The Battle of Cookes Canyon
Date: August 18, 1861
Location: Cookes Canyon, Confederate-occupied New Mexico Territory
*Unfortunately, the actual date(s) of the Battle of Cookes Canyon are not known, but most historians agree that it took place sometime in mid-August, with August 18th being an estimated guess.
On August 15th, following the Siege of Tubac, a group of Tubacans, militia, soldiers, and other Confederates departed from Tucson to try and reach the Rio Grande river and Mesilla, since they had nothing to return to as Tubac had been pillaged and burned to the ground by Apaches after their retreat.
The Tubac Presidio before the siege
Bringing with them multiple covered wagons, supplies, dry goods, horses, and over a thousand heads of livestock, they agreed that the quickest route was through a mountainous pass with access to fresh water, known as Cookes Canyon.
Unknown to them, their Apache adversaries were lying in wait along the canyon walls, preparing to strike as they slowly and noisily entered the canyon.
As the last wagon entered Cookes Canyon, the Apaches charged down from the canyon walls, causing panic amongst the Confederates below and scattering their livestock. The Apaches charged the wagon train but were repulsed by a counterattack of Confederates on horseback, giving them enough time to move their wagons into a circular defensive formation.
From behind this improvised fortification, the Confederates were able to desperately hold off waves of Apache assaults that lasted until the end of the day, when the Apaches fell back to the canyon walls, using the higher ground to snipe at the Confederates and probe their defenses. Finally, the Apaches called off their attacks, rounded up the over one thousand heads of livestock that had scattered during the battle, and left.
The ruins of Fort Cummings' Stagecoach Station, 2023 - Photo by Alexander Alonzo
The ruins of Fort Cummings' adobe walls, 2023 - Photo by Alexander Alonzo
Two years later in 1863, after the Union had reclaimed the New Mexico and Arizona Territories from the Confederacy, Union forces built and garrisoned Fort Cummings, located near the eastern entrance of Cooke's Canyon.
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