Citizens of the sparsely populated deserts of what would become the Arizona territory sided with the Confederacy in the Civil War.
In 1861, pioneers at a convention in Tucson declared Arizona Confederate country, later electing Granville H. Oury as delegate to the Southern Congress.
[1] Around the same time, the southern part of the vast New Mexico Territory officially joined the Confederacy.
In 1861, Lieutenant Colonel John Baylor recognized the Arizona Territory and established a provisional Confederate government with Mesilla as the capital.
Governor Baylor later gathered soldiers in his own regiments to form an Arizona Ranger Company, one of three planned.