Las Cruces

The crosses were real and older than the town. In January 1847 Susan Magoffin passed graves marked with rough crosses where Apaches had killed about fourteen of Governor Armijo's men, and a Spanish report of 1693 already names a place called Las Cruces. When Americans crowded into Doña Ana, its justice of the peace, Pablo Melendres, asked Lieutenant Delos Sackett of the First Dragoons to lay out a new town six miles south. Sackett's party divided it into eighty-four blocks, and the family heads drew lots for them.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Las Cruces On the Camino Real Population 74,267 - Elevation 3,909 In 1849, following the Mexican War, fields were first broken in Las Cruces. The town became a flourishing stop on the Camino Real, deriving its name, "The Crosses", from the marking of graves of victims of an Apache attack. Las Cruces since 1881 has been the county seat of Doña Ana County.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mesilla Plaza — 4.2 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

• Rio Grande — 3.1 mi
• La Mesilla — 4.1 mi
• La Mesilla — 4.1 mi
• Doña Ana County Courthouse — 5.3 mi