Paraje de los Brazitos

No one can now say exactly where this paraje or the battle lay. Travelers described it as a little arm of the river circling a sandy island, but floodwater broke the Rio Grande out of its bed, and surveys show the channel before 1864 ran elsewhere. The ground became part of the nineteenth-century Brazito land grant, among the first grants in southern New Mexico. Another state panel, beside I-10 near Anthony about nine miles away, also claims the battle, and a historian of the fight has said its exact location may never be known.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Paraje de los Brazitos Here the Camino Real between Santa Fe and El Paso passed along the eastern bank of the Rio Grande near a brazito, or small branch of the river that created a small island. At this paraje, or stopping place, American troops defeated a Mexican Army force on Christmas Day, 1846, in what was the only pitched battle of the Mexican War fought in present-day New Mexico.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mesilla Plaza — 13 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

• Butterfield Trail / Espejo's Expedition — 9.2 mi
• Oñate's Route / El Camino Real — 9.2 mi
• Brazito Battlefield — 9.2 mi
• María Gutiérrez Spencer — 12 mi