Battle of Dragoon Springs
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The First Battle of Dragoon Springs was a minor skirmish between a small troop of Confederate dragoons of
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John R. Baylor's Arizona Rangers, and a band of Apache warriors during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
. It was fought on May 5, 1862, near the present-day town of Benson,
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, in
Confederate Arizona Arizona Territory, colloquially referred to as Confederate Arizona, was an organized incorporated territory of the Confederate States that existed from August 1, 1861 to May 26, 1865, when the Confederate States Army Trans-Mississippi Depar ...
.


Background

Creation of a separate Arizona Territory distinct from the New Mexico Territory in the late 1850s was thwarted over disagreement in Congress on the new territory's boundary: Northern representatives argued for a north–south division along the present Arizona-New Mexico boundary, whereas Southern representatives pushed for an east–west division along the 34th parallel. With the coming of the Civil War, the new Confederate government was free to establish the boundary as it saw fit. Shortly after the arrival of Confederate forces from Texas, secessionists met at Mesilla to adopt an Ordinance of Secession, on March 16, 1861. This aim became a reality following the Confederate victory at the
First Battle of Mesilla The First Battle of Mesilla, was fought on July 25, 1861 at Mesilla in New Mexico Territory, in present-day Doña Ana County, New Mexico. It was an engagement between Confederate and Union forces during the American Civil War. The battle res ...
on July 25, 1861. On August 1, 1861, Lt. Col. John R. Baylor, commanding the victorious Confederate troops at Mesilla, issued a proclamation declaring the creation of a provisional Confederate Territory of Arizona, to include all of the former United States Territory of New Mexico south of the
34th parallel north The 34th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 34 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean. The parallel formed the southern ...
. Baylor named himself governor and set up a territorial government that would continue in operation until the Confederates were forced out of New Mexico in July 1862. This Territory of Arizona was officially declared by Confederate President Jefferson Davis on February 14, 1862, and shortly thereafter Confederate forces were deployed on the ambitious New Mexico Campaign to gain control of the
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. In order to make good the Confederacy's claim to the western portion of their new Arizona Territory, Confederate soldiers, commanded by
Capt. Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Sherod Hunter Sherod Hunter (March 5, 1834 – ?) was the commander of the Confederate unit operating against Union Army forces in present-day Arizona during the American Civil War. He later commanded various Confederate cavalry units elsewhere in the Trans- ...
, were ordered to occupy Tucson, arriving there on February 28, 1862. They occupied the town until May 14, 1862, and it was a detachment of these troops that was involved in the fight at Dragoon Springs on May 5.


Battle

On May 5, 1862, a small band of mounted Confederates escorting
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prisoners to Texas was encamped at an abandoned
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stagecoach station and spring in the
Dragoon Mountains The Dragoon Mountains are a range of mountains located in Cochise County, Arizona. The range is about 25 mi (40 km) long, running on an axis extending south-south east through Willcox. The name originates from the 3rd U.S. Cavalry Drag ...
, about 16 miles from the present-day town of Benson and near Dragoon, Arizona. A force of about 100 Chiricahua Apache warriors, commanded by the war chiefs
Cochise Cochise (; Apache: ''Shi-ka-She'' or ''A-da-tli-chi'', lit.: ''having the quality or strength of an oak''; later ''K'uu-ch'ish'' or ''Cheis'', lit. ''oak''; June 8, 1874) was leader of the Chihuicahui local group of the Chokonen and principa ...
and
Francisco Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name '' Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father o ...
, ambushed the party. Three Confederate soldiers and a young Mexican stock herder were killed. The Apaches succeeded in capturing a large number of livestock and horses.Finch, pp. 151–153.See also Sweeney, Edwin R. ''Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief''. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995, p. 194. This minor skirmish is noted for causing the Confederacy's westernmost battle deaths, and is the only known engagement in which Confederate soldiers were killed within the modern confines of Arizona. It is often included as a part of the Apache Wars fought between Apaches and Americans between 1851 and 1900.


Aftermath

A few days later, on May 9, after hearing of the attack,
Capt. Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Sherod Hunter Sherod Hunter (March 5, 1834 – ?) was the commander of the Confederate unit operating against Union Army forces in present-day Arizona during the American Civil War. He later commanded various Confederate cavalry units elsewhere in the Trans- ...
ordered his men to take back the captured herd of cattle and horses, as well as to avenge the deaths of their fellow soldiers. The Confederates succeeded, recapturing the stolen animals and killing five Apaches with no loss of their own. The four casualties were buried near the Dragoon Springs stage station, where they remain today near its well-preserved remains.


See also

* List of battles won by Indigenous peoples of the Americas *
New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War The New Mexico Territory, comprising what are today the U.S. states of New Mexico and Arizona as well as the southern portion of Nevada, played a small but significant role in the trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War. Despit ...
*
American Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...


Notes


Sources

* Finch, L. Boyd. ''Confederate Pathway to the Pacific: Major Sherod Hunter and the Arizona Territory, C.S.A.'' Tucson, Arizona: Arizona Historical Society Press, 1996. * Horn, Calvin P., and William S. Wallace, Editors. ''Confederate Victories in the Southwest: Prelude to Defeat''. Albuquerque, New Mexico: Horn and Wallace, 1961. * Kerby, Robert Lee. ''The Confederate Invasion of New Mexico and Arizona, 1861–1862.'' Tucson, Arizona: Westernlore Press, 1958. * Masich, Andrew E. The Civil War in Arizona. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 2006. * Rodgers, Robert L. "The Confederate States Organized Arizona in 1862." ''Southern Historical Society Papers'', Volume 28 (1900). * Sonnichsen, Charles Leland. ''Tucson: The Life and Times of an American City''. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. * Sweeney, Edwin R. ''Cochise: Chiricahua Apache Chief''. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. * Walker, Charles S. "Confederate Government in Dona Ana County As Shown in the Records of the Probate Court, 1861–1862, ''New Mexico Historical Review'', Vol. VI (1931), pp. 253–302.


External links


MyCivilWar: The Battle of Dragoon Springs
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragoon Springs Battles of the American Civil War in Arizona Battles involving the Apache Battles involving the United States History of Cochise County, Arizona Confederate occupation of New Mexico Battles of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War History of United States expansionism 19th-century military history of the United States Apache Wars 1862 in New Mexico Territory May 1862 events