CIVIL WAR BATTLE AT DRAGOON SPRINGS,
ARIZONA
CONFEDERATE DEAD, KILLED BY APACHES, MAY 5,
1862
On May 5, 1862 Apaches attacked a Confederate foraging party gathering stray
cattle near the abandoned Butterfield Overland Stagecoach Station at Dragoon
Springs. The soldiers were members of Company A, Governor John R. Baylor's
Regiment of Arizona Rangers, under the command of Captain Sherod Hunter.
Captain Hunter's command was based at Tucson and engaged in operations
against Union forces from California. Four of Hunter's men were killed, and
the Apaches stole 25 horses and 30 mules. The fallen Confederates of the May
5th, 1862 skirmish were hastily buried a few yards from the stone ruins of
the Butterfield Stagecoach Station. Two of the graves are marked - Sergeant
Samuel Ford and Richardo, a Hispanic cattle drover. There are no markers on
the other two burial mounds, but one probably holds the remains of Captain
John Donaldson. The fourth grave remains unknown. These soldiers are the
only Confederates known to have been killed in battle within the boundaries
of modern-day Arizona.
