Picacho Peak is a landmark formation located on
I-10 about half way between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. Most travelers today think of it as an interesting feature as they drive between the two cities and many know little of the significance of this famous peak. Besides
hiking trails, picnic ramadas, and spring flowers, the State Park is also known for it's
Civil War memorial. Every year in March there is a re-enactment of
the Battle of Picacho Pass. This year reenactments took place on March 21 and 22.
Although this battle was only a
skirmish, it has the distinction of being the western-most battle in
the American Civil War.
On August 1, 1861 the Confederate Army
declared the entire New Mexico Territory for the Confederacy. By February
28, 1862 Tucson became the most western point in the Confederate
Empire secured by Captain Sherrod Hunter.
In reaction to the Confederate seizure of the
Southwestern Territories, Union General James Carleton and his
volunteers, called the California Column, were moved
from Fort Yuma in California towards Tucson across hundreds of miles
of the Sonoran desert.
Hunter, with a small band of
Confederates, was moving north out of Tucson when they met up with
Union Lt. James Barrett who led a group of Union scouts sent ahead to
reconnoiter the route into Tucson for the California cavalry.
The California Column, under Lt. James
Barrett had reached an area near present day Casa Grande, Arizona by
early April. On April 15, this detachment of Barrett's First
California Cavalry met up with Hunter's men at Picacho Pass. The
Confederates were waiting in ambush, but the Union cavalry had split
into two groups, part of the group circling the dangerous ambush
area.
The Union men were fired upon by the
Confederacy and the other Union force came up behind the skirmish and
captured three of Hunters' men. Lieutenant James Barrett was killed
almost immediately along with four other Union soldiers who were
killed or wounded. The battle continued until the Union cavalry
withdrew to join the main body of the California Column to the north.
By the time Carleton's California troops arrived in Tucson, Captain
Hunter's Confederates were outnumbered and they were too far from the main
Confederate army on the Rio Grande to receive supplies or
reinforcements. Captain Hunters' retreating army faced repeated
attacks by the Apaches as they made their way back to the Rio Grande
River. By May 27, 1862, the Confederate invasion of Arizona ended.
