During their advance the California Column engaged the Confederates in two small skirmishes. The first was a skirmish with Confederates attempting to burn forage gathered at Stanwix Station near the end of March 1862. The second clash came in mid-April when the column marched on Tucson from Casa Blanca, at the Picacho Pass. Their subsequent rapid approach to Tucson nearly trapped the Confederate rearguard. It was not until late June that a scout named John W. Jones was able to outrun pursuing Apaches and get a message to Canby: "The Column from California is really coming." On the march to the Rio Grande, 140 men of Company E, 1st California Infantry, and Company B, 2nd California Cavalry, fought the famous Apache leaders Cochise and Mangas Coloradas at Apache Pass in July. California Column in New Mexico Territory When elements of the California Column reached the Rio Grande, their crossing was delayed a week by the huge spring flood that year, part of the Great Flood of 1862. Upon crossing they found the Confederates had already retreated into Texas. Carlton followed them into West Texas, capturing the town of Franklin (modern-day El Paso) and advancing as far as Fort Quitman. Part of their service after occupying West Texas would be as garrisons to prevent the return of the Confederates into the Union reorganized Territories of New Mexico and Arizona. Their main activity was as garrisons of the settlements and forts in New Mexico Territory, and in fighting against the Apaches and Navajo until they were relieved by the U. S. Army in 1866. References The California Column. Hunt, Aurora, James Henry Carleton, 1814–1873, Western Frontier Dragoon, Western Military Series II, Glendale, California: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1958. Masich, Andrew E., The Civil War in Arizona: The Story of the California Volunteers, 1861-65, University of Oklahoma Press (Norman, 2006). Orton, Richards H. Brig.-Gen., Records of California Men in the War of the Rebellion, 1861 to 1867, State of California, 1890. Masich, Andrew E., "Civil War in the Southwest Borderlands, 1861-1867" University of Oklahoma Press (Norman, 2017) Units and formations of the Union Army from California Union Army brigades Arizona in the American Civil War New Mexico in the American Civil War California in the American Civil War California Column 1861 establishments in California