Battle of Picacho Pass
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The Battle of Picacho Pass (also known as the Battle of Picacho Peak) was fought on April 15, 1862 near Picacho Peak, 50 miles northwest of Tucson, Arizona, USA. It was fought between a Union cavalry patrol from California and a party of Confederate pickets from Tucson, and 3 Union soldiers were killed. The engagement was a tactical draw, as both sides withdrew from the field. Though actually little more than a skirmish, it has been considered the western-most battle of the American Civil War, although, a few weeks earlier, a skirmish between Union and Confederate troops had occurred farther west at Stanwix Station with no fatalities, one Union private having received a shoulder wound. (There was also a July 1862 battle at Apache Pass in Arizona, fought between Union cavalry and Apache led by Cochise; however, since Cochise killed Union and Confederate troops with impartiality, this should be differentiated as a Civil War era engagement but not actually a Civil War battle.)
Background
Confederate sympathies were high in Tucson, which had been proclaimed capital of the western district of the Confederate Arizona Territory, comprising what is now southern Arizona and southern New Mexico. Mesilla, near Las Cruces, was both territorial capital and seat of the eastern district of the territory. Ultimately Confederate dreams included influencing sympathizers in California to give the Confederacy an outlet on the Pacific. The Union was naturally anxious to prevent this, and forces from California, known as the California Column and led by Col. (soon to be Gen.) James Henry Carleton, moved east to shore up the situation, using Fort Yuma in Arizona as a base of operations. It should be noted that all of the Civil War era engagements in Arizona mentioned--Stanwix Station, Picacho Pass, and Apache Pass--occurred near stations along the Butterfield Overland Stagecoach route, which dated to the 1850s and which the Confederates tried to keep open with limited success.
Action
Twelve Union cavalry troopers and one scout, commanded by Lieutenant James Barrett of the California Column, were conducting a sweep of the Picacho Pass area, looking for Confederates reported to be nearby. Barrett was under orders not to engage them, but to wait for the main column to come up. However, their patrol surprised and captured 3 Confederate pickets, but failed to see 7 other Confederate soldiers before they opened fire. During the bloody skirmish that followed, Lt. Barrett and 2 of his men were killed and 3 others wounded. Aside from the mistake of not waiting for the main force under Capt. William P. Calloway to arrive, Barrett erred in making a cavalry charge toward Confederates who had taken cover in a thicket. The Union cavalrymen and their mounts thus made ideal targets. After an engagement that lasted about ninety minutes, both sides withdrew from the scene. The remains of the two Union privates buried at Picacho were later removed to the Presidio in San Francisco, California, but Lt. Barrett's grave, near the present railroad tracks, remains unmarked and undisturbed. Union reports indicate two Confederates may have been wounded, but there is no confirmation of this. [link] The Confederates who escaped later reported the engagement to Capt. Sherrod Hunter, who, in his official report, made no mention of any Confederate casualties aside from the three men captured.
Aftermath
Confederate patrols actually reached within a day's ride of 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 into southern California and to the Pacific Ocean was never realized. Around the same time as the skirmish at Picacho, a far larger force of Confederates was thwarted in its attempt to advance beyond Santa Fe, NM, in the battle of Glorieta Pass, and by July the Confederates had retreated to Texas. The following year, the Union organized its own territory of Arizona within the state's current borders, extending control southwards from the provisional capital of Prescott. Although the skirmish at Picacho Pass itself may have been only a small factor in these events, it can be considered the high-water mark of the Confederate West.
Re-enactment
Every March, Picacho Peak State Park 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.
References
- [Battle of Picacho Pass] (Arnold Franks, MilitaryHistoryOnline.com)
- [The Battle of Picacho Pass] (The War Times Journal wtj.com)
- [Arizona State Parks press release]
- [link] (The Confederate Arizona Campaign of 1862, Col. Sherrod Hunter Camp 1525, SCV, Phoenix, Arizona)
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