On November 24, 1865, San Rafael, then a ranching community, was the site of a raid, by a large Sonoran force of about 350 Opata volunteers under the command of Col. Refugio Tanori, an Opata leader commissioned in the Mexican Imperial Army, that left an American citizen wounded. It was believed to be an attempt to capture Sonora Governor Ignacio Pesquiera, who had fled the advance of French troops, taking refuge in Arizona Territory.^{[citation needed]}