Arizona’s Battle of Bull Run

When war broke out with Mexico in 1846 the prize the United States hoped to gain was California. To accomplish the mission the Army of the West was dispatched from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to capture Santa Fe then advance across the wilderness that would one day become Arizona and raise the Stars and Stripes over California. In late September, 1846 the army under the command of Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny left Santa Fe bound for California. A second column in Kearny’s Army was made up o