buchanan, presided over a meeting of irate miners, at the ranch of Henry Theodore Titus, who demanded protection from depredations committed by
Sonoran bandits. Cross enumerated the atrocities committed and paid a tribute of respect to the victims. ==Civil War service==