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The Battle Of Picacho Peak
On April 15th, in the spring of 1862, The Confederates of the southwest embarked in a small skirmish with the Union Army from the Pacific on the flanks of Picacho Peak, a rocky volcanic spire situated 50 miles northwest of a small Sonoran town named Tucson, a strong hold for the Confederate Army. This engagement is commonly called the “Westernmost Battle of the Civil War” or “The Battle of Picacho Pass”. With the advantage of Picacho Peak as a lookout for the Confederates, this became a common route for travelers of the time. It also was a matter of life and death because, in those days natural rock tanks here were filled with water while other water holes were bone dry. With the Peak being visible for miles, this was also a common route used for the mail carrier, & the Butterfield Overland Stage. It became a very important route. Other historical facts include the Mormon Battalion which camped here on December 17th, 1846. The first Picacho station was also in the Pass, this was a place were immigrants and travelers could change horses, rest under the shade of a palo verde tree, and take water.
In 1862, the nation’s bloodiest battle between brothers of the North and the South carried on. But, in the Sonoran desert the scene was virtually desertion due to its natural desolation, and the fact that all the US Army troops had departed during the previous year. This left the local towns people and settlers, along with the natives to do as they wished. Before marching off to join the Union Army being assembled in the East, the local garrison troops had opened their supply depots to the nearby civilians, telling them “take what you need, and get out.” Not all heeded this advice. Many of the settlers and towns people staked their lives and fortunes on the Southwest and decided to remain, strengthening the local militia units that already populated this secessionist area. For their part, the local Indian tribes, mostly Apache, believed that it was through their own efforts which had finally chased away the ”Bluecoats” and naturally, they were determined to make the most of the situation.
Into this volatile scene marched the newly formed Confederate Army, whose leaders had declared the entire New Mexico Territory for the Confederacy on August 1st, 1861. After securing the Rio Grande Valley, the local Confederate commander dispatched Captain Sherrod Hunter to Tucson, which he occupied on February 28th 1862, after a cold winter march. With its new garrison of 75 Confederates, Tucson was now the furthest point west in the Confederate Empire.
The Confederacy enjoyed the earnest support of the local civilians, as long as they and their brethren helped to keep the Indians suppressed, a task that drew considerable manpower away from the tiny force. With news of the Sonoran town under command of the Confederacy, the Union reacted quickly to the seizure of the Southwestern Territory. These events turned out to represent the most complete takeover of Union territory that the Confederacy managed during its existence. Once the Confederate threat in California subsided, a small force of roughly 1,400 Union troops under the command of Brigadier General James H. Carleton was dispatched from Fort Yuma to march on to Tucson, hundreds of miles across the Sonoran desert. Hearing word of this “California Column,” Captain Sherrod Hunter pushed north to the Gila River, encountering his first Union troops, when a leading detachment of Union cavalry blundered into Captain Sherrod Hunter’s men as they captured a flour mill. After interring the Union cavalry and giving the flour to the local Indians, Captain Sherrod Hunter and his men returned to Tucson, first dispatching a small party of Confederate cavalry to ride west along the stage road, burning hay that had been left piled for the approaching Union troops. The rebels rode to within 80 miles of Fort Yuma, finally stopping when they encountered the first Union pickets, whom they drove off, wounding one. This would be, of course the first westernmost fight of the Civil War, of which some will disagree to this day.
By early April, the California Column had reached an area near present day Casa Grande, Arizona. From there, they dispatched a group of scouts to reconnect the remainder of the route into Tucson. It was this detachment of the First California Cavalry that ran into Hunter’s men at the Picacho Pass on April 15th. Hunter’s strong detachment of pickets had occupied ambush positions up on the rocky slopes of Picacho Peak, from which they commanded a wide view of the stage road. Contrary to popular belief, the two sides did not stumble upon each other by accident. The Confederates were waiting in ambush, and only part of the Union cavalry troopers entered the pass via the stage road. Sensing the position itself was obviously an ambush point, the approaching Union Calvary had split in two, sending part of their force to circle the dangerous position as a precaution.
These precautions were justified, because at 2 p.m., Hunter’s waiting men fired upon the Union cavalrymen entering the pass. Two Union troopers were injured, and the rest went to the ground in disorder. At this time, the other Union force came up on the flank of the Confederate skirmish line, capturing three of Hunter’s men. Encouraged by this victory, Union Lieutenant James Barrett gave the commanding order to advance forward against the remaining Confederate cavalry troopers, who laid down a heavy volley of fire, killing and wounding four more Union soldiers, including Lieutenant James Barrett . After withdrawing and regrouping, the Union cavalry continued trading shots with the Confederates until late afternoon, when they withdrew and slowly returned to the main body to the north.
It soon became clear, however, that local Confederate successes could not change the strategic realities of the situation. Captain Sherrod Hunter’s Confederates continued to be outnumbered, and they were too far from the main Confederate army of the Rio Grande to receive regular supply or reinforcements. Brigadier General James H. Carleton’s California troops finally arrived in Tucson, only to discover that Hunter had evacuated. The retreat itself became well known in western lore, and Apaches based in the Chiricahua Mountains attacked Hunter’s eastbound troops repeatedly. The Confederates even armed their Union prisoners, as the march became a fight for survival against the Indians. The tired Confederates arrived on the Rio Grande River on May 27, 1862, bringing the Confederate invasion of the Arizona Territory to an end. To this day the remains of the Union troopers lay to rest at the Picacho Peak. The men that fought that great battle shall never be erased or forgotten from the pages of history.
God Bless the Union and the United States of America.
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Here are some interesting historical tidbits to help with your interpretation.
1. The 1st NM was supplied with uniforms in the "St. Louis" pattern, rushed across the Santa Fe Trail. These uniforms were largely machine sewed.
The material was inferior to the Regular's uniform and was noted by the military commander of the district.
2. Many volunteers were issued not just the standard army blanket, but also what were labeled as "Mexican blankets". New Mexico had a very active weaving industry and did produce a very sturdy and colorful blanket used in trade.
3. Some volunteers were also issued "Mexican shirts". There is no notation what the difference this style of shirt had with the issued army style, but if it was similar to the peasant civilian shirts was probably made of cotton or muslin fabric. It is quite possible that the army wool shirt was used for cold weather service, and the "Mexican shirt" for the hotter months.
4. It appears that some volunteers were issued two types of shoes as well.This is based on the issued shoes had two different prices.
5. Regular US officers commented on how the women of the volunteers would follow them to their various postings. This was seen as typical for "Mexican" soldiers. Regulars would let the volunteer’s garrison and patrol the settled areas, and keep the Regulars in more remote spots. They thought this would prevent the enlisted men from getting in trouble. It also caused more supply problems as the army had to feed not just the volunteers, but also his family. It must also be noted that most battle in New Mexico took place near or even in civilian area. Even at Apache Canyon, locals were quick on the scene to gather up stampeded Confederate mules and abandoned supplies.
6. It should be noted that even in infantry units, many men served as mounted infantry, unofficially bringing their own mounts. Many volunteers who thought they were to be enlisted as cavalry, were instead dismounted and made into infantry.
7. Even though some volunteers were not trained as thoroughly as some Regular officers wanted, there were some New Mexico volunteers who receive cavalry, infantry and even artillery training!
8. There were Volunteer officers with academy training. Not the academy of West Point, but of the Mexican Military academy in Mexico City. They were taught the same French inspired tactics American officers learned at West Point.
9. Field rations for a NM volunteer on Indian patrol would have been Pinole (a corn meal used to make a gruel) and jerky.
Captain Andrew Garcia
1st NMVI Company “B”
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Kit Carson
”Legend of The West”
Enshrined in popular mythology even in his own lifetime Christopher Houston “Kit” Carson was a trapper, scout, Indian agent, soldier and authentic legend of the West. Born on Christmas Eve in 1809, Carson spent most of his early childhood in Boone’s Lick, Missouri. His father died when he was only nine years old, and the need to work prevented Kit from ever receiving an education. He was apprenticed to a saddle-maker when he turned fourteen, but left home for the Santa Fe, New Mexico, area in 1826. He passed the winter of 1826-1827 at the house of a retired mountaineer. It was while residing there that he acquired a thorough familiarity with the Spanish language. Although illiterate, Carson clearly had a gift for languages. In addition to Spanish, Carson learned French from French-Canadian trappers, and he learned eight or nine Indian languages from various tribes.
From about 1828 to 1831, Carson used Taos, New Mexico, as a base camp for repeated fur-trapping expeditions that often took him far west as California. Later in the 1830’s his trapping took him up the Rocky Mountains and throughout the West. For a time in the early 1840’s he was employed by Charles Bent as a hunter at Bent’s Fort. As was the case with many white trappers, Carson became somewhat integrated into the Indian world. He traveled and lived extensively among Indians and his first two wives were Native Americans, one being Arapahoe and the other being a Cheyenne women. Carson married a 16-year-old Arapahoe girl named Singing Wind in 1835. He lost her in 1838, soon after she gave birth to their daughter, Adaline. He married a 17-year-old Cheyenne girl named Making-Out-Road in 1840. He lost her when she abandoned him to follow her people in a tribal migration. Carson was evidently unusual among trappers, for his self-restraint and temperate lifestyle. “Clean as a hound’s tooth,” according to one acquaintance, and a man whose “word was a sure as the sun comin’ up,” he was noted for an unassuming manner and implacable courage.
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In 1842, while returning to Missouri to visit his family, Carson happened to meet John C. Fremont, who soon hired him as a guide. Over the next several years, Carson helped guide Fremont to Oregon and California, and through much of the Central Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin. His service with Fremont, celebrated in Fremont’s widely read reports of his expeditions, quickly made Kit Carson a national hero, presented in popular fiction as a rugged mountain man capable of superhuman feats.
Carson’s notoriety grew as his name became associated with several key events in the United States westward expansion. He was still serving as Fremont’s guide when Fremont joined California’s short-lived Bear-Flag rebellion just before the outbreak of the Mexican-American War in 1846, and it was Carson who led the forces of U.S. General Stephen Kearney from New Mexico into California when a California band led by Andrés Pico mounted a challenge to American occupation of Los Angeles later that year.
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In 1847 Carson was sent to Washington as bearer of dispatches, and was then appointed second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s mounted rifles. The Senate, however, negated this appointment. At the end of the War, Carson returned to New Mexico with his wife Maria Josepha and their children and took up ranching. By 1853, he and his partner were able to drive a large flock of sheep to California, where gold rush prices paid them handsome profit. This same year Carson was appointed federal Indian agent for Northern New Mexico. Under this appointment he was largely instrumental in bringing about several treaties between the United State and the Indians. He was an instinctive judge of character, and, knowing the Indians so thoroughly, his cool judgment and wisdom in dealing with them, even under the most trying circumstances, enabled him to render important services to the U.S. Government. Carson held this post until the Civil War imposed new duties on him in 1861.
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Carson played a prominent and memorable role in the Civil War in New Mexico. He helped organize the New Mexico volunteer infantry, which saw action at Val Verde in 1862. Most of his military actions were directed against the Navajo Indians, many of who had refused to be confined upon a distant reservation set up by the government. Beginning in 1863 Carson waged a brutal economic war against the Navajo, marching through the heart of their territory to destroy their crops, orchards and livestock. When Utes, Pueblos, Hopi’s and Zunis, who for centuries had been prey to Navajo raiders, took advantage of their traditional enemy’s weakness by following the Americans onto the warpath, the Navajo were unable to defend themselves. In 1864 most surrendered to Carson, who forced nearly 8,000 Navajo men, women and children to take what came to be called the “Long Walk” of 300 miles from Arizona to Fort Summer, New Mexico. By the end of the war he was brevetted Brigadier-General for his meritorious conduct and given command of Fort Garland, Colorado. He resigned from the army in November, 1867.
Maria Josepha died suddenly on April 27th 1868, leaving seven children, the youngest just two weeks old. She and Kit had been married twenty-five years. Kit Carson died shortly thereafter on May 23, 1868 of an unknown disease. The following year his remains were moved to a small cemetery near his old home in Taos.
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