Battle of Picacho Pass - April 15, 1862

NFB22

Sergeant Major
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Louisville, KY
In late February 1862 the Confederacy's Stars and Bars were raised above the Presidio of Tucson by Company A of Capt. Sherod Hunter's Arizona Rangers. The local population welcomed these 100 or so trail-worn, hardened frontiersmen, likely out of fear of Indian attacks rather than any inherent loyalty to the Southern cause. About half of the Rangers entering town were Texans, the others were from the surrounding region unofficially known as Arizona, but actually the Southern half of New Mexico Territory.
The Rangers' mission was to secure the western flank of Confederate "Arizona" and perform governmental duties for the region, while deterring Apache raiders and defending against Union forces from California. Little support would come from Hunter's parent command under Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley, whose New Mexico Campaign was underway. This was a major undertaking for Hunter and his small force of Arizona Rangers.
Picacho-Battle_of_Picacho_Marker.jpg

December 1861 had brought news of the Rebel invasion to Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, General-in-Chief of Union forces. He approved a plan of establishing a "Column from California," consisting of infantry, cavalry, and artillery elements commanded by Col. James H. Carleton, a capable regular army officer experienced in campaigning in the mountains and deserts of New Mexico Territory. With a full strength of about 2,350 men, Carleton's command was to keep Texas Rebels out of California, reestablish the overland mail route and threaten General Sibley's flank further east in New Mexico, a truly difficult task.
After preparing the abandoned stations of the Butterfield Overland Stage route with supplies; Carleton's main column left Fort Yuma on the Arizona border, marching for Tucson in early April 1861. The command inched its way across the desert, with large gaps between units, leaving time for waterholes to be replenishted as the column followed the stage route to resupply at previously established way stations. Near one of these way stations was a grain mill operated by well-known Unionist Ammi White.
Unbeknownst to the marching column, in early March, Capt. Hunter and 30 Rangers, had arrested White and dismantled the mill. They now waited for Union troops to arrive. When Capt. William McCleave, leading an advance party of the Californians, reached White's mill, the Confederates were posing as civilians. He unsuspectingly gave Hunter intimate knowledge of the Federal dispositions and was captured, along with several of his troopers.
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With the new information, Hunter's Rangers burned Carleton's pre-positioned supplies. This effort extened about 80 miles west to Stanwix Station where, on March 30th, the met two Union scouting parties. The Rangers ordered the sentinels to surrender. Instead, they fled amidst a flurry of Rebel fire, experiencing a single casualty. A Federal cavalry force under Capt. William P. Calloway attempted to pursue the Rebels, but the horses were tired, and the Southerners soon outdistanced them. This encounter marked the westernmost advance of any organized Southern force during the war.
The Southerners continued east into the vicinity of Picacho Peak in modern Pinal County, some 45 miles northwest of Tucson. Picacho Peak dominates the surrounding Sonoran desert filled with saguaro cacti. This landmark is an ancient, eroded volcano plug. A Butterfield Overland Stage station sat at the base of the impressive hill at what was also known to travelers as Picacho Pass.
In early April, Capt. Hunter placed Sgt. Henry Holmes and nine other Rangers at Picacho to give warning of any advancing Union force. The Rangers camped at the abandoned stage station and from the pass watched the road for their oncoming enemy.
Calloway, now at the Pima Villages soem 40 miles to the north, got word of the Texans at Picacho. His orders were to capture Tucson and free Capt. McCleave, and on April 14th his commande left the Pima Villages. His plan was to have two 12-man cavalry squads, led by Lieutenants James Barrett and Ephraim C. Baldwin, circle behind the Rebels while his main column attacked the camp frontally.
According to Calloway, Lt. Barrettm acting alone rather than in concert, surprised the Rebels and should have captured them "without firing a shot, if the thing had been conducted properly." Instead, in mid-afternoon the lieutenant "led his men into the thicket single file without dismounting them. The first fire from the enemy emptied four saddles, when the enemy retired farther into the dense thicket and had time to reload ... Barrrett followed them, calling on his men to follow him."
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Three Southerners surrendered immediately. Barrett had secured one of the prisoners and remounted his horse when a bullet struck him in the neck, killing him instantly. The fierce and confused fighting surged among the mequite and arroyos for more than an hour, with two more Union fatalities and three wounded troopers. Exhausted and leaderless, the Californians broke off the fight and the Rangers, minus three as prisoners, taking advantage of the lull, mounted up and fled. That eliminated any chance of a Union surprise attack on Tucson.
Late that afternoon, Captain Calloway's column arrive on the scene, but the Rebels had retired to Tucson. Calloway interrogated the prisoners, but still uncertain of the number of Rebels in Tucson, he set up camp and placed his mountain howitzer battery on some high ground to await a counterattack that never came.

Taken from the Clash at Picacho Peak By Jim Head

http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/picachopeak.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Picacho_Pass
 
I've been rather amazed at McClellan's micro-management of the far-flung aspects of the early war, but this seems to be even more than I had imagined. In addition to what became the AoP, he even tried to manage operations against Jackson during his early movements in the fall and winter of 1861. It was too much for one man to handle, he needed either to be a Chief of Staff or a field general, not both.
 
I've been rather amazed at McClellan's micro-management of the far-flung aspects of the early war, but this seems to be even more than I had imagined.

As if he could have had any clue what exactly was going on out there. Thats just like generals in Washington today trying to win a war(s) in the Middle East from behind a desk in the Pentagon. You've gotta be on the ground to truly know the situation.
 
Thanks for posting. I visited the park a year ago May on the day before it closed for the summer as it does each year when it gets to hot. Something to keep in mind if anybody is planning a trip in that direction.
 
I just found this old thread via a search...I visited the First White House of the Confederacy last summer and spoke to a gentleman about Picacho Pass, which I knew nothing about. He described it as a skirmish. Apparently, there was a California column that may have come from San Diego--does anyone actually know from where they originated? Were they the only column, or were there more? I'm going to have to research this particular incident more.
 
I just found this old thread via a search...I visited the First White House of the Confederacy last summer and spoke to a gentleman about Picacho Pass, which I knew nothing about. He described it as a skirmish. Apparently, there was a California column that may have come from San Diego--does anyone actually know from where they originated? Were they the only column, or were there more? I'm going to have to research this particular incident more.
Librarian Blue,
Welcome to CWT. You maybe interested in this thread(with links) about the Los Angeles Mounted Rifles.- https://civilwartalk.com/threads/los-angeles-mounted-rifles.126316/#post-1371227
 
He described it as a skirmish.
@LibrarianBlue , he was correct. The fight at Picacho Pass is often described as a battle, as are hundreds of small engagements during the war. There were simply hundreds of small skirmishes in the part of Mississippi that I call home and invariably the locals refer to each one as a "battle." The OR (volume 9) denotes Picacho Pass to be a skirmish.

When the OR was compiled a hierarchy was established to differentiate between a battle, engagement, skirmish, affair, etc. The requisites to be considered a battle was one army (or the majority of the units comprising the army) against an enemy army (or the majority of the units comprising the army). Picacho Pass does not meet this criteria. I do not have the full break-down of the individual requirements at hand but will try to find them this evening.

I make mention of California Column and the skirmish of Picacho Pass in my first book, Bear Flag and Bay State in the Civil War: The Californians of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, but I only gave it a few paragraphs. The book concentrates on the California Hundred and the California Battalion, the only contingent of organized Californians to fight in the eastern theater.

Tom
 
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