Battle of Apache Pass
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U.S. artillery in action at the battle of Apache Pass in 186...
Battle Dates:
07/15/1862
Other Names:
Canoncito
Campaign:
Apache Wars
CWSAC Priority Level:
Not Defined
Apache Pass Rd, Willcox, AZ 85643, USA
Details:
The Battle of Apache Pass was fought at Apache Pass in Arizona, United States, between Apache warriors and the California Column as it marched from California to capture Confederate Arizona and to reinforce New Mexico's Union army.
In early 1862, Colonel James H. Carleton's force set out from Fort Yuma, which had just recently been occupied and abandoned by Confederate troops.
He headed to Tucson, Arizona, and arrived in March 1862, there the California Column forced the Confederate garrison to retreat without fighting. This occurred after a small engagement known as the Battle of Picacho Pass just north of Tucson between a detachment of Carleton's cavalry and Confederate pickets.
After taking Confederate Arizona's Western Capital, Carleton headed east to New Mexico via Apache Pass in Southeast Arizona.
At noon on July 15, James Carleton's vanguard had just entered Apache Pass, after making it about two-thirds through the pass. The U.S. army was attacked by some 500 Apache warriors led by Mangas Coloradas and Cochise, far east of Tucson. Geronimo, sometime before his death in 1909, claimed to have fought in this battle but this has never been confimed.
The Americans were not in a good position to fight.
They had just walked dozens of miles across the hot Arizona desert, they were heading for the spring at Apache Pass which was now beyond an army of well armed Chiricahua warriors commanded by Mangas Coloradas and Cochise.
Lacking water, and with the risk of losing dozens of men by retreating back to Tucson without water, Carleton chose to fight. The natives had constructed defenses, several breastworks made of stone. They also had set up an ambush, they waited until the Americans came within thirty to eighty yards of their positions, then opened fire.
Behind almost every mesquite tree and boulder hid an Apache with his rifle, six-shooter and knife. At first the Union troops could barely see the natives firing on them. After a few more moments of intense combat Carleton ordered retreat, so his force withdrew to the mouth of Apache Pass, regrouped and unlimbered mountain howitzers for a second advance.
This was one of the first times the U.S. Army had been able to use artillery against the native Americans. Carleton ordered his infantry to take the hills overlooking the pass, while he, his officers and howitzers stayed inside of the pass to direct artillery support. The skirmishers moved foward, where they came across an abandoned Butterfield Overland Mail station, which was then used to provide cover from the accurate Apache rifle fire. The infantry was now about 600 yards from the spring, overlooking the water supply was two hills, one that overlooked from the east, the other from the south. On both of the steep hills sat the breastworks, manned by Apache riflemen, doing their best to keep back the American skirmishers.
Carleton moved his howitzers foward and commenced fire along with his infantry, the shots were not very effective because of their position some 300 to 400 feet below the Apache defenses. The artillery would have to be moved again if it was to be effective in this battle. So again the artillery was moved foward, under heavy enemy fire.
Once the guns were in effective range, the commanding sergeant ordered his artillerists to engage. Until nightfall the Apaches were bombarded until breaking lose and fleeing the engagement in all directions. Thus abandoning the breastworks and leaving the Union Troops with a victory and access to the spring.
During the battle, Colonel Carleton had two men killed and three wounded and afterwards learned from a prominent Apache who was present in the engagement, that sixty-three warriors were killed outright by the shells, while only three perished from musketry fire. He added, "We would have done well enough if you had not fired wagons at us."
The howitzers being on wheels, were deemed a type of wagon by the Apaches, who were obviously inexperienced in artillery tactics. Mangas Coloradas himself was wounded, sustaining a bullet wound to the chest. Carleton's force would skirmish with the Apaches the following day, ending with a U.S. victory due to a successful cavalry charge which routed the natives.
On July 4, the first units of the California Column reached Mesilla, New Mexico along the Rio Grande. With the Californians now approaching from the west, the last remnants of the Confederate army withdrew from Arizona. After the battle commander Carleton decided that it was necessary to establish a post there to prevent white settlers from being ambushed by the natives as they passed through.
Men of the 5th California Infantry began building a fort, which they named Fort Bowie in honor of the regiment's colonel, George Washington Bowie. Upon reaching New Mexico, Carleton was placed in command of the Department of New Mexico where he continued to campaign against the natives in the southwest region.
The battlefield and fort are preserved today in Fort Bowie National Historic Site. The engagement was subject to the 1952 film, The Battle at Apache Pass.
National Park Website: http://www.nps.gov/fobo/index.htm