The Battle of Picacho Pass.

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Joined
Aug 25, 2012
I know that battles in the far west did not often involve huge armies, but the Battle of Picacho Pass was small for even western battles. Seeing each side had less than 20 men in their "army" does the Battle of Picacho Pass deserve to be called a battle. Well the Civil War's Westernmost Battle does sound more impressive than the Civil War's Westernmost Skirmish.

So why is nottheStanwix Station Skirmish not considered the westernmost battle? What about the Confrontaion at La Paz?
 
So-called "battles" in what is now Arizona in a lot of ways didn't even qualify as skirmishes, they basically amounted to a fast bushwhack. A basic summary of Stanwix Station is Confederate scouts from Hunter's "Arizona Rangers" (sometimes I wonder if they were really called that at the time or if the name was dreamed up later), fired a couple of pot shots at Union scouts from the California column and retreated. Really not even a skirmish...

But as for Picacho Peak it can actually qualify as a skirmish. I think the reason for them being called battles just has to do with them being among the very few CW actions in Arizona, a place where no armies roamed, and folks want to claim them for a variety of reasons. Whether it be westerners wanting to connect with their land's CW history or just folks who love western movies and history along with the CW consequently try to grab that part of history to satisfy a craving for connection.

I feel the old reenactment of the "Battle" of Picacho Peak exemplifies that. The reenactment had infantry, cavalry, artillery, and everything in between and looked more like something from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" than the real fight. There was so little and folks just want a connection.
 
Skirmish would be more appropriate. That said, it's called and known as a battle so battle it is. By contrast, one of the most important battles in Westward expansion, Bushy Run (1763 near Pittsburg) between the British relief column and the Native Americans didn't even rate a battle honor for the regiments (42, 60 and 77 involved.
 
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