Capture of Tucson (1862)

Capture of Tucson
Part of the American Civil War
Raising the Confederate flag in Tucson, March 1, 1862
Date May 20, 1862 Location Tucson, New Mexico Territory (USA), Arizona Territory (CSA) Present Day: Tucson, Arizona Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States	Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
James Henry Carleton	James H. Tevis
Strength
2,000	10
Casualties and losses
None

Union forces entered Tucson on May 20, 1862, with a force of 2,000 men without firing a shot.

Just prior to the American Civil War in the late 1850s, the cities of Tucson and Mesilla in southern New Mexico Territory petitioned the United States government to create a separate Territory of Arizona. The proposal was defeated after representatives from the Northern "free" states and the Southern "slave" states could not agree on how to divide New Mexico Territory. Southerners wanted an east-west division, whereas Northerners favored a north-south division of the territory. After the war began, the Confederacy established the Arizona Territory in February 1862 using the east-west boundary. Subsequently, the United States created Arizona Territory in 1863 using the current state boundary. Anglo-Arizonans had hoped the creation of a new territory would strengthen their communications with the east and allow for more military aid. Apaches had been fighting a bloody war in the region, leaving Tucson surrounded by occupied Apache land. Only Tucson's old presidio walls protected the population from harm. When Union troops left Arizona to fight in the South and the Butterfield Overland Mail stations were abandoned, the residents of the region were left with no military support for protection against the Apache.

After the arrival of a Confederate force from Texas in mid-1861, the Confederates established small militia garrisons in Tucson, Mesilla, Pinos Altos and other towns in Confederate Arizona. Although these militiamen would fight the Apache successfully in several different engagements, more military strength was needed to hold on to the territory. In early 1862, just before the first Confederate capture of Albuquerque in New Mexico Territory, General Henry Hopkins Sibley ordered Captain Sherod Hunter of Tennessee to proceed to Tucson with a small company of Confederate Arizona Rangers from Dona Ana (New Mexico) and Texas cavalry. Jack Swilling was a member of the Tucson reinforcement; he would go on to found the future state capital of Phoenix in 1867. The force consisted of about seventy-five men. Captain Hunter's orders were to establish a military alliance with the Pima (Akimel O'odham) and to watch for the advance of the California Volunteers. This Union force would begin its march from Fort Yuma, California, and eventually capture Mesilla and Franklin (El Paso), Texas. Colonel James Reily accompanied Captain Hunter when he left for Tucson. Colonel Reily commanded an escort of twenty men of the Pinos Altos Arizona Guards, another Confederate Arizona militia company. The Arizona Guards were composed primarily of men who left their homes around Tubac and Tucson following the Siege of Tubac in August 1861. About 100 Confederates arrived in Tucson on February 28, 1862, where they joined with the small Tucson militia, numbering about twenty-five men. Other than this force of approximately 100 cavalrymen, additional military support from the South never arrived. The formal flag-raising occurred on March 1, after which Colonel Reily and his escort went south to Sonora, Mexico for a mission of diplomacy. In early May, the garrison of Tucson fought two battles with the Apache while foraging for supplies in the Dragoon Mountains. The first engagement was a defeat for the rebels and the second was a victory. After the skirmish at Stanwix Station, the Battle of Picacho Peak, and the capture of a Union squad in the Pima villages, Colonel James Henry Carleton and his army of over 2,000 Californians occupied abandoned Fort Breckinridge to the northeast of Tucson. On May 14, the Californians began their march to Tucson from the fort. That same day, Sherrod Hunter ordered the evacuation of Tucson. He left ten of his militia behind under the command of Lieutenant James H. Tevis. Their orders were to observe the Union approach.

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