[2] The name originates from the 3rd U.S. Cavalry Dragoons who battled the Chiricahua, including Cochise, during the Apache Wars.

[4] [5] [6] This station was built in August and early September 1858 by Butterfield's Overland Mail Company to house employees and livestock.

The construction of the station was supervised by Butterfield Division Superintendent William Buckley of Watertown, New York.

The earliest stage line to use the station, when a through service returned to the Southern Overland Trail, was Tomlinson & Co.[8] During the American Civil War, it was the site of the First Battle of Dragoon Springs and near to the site of the Second Battle of Dragoon Springs, fought between Apache warriors and Confederate soldiers.

There are four rock cairns covering graves north of the gate to the entrance of the ruins of the stage station building.

From the history book that contained the Grosvenor drawing was this: "This station, or corral, is 85 miles east of Tucson.

They were staggered with a space between them and, at ground level, they are drawn from the perspective of the artist, and this latter point is important to remember.

The graves of Butterfield's Overland Mail Company employees are a result of a massacre that started a few minutes after midnight on September 9, 1858.

"The last hope that there might be an error or falsehood in the first report of the massacre of our old fellow townsman, Mr. James Burr, and his companions, at Dragoon Springs has been dispelled by a letter from William Buckley, one of the superintendents of the overland mail company, to his father.

We copy from his letter: Uncle James, Mr. St. John, Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Laing, together with three Mexicans in our employ, were stationed at that place, [Dragoon Springs.]

"[10]Silas St. John gave a personal account of the incident and described the circumstances for being discovered with two horrible wounds and having his arm amputated at the station.

Seeing no flag flying and no one moving about the station, he halted a half mile distant, leaving his horse with his companion, and approached with his gun cocked.

In the party were Col. James B. Leach, Major N. H. Hutton and some other veterans, who quickly dressed St. John’s wounds, which were full of maggots.

An express was started for Fort Buchanan by way of Tucson, as the direct route was not deemed safe for two men.

Surgeon B. J. D. Irwin, started at once with an escort and reached Dragoon on Friday morning—the ninth day after St. John was wounded.

"[11]An article in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 1858, titled "Amputation at the Shoulder-Joint, by B. J. D. Irwin, M. D., U. S. Army,"[12] gives a brief account of the massacre which corresponds to St. John's description.

The relevant section of the original letter is quoted here: "The rebels, from the best information I can get, have retired from Arizona toward the Rio Grande.

The Apaches attacked Captain Hunter’s company of Confederate troops near Dragoon Spring and killed 4 men and ran off 30 mules and 25 horses.

Another statement is found about the 1862 battle in a Sacramento newspaper: "Correspondent of the Union, Mesilla (A. T.), September 15th, 1862, The California Column.

It was here that a portion of Hunter’s (secesh) party were attacked by the Apaches, who drove off their stock and killed three Texans, whose graves are near the entrance to the canon.

A chronological record of the Confederate Army engagements in early May 1862, which were between Tucson and Dragoon Springs Stage Station also adds clarity: "May 5, 1862.

Attack by Chiricahua (Chokonen) and Western Apaches (White Mountain), under Cochise and Francisco, on Confederate soldiers det.

Two of the four graves near the station site probably hold the remains of three Overland Mail employees slain by Mexican workers in September 1858, which casts doubt on the number killed in the ambush.

Date and number of victims bear similarities to the ambush near Dragoon Springs (see previous entry), but geographical description suggest near Tucson.

Rifles, C. S. A., under Lt. Robert L. Swope, on Apache Indians following raid on John G. Capron and Hiram S. Steven’s herd.

What at first glance to some may appear to be conflicting accounts for the battles, location, and number killed, to a seasoned analyst, the inferences can be clearly drawn.

A relatively definitive identification can be made for those buried under the four clearly visible rock cairns north of the station gate.

Also, as noted by massacre survivor Silas St. John, his amputated arm was buried between the two graves to the west of the station structure.

An interpretive marker at the graves should honor the massacred Overland Mail Company employees and those with Captain Hunter's forces that died in battle against the Apache.

Howard ended 11 bloody years of warfare with a treaty that granted the Apache much of what has become Cochise County as a reservation.