Second Battle of Tucson
Encyclopedia
The Second Battle of Tucson or the May Day Attack was a battle in Tucson, Arizona
, and the neighboring pueblo
. It occurred during the Mexican Apache Wars on May 1, 1782, between a small garrison
of Spanish
soldiers and hundreds of Apache
warriors
.
, or Fort Tucson, was a Spanish built fortress located in present day downtown
Tucson, it was founded by Hugh O'Conor
. The construction of the structure occurred from 1775 to 1783 and was used to protect communication and trade routes across northern Sonora
and southern Alta California
. The garrison on average consisted of forty to sixty cavalry
, mostly of Sonoran descent. Though detribalized Pima
native American scouts
were also employed. Fort Tucson was primarily made of adobe
bricks and wood from mesquite
trees. At least one cannon
and only a few officers also manned the position. Tucson was an isolated community during its earliest years, situated on the right side of the Santa Cruz River, next to a Pima
pueblo, known as Indian Town, on the left side of the water, roughly northwest of Tucson. Between the village and presidio
was a bridge, leading across the river.
The area around the presidio jacal
s was fortified
with a wide ditch roundabout
filled with water and a palisade
of logs, ordered to be constructed by commander Captain Pedro Allande y Saabedra, with two ramparts
on which an unknown number of cannon were placed. Four bulwarks
, magazines
, a guard tower
and a church were built as well. Some of the houses, belonging to Tucson citizens or soldiers, were outside the palisade and under only the defense of artillery
. The walls spanned various heights from ten to almost thirty feet high and was built to be compact. There were two gates, one on the eastern wall and the other on the western wall. A stockade
and then an earthen defensive wall surrounding the military buildings.
By 1782 the Spanish had been fighting a long war with the Apaches throughout the Tucson area. The garrison had already fought off an enemy attack in 1779, known as the First Battle of Tucson
, at the edge of the town. In 1780 another small battle occurred near Tucson, skirmishes being the majority of combat initiated by Spain and Apaches. Raids were also conducted by Apaches against wagon trains
and other small unprotected convoys
. However, Apache tactics changed in 1782 when they began to mass in larger numbers and attack heavily fortified or heavily protected settlements. A force of about 600 warriors headed for Tucson, retaliating for a recent Spanish campaign deep into Apache territory. After the battle Captain Saabedra stated that this was the largest force of Apaches warriors he had ever seen.
were among the population of Tucson, one later reported that around 200 Apaches fought on foot and said he did not attempt to estimate the number mounted on horses
. Fighting occurred at three main places, the first was at the bridge connecting Indian Town to Tucson, the second, at the western gate of the presidio, and the third near the western gate at Lieutenant
Miguel de Urrea's home.
At the time, Spanish forces numbered forty-two lancers
, twenty dragoons
and ten native scouts, including officers. One Apache force first swarmed into Indian village from the north where they encountered little resistance before advancing on to the bridge. The other force headed directly for the citadel. At the bridge a small force of Spanish troops were capable of holding their position, due to superior weapons, muskets against bows and arrows. Meanwhile, the second Apache unit rushed for the open gate of Fort Tucson but the advance was halted by cannon and musket fire from Captain Allande and four of his men, positioned on the bridge above the gate. The attack also failed due to Lieutenant Urrea's position, on the roof of his parapet
topped house, which flanked the Apache attack. Urrea and his native servant were later credited with delaying a force of over 140 Apaches from joining their main force for the capture of Fort Tucson. The holders of the bridge, who held against over 200 warriors, also were commended. After two hours of close quarters combat, the Apaches suffered eight confirmed deaths and dozens more severely wounded. Apaches were known for removing their dead and wounded from their battlefields, immediately after a casualty was sustained. Meaning it is likely that more than eight warriors died as result of the battle, either in the engagement or afterwards.
The Spanish suffered one dead trooper and three wounded, one female civilian was also found to have been killed by the attackers. After seeing the deaths and wounding of so many warriors, the unknown Apache war chief ordered a retreat.
He also reported that several Apache wounded were being carried off into the surrounding desert as well, casualties of cannon fire. The Spanish won the engagement but the Apaches would return again a few months later, on December 15, the Apaches raided
some livestock, resulting in another Spanish victory and the deaths of a handful of warriors. Spanish records of the time indicate that only few Apaches were killed in overall campaigns. The largest Apache body counts never numbered more than fifty dead, most likely due to the Apache's evasion
tactics.
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, and the neighboring pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
. It occurred during the Mexican Apache Wars on May 1, 1782, between a small garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
of Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
soldiers and hundreds of Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
warriors
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
.
Background
Presidio San Augustin del TucsonPresidio San Augustin del Tucson
Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón or Fort Tucson was a presidio located within Tucson, Arizona. The original fortress was built by Spanish conquistadors during the 18th century and was the founding structure of what became the city of Tucson...
, or Fort Tucson, was a Spanish built fortress located in present day downtown
Downtown
Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's core or central business district ....
Tucson, it was founded by Hugh O'Conor
Hugo Oconór
-External links:*...
. The construction of the structure occurred from 1775 to 1783 and was used to protect communication and trade routes across northern Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
and southern Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
. The garrison on average consisted of forty to sixty cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
, mostly of Sonoran descent. Though detribalized Pima
Pima
The Pima are a group of American Indians living in an area consisting of what is now central and southern Arizona. The long name, "Akimel O'odham", means "river people". They are closely related to the Tohono O'odham and the Hia C-ed O'odham...
native American scouts
Scout
A scout is a soldier performing reconnaissance and other support duties.Scout may also refer to:-Aircraft:* Scout , pre-1920s terminology for a single-seat fighter...
were also employed. Fort Tucson was primarily made of adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
bricks and wood from mesquite
Mesquite
Mesquite is a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus found in northern Mexico through the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Deserts, and up into the Southwestern United States as far north as southern Kansas, west to the Colorado Desert in California,and east to the eastern fifth of Texas, where...
trees. At least one cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
and only a few officers also manned the position. Tucson was an isolated community during its earliest years, situated on the right side of the Santa Cruz River, next to a Pima
Pima
The Pima are a group of American Indians living in an area consisting of what is now central and southern Arizona. The long name, "Akimel O'odham", means "river people". They are closely related to the Tohono O'odham and the Hia C-ed O'odham...
pueblo, known as Indian Town, on the left side of the water, roughly northwest of Tucson. Between the village and presidio
Presidio
A presidio is a fortified base established by the Spanish in North America between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. The fortresses were built to protect against pirates, hostile native Americans and enemy colonists. Other presidios were held by Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth...
was a bridge, leading across the river.
The area around the presidio jacal
Jacal
The jacal is an adobe style housing structure historically found throughout parts of the south-western United States and Mexico. The structure was employed by some Native people of the Americas prior to European colonization and was later employed by both Hispanic and Anglo settlers in Texas and...
s was fortified
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
with a wide ditch roundabout
Roundabout
A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The word dates from the early 20th century. Roundabouts are common in many countries around the world...
filled with water and a palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
of logs, ordered to be constructed by commander Captain Pedro Allande y Saabedra, with two ramparts
Defensive wall
A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...
on which an unknown number of cannon were placed. Four bulwarks
Bulwark
Bulwark may refer to:*A bastion or fortifications in general*In naval terminology, an extension of a ship's sides above deck level*HMS Bulwark, any of several Royal Navy ships*USS Bulwark, any of several US Navy ships...
, magazines
Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition is stored. It is taken from the Arabic word "makahazin" meaning "warehouse".-Ammunition storage areas:...
, a guard tower
Guard tower
Guard tower serves as a general term for any military tower providing vigilance, and henceforth guarding a certain area.-Famous guard towers:*Alcatraz guard towers*Auschwitz II guard towers*Tower of London*Yuma Territorial Prison 1876 guard tower....
and a church were built as well. Some of the houses, belonging to Tucson citizens or soldiers, were outside the palisade and under only the defense of artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
. The walls spanned various heights from ten to almost thirty feet high and was built to be compact. There were two gates, one on the eastern wall and the other on the western wall. A stockade
Stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls made of logs placed side by side vertically with the tops sharpened to provide security.-Stockade as a security fence:...
and then an earthen defensive wall surrounding the military buildings.
By 1782 the Spanish had been fighting a long war with the Apaches throughout the Tucson area. The garrison had already fought off an enemy attack in 1779, known as the First Battle of Tucson
First Battle of Tucson
The First Battle of Tucson was a confrontation at Tucson, Arizona on December 6, 1779, as part of the Apache-Mexico Wars. Captain Pedro Allande y Saabedra with a force of only fifteen men defeated an army of around 350 strong.-Battle:...
, at the edge of the town. In 1780 another small battle occurred near Tucson, skirmishes being the majority of combat initiated by Spain and Apaches. Raids were also conducted by Apaches against wagon trains
Wagon train
A wagon train is a group of wagons traveling together. In the American West, individuals traveling across the plains in covered wagons banded together for mutual assistance, as is reflected in numerous films and television programs about the region, such as Audie Murphy's Tumbleweed and Ward Bond...
and other small unprotected convoys
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
. However, Apache tactics changed in 1782 when they began to mass in larger numbers and attack heavily fortified or heavily protected settlements. A force of about 600 warriors headed for Tucson, retaliating for a recent Spanish campaign deep into Apache territory. After the battle Captain Saabedra stated that this was the largest force of Apaches warriors he had ever seen.
Battle
At around 10:00 am on Sunday May 1, 1782, the Apaches began a surprise attack. The force was split in two and proceeded simultaneously to attack Indian Town and Fort Tucson itself with a clear intention of capturing the fort. Unfortunately for the Spaniards, most of the garrison was not present inside the fortification, a lot of whom were scattered across the town, preparing for Sunday mass. Several Jesuit missionariesMissionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
were among the population of Tucson, one later reported that around 200 Apaches fought on foot and said he did not attempt to estimate the number mounted on horses
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
. Fighting occurred at three main places, the first was at the bridge connecting Indian Town to Tucson, the second, at the western gate of the presidio, and the third near the western gate at Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Miguel de Urrea's home.
At the time, Spanish forces numbered forty-two lancers
Lancer
A lancer was a type of cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lances were used in mounted warfare by the Assyrians as early as and subsequently by Greek, Persian, Gallic, Han-Chinese, nomadic and Roman horsemen...
, twenty dragoons
Dragoon
The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...
and ten native scouts, including officers. One Apache force first swarmed into Indian village from the north where they encountered little resistance before advancing on to the bridge. The other force headed directly for the citadel. At the bridge a small force of Spanish troops were capable of holding their position, due to superior weapons, muskets against bows and arrows. Meanwhile, the second Apache unit rushed for the open gate of Fort Tucson but the advance was halted by cannon and musket fire from Captain Allande and four of his men, positioned on the bridge above the gate. The attack also failed due to Lieutenant Urrea's position, on the roof of his parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
topped house, which flanked the Apache attack. Urrea and his native servant were later credited with delaying a force of over 140 Apaches from joining their main force for the capture of Fort Tucson. The holders of the bridge, who held against over 200 warriors, also were commended. After two hours of close quarters combat, the Apaches suffered eight confirmed deaths and dozens more severely wounded. Apaches were known for removing their dead and wounded from their battlefields, immediately after a casualty was sustained. Meaning it is likely that more than eight warriors died as result of the battle, either in the engagement or afterwards.
The Spanish suffered one dead trooper and three wounded, one female civilian was also found to have been killed by the attackers. After seeing the deaths and wounding of so many warriors, the unknown Apache war chief ordered a retreat.
Aftermath
The eight Apache deaths were confirmed by the various reports of the battle, written by the garrison and by the Jesuits there. Other accounts say as many as thirty Apaches were killed during the action. Lieutenant Urrea personally killed or wounded at least five Apaches from the top of his house. His servant killed or wounded a few others. Captain Allande killed two men. One soldier, José Antonio Delgado, who hid in a tree from the beginning to the end of the battle, evading capture, later reported that he witnessed three killed Apaches, being removed from the field by their fellow warriors.He also reported that several Apache wounded were being carried off into the surrounding desert as well, casualties of cannon fire. The Spanish won the engagement but the Apaches would return again a few months later, on December 15, the Apaches raided
Third Battle of Tucson (1782)
The Third Battle of Tucson was a battle during the Spanish colonization of Sonora, now the present day Arizona in the United States. The battle pitched the Apache warriors against the Spanish cavalry garrison of Tucson.-Battle:...
some livestock, resulting in another Spanish victory and the deaths of a handful of warriors. Spanish records of the time indicate that only few Apaches were killed in overall campaigns. The largest Apache body counts never numbered more than fifty dead, most likely due to the Apache's evasion
Evasion
Evasion may refer to:*Évasion, a Canadian French-language travel and adventure television channel*Evasion , a deceptive act*Evasion , to avoid government mandate through specious means...
tactics.
See also
- Spanish period of ArizonaSpanish period of ArizonaIn the late 18th century, colonists began steadily entering the region of northern New Spain that is the modern-day U.S. state of Arizona. They were attracted by reports of the discovery of deposits of silver around the Arizonac mining camp...
- Capture of Tucson (1846)Capture of Tucson (1846)The Capture of Tucson was a United States attack on the Mexican city of Tucson, Sonora, now the present day Tucson, Arizona. The would be combatants were provisional Mexican Army troops and the American Mormon Battalion. Tucson fell in December of 1846 without resistance.-Capture:The...
- Capture of Tucson (1862)Capture of Tucson (1862)The Capture of Tucson was a United States attack on Tucson in Confederate Arizona on May 20, 1862. A Union force of 2,000 took the city from ten Tucson militiamen without a shot fired.-Background:...
- Siege of TubacSiege of TubacThe Siege of Tubac was a siege of the Apache Wars, between settlers and militia of Confederate Arizona and Chiricahua Apaches. The battle took place at Tubac in the present day southern Arizona...
- American Indian Wars
- Apache WarsApache WarsThe Apache Wars were a series of armed conflicts between the United States and Apaches fought in the Southwest from 1849 to 1886, though other minor hostilities continued until as late as 1924. The Confederate Army participated in the wars during the early 1860s, for instance in Texas, before being...
- Navajo WarsNavajo WarsThe Navajo Wars were a series of battles and other conflicts, often separated with treaties that involved raids by different Navajo bands on the rancheras along the Rio Grande and the counter campaigns by the Spanish, Mexican, and United States governments, and sometimes their civilian elements....