Skirmish, Fort Buchanan

On February 17, 1865, Apache warriors struck the United States Army post at Old Fort Buchanan in the southern part of Arizona Territory. This clash was small in scale, yet its outcome favored the Apache decisively, as the modest company of California Volunteers stationed there was compelled to pull back toward the Santa Rita Mountains. Notably, this post stands as the sole American military installation captured throughout the conflict fought against the Chiricahua.

Background

The Union Army found itself spread thin along the frontier during the 1861 to 1865 civil war, a period further complicated by ongoing clashes with several Native American tribes. When the southern portion of New Mexico Territory, along with the newly formed Arizona Territory, sided with the Confederacy in 1861, California responded by raising troops to hold the area. Tensions with the Apache had been simmering since Lieutenant George Bascom's 1860 standoff with Chief Cochise, an episode sometimes known as the Bascom affair, and afterward the Apache turned their hostility on both Union and Confederate forces throughout Arizona. This conflict, remembered as the Chiricahua War, remained unresolved as late as early 1865. At the moment of the attack, the fort reportedly held a garrison of just nine cavalrymen and lacked any walls, consisting instead of a scattering of military structures that included a vedette station. Command fell to Corporal Michael Buckley of Company L, 1st California Cavalry, who together with his eight men held this post, a building not unlike a modest house.

Battle

On the morning of February 17, 1865, fighting erupted twelve miles from the fort when Apache warriors struck at two government surveyors and a young Mexican boy. William Wrightson and Gilbert W. Hopkins, employed by the United States General Land Office, were making their way from a ranch in the Santa Ritas toward the fort, at a point now about three miles west of Sonoita, when dozens of warriors suddenly unleashed a barrage of rifle fire and arrows. Since all three travelers were on horseback, a desperate ride toward Fort Buchanan followed. They came agonizingly close to reaching safety before being overtaken and killed. According to the account given by the United States Army, none of the three had put up any resistance, and no shots were heard during the assault. Corporal Buckley later admitted he had no idea Wrightson and Hopkins were even in the vicinity. In later years, the two tallest summits of the Santa Ritas would bear the men's names: Mount Wrightson and Mount Hopkins.

The warriors then turned their attention to a nearby vedette station. Corporal Buckley was seated on the porch while five privates rested inside, unaware that danger was closing in. Earlier, he had dispatched two men to cut hay in a nearby field and sent another off to hunt. Approaching without detection, the Apache launched their assault by shooting at the corporal first. A warrior crept close enough to fire directly at Buckley, striking him in the thigh, but Buckley responded by drawing his revolver and killing his attacker. Wounded, he dragged himself inside as warriors swarmed around the structure. One of the privates returned fire to protect him, cutting down a second attacker. Facing what Buckley estimated as roughly 75 opponents, the small group of soldiers positioned themselves defensively and fired through the station's port holes, repelling the initial close range assault. After that, the fighting shifted to longer range skirmishing.

The Apache eventually set the building ablaze, and once the roof began collapsing several minutes later, Buckley gave the order to flee. Escape meant charging directly through the surrounding warriors toward the hills beyond. As they broke out, the soldiers fired in all directions while being pursued, only shaking off their attackers once they reached higher ground. From there, Buckley and his surviving men made their way on foot to mines within the Santa Ritas, finally reaching safety. Private George English, the man who had been sent out hunting, vanished entirely; he was listed as missing before eventually being presumed dead. Meanwhile, the two soldiers who had been cutting hay heard gunfire in the distance and rushed back toward the fort, only to discover it already overrun, with warriors looting the buildings and setting them ablaze. These two men also fled to the Santa Ritas, later reuniting with their troop.

Aftermath

Buckley confirmed that his men had killed two Apaches, though the haze from burning buildings and rifle fire left him uncertain whether additional casualties had occurred. The spoils from the engagement included six horses, 250 rounds of ammunition, 200 rations, a pair of carbine rifles, and six uniforms belonging to the United States Cavalry. News of the assault reached Captain John L. Miriam the next day, prompting him to march to the fort with a detachment of 25 men. Near the post, his party found the remains of Wrightson, Hopkins, and the boy, which they buried on the spot. Miriam then inspected Fort Buchanan and, judging its condition, gave the order to abandon it, withdrawing to Fort Tubac in the west, where the remainder of Company L was garrisoned. Fort Crittenden would later rise a half mile to the east of Fort Buchanan's former position, constructed in 1867.