Published January 31, 2023, for State 48 A2Z
Arizona has its fair share of battle sites, mostly between the encroaching Anglos and the long-resident Native American people. It even has one Civil War battle site at Picacho Peak. However, this mid-19th century battle that occurred during the Mexican-American War may be the only site where the Anglos battled bulls. Yes…Bulls! And that’s no bull!!!!
By the 1840s, many Mormon Americans had relocated to Mexico to avoid the religious persecution they faced in the US. When the war broke out between Mexico and the United States, Mormon leader, Brigham Young felt that if he offered a battalion of men to assist the US in their fight against Mexico, the Mormon community would be rewarded with religious tolerance, transportation, and much-needed cash.
It seems that many of the Mormons were not too quick to buy into Young’s plan but the religious leader was so desperate to make this happen that he threatened to enlist women and children in the war effort if enough able-bodied men did not volunteer. The result was a 500-man Mormon Battalion from Iowa under the command of Phillip St. George Crooke.
Once assembled the Battalion’s orders were to establish a road between the Rio Grande and California. This mission took them through the San Pedro River area where they had their only battle of the war, despite traveling a total of 2,000 miles during their one-year existence through mostly Mexican and Native American lands.
It was December of 1846, and the Mormon Battalion was making their way north from the then border with Mexico in what is now Cochise County. This was a welcome change to the landscape for them and one that provided the battalion with ample water, firewood, and meat from the free-ranging cattle in the area. It seems that some of the wild cattle, who had been abandoned by Spanish and Mexican ranchers in the area, didn’t take too kindly to the soldiers occupying their land and killing members of the herd for meat.
It was on December 11th, 1846, that several of the protective bulls charged the column of men, tipping over wagons, killing two mules, and injuring several of the battalion’s soldiers. Initially stunned by the unexpected attack and the aggressive nature of the bulls, the soldiers loaded their rifles and charged back at the outnumbered bulls, killing between 10 and 15 heads of cattle and wounding many more before the melee ended.
Today the battle is remembered as one of the more unusual battlefields in Arizona, as well as of the Mexican-American War. The area where the melee occurred is marked by a monument that was erected by Boy Scout Troop #21 in 1960 to commemorate the infamous event. The monument is in Sierra Vista on State Route 90 just a bit east of the San Pedro River. See the Google map for the location here.
Next to the monument is a "bridge to nowhere" which crosses over the San Pedro River. When I got to the other side of it, there were no visible trails to follow. Most likely overgrown from the monsoon rains as I had found on several trails that I attempted to follow on this trip. The middle section of the bridge is covered on both sides with "love locks". This is something that started on the bridged of the Seine in France where lovers would both write their names on a lock, secure it to the bridge and throw the key in the river to symbolize their love being locked forever. It seems this trend made its way to Sierra Vista as well.
That’ll wrap things up for this week. As always, thanks for reading, stay safe, and happy travels. Be sure to like and follow us on social media (links below), share our blog posts, and feel free to give us your feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Peace!
All content is © 2022-2023, Larry Nader & Larry Nader Photography & Art
State 48 A2Z Social Media Links
Larry Nader Photography & Art Social Media Links
Our Online Art Stores
Shop these sites to select our photography and digital art printed on your choice of wall art mediums, or on clothing, household items, office items, and more.
Comments