Arizona Territory, colloquially referred to as Confederate Arizona, was an 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, 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, and seek to join the Confederacy. It consisted of the portion of the New Mexico Territory south of the 34th parallel, including parts of the modern states of New Mexico and Arizona. The capital was Mesilla, along the southern border. The breakaway region overlapped Arizona Territory, established by the Union government in February 1863.
Fort Fillmore, located at 32°13′30″N 106°42′52″W, was a United States military fortification established by Colonel Edwin Vose Sumner in September 1851 near Mesilla in what is now New Mexico, primarily for the purpose of protecting settlers and traders traveling to California. Early frontier migrants were under constant threat from attack by local Native Americans, and a network of forts was eventually created by the U.S. government to protect and encourage westward expansion. Fort Fillmore was intended to protect a corridor plagued by hostile Apaches, where several migration routes converged between El Paso and Tucson to take advantage of Apache Pass.
The 4th California Infantry was a volunteer infantry regiment recruited from northern California during the American Civil War. It was organized at Sacramento, Placerville, and Auburn in September and October 1861.
The 1st Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States.
Prior to the adoption of its name for a U.S. state, Arizona was traditionally defined as the region south of the Gila River to the present-day Mexican border, and between the Colorado River and the Rio Grande. It encompasses present-day Southern Arizona and the New Mexico Bootheel plus adjacent parts of Southwestern New Mexico. This area was transferred from Mexico to the United States in the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. Mining and ranching were the primary occupations of traditional Arizona's inhabitants, though growing citrus fruits had long been occurring in Tucson.
The 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry was a cavalry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States, with most of its companies dispersed to various posts.
The 3rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The Company A, Arizona Rangers was a cavalry formation of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
The 1st Regiment California Cavalry was a cavalry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. First formed as a battalion, the unit later expanded to regimental size.
The 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States. Organized at San Francisco and Carson City September 2, 1861, to December 30, 1862, and attached to Department of the Pacific. The regiment was first assembled at the Presidio, San Francisco, and after completing its organization, five companies were sent to Oregon and Washington Territory, to relieve the regular troops, and two companies were sent to Santa Barbara. The troops of this regiment sent to Oregon were afterwards returned to California. It was mustered out during the month of October, 1864.
The 1st Battalion of Native Cavalry, California Volunteers was a cavalry battalion in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Recruits were largely drawn from the Californio population, though its ranks included Yaqui and Mission Indians as well as immigrants from Mexico, Hispano America and Europe. In addition to its ethnic makeup, the Battalion is also considered unusual for being one of the few lancer units in the United States Army.
The Department of New Mexico was a department of the United States Army during the mid-19th century. It was created as the 9th Department, a geographical department, in 1848 following the successful conclusion of the Mexican–American War, and renamed Department of New Mexico in 1853. It had to contend with an invading Confederate force during the New Mexico Campaign of the American Civil War from mid-1861 to early 1862, then with Apache tribes during the remainder of the conflict. It was merged into the Department of California after the end of the war as the District of New Mexico.
District of Arizona was a subordinate district of the Department of New Mexico territory created on August 30, 1862 and transferred to the Department of the Pacific in March 1865.
The 7th California Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States, attached to the Department of the Pacific, serving in California and Arizona Territory. They were unofficially known as the "Gold Diggers" in reference to the large number of recruits from the California's "Mother Lode" region. Later, they were also called the "Hungry Seventh" for the privations they suffered in Arizona, particularly at Fort Mason. They saw combat at the Battle of Chiricahua Mountains, and at Skull Valley. The Regiment included many veterans of the Mexican–American War.
The 6th Regiment California Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States attached to the Department of the Pacific.
1st Battalion California Volunteer Mountaineers was an infantry battalion in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent its entire term of service in the western United States, attached to the Department of the Pacific. It was organized from men from the counties of Humboldt, Mendocino, Trinity, Klamath, Siskiyou, and Del Norte, and other parts of California, between May 30, 1863, and March 16, 1864, for special service in the Bald Hills War in Humboldt County within the Humboldt Military District. The Battalion mustered out June 14, 1865.
Union forces entered Tucson on May 20, 1862, with a force of 2,000 men without firing a shot.
The La Paz incident occurred on May 20, 1863, at the mining town of La Paz, Arizona. William "Frog" Edwards, only recently released from detention at Fort Yuma, ambushed a party of Union soldiers when they stopped at La Paz to purchase supplies. Edwards' attack killed one soldier and wounded two more. Edwards then fled into the desert where he died of exposure and dehydration.
Edwin Augustus Rigg (1822–1882), 49er, was a military officer in the American Civil War and the Apache Wars.
Thomas Theodore Tidball was an American pioneer who came out west during the time of the California gold rush. He was a veteran of the American Civil War who served as a captain in the Union Army. In 1866, Tidball settled in Jolon, California where he and George Dutton purchased the Antonio Ramirez adobe Inn in 1876 and converted it into a two-story hotel and stagecoach station. Tidball went on to establish his own General Store in 1890, which is now the only standing commercial building of Jolon. The Tidball Store is a landmark, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 1976.
