The Battle of Pima Butte, or the Battle of Maricopa Wells, was fought on September 1, 1857 at Pima Butte,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

near Maricopa Wells in the

Sierra Estrella The Estrella Mountains or The Sierra Estrella (, , ) is a mountain range located southwest of Phoenix, Arizona. Much of the range falls within the Gila River Indian Reservation, but of BLM land is protected as the Sierra Estrella Wilderness, ...

. Yuma,

Mohave Mojave or Mohave most often refers to: *Mojave Desert *Mojave River *Mohave people *Mojave language *Mohave County, Arizona, a county in the U.S. state of Arizona Mojave or Mohave may also refer to: Places * Fort Mojave Indian Reservation * Mo ...

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

and

Yavapai The Yavapai ( ) are a Native American tribe in Arizona. Their Yavapai language belongs to the Upland Yuman branch of the proposed Hokan language family. Today Yavapai people are enrolled in the following federally recognized tribes: * Fort ...

warriors attacked a Maricopa village named Secate in one of the largest battles in Arizona's history. It was also the last major battle fought by the Yumas and the last major battle fought solely between Native Americans in

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Battle

For hundreds of years prior to 1857, the Yumas and the Maricopas were enemies. On many occasions the two tribes would gather their warriors together at the peak of Berdache Mountain. There the two sides would shout insults at each other before fighting a battle. Chief

Francisco Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco (name), Paco". Francis of Assisi, San Francisco de A ...

of the Yuma led the combined army which numbered at least 300 men and they arrived near Secate on August 31, 1857. Francisco began his attack the following morning and captured the Maricopa village and began burning the structures. The Yumas and their allies had just walked 160 miles over the course of eight days so Francisco's men were tired and hungry. As a result, the Yumas and their allies made the deadly mistake of remaining in the burning village to rest and eat the captured Maricopa food. When Francisco's army attacked, the surviving women and children fled for protection to Pima Butte, which was just to the south of the village. The warriors gathered as well and sent a distress call to the nearby Pima villages. The Pima sent all of their warriors in the area and a counterattack was then launched. But before the Maricopa and Pima arrived, all of the Apaches, Yavapais and most of the Mohaves fled, leaving the remaining Yumas and Mohaves outnumbered. The Maricopa and Pima forces, some mounted on horses, surrounded the attackers before annihilating them. Most of the Yumas and Mohaves were killed, including Chief Francisco. On or about September 11, traveler John B. Hilton visited the battlefield and later wrote that he observed ninety bodies in one spot, lying on the ground in every kind of position. The '' San Diego Herald'' mistakenly reported on September 12 that the battle was a three-sided engagement between the Pima, Yuma and the Maricopa all against each other. At the same time the '' Daily Alta California'' reported that the battle was

....seldom equaled in Indian warfare. It is reported that 150 to 160 allied Indians, being nearly of quite the entire party, were left dead in the field.

The allies referred to the Yuma who after the

Yuma War The Yuma War was the name given to a series of United States military operations conducted in Southern California and what is today southwestern Arizona from 1850 to 1853. The Quechan (also known as Yuma) were the primary opponent of the Unite ...

became good neighbors with the Americans on the California side of the

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. In a later article, the ''San Diego Herald'' stated the following;

....from all accounts it would appear that this battle, in which the Maricopas and their allies the Pima so bravely defended their homes, destroying nearly the whole force which came into battle against them, is the largest Indian fight in this region for years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pima Butte Military history of Arizona Battles involving the United States Quechan Lower Colorado River Valley Native American history of Arizona Battles involving the Apache 1857 in New Mexico Territory September 1857