Northernmost Skirmish
SAINT ALBANS, VERMONT
With orders from President Jefferson Davis, 21 Confederate soldiers
posing as tourists drifted from
Canada into Saint Albans, Vermont,
over several days in the fall of 1864.
On October 19 they robbed three
banks (forcing the tellers to swear
allegiance to the Confederacy),
then galloped back to Canada with
$208,000. The money was to enrich the Confederacy’s treasury,
but the strategy was to draw Union
forces north and aggravate a political rift with Canada. Amazingly,
both aims were accomplished.
WHAT TO SEE An 1861 school
building, across the street from
Taylor Park, where the raiders
gathered for their bank-robbing
spree, is now the Saint Albans Historical Museum (802-527-7933;
stamuseum.com). There you can
enjoy not only exhibits about the
Saint Albans Raid but also a diorama of the Lake Champlain basin
from Quebec to Fort Ticonderoga.
WHAT’S NEARBY On the eastern
shore of Lake Champlain the Mis-
1
sisquoi National Wildlife Refuge
is home to the endangered spiny
softshell turtle (802-868-4781;
fws.gov/northeast/missisquoi).
Westernmost Clash
PICACHO PASS, ARIZONA
On April 15, 1862, a Union cavalry
patrol from California and a local
band of Confederate Ranger scouts
waged a fierce hour-and-a-half
battle at the base of 3,374-foot-high
Picacho Peak, the eroded flow of a
long-extinct volcano. The Union
troops retreated after two soldiers
and their commander were killed,
but Arizona soon fell to the Union.
WHAT TO SEE Picacho Peak
State Park, about 45 miles north
of Tucson, features several scenic
trails—the most spectacular one is
2-mile-long Hunter Trail, which
leads to the top of Picacho Peak
(520-466-3183; pr.state.az.us/
parks/PIPE). The park is closed
mid-May through mid-September.
WHAT’S NEARBY Nothing—
the peak’s isolation is part of its
haunting charm. But 26 miles away
is Casa Grande Ruins National
3
2
RELICS OF WAR
At the Gettysburg Museum of History the
collection includes ( 1) photo images of
Union soldiers, ( 2) a horn used to rally
Rebel troops on the field of battle, and ( 3)
musket balls recovered from various sites
around Gettysburg’s sprawling battlefield.
