Family Field Trip: Picacho Peak

Today we headed south to Picacho Peak. We had a couple of other things going on today, so we didn't spend a lot of time there. We explored a little and plan to go back again soon. There's a lot of places to picnic, some nice hikes, and beautiful scenery.

Here's a photo that I didn't take that shows just how picturesque Picacho Peak is.

Source

What's significant about Picacho Peak is that it's the site of the westernmost "battle" of the Civil War. Yes, you read that right. Except it wasn't really a battle. It was more of a skirmish. And by skirmish, I mean that a Union Lieutenant decided to disobey orders and confront a group of Confederate lookouts, and just when they were about to surrender, the Lieutenant accidentally discharges his firearm, causing the Confederate soldiers to fire back, killing him and 2 other Union soldiers, wounding 4 more, and one of the wounded soldiers died later that night. The Union did capture 3 Confederate soldiers, however, so at least they got some kind of consolation prize. The Confederate lookouts ended up retreating to Tucson and then the entire army moved back to New Mexico, even though this event delayed the Union's march through the area. (Although we couldn't figure out why.)

The other significant thing that happened at Picacho Peak (or near it, anyway) was that the Mormon Battalion camped there on their way to California.

Here's a video I found that tells the story of the Mormon Battalion.

And finally, here are a few pictures I did take of our mini-field trip today.

Amy and I loved these little yellow flowers.

This is what the sky looked like in the late afternoon today.
It was like Washington, but with palm trees!

 New adventures coming soon!