San Rafael, is a formerly populated place located in Pima County in the state of Arizona, just north of the border with Mexico.
It lies at an elevation of 662 meters.
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 Franch troops, taking refuge in Arizona Territory.