Download Civil War in Arizona

MIL HIST 5
Civil War in Arizona
Although Civil War events in Arizona probably had little direct effect on the outcome of the war,
events of the Civil War period had lasting effects on Arizona. The boundaries that would
become the present-day state of Arizona were refined and the Indian conflicts nearly
overshadowed the war. The Unionists and Confederates would spend most of the Civil War
period fighting the Indians and very little time fighting each other. The Indian Wars would then
continue for many years after the Civil War.
At the start of the American Civil War, present-day Arizona was a part of the New Mexico
Territory (shown below), which had been acquired by the United States following the MexicanAmerican War and the Gadsden Purchase Treaty of 1853. But the southern residents of the
territory, for example in Tucson, felt ignored by a territorial government whose capital was
located far away and across a mountain range in Santa Fe.
In July 1860, a convention in Tucson drafted a
constitution for a "Territory of Arizona," to be
organized out of New Mexico Territory south of
the 34th parallel. However, the US Congress
refused to accept the new territory because of the
slavery issue. Many in the proposed new territory
were pro-slavery, and had business connections
with the southern states. Anti-slavery
Congressmen were convinced the new territory
would become a slave state, something they were
keen to avoid. Congress further enflamed matters
when it rerouted all federal mail routes through
Nebraska to California, thus bypassing the nowhostile state of Texas and, consequently, Arizona.
When the Confederacy was created in February
1861, Arizonians saw a new opportunity to create their own territory. So a convention in
Mesilla (near present-day Las Cruces, New Mexico, and then the largest town in the area) on
March 16, 1861, voted to secede from the Union and join the Confederate States. The
westerners in Tucson then voted on March 28 to join their eastern partners in forming the new
secession territory (shown below).
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Both the Union and the Confederacy wanted
California because of its rich mineral resources and
its vital Pacific ports. For the Confederates, conquest
of California would help gain European recognition
and could ease the Union naval blockade of their
eastern ports. Arizona could provide a much-needed
land link to connect California to the eastern
Confederate states and the South considered building
a southern transcontinental railroad to strengthen
this link. The South believed both southern California and the Arizona territory were pro-South
and would rally to their cause.
In July 1861, a small Confederate force moved into the New Mexico-Arizona Territory. The
force drove off Union troops in Mesilla and established a Confederate military authority in the
area. On February 14, 1862, Confederate President Jefferson Davis signed a proclamation
officially recognizing the Territory of Arizona (shown below) as a part of the Confederate States
of America.
Meanwhile, operations in the west of the Territory were also heating up. After a Confederate
force of about 120 cavalrymen arrived in Tucson from Texas on February 28, 1862, they named
Tucson the capital of the western district of the Confederate Arizona Territory. Mesilla would
be the overall territorial capital and the seat of the eastern district of the territory (see previous
two graphics above).
However, the United States Government would not let control of Arizona go unchallenged and
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early 1862 saw an increase in Union pressure on the territory. In March 1862, Confederate
forces had moved into northern New Mexico toward Glorieta Pass (southeast of Santa Fe on
present-day Interstate-25)(see graphic below) to break the Union hold in the West and provide
access to the mineral resources in the Colorado Territory. Although the Confederates were able
to push the Union force back through the pass, they had to retreat when their supply trains
were destroyed.
Referred to as the "Gettysburg of the West" by many historians, this running battle in late
March drove the invading Confederate forces back to Texas. From that point on, Confederate
military operations in the Territory took on a decidedly defensive pattern. By July 1862 the
Confederate territorial government had fled the area to serve in exile in San Antonio, Texas.
Glorieta Pass would be the battle that shattered the western dreams of the Confederate States
of America.
Meanwhile, significant new Union pressure would come from Union forces in California. The
Confederates had hoped a flood of sympathizers in southern California would join them and
deliver California. California Unionists were anxious to prevent this, and Union volunteers from
California, known as the “California Column,” and led by Colonel James Henry Carleton, moved
east to Fort Yuma, California to organize, train, and equip.
The California Column ultimately marched over 900 miles, as shown in the graphic below, from
California through Arizona and as far east as El Paso between April and August of 1862. The
Column included 1,500 well-drilled and disciplined men, later joined by California regulars,
bringing the total force to 2,350 men. Their objective was to drive Confederate troops out of
Arizona and New Mexico.
The column would soon run into the Confederates in Arizona. Most of the Civil War era
engagements in Arizona (Dragoon Springs, Stanwix Station, Picacho Pass, and Apache Pass)
occurred near relay stations along the recently deactivated Butterfield Overland Stagecoach
route (shown below). This route provided the most readily available sources of water and feed
for the advancing Californians, roughly following what is now Interstate-8 and then Interstate10 south across present-day Arizona. The Butterfield route had opened in 1859, but ceased
operations when the war began and the routes were moved north, as mentioned earlier.
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During their advance, the California Column engaged the Arizona-based Confederates in two
small skirmishes. The first was on March 29, 1862 when the Californians surprised a
Confederate raiding party at Stanwix Station, built along the Gila River (and present-day
Interstate-8), near Agua Caliente, Arizona. The Californians had sent advance parties into
Arizona to ensure water and feed would be available at the stations on the route of the
advancing main column. The Confederates anticipated this move by sending raiders from their
base in Tucson to destroy the water and feed and delay the Union advance. The two parties
collided at Stanwix. This clash would be remembered as the westernmost skirmish in the Civil
War without casualties.
Meanwhile, a Confederate raider escaped from the Stanwix skirmish and was able to reach
Tucson and warn Capt. Sherod Hunter, the district military commander of western Confederate
Arizona, of the approaching California Column. Hunter then placed pickets along the expected
California route of march, leading to the second clash at the Battle of Picacho Pass on April 15th.
The Battle of Picacho Pass took place around Picacho Peak (shown below), some 50 miles
northwest of Tucson (along present-day Interstate-10). It marked the westernmost battle of the
American Civil War that resulted in any casualties.
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Twelve Union cavalry troopers and one scout, commanded by Lieutenant James Barrett of the
1st California Cavalry, were conducting an advance sweep of the Picacho Peak area, looking for
Confederates reported to be nearby.
There were ten Arizona Confederates in the area, commanded by Sergeant Henry Holmes.
Barrett was under orders not to engage, but to wait for the main column to catch up. However,
on his own initiative, Barrett surprised the Confederates and should have captured them
without firing a shot. Instead, the lieutenant led his men into a thicket, single-file, without
dismounting, and risked unnecessary exposure.
The first fire from the Confederates emptied four Union saddles and the Confederates retired
farther into the dense thicket. Barrett followed, calling on his men to join him. Three of the
Confederates surrendered. Barrett was securing one of the prisoners when a bullet struck him
in the neck, killing him instantly. Fierce and confused fighting continued among the mesquite
and arroyos for 90 minutes, with two more Union fatalities and three troopers wounded.
Exhausted and leaderless after Barrett’s loss, the Californians broke off the fight. The
Confederates, minus three who already surrendered, quickly departed and carried warning of
the approaching Union army to Tucson and Capt. Hunter. Barrett's disregard of orders had cost
him his life and forfeited any chance of a Union surprise attack on Tucson.
The "battle" at Picacho Pass was a small skirmish compared to the great battles in the east.
Despite the fact that only 23 people were involved in this battle and the relatively high number
of casualties (about half the total combatants were either killed, wounded, or captured),
Picacho Pass remains the best-known Civil War battle fought within Arizona.
Following their defeat at Picacho Pass, the Confederates abandoned Tucson. Hunter's
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Confederates were vastly outnumbered and were too far from the main Confederate army on
the Rio Grande to receive regular supply or reinforcement.
Carleton's California troops finally arrived in Tucson on May 20th, only to discover that Hunter
had retreated. During Hunter’s retreat, Apaches based in the Chiricahua Mountains attacked
his eastbound troops repeatedly. The Confederates even armed their Union prisoners, as the
march became a fight for survival.
The best known of the engagements on the march was at Dragoon Springs - the only known
engagement in which Confederate soldiers were killed within the boundaries of present-day
Arizona. This minor skirmish, although not between Union and Confederates, is noted for
causing the Confederacy's westernmost battle deaths. The tired Confederates finally arrived on
the Rio Grande River on May 27th, bringing the Confederate invasion of Arizona to an end.
Meanwhile, the lead detachment of the California Column continued eastward from Tucson
following the retreating Confederates. As with the Confederates, the Californians were
ambushed by the Apaches, fighting a major battle against some 500 warriors along the stage
route at Apache Pass, roughly 20 miles southeast of Willcox, Arizona. The column fought off the
Apaches with minimal casualties and established Fort Bowie to secure the pass.
To preclude a de facto recognition of the Confederate territory and a potential slave state,
Congress now decided to create the new territory of Arizona, not with an east-west axis from
the southern part of New Mexico similar to recent territorial borders, but on a north-south axis
from the western part of the territory, closer to present-day boundaries. On February 24, 1863,
Congress passed an act to establish a slave-free Territory of Arizona, from the lands lying west
of a line run south of the western border of Colorado, as shown in light blue below.
Arizona residents finally had the borders they had so
urgently sought earlier, establishing the boundaries of
present-day Arizona and including a small part of presentday southern Nevada. The promising mining area of
Prescott (shown at the left) became the territorial capital a
year later, eclipsing Tucson because it had leaned too much
toward the Confederacy.
In the end, the dreams of a Confederate stronghold in the
Southwest were impractical. The New Mexico and Arizona
territories did not provide enough food or sustenance for
any prolonged Confederate occupation. Furthermore, the approach of the California Column
eastward through the Arizona Territory during the summer of 1862 would have seriously
jeopardized Confederate control of the region.
The settlers in Arizona now had the boundaries they had sought. The Battle of Picacho Pass
would represent the last stand of the Confederates in the Arizona Territory and their last,
significant Arizona encounter with the Union. The struggle to ensure the Far West as Union
territory had brought in Union troops that supported the needs of Arizona’s settlers for
protection against the Apache. Therefore, it could be said that both the Union and the Arizona
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residents had achieved their strategic objectives during the Civil War in Arizona. The Indian
Wars would continue for decades.
Sources:
The American Civil War – Arizona Territory, National Park Service,
http://www.nps.gov/cwindepth/StateByState/Arizona.html,
Battle of Picacho Pass,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Picacho_Pass
http://www.philaprintshop.com/arizterr.html, History of the "horizontal" territory of Arizona,
undated.
Roger Naylor, Special for the Arizona Republic, Arizona's military history: Battle of Picacho Pass,
March 13, 2015
The American Civil War, http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/
Battle of Picacho Pass, http://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/620415.html
Josephy, Jr., Alvin M., The Civil War in the American West. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.
Altshuler, Constance Wynn, Chains of Command, Arizona and the Army, 1856-1875. Tucson: The
Arizona Historical Society, 1981.
Finch, L. Boyd, Confederate Pathway to the Pacific: Major Sherod Hunter and Arizona Territory,
C.S.A. Tucson: The Arizona Historical Society, 1996.
Masich, Andrew E, The Civil War in Arizona, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.
Colton, Ray C., The Civil War in the Western Territories, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press,
1959.
Weir, Bill, Arizona, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC., undated.
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