Mesilla

Town in Dona Ana County, southwestern New Mexico; population (1990) 2,000. Mesilla is situated in the Mesilla Valley immediately south of Las Cruces, on the Rio Grande.

Mesilla was established in the early 1850s by Mexicans moving south into what was still (after the Mexican War of 1846–48) Mexican territory. In 1854, however, the Gadsden Purchase brought it within the USA. In the late 1850s, the Butterfield stage route passed through here (see Overland Route). At the beginning of the Civil War, Confederate forces proclaimed Mesilla the capital of a territory covering much of the Southwest in 1861, but in August 1862 Union forces took control of the region. The Rio Grande shifted its course in 1865, leaving Mesilla on the Las Cruces (eastern) side. The town's history now attracts many visitors. .