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The Battle of Placito
The Battle of Placito or Battle of the Placito was a little known engagement
between ethnic Mexican settlers, Confederate soldiers and Apache warriors. It
took place at the now abandoned village of Placito in Confederate Arizona.
The action is a part of the Apache Wars of the mid to late nineteenth century.
Following the Gallinas Massacre, Lieutenant John Pulliam of the Confederate
garrison at Fort Stanton, returned from his patrol in the Gallinas Mountains
where he searched for the three dead soldiers, massacred a week earlier.
He arrived at Fort Stanton on September 8, 1861. That same evening a
dispatch arrived from the Placito, a Spanish era settlement, occupied by
Mexican settlers. The dispatch detailed a current Apache assault on the town,
ten miles below the fort. Pulliam was ordered to proceed to the village with
fifteen men to help protect it's citizens.
After arriving, at night, Pulliam, his fifteen men and an unknown number of
Mexican men, drove the Apaches out of town and then fought off the Apaches
all night at long range. Eventually the natives gave up and retreated back into
the surrounding desert.
Casualties are unknown, except for the Apaches who suffered at least five
men killed by Pulliam's squad. An unknown number of Apache wounded
escaped the fighting. The Lieutenant and his men arrived back at Fort
Stanton the following afternoon.
The Battle of Placito or Battle of the Placito was a little known engagement
between ethnic Mexican settlers, Confederate soldiers and Apache warriors. It
took place at the now abandoned village of Placito in Confederate Arizona.
The action is a part of the Apache Wars of the mid to late nineteenth century.
Following the Gallinas Massacre, Lieutenant John Pulliam of the Confederate
garrison at Fort Stanton, returned from his patrol in the Gallinas Mountains
where he searched for the three dead soldiers, massacred a week earlier.
He arrived at Fort Stanton on September 8, 1861. That same evening a
dispatch arrived from the Placito, a Spanish era settlement, occupied by
Mexican settlers. The dispatch detailed a current Apache assault on the town,
ten miles below the fort. Pulliam was ordered to proceed to the village with
fifteen men to help protect it's citizens.
After arriving, at night, Pulliam, his fifteen men and an unknown number of
Mexican men, drove the Apaches out of town and then fought off the Apaches
all night at long range. Eventually the natives gave up and retreated back into
the surrounding desert.
Casualties are unknown, except for the Apaches who suffered at least five
men killed by Pulliam's squad. An unknown number of Apache wounded
escaped the fighting. The Lieutenant and his men arrived back at Fort
Stanton the following afternoon.