July 23, 1861

Confederate soldiers mobilized out of Texas invading the New Mexico Territory... so began the American Civil War in New Mexico, a battle lasting 12 months, leaving 1300 dead, with no territorial gains for the Confederate Army.

Many people do not know that the Civil War was fought as far west as New Mexico, but in fact there was a vigourous campaign conducted here... Confederate forces, led by Lt. Col John R. Baylor succeeded in capturing the major city of Albuquerque and the capital city of Santa Fe. The Confederates attempted to reshape the destiny of this region, briefly establishing a new territory capital at Mesilla, but their reign lasted only one year.

And now history lives on... explore this website to learn about the battle lines, study authentic maps, examine artifacts unearthed over 100 years later, and read first-hand accounts of the war from the journals and memoirs of commanders and soldiers.

Learn the chronological history of the war in the 'Timeline' section of this website (click the gun to go forward) - or explore the icons to the left for a thorough study of this fascinating, but little known era of American history... The Civil War in New Mexico.

Project History and Credits

This web site was a collaborative project of The Palace of The Governors, a unit of the Museum of New Mexico, the SER Academy, Santa Fe, whose students did the initial work on it, and Santa Fe Community College, who provided technical instruction and support. Post production work has been done by New Mexico CultureNet, Ash Black, webmaster and web builder, in cooperation with the Palace of The Governors.