Battle of Picacho Pass
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Picacho Pass or the Battle of Picacho Peak was an engagement of the American Civil War
on April 15, 1862. The action occurred all around Picacho Peak
, 50 miles (80.5 km) northwest of Tucson
, Arizona
. It was fought between a Union
cavalry
patrol from California
and a party of Confederate
pickets
from Tucson, and marks the westernmost battle of the American Civil War
.
, which comprised what is now southern Arizona and southern New Mexico. Mesilla
, near Las Cruces
, was both the territorial capital and seat of the eastern district of the territory. Ultimately, Confederate dreams included influencing sympathizers in southern California to join them and give the Confederacy an outlet on the Pacific Ocean. The Federal government was anxious to prevent this, and Union volunteers from California, known as the California Column
and led by Colonel
James Henry Carleton
, moved east to occupy Arizona, using Fort Yuma
in California as a base of operations.
Like most of the Civil War era engagements in Arizona (Dragoon Springs, Stanwix Station
, and Apache Pass
) Picacho Pass occurred near remount stations along the Butterfield Overland Stagecoach route
, which dated to the 1850s and which the Confederates tried to keep open with limited success. This skirmish occurred about one mile northwest of Pichaco Pass Station.
troopers and one scout
(reported to be mountain man
Pauline Weaver
but in reality Tucson resident John W. Jones), commanded by Lieutenant
James Barrett of the 1st California Cavalry, were conducting a sweep of the Picacho Peak area, looking for Confederates reported to be nearby. The Arizona Confederates were commanded by Sergeant
Henry Holmes. Barrett was under orders not to engage them, but to wait for the main column to come up. However, "Lt. Barrett acting alone rather than in concert, surprised the Rebels and should have captured them without firing a shot, if the thing had been conducted properly." Instead, in mid-afternoon the lieutenant "led his men into the thicket single file without dismounting them. The first fire from the enemy emptied four saddles, when the enemy retired farther into the dense thicket and had time to reload ... Barrrett followed them, calling on his men to follow him." Three of the Confederates surrendered. Barrett secured one of the prisoners and had just remounted his horse when a bullet struck him in the neck, killing him instantly. Fierce and confused fighting continued among the mesquite and arroyos for more than an hour, with two more Union fatalities and three troopers wounded. Exhausted and leaderless, the Californians broke off the fight and the Arizona Rangers, minus three who surrender, mounted and carried warning of the approaching Union army to Tucson. Barrett's disobedience of orders had cost him his life and lost any chance of a Union surprise attack on Tucson.
The Union troops retreated to the Pima Indian Villages and hastily built Fort Barrett
(named for the fallen officer) at White's Mill, waiting to gather resources to continue the advance. However, with no Confederate reinforcements available, Captain Sherod Hunter
and his men fled withdrew as soon as the Column again advanced. The Union army capture
d the town without any opposition.
The bodies of the two Union enlisted men killed at Picacho were later rmoved to the presidio
in San Francisco, California
. However, Lieutenant Barrett's grave, near the present railroad tracks, remains undisturbed and unmarked. Union reports claimed that two Confederates were wounded in the fight, but Captain Hunter in his official report mentioned no any Confederate casualties other than the three men captured.
. By July the main force of Confederates had retreated to Texas, though pro-Confederate militia units operated in some areas until mid 1863. The following year, the Union organized its own territory of Arizona
, dividing New Mexico along the state's current north-south border, extending control southwards from the provisional capital of Prescott
. The encounter at Picacho Pass may have been only a minor even in the Civil War, but it can be considered the high-water mark of the Confederate West.
hosts a re-enactment of the Civil War battles of Arizona and New Mexico, including the battle of Picacho Pass. The re-enactments now have grown so large that many more participants tend to be involved than took part in the actual engagements, and include infantry units and artillery as well as cavalry.
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
on April 15, 1862. The action occurred all around Picacho Peak
Picacho Peak State Park
Picacho Peak State Park is a state park of Arizona, USA, surrounding Picacho Peak. The park is located between Casa Grande and Tucson near Interstate 10 in Pinal County. Its centerpiece spire is visible from downtown Tucson, a distance of . The summit rises to above mean sea level...
, 50 miles (80.5 km) northwest of Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. It was fought between a Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
patrol from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and a party of Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
pickets
Picket (military)
In military terminology, a picket refers to soldiers or troops placed on a line forward of a position to warn against an enemy advance. It can also refer to any unit performing a similar function...
from Tucson, and marks the westernmost battle of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Background
Due to years of neglect by the federal government, Confederate sympathies were high in Tucson, which had been proclaimed capital of the western district of the Confederate Arizona TerritoryArizona Territory (CSA)
The Territory of Arizona was a territory claimed by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, between 1861 and 1865. It consisted of the portion of the New Mexico Territory south of the 34th parallel north including parts of the modern states of New Mexico and Arizona. Its...
, which comprised what is now southern Arizona and southern New Mexico. Mesilla
Mesilla, New Mexico
Mesilla is a town in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 2,180 at the 2000 census...
, near Las Cruces
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces, also known as "The City of the Crosses", is the county seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 97,618 in 2010 according to the 2010 Census, making it the second largest city in the state....
, was both the territorial capital and seat of the eastern district of the territory. Ultimately, Confederate dreams included influencing sympathizers in southern California to join them and give the Confederacy an outlet on the Pacific Ocean. The Federal government was anxious to prevent this, and Union volunteers from California, known as the California Column
California Column
The California Column, a force of Union volunteers, marched from April to August 1862 over 900 miles from California, across the southern New Mexico Territory to the Rio Grande and then into western Texas during the American Civil War. At the time, this was the longest trek through desert terrain...
and led by Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
James Henry Carleton
James Henry Carleton
James Henry Carleton was an officer in the Union army during the American Civil War. Carleton is most well known as an Indian fighter in the southwestern United States.-Biography:...
, moved east to occupy Arizona, using Fort Yuma
Fort Yuma
Fort Yuma is a fort in California that is located in Imperial County, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona. It was on the Butterfield Overland Mail route from 1858 until 1861 and was abandoned May 16, 1883, and transferred to the Department of the Interior. The Fort Yuma Indian School and a...
in California as a base of operations.
Like most of the Civil War era engagements in Arizona (Dragoon Springs, Stanwix Station
Stanwix Station
Stanwix Station, in western Arizona, was a stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail Stagecoach line built in the later 1850s near the Gila River about east of Yuma, Arizona. Originally the station was called Flap Jack Ranch later Grinnell's Ranch or Grinnell's Station...
, and Apache Pass
Battle of Apache Pass
The Battle of Apache Pass was fought in 1862 at Apache Pass, Arizona in the United States, between Apache warriors and the Union volunteers of the California Column as it marched from California to capture Confederate Arizona and to reinforce New Mexico's Union army...
) Picacho Pass occurred near remount stations along the Butterfield Overland Stagecoach route
Butterfield Overland Mail
The Butterfield Overland Mail Trail was a stagecoach route in the United States, operating from 1857 to 1861. It was a conduit for the U.S. mail from two eastern termini, Memphis, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, meeting Fort Smith, Arkansas, and continuing through Indian Territory, New Mexico,...
, which dated to the 1850s and which the Confederates tried to keep open with limited success. This skirmish occurred about one mile northwest of Pichaco Pass Station.
Battle
Twelve Union cavalryCavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
troopers and one scout
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
(reported to be mountain man
Mountain man
Mountain men were trappers and explorers who roamed the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through the 1880s where they were instrumental in opening up the various Emigrant Trails allowing Americans in the east to settle the new territories of the far west by organized wagon trains...
Pauline Weaver
Pauline Weaver
Pauline Weaver , also called Paulino Weaver, was an American mountain man, trapper, military scout, prospector, and explorer who was active in the early southwestern United States...
but in reality Tucson resident John W. Jones), commanded by Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
James Barrett of the 1st California Cavalry, were conducting a sweep of the Picacho Peak area, looking for Confederates reported to be nearby. The Arizona Confederates were commanded by Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Henry Holmes. Barrett was under orders not to engage them, but to wait for the main column to come up. However, "Lt. Barrett acting alone rather than in concert, surprised the Rebels and should have captured them without firing a shot, if the thing had been conducted properly." Instead, in mid-afternoon the lieutenant "led his men into the thicket single file without dismounting them. The first fire from the enemy emptied four saddles, when the enemy retired farther into the dense thicket and had time to reload ... Barrrett followed them, calling on his men to follow him." Three of the Confederates surrendered. Barrett secured one of the prisoners and had just remounted his horse when a bullet struck him in the neck, killing him instantly. Fierce and confused fighting continued among the mesquite and arroyos for more than an hour, with two more Union fatalities and three troopers wounded. Exhausted and leaderless, the Californians broke off the fight and the Arizona Rangers, minus three who surrender, mounted and carried warning of the approaching Union army to Tucson. Barrett's disobedience of orders had cost him his life and lost any chance of a Union surprise attack on Tucson.
The Union troops retreated to the Pima Indian Villages and hastily built Fort Barrett
Fort Barrett
Fort Barrett was a temporary earthwork built by the United States Army's California Column in 1862 during the American Civil War. It was located at the Pima Villages two miles from the Gila river nearby Casa Blanca and Bapchule, Arizona and was built around the flour mill of settler Ammi White to...
(named for the fallen officer) at White's Mill, waiting to gather resources to continue the advance. However, with no Confederate reinforcements available, Captain Sherod Hunter
Sherod Hunter
Sherod Hunter was the commander of the Confederate unit operating against Union Army forces in present day Arizona during the American Civil War...
and his men fled withdrew as soon as the Column again advanced. The Union army capture
Capture of Tucson (1862)
The Capture of Tucson was a United States attack on Tucson in Confederate Arizona on May 20, 1862. A Union force of 2,000 took the city from ten Tucson militiamen without a shot fired.-Background:...
d the town without any opposition.
The bodies of the two Union enlisted men killed at Picacho were later rmoved to the presidio
Presidio of San Francisco
The Presidio of San Francisco is a park on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. However, Lieutenant Barrett's grave, near the present railroad tracks, remains undisturbed and unmarked. Union reports claimed that two Confederates were wounded in the fight, but Captain Hunter in his official report mentioned no any Confederate casualties other than the three men captured.
Aftermath
Confederate patrols had actually reached the California border, where they burned hay at the stage stations to delay the Union advance from California. However, the goal of expanding Confederate influence to the Pacific Ocean was short lived. About the same time as the skirmish at Picacho, a larger force of Confederates was thwarted in its attempt to advance northward from Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the Battle of Glorieta PassBattle of Glorieta Pass
The Battle of Glorieta Pass, fought from March 26 to 28, 1862 in northern New Mexico Territory, was the decisive battle of the New Mexico Campaign during the American Civil War. Dubbed the "Gettysburg of the West" by some historians, it was intended as the killer blow by Confederate forces to break...
. By July the main force of Confederates had retreated to Texas, though pro-Confederate militia units operated in some areas until mid 1863. The following year, the Union organized its own territory of Arizona
Arizona Territory
The Territory of Arizona was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863 until February 14, 1912, when it was admitted to the Union as the 48th state....
, dividing New Mexico along the state's current north-south border, extending control southwards from the provisional capital of Prescott
Prescott, Arizona
Prescott is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. It was designated "Arizona's Christmas City" by Arizona Governor Rose Mofford in the late 1980s....
. The encounter at Picacho Pass may have been only a minor even in the Civil War, but it can be considered the high-water mark of the Confederate West.
Re-enactment
Every March, Picacho Peak State ParkPicacho Peak State Park
Picacho Peak State Park is a state park of Arizona, USA, surrounding Picacho Peak. The park is located between Casa Grande and Tucson near Interstate 10 in Pinal County. Its centerpiece spire is visible from downtown Tucson, a distance of . The summit rises to above mean sea level...
hosts a re-enactment of the Civil War battles of Arizona and New Mexico, including the battle of Picacho Pass. The re-enactments now have grown so large that many more participants tend to be involved than took part in the actual engagements, and include infantry units and artillery as well as cavalry.