View source for Confederate Arizona

{{Short description|Territory of the Confederate States of America}}
{{About|the Confederate territory that existed from 1861 to 1865|the U.S. territory|Arizona Territory|the U.S. state|Arizona}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2013}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
| conventional_long_name = Arizona Territory<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not change the display name. Thank you. -->
| common_name            = Arizona Territory
| subdivision            = [[Constitution of the Confederate States|Organized incorporated territory]]
| nation                 = the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]]
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<!--  By previous consensus, the following flag should not be changed.                 -->
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| image_flag             = Flag of the Confederate States (July – November 1861).svg
| flag_type              = {{small|Flag of the Confederate<br />States (August 1, 1861)}}
| flag                   = Flags of the Confederate States of America
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| image_map              = [[File:Arizona Territory in Confederate States.png|300px]]
| image_map_caption      = Map of the Confederate States with Arizona Territory highlighted
| capital                = {{unbulleted list|class=nowrap|[[Mesilla, New Mexico|Mesilla]]<br /><small>(1861–1862)</small>|[[San Antonio]]<br /><small>(''[[Government in exile|in exile]]''; 1862–1865)</small>}}
| coordinates            = {{coord|32|16|N|106|42|W|display=inline}}
| government_type        = [[Constitution of the Confederate States#Article IV Section 3(3)|Organized incorporated territory]]
| title_leader           = [[List of governors of Arizona#Confederate Arizona|Governor]]
| leader1                = Col. [[John R. Baylor]]
| year_leader1           = 1861–1862
| leader2                = Dr. [[Lewis S. Owings]] ([[Government in exile|in exile]])
| year_leader2           = 1862–1865
| legislature            = Arizona Territorial Legislature
| era                    = [[American Civil War]]
| event_pre              = [[Ordinance of Secession]]
| date_pre               = March 28, 1861
| event_start            = Col. Baylor's Proclamation{{efn|The Confederate Territory of Arizona was proclaimed in [[Mesilla, New Mexico|Mesilla]] on August 1, 1861.}}
| date_start             = August 1,
| year_start             = 1861
| event1                 = Organized by [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]
| date_event1            = January 18, 1862<ref>{{cite book |author=United States. Cong. Senate |date=1904 |orig-year=1st pub. Confederate States. Cong.: 1861–1862 | title=Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861–1865. Volume I |url=https://archive.org/stream/journalofcongres00conf#page/690/mode/2up |version=58th Cong. 2d sess. S. Doc. 234 |location=Washington |publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|Government Printing Office]] |page=691 |lccn=05012700 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
| event2                 = Occupied by [[United States|U.S.]]
| date_event2            = July 8, 1862<ref>{{cite book |author=United States. War Dept. |date=1883 |title=The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies. Series 1 – Volume 9 |url=https://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moawar;cc=moawar;idno=waro0009;q1=Steele;node=waro0009%3A6;view=image;seq=734;size=100;page=root |location=Washington |publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|Government Printing Office]] |page=722 |via=[[Cornell University Library]]}}</ref>
| event_end              = [[Conclusion of the American Civil War#Trans-Mississippi Department (May 26, 1865)|Surrender of C.S. {{nowrap|Trans-Mississippi}} Department]]
| year_end               = 1865
| date_end               = May 26,
| p1                     = New Mexico Territory
| flag_p1                = US flag 34 stars.svg
| s1                     = Arizona Territory
| flag_s1                = US flag 35 stars.svg
| s2                     = New Mexico Territory
| flag_s2                = US flag 34 stars.svg
| today                  = [[United States]]
* [[Arizona]]
* [[New Mexico]]
}}
{{Campaignbox Battles in Confederate Arizona}}
{{Confederate states in the American Civil War}}
The '''Arizona Territory''', [[Colloquialism|colloquially]] referred to as '''Confederate Arizona''', was an [[Constitution of the Confederate States|organized incorporated territory]] of the [[Confederate States of America]] that existed from August 1, 1861, to May 26, 1865, when the [[Confederate States Army]] [[Trans-Mississippi Department]], commanded by General [[Edmund Kirby Smith]], [[conclusion of the American Civil War|surrendered]] at [[Shreveport, Louisiana]]. However, after the [[Battle 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 the [[New Mexico Territory]] and the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]], and seek to join the Confederacy. It consisted of the portion of the [[New Mexico Territory]] south of the [[34th parallel north|34th parallel]], including parts of the modern states of [[New Mexico]] and [[Arizona]]. The capital was [[Mesilla, New Mexico|Mesilla]], along the southern border. The breakaway region overlapped [[Arizona Territory]], established by the [[Federal government of the United States|Union government]] in February 1863.

Arizona was proclaimed a Confederate territory on August 1, 1861, after Colonel [[John R. Baylor]]'s victory at the [[First Battle of Mesilla|Battle of Mesilla]]. His hold on the area was broken after Glorieta Pass (March 26–28, 1862), the defining battle of the [[New Mexico Campaign]]. In July 1862, the Confederate territorial government withdrew to [[El Paso, Texas]]. With the approach of [[Union Army|Union troops]], it relocated to [[San Antonio]], where it remained for the duration of the civil war. The territory continued to be represented in the [[Confederate 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.

== Background ==
{{further|Arizona Organic Act|History of slavery in New Mexico}}
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 the [[Gadsden Purchase]], which ran parallel to [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker's]] [[Republic of Sonora|Republics of ''Lower California'' and ''Sonora'']]. As early as 1856, the territorial government in [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] had raised concerns about being able to effectively govern the southern part of the territory. It was separated from the rest by the [[Jornada del Muerto]], a difficult stretch of [[desert]].

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 the [[32nd meridian west from Washington]]. The legislature proposed that all the Indians of New Mexico would be [[Indian removal|removed]] to northern Arizona.

In April 1860, impatient for Congress to act, the territory called a convention and 31 delegates met in [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]]. In July 1860, the convention drafted a constitution for a "Territory of Arizona" to be organized out of the New Mexico Territory south of [[34th parallel north]]. The convention elected [[Lewis S. Owings]] as the Territorial Governor, and elected a delegate to [[United States Congress|Congress]].

Anti-slavery Representatives opposed creating a new territory, as they feared it had the potential to become a [[Slave states and free states|slave 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 old [[Parallel 36°30′ north|Missouri 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 a ''de facto'', if not ''de jure'', government for the intended Arizona Territory. Lewis S. Owings, Governor of the Provisional Territory, appointed [[James Henry Tevis]] to raise the first Territorial Militia. This comprised three companies of [[Arizona Rangers]] for the protection of the Territory from marauding Apaches and bandits.<ref>''Hayden Pioneer Biographies Collection'', biography of James Henry Tevis, p. 1, Arizona State University Library</ref> Two companies were raised in the [[Pinos Altos, New Mexico|Pinos Altos]] mining camp, and another at Mesilla.

== Secession ==
[[File:Map of the United States, and Territories Together with Canada From Mitchell's New General Atlas Philadelphia SA Mitchell Jr 1861.jpg|thumbnail|left|1861 map showing the Confederate Arizona Territory]]
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 the [[Apache]]. These Native Americans were attacking White settlers, killing off ranchers and mining camps all over [[Traditional Arizona]].  This became open warfare following the February 3–9, 1861 [[Bascom affair|Bascom Affair]], that brought [[Cochise]] into the war.  Arizona settlers were also disturbed by the closing of the [[Butterfield Overland Mail]] route and their stations in March 1861, which had connected the Arizona [[frontier]] colonies to the [[Eastern United States|East]] and [[California]].

In March 1861, the citizens of Mesilla called a [[Secession in the United States|secession]] 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.csawardept.com/documents/secession/AZ/ |title=Ordinance of secession. |access-date=July 5, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622110945/http://www.csawardept.com/documents/secession/AZ/ |archive-date=June 22, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> 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 and [[Granville Henderson Oury]] was chosen as a delegate to petition for the territory's admission into the Confederacy.

== Confederate units ==
{{further|List of Arizona Territory Civil War units}}
[[File:Azranger.gif|175px|right|thumb|''Arizona Guards'']]
* Arizona Militia (1860–1862)
** Arizona Guards (Pinos Altos mining camp)
** Arizona Rangers (Mesilla)
** Minute Men (Pinos Altos mining camp)<!-- I have added "mining camp" after Pinos Altos so readers dont confuse the camp with the present day Pinos Altos in northern New Mexico. -->
* Herbert's Battalion, Arizona Cavalry (1862–1863)
** Capt. Thomas Helm's Company (Arizona Guards)
** [[Company A, Arizona Rangers|Capt. G. H. Oury's Company (Arizona Rangers)]]
** Capt. R. L. Swope's Company (Arizona Rangers)

== Major campaigns ==
[[File:Arizona Civil War New Mexico.png|left|thumb|300px]]
Arizona was thought to be important to the role of the [[New 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's [[Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War|Trans-Mississippi Theater]].

In July 1861 a force under Lieutenant-Colonel John R. Baylor arrived in [[El 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 nearby [[Fort 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 abandoned [[Fort Fillmore]] and began a march north to join the troops at [[Fort Craig]] under Colonel [[Edward Canby|Edward 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 the [[Organ Mountains]].<ref>[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qfm04 Handbook of Texas online.]</ref>

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 permanent [[governor]]. Among his cabinet members was the Mesilla attorney [[Marcus H. MacWillie]], who served as the territorial [[attorney general]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sacks |first=B. |date=1963 |title=The Creation of the Territory of Arizona |journal=[[Journal of the Southwest|Arizona and the West]] |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=109–148 |issn=0894-8410 |jstor=40167054 |jstor-access=free |lccn=87643843 |oclc=15876763}}</ref>

The next month, Baylor's cavalrymen under [[Bethel Coopwood]], marched north from [[Fort Selden|Camp Robledo]] along the Rio Grande and surprised a Union force of New Mexican militia cavalry in a [[Battle of Canada Alamosa|small engagement]] west of the Rio Grande at the village of [[Canada Alamosa, New Mexico#Cañada Alamosa (present-day Monticello NM), the historic Hispanic community downstream from the canyon|Canada 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 of [[Fort Thorn, New Mexico|Fort Thorn]].  There a Union column of Mounted Infantry sent to relieve the New Mexican militia force caught up with Coopwood, and [[Skirmish near Fort Thorn, New Mexico Territory|skirmished]] for a few hours with the Confederates until their ammunition was depleted, forcing the Mounted Infantry to retire northward to their base at [[Fort Craig]].

The proposal to organize the Confederate Territory of Arizona was passed by the Confederate Congress in early 1862 and proclaimed by [[President of the Confederate States of America|President]] [[Jefferson Davis]] on February 14, 1862.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/swetc/hav2/body.1_div.4.html|title=Chapter IV. Confederate and Federal Occupation|last=Farish|first=Thomas Edwin|website=www.library.arizona.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-04-27|quote=Arizona Historian}}</ref> Coincidentally, Arizona statehood was approved exactly fifty years later on February 14, 1912.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://archive.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/20120130arizona-centennial-state-fight.html|title=How Arizona almost didn't become a state|work=azcentral.com|access-date=2017-04-27}}</ref>

[[File:Flagraise.gif|thumb|right|175px|Raising the [[Flags of the Confederate States of America|Confederate flag]] in Tucson.]]
Efforts by the Confederacy to secure control of the region led to the New Mexico Campaign. Baylor sent [[Company A, Arizona Rangers]] to Tucson to protect the population from the Apache and [[Company A, Arizona Rangers#Arizona Campaign against the California Column|delay 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 of [[Company A, Arizona Rangers]], a Confederate force destroying supply depots along the [[California Column]] route of advance on the [[Gila River]], 80 miles east of its base at [[Fort Yuma]]. This skirmish, known as the [[Battle 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-called [[Battle 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 the [[San 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 the [[Second Battle of Mesilla]] the Confederates abandoned Mesilla and retreated south to [[El Paso, Texas|Franklin, Texas]].

In 1862 the [[California Column]] volunteers who fought at Stanwix Station and Picacho Pass fought at the [[Battle of Apache Pass]] against 500 [[Apache]]s. The battle is considered part of the American Civil War. There were also several engagements between [[Apache]]s and Confederates. The [[First Battle of Dragoon Springs|Battle of Dragoon Springs]] marks the only known Confederate combat deaths in the modern confines of Arizona. Other engagements include the [[Siege of Tubac]], the [[Battle of Cookes Canyon]], the [[Battle of the Florida Mountains]], the [[Battle of Pinos Altos]] and a number of other smaller skirmishes and massacres.

The territorial government relocated to Franklin, then with Confederate military units retreated to [[San Antonio]] abandoning [[West Texas]]. For the rest of the war, California Column troops controlled all of Confederate Arizona, Franklin and [[Fort 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 the [[1st Confederate States Congress|First]] and [[2nd Confederate States Congress]]es. 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.

== See also == <!-- EDITORS NOTE: This section should primarily contain lists linked to the main article which are directly related to the event. Thank you. -->
* [[List of governors of dependent territories in the 19th century]]
* [[New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* Finch, L. Boyd. "Arizona in Exile: Confederate Schemes to Recapture the Far Southwest." ''The Journal of Arizona History'' 1992: 57.
* Kerby, Robert Lee, ''The Confederate Invasion of New Mexico and Arizona'', Westernlore Press, 1958. {{ISBN|0-87026-055-3}}
* Kiser, William S. "The Confederate Territory of Arizona." Turmoil on the Rio Grande : History of the Mesilla Valley, 1846–1865. 175. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2011. Project MUSE. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
* Pierpaoli, Paul G. ''Texas, New Mexico, And Arizona, Confederate District of''. n.p.: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2013. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 15 Nov. 2015. Alouisville7 (talk) 23:18, 15 November 2015 (UTC)
* Raymond, McCoy. "Arizona Early Confederate Territory." Montana: ''The Magazine of Western History'' 1962: 16.
{{Div col end}}

== External links ==
{{Wikisource|1=Arizona Territory Ordinance of Secession|2=Ordinance of Secession}}
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* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.forttours.com/pages/peralta.asp|title=Sibley Expedition|website=Fort Tours|publisher=Fort Tour Systems|access-date=August 12, 2017}}
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{{Portal bar|American Civil War|Arizona|New Mexico}}
{{Confederate States political divisions}}
{{Former sovereign or unrecognized states within the United States}}
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[[Category:Arizona in the American Civil War| ]]<!--please leave the empty space as standard-->
[[Category:1861 establishments in New Mexico Territory|Arizona Territory]]
[[Category:1865 disestablishments in Texas|Arizona Territory]]<!-- Government in exile -->
[[Category:1860s in Arizona Territory|.American Civil War]]
[[Category:1860s in New Mexico Territory|.American Civil War]]
[[Category:American Civil War by state|Arizona Territory]]
[[Category:Governments in exile during the American Civil War|Arizona Territory]]
[[Category:New Mexico in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Political history of Arizona]]
[[Category:Political history of New Mexico|Arizona Territory]]
[[Category:Political history of the Confederate States of America|Arizona Territory]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Arizona|*]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of New Mexico|*]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1861|Arizona Territory]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1865|Arizona Territory]]<!-- Government in exile -->
[[Category:Texas in the American Civil War|Arizona Territory]]
[[Category:Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War|Arizona Territory]]