La Mesilla

The Confederate capital the panel ends on was proclaimed here. Mesilla held a secession convention on March 16, 1861, the same month the Butterfield line closed its stations and cut the settlers' mail. In July Lieutenant Colonel John Baylor's Texans took the town, and on August 1 he issued a proclamation taking possession of the Territory of Arizona for the Confederacy, with Mesilla as its capital and himself as governor, and declared martial law. The Texans withdrew in July 1862; the territory's government spent the rest of the war in exile in San Antonio.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker La Mesilla On November 16, 1854, a detach- ment from nearby Fort Fillmore raised the U.S. flag here con- firming the Gadsden Purchase; thus the Gadsden territory was officially recognized as part of the United States. In 1858, the Butterfield stage began its run through Mesilla. During the Civil War, Mesilla was the capital of Confederate Arizona Territory.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mesilla Plaza — 0.3 mi
  A plaza laid out in 1848 by people who meant to stay in Mexico, American six years later, a stage stop and Civil War headquarters, and scene of a deadly political riot in 1871.

More markers nearby

• La Mesilla — 0.2 mi
• Doña Ana County Courthouse — 2.2 mi
• María Gutiérrez Spencer — 2.4 mi
• Rio Grande — 2.9 mi