Actually, the future of the entire American Southwest was much in doubt with the beginning of the Civil War. The Confederate government wanted the region and was planning to seize it. With gold from Western mines, the South could purchase arms and other material abroad. And California ports would give the South an outlet on the Pacific that wasn't subject to Federal naval blockades as were those on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The federal government also realized the importance of the Southwest. The Union's treasury needed the gold and silver resources; additionally, the North did not want the Southwest, especially the Pacific coast, to fall to the South and become a slave- holding area.

The Civil War battles in New Mexico pitted against each other two men who had been cadets together at the United States Military Academy at West Point and fellow officers in the U.S. Army. Henry Hopkins Sibley was a Mexican War hero who was commissioned a brigadier general when he joined the Confederate Army. Sibley had become familiar with New Mexico while campaigning against the Navajo Indians in the 1850s while serving under Edward R.S. Canby, the Federal officer he would oppose in the invasion of the territory. Canby had also been best man at Sibley's wedding and was married to Mrs. Sibley's cousin. The Federal command of the Military Department of New Mexico had been given to Canby, then a colonel, just before the Confederate invasion.

As the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter, Southern sympathizers in Texas were already raising troops to secure the southern tier of the American West, running through Arkansas to the Pacific coast. Sibley, who had convinced Jefferson Davis to let him lead a force to drive the Union soldiers out of New Mexico, arrived in San Antonio, Texas, in the summer of 1861, and immediately began recruiting the Confederate Army of New Mexico, a brigade of three mounted regiments.

• Volunteer soldiers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

- as opposed to regulars or professional army soldiers were paid, nonprofessional troops recruited by both sides in the Civil War for a specific purpose, such as Sibley's campaign, and for a set period of time.

Sibley's army was to subsist off the land in New Mexico, obtaining local support and seizing Federal supplies, especially those at Fort Union, an important military supply depot on the Santa Fe Trail near Las Vegas. Fort Union was a principal supply depot that provided food, furniture, and weapons to all the military posts in the Southwest. Once Fort Union had been captured and the troops resupplied, the Confederates would proceed north, seize the mines of Colorado, turn west, pick up the support of the Mormons in Utah, and then take southern California, giving the South at least one port on the Pacific.

The Civil War battles in the trans-Mississippi West turned out to be warfare in its rawest state. Illequipped and poorly trained armies trudged hundred of miles across inhospitable mountains and deserts to fight the enemy, and upon defeat they would fall back across distances half the breadth of Texas. The Western Civil War campaign would have shocked the soldiers who fought in the major Eastern battles such as Gettysburg and Shiloh.

In the spring of 1861, Confederate troops seized Fort Bliss in El Paso, and the residents of Mesilla, near present Las Cruces, were flying the Confederate flag. Expecting a Confederate invasion of southern New Mexico, Canby immediately strengthened Fort Fillmore on the Rio Grande near Mesilla.

On July 23, a 254-man detachment of Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor's battalion of 2nd Regiment Texas Mounted Rifles crossed into present-day New Mexico from El Paso and seized Fort Fillmore, effectively clearing southern New Mexico of Union control. However, the detachment was too small to continue its offensive. Nevertheless, on August 1, Baylor issued a proclamation establishing the Confederate Territory of Arizona with Mesilla as its capital. No bashful fellow, Baylor also set himself up as governor.

The recruitment of volunteers in New Mexico to bolster the Union troops in the territory had begun in the summer of 1861, but the response had been torpid. On September 9, territorial Governor Henry Connelly issued a proclamation in both English and Spanish urging the people to arms. This time the response was good: five regiments of volunteers, a regiment of militia, a battalion of militia, and three independent cavalry companies were raised. Ninety-seven percent of these volunteers were Hispanic.

Sibley and his Confederate Army of New Mexico left San Antonio on October 22. The force numbered about 3,700 men. After marching across Texas, the army regrouped in late January 1862 near Mesilla and prepared to march up the Rio Grande into the heart of New Mexico. Ninety miles to the north was Fort Craig, a complex of adobe and stone buildings where Canby had gathered a force of 4,000. These troops were regular Federal soldiers, New Mexico volunteers including a regiment commanded by Christopher "Kit" Carson, some militia, and a company of Colorado infantry volunteers.

When Sibley's Confederate army arrived in the vicinity of Fort Craig on February 16, Canby refused to be drawn into battle. Instead, he remained at the fort, awaiting attack. Sibley decided to bypass the fort, crossing the Rio Grande below the fort and fording the river again six miles north at Valverde. Sibley's plan, if it worked, would isolate the Union troops, cut their supply route and render them ineffectual. But Union troops were dispatched from Fort Craig to stop the Confederates as they prepared to recross the Rio Grande. The result was the first major clash of the Civil War in the South west, the Battle of Valverde on February 21, 1862.

Confederates engaged Union troops early in the day, and a Confederate charge nearly succeeded. But it was repulsed by the Colorado infantry, which rallied when its commanding officer shouted, "They are Texans; give them hell!" Several Union attacks were beaten off by the Confederates before they made a rush of their own. Canby arrived at the battlefield to take personal command of the Union troops late in the afternoon. He ordered an assault, but before he could mobilize his men, the Confederates attacked, throwing the Federal ranks into disorder. Confederate soldiers charged again, overrunning the Union artillery battery. Canby soon ordered his troops to withdraw to Fort Craig. The Confederates pursued, inflicting additional Union losses.

The Union reported 68 killed, 160 wounded, and 25 taken prisoner, while the Confederates reported 36 dead and 150 wounded. The Confederates also lost half their cavalry mounts and had to convert one regiment to infantry. "It's truly a sad day to hear the groans of the wounded and witness the burial of the lamented dead wrapped in a blanket as a coffin!" Private William R. Howell, a twenty-year-old Confederate soldier wrote after the battle. The Battle of Valverde was a Confederate victory, and the route to the interior of New Mexico was opened for the Confederate advance.

Two days later the Confederate army continued its forward movement up the Rio Grande Valley. Within a week, advance units covered the 100 miles to Albuquerque, seizing Federal supplies that had not been burned or removed. The Confederates then moved to Santa Fe, entering the capital on March 10. The territorial governor had already departed to establish a temporary seat of government in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and a 120-wagon army train, escorted by all the Federal troops in Santa Fe, had removed the remaining military supplies from Santa Fe to Fort Union. With the capture of Santa Fe, the Confederate conquest of New Mexico was almost complete; only Fort Union remained before the Confederates could move on to the Colorado Territory.

After taking Santa Fe, Sibley prepared to march on Fort Union. According to his spies, Fort Union was garrisoned with 800 men. Sibley believed his numerically superior force could easily defeat those troops. Sibley had been Fort Union's commander the year before, and he was familiar with the post's defenses. He was not aware, however, that a new, stronger earthwork fortification had been constructed the previous fall. Sibley also did not know that Federal troops from Colorado and California had begun heading for New Mexico to counter the Confederate invasion. In late February and early March, companies of the Ist Regiment Colorado Volunteer Infantry had set out for New Mexico. Most of the Colorado volunteers were miners and frontiersmen eager for adventure. Freezing temperatures and snow made their march difficult. When they learned of the Union defeat at Valverde, they quickened their pace to a remarkable 40 miles a day. They learned while crossing Raton Pass that Albuquerque had fallen. The 1,300-man force that arrived at Fort Union had marched 172 miles through deep snow and over high mountain passes in only five days.

The commander of the Colorado Volunteers, Colonel John P. Slough, ignored Canby's orders to remain and defend Fort Union. Instead, he assumed charge of the post by virtue of his rank and made immediate plans to march against the Confederates. On March 22, 1,348 men - the Fort Union troops, the Colorado volunteers, and a company of the 4th Regiment New Mexico Volunteers - departed the fort and marched south on the Santa Fe Trail toward Santa Fe.⁶ Meanwhile, Sibley and his troops were moving up the Santa Fe Trail toward Fort Union.

On March 26, near the narrow mouth of Apache Canyon, about 15 miles from Santa Fe, forward units of the two armies clashed. The Colorado volunteers charged the Confederate ranks and forced a retreat. Thirty-two Confederate soldiers were killed, forty-three wounded, and seventy taken prisoner; Union casualties were five killed and fourteen wounded. Although small in scale, the Battle of Apache Canyon was the first Federal victory in New Mexico.

Two days later, Union and Confederate troops fought again, this time in the partially wooded depression called Pigeon's Ranch, a hostelry on the Santa Fe Trail consisting of a series of adobe buildings on the east side of Glorieta Pass. The Battle of Glorieta lasted six hours, included 850 Union and 1,200 Confederate troops, and consisted of artillery strikes, cavalry and infantry charges, sharpshooters, bayonet assaults, and hand-to-hand combat with pistols and knives. Sharpshooter's Ridge, a high rock outcrop, was a strategic objective during the battle. Federal troops first held the ridge, but the Confederates later won the position. From it, they were able to fire down upon the Federal artillery, forcing the Union soldiers to withdraw eastward to the final battle line. When the fight was over, the Confederates were holding the field. An estimated thirty eight Union soldiers had been killed, sixty-four wounded, and twenty captured, while thirty-six Confederates had been killed, sixty wounded, and twenty five captured. Many Federal soldiers assumed they had lost.

However, during the battle, a contingent of 400 to 450 Union troops circled through the mountains around the battlefield and destroyed the Confederate supply train, which had been left behind so it wouldn't restrict the force's movements. The Union troops were led by Colorado Volunteers Major John M. Chivington and guided by Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Chaves, a New Mexican familiar with the area. The destruction of the supplies necessary to continue the invasion forced the Confederates to fall back to Santa Fe. In addition, Union troops were marching north from Fort Craig to attack Sibley's army. These combined factors left the Confederates no choice but to abandon their advance.

The Battle of Glorieta has been described as the "Gettysburg of the West" because it turned the tide of Confederate intentions in the West, much as the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg stopped the Confederate thrust into the Union states. In a last attempt to save the campaign, Sibley wrote the governor of Texas from Santa Fe requesting reinforcements, but to no avail.

Canby, who set out from Fort Craig with 1,200 Federal troops, learned the outcome of the Battle of Glorieta when he reached Socorro. There, he devised a strategy to force the Confederates from Santa Fe, then Albuquerque, and finally all of New Mexico.

Canby ordered troops from Fort Union to march toward Santa Fe while his men continued their march north from Fort Craig toward Albuquerque. He hoped these movements would force the Confederates to abandon Santa Fe and concentrate their strength at Albuquerque to protect the remaining Confederate supplies stored there. As expected, the Confederates abandoned Santa Fe for Albuquerque on April 7 and 8. Union troops entered the capital soon afterward, and immediately marched south to join Canby's force near Albuquerque.

Although a major clash in or near Albuquerque seemed imminent, the Confederates decided to abandon the campaign and withdraw from New Mexico. Low on supplies, with no reinforcements forthcoming, and without the support of New Mexico residents that Sibley had been counting on,the Confederates evacuated Albuquerque on April 12 and began the long march back to Texas.

Canby has been criticized for not engaging the Confederates with his numerically superior and better equipped force. However, many historians believe Canby's objective was to harry the Confederate retreat and avoid a battle in which he would capture Confederate soldiers and incur responsibility for the care of a large number of prisoners.⁷

Union troops did fight the Confederates in a skirmish sometimes referred to as the Battle of Peralta a few miles south of Albuquerque, but this is viewed as further Union encouragement for the Confederates to depart New Mexico Territory. Sibley and the Confederate army continued their retreat, making a brutal 100-mile, eight-day detour around Fort Craig though deserts and mountains. By the first week of May, most of the Confederate army had left New Mexico; only a few rear guard detachments remained. By the second week of July 1862, all Confederate troops had vacated New Mexico Territory. Sibley's original force of 3,700 men had been reduced - through death, wounds, illness, capture, and desertion - to slightly more than 1,500 during the six-month Confederate campaign in New Mexico.

The collapse of Sibley's New Mexico campaign ended the Confederacy's grand scheme of expansion to the Pacific. For the duration of the Civil War, New Mexico Territory remained firmly in Union hands.

END NOTES

1. Bancroft, Hubert Howe, ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO, 1539-1888 (San Francisco: The History Co., 1889) P. 680.
2. For the story of New Mexico's pursuit of statehood, see Larson, Robert W., NEW MEXICO'S QUEST FOR STATEHOOD, 1846-1912 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1968).
3. Beck, Warren, NEW MEXICO:A HISTORY OF FOUR CENTURIES (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968).
4. Hall, Martin Hardwick, SIBLEY'S NEW MEXICO CAMPAIGN (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1962), pp. 145-147.
5. This document is in MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS: PERSONS, PINO, NICOLS, JULY 1857, New Mexico State Records Center and Archives. Marian F. Love found the letter while conducting research for a biography of Pino. The letter was deciphered by Louise Carlson and Clara Chavez, PA-3 Volunteer Services in the Community Relations Department, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico.
6. A complete list of the troops who fought in the Battle of Glorieta is in the SANTA FE GAZETTE, April 26, 1862.
7. For a detailed story of the battles and personalities of the campaign, see: Alberts, Don E., REBELS ON THE RIO GRANDE:THE CIVIL WAR JOURNAL OF A. B. PETICOLAS (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984);
   Whitford, William Clarke, COLORADO VOLUNTEERS IN THE CIVIL WAR: THE NEW MEXICO CAMPAIGN IN 1862 (Denver: the State Historical and Natural History Society, 1906, republished in 1963 by Pruett Press, Boulder, Colorado);
   and Hall, Martin Hardwick, SIBLEY'S NEW MEXICO CAMPAIGN (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1960) and THE CONFEDERATE ARMY OF NEW MEXICO (Austin: Presidial Press, 1978).