Road to Picacho

Picacho Peak looms about 15 miles ahead as we drive down Park Links Road.

Picacho was the scene of a Civil War battle on April 15, 1862. It was fought between a Union cavalry patrol from California and a party of Confederate pickets from Tucson, and marks the westernmost battle of the American Civil War.

The Union patrol consisted of 13 men who suffered 2 dead plus 3 wounded but the Confederates withdrew back to Tucson. The battle squelched plans for a Confederate Arizona Territory. In 1864 the Union established the Arizona Territory which became a State in 1912.

Arizona has a land area of 113,998 square miles compared to the United Kingdom and Ireland with a land area of 88,749 square miles. Southern Arizona was a part of Mexico until the Gadsden Purchase of 1854.