, looking northwest, 2005 The first permanent settlement in Mesilla was established by 116 settlers from
Chihuahua in the 1840s led by Pablo Melendres. The village of Mesilla was incorporated in 1848, after the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo moved the
U.S.–Mexico border south of the village of
Doña Ana, placing it in the United States. A small group of citizens, unhappy at being part of the United States, decided to move south of the border. They settled in Mesilla at this time. By 1850, Mesilla was an established colony. By this time, its people were under constant threat of attack from the
Apache. By 1851, the attacks caused the United States to take action to protect its people just to the north of the border, in the
Mesilla Valley. They did this by creating
Fort Fillmore. As a result of the fort, the United States declared the Mesilla Valley region part of the United States. Mexico also claimed this strip of land, causing it to become known as "No Mans Land". This boundary dispute, which was officially caused by a map error, was resolved in 1853 with the
Gadsden Purchase. Mesilla became a part of the United States, as well as the southern part of New Mexico and
Arizona. Two
battles were
fought at or in the town during the
Civil War. Mesilla served as the capital of the
Confederate Territory of Arizona in 1861–1862 and was known as the "hub", or main city for the entire region. Recaptured by the Volunteers of the
California Column, it then became the headquarters of the Military
District of Arizona until 1864. During the "Wild West" era, Mesilla was known for its
cantinas and festivals. The area attracted such figures as
Billy the Kid,
Pat Garrett and
Pancho Villa. The village was also the crossroads of two major stagecoach, mail, and trade routes: the
Butterfield Stagecoach and the
Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. The village of Mesilla was the most important city of the region until 1881, and at about 2,000 residents was the largest city at the time between San Antonio and San Diego. In 1871 a riot between the supporters of two rival candidates,
José Francisco Chaves and
José Manuel Gallegos to serve as territorial representative to the
United States Congress,resulted in the death of nine men and nearly 50 men injured. The anger over the riot was so intense that many moved away from the town, with some migrating to the valley of the
Mimbres River, and others moving over the border to the town of
Ascension in Mexico, just over the border from
Columbus, New Mexico. This was the worst political riot in New Mexican history. In 2008, the
Roman Catholic parish church of
San Albino was raised to the status of
minor basilica by the
Holy See. The
gazebo in the center of the plaza was torn down and rebuilt due to unnoticed structural problems that made the gazebo unsafe. Demolition started in October 2013 and rebuilding ending in May 2014 for the annual "
Cinco de Mayo" celebration. ==Geography==