Battle of Picacho Pass

Picacho Peak

Date	April 15, 1862
Location	Picacho Peak, New Mexico Territory (USA), Arizona Territory (CSA) Modern Day: Picacho Peak, Pinal County, Arizona
Result	Confederate victory, Union cavalry retreats

Belligerents

United States

Confederate States

Commanders and leaders

James Barrett †

Henry Holmes (POW)

Strength

13 cavalry

10 cavalry

Casualties and losses

3 killed, 3 wounded

3 captured, 2 wounded (disputed)

Coordinates: 32°37′52″N 111°24′56″W / 32.63111°N 111.41556°W / 32.63111; -111.41556

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 around Picacho Peak, 50 miles (80 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.

After a Confederate force of about 120 cavalrymen arrived at Tucson from Texas on February 28, 1862, they proclaimed Tucson the capital of the western district of the Confederate Arizona Territory, which comprised what is now southern Arizona and southern New Mexico. Mesilla, near Las Cruces, was declared the territorial capital and seat of the eastern district of the territory. The property of Tucson Unionists was confiscated and they were jailed or driven out of town. Confederates hoped a flood of sympathizers in southern California would join them and give the Confederacy an outlet on the Pacific Ocean, but this never happened. California Unionists were eager to prevent this, and 6,000 Union volunteers from California, known as the California Column and led by Colonel James Henry Carleton, moved east to Fort Yuma, California, and by May 1862 had driven the small Confederate force back into Texas.

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