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| Arizona Territory | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organized incorporated territory of theConfederate States | |||||||||||
| 1861–1865 | |||||||||||
.svg) | |||||||||||
 Map of the Confederate States with Arizona Territory highlighted | |||||||||||
| Capital |
| ||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||
| • Coordinates | 32°16′N106°42′W / 32.267°N 106.700°W /32.267; -106.700 | ||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||
| • Type | Organized incorporated territory | ||||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||||
• 1861–1862 | Col.John R. Baylor | ||||||||||
• 1862–1865 | Dr.Lewis S. Owings (in exile) | ||||||||||
| Legislature | Arizona Territorial Legislature | ||||||||||
| Historical era | American Civil War | ||||||||||
| March 28, 1861 | |||||||||||
• Col. Baylor's Proclamation[a] | 1 August 1861 | ||||||||||
• Organized byConfederacy | January 18, 1862[1] | ||||||||||
• Occupied byU.S. | July 8, 1862[2] | ||||||||||
| 26 May 1865 | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Today part of | United States | ||||||||||
 |
| Confederate States in the American Civil War |
|---|
| Dual governments |
| Territory |
| Allied tribes in Indian Territory |
TheArizona Territory,colloquially referred to asConfederate Arizona, was anorganized incorporated territory of theConfederate States of America that existed from August 1, 1861, to May 26, 1865, when theConfederate States ArmyTrans-Mississippi Department, commanded by GeneralEdmund Kirby Smith,surrendered atShreveport, Louisiana. However, after theBattle of Glorieta Pass, the Confederates had to retreat from the territory, and by July 1862, effective Confederate control of the territory had ended.Delegates to the secession convention had voted in March 1861 to secede from theNew Mexico Territory and theUnion, and seek to join the Confederacy. It consisted of the portion of theNew Mexico Territory south of the34th parallel, including parts of the modern states ofNew Mexico andArizona. The capital wasMesilla, along the southern border. The breakaway region overlappedArizona Territory, established by theUnion government in February 1863.
Arizona was proclaimed a Confederate territory on August 1, 1861, after ColonelJohn R. Baylor's victory at theBattle of Mesilla. His hold on the area was broken after Glorieta Pass (March 26–28, 1862), the defining battle of theNew Mexico Campaign. In July 1862, the Confederate territorial government withdrew toEl Paso, Texas. With the approach ofUnion troops, it relocated toSan Antonio, where it remained for the duration of the civil war. The territory continued to be represented in theConfederate States Congress, and Confederate troops continued to fight under the Arizona banner until the war ended.
The political geography of the two Arizona Territories differed in that the Confederate Arizona was approximately the southern half of the historic New Mexico Territory, while the Union-defined Arizona Territory was approximately the western half of what had been New Mexico Territory, which became the basis for present-day Arizona.
Before the start of the war, the land of the current states of New Mexico and Arizona was part of the New Mexico Territory and theGadsden Purchase, which ran parallel toWilliam Walker'sRepublics ofLower California andSonora. As early as 1856, the territorial government inSanta Fe had raised concerns about being able to effectively govern the southern part of the territory. It was separated from the rest by theJornada del Muerto, a difficult stretch ofdesert.
In February 1858, the New Mexico territorial legislature adopted a resolution in favor of the creation of the Arizona Territory. The border was to be defined along the32nd meridian west from Washington. The legislature proposed that all the Indians of New Mexico would beremoved to northern Arizona.
In April 1860, impatient for Congress to act, the territory called a convention and 31 delegates met inTucson. In July 1860, the convention drafted a constitution for a "Territory of Arizona" to be organized out of the New Mexico Territory south of34th parallel north. The convention electedLewis S. Owings as the Territorial Governor, and elected a delegate toCongress.
Anti-slavery Representatives opposed creating a new territory, as they feared it had the potential to become aslave state. Many people in the area were pro-slavery, with business connections in southern states, from which some had migrated. In addition, all of this new territory lay below the oldMissouri Compromise line of demarcation between slave and free states.
Since the proceedings of the Tucson convention were never ratified by the United States Congress, the Provisional Territory was not considered a legal entity. For a time it operated as ade facto, if notde jure, government for the intended Arizona Territory. Lewis S. Owings, Governor of the Provisional Territory, appointedJames Henry Tevis to raise the first Territorial Militia. This comprised three companies ofArizona Rangers for the protection of the Territory from marauding Apaches and bandits.[3] Two companies were raised in thePinos Altos mining camp, and another at Mesilla.
After the start of the American Civil War, support for the Confederacy was strong in the southern part of the New Mexico Territory. Some residents felt neglected by the United States government. They worried about the lack of sufficient troops to fight theApache. These Native Americans were attacking White settlers, killing off ranchers and mining camps all overTraditional Arizona. This became open warfare following the February 3–9, 1861Bascom Affair, that broughtCochise into the war. Arizona settlers were also disturbed by the closing of theButterfield Overland Mail route and their stations in March 1861, which had connected the Arizonafrontier colonies to theEast andCalifornia.
In March 1861, the citizens of Mesilla called asecession convention to join the Confederacy. On March 16 the convention adopted a secession ordinance, citing the region's common interests and geography with the Confederacy, their political sympathy with the Southern secession movement, their opposition to the "sectional" party, the "Black" Republicans, the need of frontier protection, and the loss of postal service routes under the United States government, as reasons for their separation.[4] The ordinance proposed the question of secession to the western portions of the territory. On March 28 a second convention in present-day Tucson met and ratified the ordinance. The conventions subsequently established a provisional territorial government for the Confederate "Territory of Arizona." Owings was elected again as provisional governor andGranville Henderson Oury was chosen as a delegate to petition for the territory's admission into the Confederacy.
Arizona was thought to be important to the role of theNew Mexico Territory in the American Civil War primarily because it offered Confederate access to California. Consequently, it was the scene of several important battles in the war'sTrans-Mississippi Theater.
In July 1861 a force under Lieutenant-Colonel John R. Baylor arrived inEl Paso, Texas across the border from Mesilla. With support from the secessionist residents of Mesilla, Baylor's 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles entered the territory and took a position in the town on July 25. Union forces under Major Isaac Lynde at nearbyFort Fillmore prepared to attack Baylor. On July 25 the two armies met outside of town at the Battle of Mesilla in a brief engagement in which the Union troops were defeated.
Major Lynde then abandonedFort Fillmore and began a march north to join the troops atFort Craig under ColonelEdward R. S. Canby. However, his retreat came to a halt in severe heat and was overtaken by Baylor. Lynde surrendered his command without a shot fired at San Augustine Springs, in theOrgan Mountains.[5]
On August 1, 1861, the victorious Baylor proclaimed the existence of a Confederate Arizona Territory, which comprised the area defined in the Tucson convention the previous year. He appointed himself as permanentgovernor. Among his cabinet members was the Mesilla attorneyMarcus H. MacWillie, who served as the territorialattorney general.[6]
The next month, Baylor's cavalrymen underBethel Coopwood, marched north fromCamp Robledo along the Rio Grande and surprised a Union force of New Mexican militia cavalry in asmall engagement west of the Rio Grande at the village ofCanada Alamosa, ending with another Confederate victory and the capture of 25 men of that unit including its commander. The next day after disarming and paroling the captured New Mexican enlisted men, Coopwood retired southward along the west bank of the river with the two captured Union officers and an NCO to a camp 15 miles to the north ofFort Thorn. There a Union column of Mounted Infantry sent to relieve the New Mexican militia force caught up with Coopwood, andskirmished for a few hours with the Confederates until their ammunition was depleted, forcing the Mounted Infantry to retire northward to their base atFort Craig.
The proposal to organize the Confederate Territory of Arizona was passed by the Confederate Congress in early 1862 and proclaimed byPresidentJefferson Davis on February 14, 1862.[7] Coincidentally, Arizona statehood was approved exactly fifty years later on February 14, 1912.[8]
Efforts by the Confederacy to secure control of the region led to the New Mexico Campaign. Baylor sentCompany A, Arizona Rangers to Tucson to protect the population from the Apache anddelay the advance of Union troops from Fort Yuma.
In 1862 Baylor was ousted as governor of the territory by President Davis, and the Confederate loss at the Battle of Glorieta Pass forced Confederate retreat from the territory. On March 30, Union forces fought a smaller engagement against a detachment ofCompany A, Arizona Rangers, a Confederate force destroying supply depots along theCalifornia Column route of advance on theGila River, 80 miles east of its base atFort Yuma. This skirmish, known as theBattle of Stanwix Station, was the westernmost engagement of regular forces in the Civil War, and successfully delayed the advance of the California forces.
The following month a small picket troop of the Rangers north of Tucson fought with an equally small Union cavalry patrol from the California Column in the so-calledBattle of Picacho Pass again delaying the advance of the California Column to Tucson.
By July 1862, Union forces of the California Column were approaching the territorial capital of Mesilla from the west but severe flooding of the Rio Grande barred their way and they had to divert north to Fort Thorn and theSan Diego Crossing and wait two weeks for the water to fall enough for a crossing. With Canby advancing down the east bank of the Rio Grande and the loss of control of the countryside to New Mexican guerillas after theSecond Battle of Mesilla the Confederates abandoned Mesilla and retreated south toFranklin, Texas.
In 1862 theCalifornia Column volunteers who fought at Stanwix Station and Picacho Pass fought at theBattle of Apache Pass against 500Apaches. The battle is considered part of the American Civil War. There were also several engagements betweenApaches and Confederates. TheBattle of Dragoon Springs marks the only known Confederate combat deaths in the modern confines of Arizona. Other engagements include theSiege of Tubac, theBattle of Cookes Canyon, theBattle of the Florida Mountains, theBattle of Pinos Altos and a number of other smaller skirmishes and massacres.
The territorial government relocated to Franklin, then with Confederate military units retreated toSan Antonio abandoningWest Texas. For the rest of the war, California Column troops controlled all of Confederate Arizona, Franklin andFort Quitman in West Texas. The government in exile remained in Texas for the duration of the war, although MacWillie continued to represent the territory in theFirst and2nd Confederate States Congresses. Minor resistance in Arizona continued at the partisan level, and Confederate units under the banner of Arizona fought until the end of the war in May 1865.
Arizona Historian
Media related toConfederate Arizona at Wikimedia CommonsPolitical divisions of theConfederate States (1861–1865) | ||
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