About halfway between Phoenix and Tucson is a small state
park encompassing several high basaltic ridges ending in a precipitous
peak.
The ridges came from old
volcanic lava flows that were more resistant to erosion than the surrounding
rock.
But the fame of this location
is not in its geology, but in its history. First it was a landmark for the
Indian tribes of the Southwest.
Later,
Picacho Peak
was a geographic signpost for the
Spanish explorers and settlers who came north in 1776 from deep in Mexico and
then turned west near this prominence to journey to the San Francisco Bay
area.
In the 1840’s, it was a watering place for the Americans who crossed the desert as they
traveled from New Mexico to California.
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| Old Saguaro Cactus |
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| The Peak |
Least known, and least remembered, and of possibly greatest
significance is that Picacho Peak in Arizona was the site of the westernmost
battle of the Civil War. In this
obscure episode, a dozen Union soldiers defeated eighteen Confederate cavalrymen.
Realizing that their advance into Arizona was no longer tenable, the larger
body of Confederate soldiers, stationed in Tucson, retreated across the desert to Texas leaving the
Union in firm control of the Southwest. Every spring, a reenactment of this
battle takes place in the shadow of Picacho Peak.
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