San Rafael, is a formerly populated place located in Pima County in the state of 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...

, just north of the border with Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

It lies at an elevation of 662 meters.

History

On November 24, 1865, San Rafael, then a ranching community, was the site of a raid, by a large Sonoran force of about 350 Opata volunteers under the command of Col. Refugio Tanori, an Opata leader commissioned in the Mexican Imperial Army, that left an American citizen wounded. It was believed to be an attempt to capture Sonora Governor Ignacio Pesquiera, who had fled the advance of Franch troops, taking refuge in Arizona Territory

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....

.