The Civil War in the Southwest: The Rebel’s Trudge Down the Rio Grande, The Battle of Peralta, & Coopwood’s Gamble
This is the ninth episode in the series over the Civil War in the Southwest.
After yet another hollow victory at Glorieta Pass, the Confederate Soldiers realize they had no choice but to retreat. At first they retreat to Santa Fe but before long they head further south to Albuquerque. They then retreat even further south along the Rio Grande to Peralta where the last major military engagement between the two sides occur in New Mexico.
After the draw at the Battle of Peralta, the Rebels continue their retreat towards Mesilla with the Yankees shadowing their every move from the other side of the mighty river.
Eventually, the Confederates faced a dilemma: fight the Yanks at a place called the Narrows or attempt a 100 mile march through the Magdalena and San Mateo Mountains which are just west of Fort Craig. That long march has become known as Coopwood’s Gamble.
Please excuse my voice in this episode. I was sick for a week and a half during the holiday season but once I recovered, I lost my voice. A week later it still has not came back to me 100%. I couldn’t wait any longer to record, though.
Coopwood’s Gamble through the San Mateo Mountains with Fort Craig in the distance.
Selected Sources:
Blood and Treasure: Confederate Empire in the Southwest by Donald Frazier
Jefferson Davis, Napoleon France, and the Nature of Confederate Ideology by Jeffrey Zvengrowski
The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience by Emory M Thomas
Texan Santa Fe Expedition By H. Bailey Carroll
The Skirmish at Mesilla, Arizona and the West, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Winter, 1959), by Martin Hardwick Hall
The Three Cornered War by Megan Kate Nelson
The Civil War in New Mexico by Father Stanley
The First Filibusters, Americans in the Yucatan by Hans Von Stockhausen
The United States Army Camel Corps 1856-66 By John Shapard
The Apache Wars by Paul Andrew Hutton
Rebels on the Rio Grande, The Civil War Journal of AB Peticoles by Don E Alberts
Mangas Coloradas by Edwin R Sweeney
The Civil War in the Western Territories by Ray C Colton
The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government by Jefferson Davis
The Battle of Glorieta Pass by Thomas S Edrington and John Taylor
The War of 1812: Stoking the Fires. Summer 2012, Vol. 44, No. 2 Impressment of Seaman Charles Davis by the U.S. Navy By John P. Deeben
Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition by George Wilkins Kendall
Building a State in Apache Land by Charles D. Poston
Mule Bombs at Valverde By Dr. Conrad Crane, U. S. Army Military History Institute, February 9, 2009
Darryl Cooper’s Martyrmade: The Peculiar Institution, Part 14
The Age of Jackson Podcast: 091 Jefferson Davis and the Pro-Bonaparte Democrats with Jeffrey Zvengrowski