Mesilla

Gadsden Purchase (1853–54) US acquisition of Mexican territory. Following the MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR and under pressure to construct a transcontinental railway across the south-west of the USA, the administration of President PIERCE sent Senator James Gadsden to negotiate the necessary redefinition of the Mexico-US border. In the resulting transaction, Mexico was paid $10 million for ceding a strip of territory 76,767 sq km (29,640 sq miles) in the Mesilla Valley, south of the Gila River. The area completed the present borders of the mainland USA.

Mesilla , town (1990 pop. 1,975), SW N.Mex., on the Rio Grande and near Las Cruces; settled c.1850. The whole Mesilla Valley became part of the United States under the Gadsden Purchase (1853). Mesilla was a central station on the overland mail route. From July, 1861, to Aug., 1862, it was headquarters for Col. John R. Baylor of the Confederate army, who proclaimed Mesilla the capital of the new Confederate territory. A museum commemorates Billy the Kid, who once stood trial there.