The Civil War in the Southwest

Confederate Tucson, Baylor’s Resignation, & Sibley’s Capture of Albuquerque and Santa Fe

This is the seventh episode in the series over the Civil War in the American Southwest.

According to historian Robert May, the Southern dream of empire, denied it by the North, helped fuel the drive for secession in 1860.

Author Donald Frazier from his Blood and Treasure: Confederate Empire in the Southwest

While Sibley and his brigades were marching north in the cold snow towards their hollow victory at Valverde, back at Mesilla, Baylor had been left to defend the Confederate Capital of Arizona. He wasn’t thrilled at this prospect and he felt slighted but he immediately attempted to make the most of it. He had the loyalty of his men that were still with him but he also had the loyalty of the Arizona Guards. Those men who had been defending Pinos Altos and the southern Arizona territory since Baylor’s arrival. Mostly they’d been fighting against Apaches. But now, Sibley and Baylor had grander designs. Especially for a man named Captain Sherod Hunter.

Even before Sibley’s departure, Hunter had been raising a new company that was called Company A. It would later be known as Baylor’s Arizona Regiment. The Mesilla Times would call it a quote, crack company of the service. End quote. Baylor and Hunter had been hunting for the hardiest of men for the Company. Men with frontier experience. Men who had no qualms killing Indian or Yankee.

Hunter was from Tennessee but he had for a while been in the Mimbres River Valley at the now ghost town of Mowry City. This place isn’t too far from Pinos Altos and Mimbres, about 20 miles north of modern day Deming and ten miles north of the City of Rocks State Park. His homestead along the Mimbres River had come under constant attack by Apaches throughout the years that he was attempting to live there. He sent many a letter to Fort Fillmore and the US Army asking for assistance but he never got a reply. Once the war broke out, Hunter had gone to Mesilla and had enlisted into the Arizona Rangers, which became the Confederate Arizona Guards. Since December, he had been raising his own company. Many of his men had come from the aforementioned Coopwood’s San Elizario Spy Company, but many others were from Baylor’s Second Texas Mounted Rifles. One of his main men was a man named Lt. James Tevis. Tevis had actually fought with William Walker in Nicaragua! That exciting filibuster adventure I mentioned in the second episode of this series. Another of his trusty men was Lt. Jack Swilling, who played a role in the capture of Mangas Coloradas in the Apache Series.

Hunter’s Company consisted of relatively older men with the average age being 28… old for a soldier. But these men were veterans. And Baylor would count on these men to further the expansion of the Confederate Empire in the Southwest.

By the time Sibley had been ready for his assault, Hunter had raised a sufficient amount of men to be able to march north with the General for the planned attack of Fort Craig. But Hunter and his Company wouldn’t make it all the way to the fort or the battle. Along the way, the aforementioned head of the 4th, James Reily, he had returned from his trip to Chihuahua and he had intercepted Sibley at Fort Thorn during the cold march from Mesilla.

Reily had come with both good and bad news in regards to the Mexicans. Col. Reily told Sibley that the Governor of Chihuahua, a gov. Luis Terrazas had received him, treated him well, and had informed him that The Governor quote unquote, did not think, he would permit the Yankees passage through his territory. Not exactly reassuring words, but it was something. The really good news was that Governor Terazzas had become the first official government body to recognize the Government of the Confederate States of America in the world. The bad news… well, the Rebs could buy horses, food, and supplies from the State of Chihuahua but not too much since the Governor thought it would cause inflation in his territory. The other bad news was that in no way could the Rebels pursue fleeing Apaches into Chihuahua unless it was in quote unquote hot pursuit. But Reily assured Sibley that, it was no matter, the Confederates would do it anyways since there had been historical precedent for such a thing in the past.

After Sibley had heard this news he thanked Reily for his adventure, and then sent him on another one. This time he was to go to the Governor of Sonora. Reily’s main mission this time was to establish a Confederate port at Guaymas. And Guaymas is about 333 miles straight south of Tucson. There, the Rebels could import supplies and export cotton. This was exactly what Baylor had wanted. With Sibley’s blessing, the Empire was sure to grow.

To accompany Reily, as far as Tucson at least, was Captain Hunter and his 60 men of A Company. They all left Fort Thorn on February 6th. This was ten days before Sibley’s arrival to Fort Craig and the ensuing battle at Valverde.

Hunter’s mission from both Baylor and Sibley was to set up a bastion of Confederate support at Tucson, raise the Rebel flag there, and reopen the lines of communication between Mesilla and Southern California. There was still hopes that SoCal would secede. Oh, and all the while, hunt down the Mexican banditos and Apache warriors plaguing those beleaguered peoples of southern Arizona.

Frazier, in his Blood and Treasure, Confederate Empire in the Southwest wrote that quote, With his Sonoran schemes receiving diplomatic sanction, Baylor's dream and ambitions seemed resurrected. Men loyal to him would accompany Reily every mile of the journey. In addition, because of Mexican diplomatic attitudes concerning "hot pursuit" of Apaches, Baylor finally had a chance to act upon a long-cherished desire. He would take the field again, leading the Arizona Guards in a pursuit to the death of the hated Apaches. End quote.

Sibley hadn’t known this at the time, but Baylor had been recruiting even more men from Texas during this entire winter of 1862. And with those hopeful reinforcements, that would never materialize, plus the four hundred men of the Seventh Texas at Fort Bliss to his south, which would not join him, Baylor hoped to expand the Confederate Empire with he in command. But the Rebel Empire was about to reach its zenith in the American Southwest.

Out in the west, Captain Hunter and Col. Reily, with about 75 Confederates, including Lt. Tevis and Lt. Swilling, they all arrived to Tucson on February 28th. They were cold and weary after a harsh and frigid two week march but they were ready to resume their missions. Once in the town, they raised the Confederate flag over the dilapidated Pueblo and apparently, the old Indian Fighter, who would later participate in the Camp Grant Massacre, Bill Oury, would dance a jig. Captain Hunter would write, quote, My timely arrival with my command, was hailed by a majority, I may say by the entire population, of the town of Tucson. End quote. The spirits of Tucson were high. Hunter and Reily then had the citizens recite the oath to the Confederacy, and those that refused, were escorted out of town and their belongings were confiscated. Reily then went south towards Old Mexico to expand the Confederate Empire in the Southwest.

Once settled, Captain Hunter sent out word to the O’Odham or the pima and the Maricopa Indians to see if they’d like to side with the Confederacy for the planned march on California. He also began to send out small units to the further west to gather intel… word on the desert air was that a storm was brewing. A strong force of Californians may be planning to head east to confront the Rebels and to retake the territories…

By February, Baylor was no longer happy to be sitting in Mesilla on his hands. He wanted battle, fortune, and glory. And he had high hopes. So high in fact, that he wrote his wife and told her that she and their many kids would within a few months, be living in the Governor’s residence in Mesilla. And they would even have a garden.

In the capitol, Baylor still enjoyed a lot of support from his soldiers. He even had his own private military secret service ran by a fiery Irish spy named John Phillips. He employed a number of gamblers and shady types from Mesilla and Santa Fe. These secret service men were keeping track of all the goings on in the territory. And eventually, they would uncover one of those spy rings I mentioned a few episodes back that plagued Baylor. 

Another of Baylors trusted Mesilla men, a man named James Magoffin, he volunteered himself as well as two of his Isleta Peubloan quote unquote workers to infiltrate Canby’s Union lines and send back word of their movements. One of the Texas men at Mesilla was quite interested with the Puebloans, and he would write, quote, They are from an old and partially civilized tribe who up to within a few years ago kept a fire burning in their temple. They claim to be the only true descendants of Montizuma's tribe. They are as far advanced in the arts almost as we are. End quote.

It was many of these men’s first interaction with non-nomadic western Indian tribes.

Bored and restless, Baylor in Mesilla, decided to find some action. So in late February of 1862, Baylor, with more than one hundred of his loyal men, decided to pursue some pesky Chiricahua raiders who had recently been steadily attacking farms, ranch settlements, wagon trains, and Confederate Army camps in the territory. He had heard that after the attacks, they had fled to Chihuahua, Mexico. Baylor was in hot pursuit.

First he and his men rode to Pinos Altos but were soon off towards the south, riding deep down into Chihuahua. At mountain after mountain they found evidence of the Apaches but then were told that they were actually fifty miles north, just across the international line in Confederate Arizona. Frustrated, they rode hard again and prepared to attack the rancheria at sunrise. But… in typical fashion, the Apaches had seen them coming and in the dead of night, they headed south, slipping around Baylor and his men. Undaunted, Baylor and his men raced after the Apaches and cornered them in the small mining town of Caretas. There, the Rebels, deep into Mexico, against the wishes of Governor Terrazas, began a heated exchange of gunfire. Ultimately, many of the Apaches would be killed before they fled into the mountains. Satisfied, Baylor and his one hundred men, then rode back north to Mesilla.

Amazingly… in two of the books I read, they both portray this engagement with the Apaches in a completely different way in a completely different town in Chihuahua. They both present their stories, the same story, as 100% fact when in reality it is a fabrication. I’ll summarize Nelson’s telling, but again, this is not how it went down.

In her telling she writes that the Confederates rode to Corralitos where the soldiers made a mess of things. They entered homes, trashed corrals, and harassed the people in their pursuit of the renegade Apaches. And then… they found three Apaches at the house of a prominent miner. The three Apaches were two women and a man. The Mexican pleaded with Baylor saying that these were his slaves, sold to him by Comanches, and that they had been baptized and were Christians. These were not the raiders he was looking for. Baylor remained unfazed though and he dragged the three out into the street where he executed the man and one of the women with his pistol. He then yelled to the gathered residents, quote, If you continue to harbor apaches, we will return and raid Corralitos again. End quote. That story, while painting the Rebels in a horrible light, which is the focus of both books that quote this story as factual, while it’s an interesting story, it’s false. A myth. Baylor was a violent man but when I read that story, it seemed crazy to me. But I bought it until I read the alternate version and then did some research.

Author Jerry Thompson wrote for the Texas State Historical Society and said of this raid, quote, Preoccupied with the hostile Apaches of the region, Baylor led a raid deep into the mountains of Chihuahua and supposedly killed a large number of Apaches, although no official correspondence exists to prove this. End quote. When researching the validity of this raid, I actually came across a book review on JSTOR that was written by the very same Jerry Thompson, except he wrote this book review seven years before writing for the Texas State Historical Society. He wrote the review in 2013. He was reviewing a book titled Turmoil on the Rio Grande: The Territorial History of the Mesilla Valley, 1846–1865 by William S. Kiser. In that review, he actually states that the book brushes over this very same raid and doesn’t mention it during its discussion of Baylor. Thompson, in the review, writes, quote, Surprisingly, there is no mention of Col. Baylor’s controversial Corralitas raid deep into the mountains of Chihuahua in pursuit of the Apache. End quote. So, between the years 2013 and 2020, even historian and author Jerry Thompson had changed his tune on the validity of this raid into Chihuahua.

Regardless of the details of the pursuit of the Apaches, this would have disastrous international effects. The previously amenable Gov. Terrazas, immediately wrote to Sibley that quote, the unwelcome and vituperative behavior of Col. Baylor and all the forces of his command, end quote, were an insult to the Mexican nation. Terrazas also said that if Baylor or any Confederate entered his territory again, they would be arrested. Now, again… Sibley never got this letter and it sat at Fort Bliss until after the war so yet again, the validity of this letter itself is in question. But still, Terrazas and the Mexicans were mad and The United States consul in Mazatlan, Mexico wrote of the incident and said, quote, The Texans are becoming daily more hateful to the Mexicans," he wrote. "The atrocities of Baylor's men ... will not be overlooked, but . . . will serve to revive the hatred of the Chihuahuans to the Texans. End quote.

In one ill-advised raid, that it turns out, may not have even happened the way some historians claim, in one raid, Baylor had begun to undo all the work he and Sibley had done in building the Confederate Empire in the west. And make no mistake, the Union Government would use this incident to spread fear into the hearts of Mexicans who had previously wanted to join the Confederacy. Although, the coming Emperor of Mexico and the Civil War against Juarez would complicate the whole plot further. And really, because of events on the horizon, this may be the last time I even mention Mexico and its importance to the Confederacy.

Baylor and his forces made it back up to Mesilla but by mid March, Baylor was restless again. Then he got word from his Arizona Rangers at Pinos Altos that Mangas Coloradas was wanting to come in and sign a treaty. My War to the Knife episode over Mangas covers this whole saga. This was actually when Baylor wrote his infamous kill them all letter. He wrote, quote, [U]se all means to persuade the Apaches or any tribe to come in for the purpose of making peace, and when you get them together kill all the grown Indians and take the children prisoners and sell them to defray the expense of killing the adult Indians. Buy whiskey and such other goods as may be necessary for the Indians and I will order vouchers given to cover the amount expended. Leave nothing undone to insure success, and have a sufficient number of men around to allow no Indian to escape. End quote.

When President of the CSA, Jefferson Davis got wind of this command, he was infuriated. But it wasn’t just the command that Baylor gave which made the President angry. It was the post script that Baylor had attached to the command that so detested Jeff Davis. At the bottom of that command Baylor had wrote, falsely, quote, the Congress of the Confederate States has passed a law declaring extermination to all hostile Indians. End quote.

This was absolutely untrue and in fact, as Frazier writes, quote, the Rebel government was dedicated to the old U.S. policy of pacification, and had never passed any such law. End quote.

Jefferson Davis, upon learning of this deceit, would immediately revoke Baylor’s governorship and strip him of his rank of Col. This was an affront to civilization according to Jefferson Davis, who while not a big fan of the Indians, also did not want this kind of wanton violence and degradation done against them. Especially by his subjects. And lying to accomplish this goal? Out of the question. The order demoting and stripping Baylor of his rank and title, would never reach the Texan, though.

By the end of March of 1862, Baylor was already on his way home to north Texas after resigning his Governorship. He was ultimately heading for Richmond where he would beg President Davis for more troops and supplies in the west before heading back to Texas and reorganize another army.

He would never again step foot in New Mexico or Confederate Arizona for the remainder of the war. He would soon be elected by Texas to the 2nd Confederate States Congress, serving from 1863 to 1865. Although, two weeks before the war ended, he would attempt to raise an army to reinvade New Mexico. An invasion that would never come to fruition.

After the war, when Baylor learned that Sibley had sat out at the battle of Valverde on account of his drunkenness, Baylor would call Sibley a, quote, infamous coward and a disgrace to the Confederate States. End quote. But Baylor, towards the end of his career in the territory, hadn’t exactly represented the Confederate States well either. And soon, the Confederacy would be devoid of any claim to the Territory of New Mexico and Arizona.

The battle of Val Verde, although spectacular, had been far from decisive and Sibley's command, although victorious, had suffered a crippling blow to its mobility. That was Frazier again and he couldn’t have summed up the battle and the ensuing hardships of the Confederates better.

After the battle, the Rebel army was in rough shape. Once they had decided to go north instead of engage again with the Union forces, the bulk of the army only made it six miles north of Valverde. Many of their animals were dead, their wagons were broken or had few animals to pull them. The canons, even the ones they had won, The Valverde Guns, they were in rough shape. The companies had been fragmented by death and injury. They were running low on food. It was cold… so they had won, but it had come at a high cost.

Davidson, whom I had quoted from quite a bit already, he would remark as they marched north that quote, Our mules are about worked down and can hardly pull the ... wagons. The consequence is the boys have to put their shoulders to the wheels and roll the wagons along. The beeves, like the mules, are so poor they can hardly walk. The truth is, the marches show as much or more heroism than the battles. End quote.

But temporary relief was on its way. While the men on horseback trotted ahead, they encountered a Union wagon train that had fled Canby and Fort Craig. The wagons contained hundreds of pounds of wheat, salt, and sugar. There were also Fedral uniforms to warm the men and a whole flock of sheep to provide some meat.

In A B Peticolas journal he wrote, quote, The wearing apparel was divided out to the different regiments and companies, and we had dinner and breakfast of mutton. End quote. Davidson, after this treasure had been found remarked that the men were in much better spirits and they could be heard to quote, crack their jokes and sing as merrily as we did when in Texas. End quote.

After the find, the men on horseback of the Fifth Texas Mounted Volunteers, along with what artillery pieces could roll, they continued on further up ahead to the town of Socorro, which is about 40 miles north of Fort Craig on the Rio Grande. But along the way, McNeill and his soldiers of the Fifth ran into a Col. Nicolas Pino and two hundred of his New Mexico Volunteers and they were ready for a fight. I’ll let Frazier sum up the small skirmish that ensued:

After exchanging shots, the Rebel commander deployed his cavalrymen around Socorro and demanded its surrender. When Pino refused, the Texan guns opened fire around sunset from a rise southwest of town. After a few rounds bounced off the adobe buildings of the town and ricocheted down its dusty streets, the demoralized native troops, reluctant Unionists at best, scattered. Pino, hoping in vain for reinforcements and with only a handful of his own troops staying by the colors, reluctantly surrendered the town just after midnight. End quote.

Yet again, the Confederates found their much needed supplies, including much better weapons. Especially those who still had lances. They’d witnessed Lange’s bold and suicidal charge and they wanted no further part in that. Captain Jerome McCown would gladly exchange his lance which he called, quote, perfectly useless in [this] peculiar kind of warfare. End quote. They found Springfield Rifles, Mississippi Rifles, and a few Sharps Carbines. Plus they found thousands of barrel of flour and three hundred Fedral horses and mules.

By February 26th, the rest of Sibley’s army had caught up to the small city of Socorro where they were finally able to rest, sleep indoors, and set up the sick and injured in a hospital. But more tough decisions were going to have to be made. Starting with the lack of animals and mounts for the quote unquote mounted infantry. They weren’t cavalry who fought on horse, mind you. They were like the dragoons of old that would ride their horse to the battle, dismount, and then fight on foot. Most of the mounted infantry’s mounts had been killed at ValVerde after they had tied them to the cottonwoods behind the battle lines only for the Union to blast most of them with their cannons. I spared y’all the stories that soldiers wrote about the thousands of crying and dying animals missing limbs that they found after the battle… it was harrowing stuff.

So Sibley had to remount as many of his soldiers as he could. He asked every single soldier to turn in their hungry and depleted horses and mules so that they could be redistributed. Peticolas wrote that at first, this didn’t seem like a problem since they were in such bad shape already, but eventually, the men would come to resent this order. He wrote, quote, The idea [of surrendering their mounts] is not as repugnant to them as one would naturally supposed it would be to the cowboy of Texas.

He would continue: When this was completed it placed us once more on a new footing and we were ourselves again, all gloom and despondency was banished from our camp. End quote.

But eventually, the realization of walking set in… one of Peticolas’ friends would say quote, To be dismounted as infantry ... will not agree with the Texas Boys as they have never been accustomed to walking. Now, a thousand miles from home, afoot, and without a dog, . . . and in as dreary a country as this ... and things in such a state of confusion, our prospect is but a gloomy one. End quote.

The future march on foot towards Albuquerque would take a harsh toll on the once mounted infantry and their feet. I’ll spare y'all the stories of maggots, lice, pustules, and blisters that the poor soldiers wrote about on their long march northward. Just know, it was rough and cold and long.

The other hard decision for Sibley to make was whether to actually press onward to the north or to rest up and re-attack Fort Craig. But on the last day of February of 1862, Sibley decided that the only course of action was to continue north, thereby cutting off communication with the Confederate Capital in Arizona, Mesilla, and the soon to be Governor Steele. Davidson would write in his journal of this fateful decision.

I had supposed that we would return and capture Fort Craig and Canby's army there before we attempted to proceed up the Rio Grande. It never occurred to me that we would deliberately place ourselves between two armies, sever ourselves from the base of our operations, and cut ourselves off from all hope of assistance from home. Yet this is exactly what we did. End quote. And it wouldn’t be an easy procession.

Sibley sent a group of Second Texas Mounted Rifles under Pyron up ahead to Albuquerque to secure it for the Confederates and they would arrive to the old city on March 2nd. Just in time to see the burning flames from government warehouses.

At that time, the city was held by Union Officer Capt. Herbert M. Enos who that morning had sent wood cutters into the Manzano mountains to bring back some firewood. Once they were on the slopes though, they saw the column of Rebels approaching the town, about 20 miles south. They quickly sent a runner down the mountain who told Captain Enos who immediately gave the order to gather everything at the storehouse and to burn it. But also to burn the corrals and barns as well.

So by the time the Confederates got there, the center of Union command was on fire and the Fedrals had fled mere moments before. Frazier writes of this quote, As fire consumed the stores of tallow and pickled pork, a huge pool of melted grease flowed out of the commissary building and into the street. Now quoting an Artillery Lt. Fulcrod, There was a great quantity stores that were at that place and thereby have passed the command through the winter. It looked like a sin to destroy the necessaries of life in such a manner. He would continue, quote, When I saw this I thought of Napoleon and Moscow. End quote.

Regardless of the setback, Pyron and Fulcrod and the men would take possession of the city from some Southern sympathizers, raise the Confederate Flag in the main plaza, and sing Dixie. They then took up quarters around the plaza and waited for the rest of Sibley’s brigade.

The rest of the men slowly marched up the rio grande towards Albuquerque while succumbing to more diseases and dwindling rations. The fourth mounted infantry of Texas had it the worst since they no longer had their horses. They weren’t accustomed to walking so much and it drained them. The weather also turned more harsh the farther north they went and then blowing winds with sand blew out what few fires they could light. Firewood, along this route, and in much of New Mexico, was in short supply. Frazier writes, quote, Desperate for sustenance, the army foraged among the natives, wreaking economic ruin on the tiny villages of Belen, Pajarito, Valencia, Peralta, La Joya, Sabinal, Lemitar, Bosque, Polvadera, Los Lunas, Los Chavez, Las Nutrias, and Los Lentes. Soldiers confiscated livestock, household goods, saddles and tack, cooking utensils, and even roof poles and house frames. "We had to force the alcalde to furnish wood," Smith wrote. "There is no grass or wood in this country." Foraging parties scoured the land, with some success. End all quotes.

Peticolas would write in his journal, quote, We are now beginning to experience about the greatest of the manifold hardships of war. Upon the battlefield there was the fierce din of conflict and the danger to face, but we had our courage and convictions of the importance of winning the day to sustain us.... But to trudge along day after day with nothing to eat save beans ... to go from early breakfast till late supper and feel the weakness and gnawing of hunger . . . is a feature of soldiering without any redeeming trait. End quote. Peticolas’ friend Hanna would write, quote, We are now entirely out of everything in the way of provisions and yet thirty miles to Albuquerke, our promised paradise. End quote.

It got so bad at times, that some of the men secretly planned around their small fires, some form of mutiny. One Pvt. William Henry Smith wrote, that, quote, "the field officers [are] drunk all the time, unfit for duty-incompetent to attend to their duty. End quote. Dirty Shirt Scurry tried to resign his commission multiple times. The Fourth… was in taters. Sibley’s soldiers, animals, and his war seemed to be falling apart.

All the while the Fedrals were riding all over the countryside telling the locals to hide their food, flee their homes, and take their livestock with them. To counter their hunger and boredom, the Rebels eventually began organizing foraging corps to look for animals, food, anything to burn, anything they could use. This often led to shootouts with the small groups of Fedrals following them, although rarely did they end in harm to either group.

But surprisingly, and much to the Rebels relief, as they approached Albuquerque, the locals became more and more friendly and many welcomed the Confederates as liberators. One local Hispanic, Peticolas wrote, showed him his bayonet wound that he had received from a Fedral recruiter who stabbed the man when he refused to join the Union volunteers.

By March 7th, the rest of the Texas army finally arrived in ABQ. And their luck began to change. Over the next few days the Rebels would come across fifty wagons full of food and supplies that would last the small army forty days. One of the caches was from the west where the goods had been stored for a planned but abandoned operation against the Navajos before the war had started. The other load of wagons came from my mountains, the Manzano Sandias. It was a supply train headed for Fort Craig. They probably captured it in the pass, not far from my home. But also, although the Fedrals had burned the storehouse in the town, the local residents had saved nearly half the foodstuffs before the flames got to ‘em. The Rebels were given much of it but they confiscated a good portion of the rest.

Once in town, Sibley began reorganizing his army as wealthy confederate sympathizers in the city turned over around two hundred thousand dollars worth of gold and goods to the army. Frazier writes, quote, Rations-molasses, flour, mutton, and beef-revived the soldiers and their spirits. With his army back in shape, the general renewed his call for all New Mexicans to abandon the Union cause, promising complete amnesty for those who had fought the Confederacy. End quote.

Unfortunately during the hike to Albuquerque though, many of the wounded and sick Confederate soldiers were left in Socorro at the hospital they had set up there. A hospital which was soon overrun by Yankees. While not prisoners of war, these wounded and slowly recovering Rebels were now surrounded by enemy soldiers who were quote, drunk and talking rather too glib. End quote. One of the Rebels would write that if the Yankees kept it up, he was afraid quote, one of our boys will tip some of them off their pins. End quote. In other words, turn to violence. Eventually, two wagons loaded with food were sent down by Sibley to the wounded and starving men at Socorro, and the Union commanders there allowed the Rebels to be fed. It’s such a strange situation.

From Albuquerque, Sibley devised a three prong plan for taking northern New Mexico and ultimately attacking Fort Union, the last bastion of Yankee strength in the territory. To begin with, Sibley sent the bulk of his army, 14 Companies into the Sandia Manzano Mountains where they could hide in the many canyons and valleys. Canyons like… Tijeras… a town I know well. In the mountains were plenty of trees for fires and grass to sustain their animals. There is also plenty of game like deer and rabbits. Also, I will have you know, there are bear and mountain lions. Just a few weeks ago, after a prescribed burn in the National Forest, a lion was seen on my neighbor’s trail cam walking through their yard. And about a week ago, a small dog got snatched up by a lion not far up the road. But that was no bother for the Rebels who were ready to continue their campaign of expanding the Confederate Empire westward.

These men were tasked with blocking the road to Albuquerque and eventually to move up the ancient Galisteo Basin towards the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. There they’d start walking the trail of modern day I-25 towards Fort Union, about 30 miles north of Las Vegas, New Mexico.

At the same time, another column, this one on horseback and mostly made up of Maj. Charles Pyron’s Arizonans and Texans, they would head straight north from ABQ to take the New Mexican Capitol of Santa Fe.

Not far behind Maj. Pyron would be four companies off the Fifth Texas Mounted led by Maj. John Shropshire. They’d stay behind and rest in Albuquerque for a bit before heading north towards the capitol as well.

His final prong of the three prong attack would be led by Col. Tom Green who would also rest a moment at Albuquerque before also going through the Sandias, and over to the eastern portion of the Sangre de Cristos beyond the all important Glorieta Pass.

All three of these groups would eventually meet up and head north towards Fort Union where Sibley planned to assault the last major bastion of Fedral strength in the territory, thus finally winning New Mexico and Arizona for the Confederacy. Only after taking Fort Union and driving out the Yankees, could the South then secure Southern California and possibly even Colorado.

It’s unknown what Sibley’s plans were after this assault. Some say he would go north and take Denver, while Steele in the south would go towards California. But others have recorded that after taking Fort Union, Sibley had actually planned on then marching his forces east towards Missouri with the ultimate goal of being securing those border states for the Confederacy.

Regardless of Sibley’s plans, the coming battle would turn the tide in the west against the Confederacy for good.

Union Capt. Gurden Chapin, assistant adjutant general on Col. Edward R. S. Canby's staff was at Fort Union, northwest of Las Vegas, New Mexico. The last Fedral Bastion of strength in the territory. He had been getting his reports of the incoming Rebel force and he began to panic. It seemed no one in Washington cared what was happening in the west. And if they didn’t act, the Rebel’s dreams of Empire would no doubt be realized. After the Battle of Valverde and the cutting off of Canby from the rest of the Fedrals, Captain Chapin began writing to the east in the hopes of receiving some sort of aid and to hammer home the necessity of winning this theater. He wrote, quote, Our loss is great. The enemy is now above Colonel Canby, on the Rio Grande, and of course has cut him from all communication with his supplies. It is needless to say that this country is in a critical condition. The militia have all run away and the New Mexico Volunteers are deserting in large numbers. No dependence whatever can be placed on the natives; they are worse than worthless; they are really aids to the enemy, who catch them, take their arms, and tell them to go home.

He continues: We must look to the future. The conquest of New Mexico is a great political feature of the Rebellion. It will gain the Rebels a name and a prestige over Europe and operate against the Union cause. These Texans will not rest with the forces they have already with them, but they will have large additions to their command here, in order to extend their conquest toward old Mexico and in the direction of southern California. End quote.

He begged further for more troops and more cannon and he said that, quote, These [reinforcing] troops cannot serve the government better than by saving this Territory. I have given you a true picture of the state of this country, and if you wish to save it, you, I hope and pray, will act immediately. End quote.

By early March of 1862, only a few hundred Fedrals held Fort Union and less than a hundred troops held Santa Fe. Fort Union could not fall, for if it did, the Union would lose the territory. At Fort Union was one Colonel of Volunteers, Gabriel Rene Paul and with he and his men rest the future of the war in the west. But thankfully for Col. Paul and the Yankees in northern New Mexico, 900 more volunteers from Colorado, men nicknamed the Pike’s Peakers, had left Colorado at the end of February and they were marching towards Fort Union in a miraculously rapid fashion. These men were mountain men proper with long beards and longer hair. The falling snow didn’t bother them and the prospect of battle excited them.

Over in Santa Fe, Major James Donaldson of the Union, on March 3rd, gave the order to his Fedral troops to begin loading everything of value into wagons and to burn the rest of it, just as they had done in Albuquerque. But just like in that old town to the south, the local residents, what few remained, which was only about half of the population by March, but after the Major ordered the store houses burned, the local residents extinguished the fires and looted what they could for themselves. There was no reason to waste in this harsh land, they thought. By the end of that day, the third of March, all Union soldiers had abandoned the capitol and were heading east towards Fort Union.

Maj. Donaldson and his troops would arrive near the fort by March 7th where he would establish the town of Las Vegas as the new seat of the New Mexican Yankee Government. But much to the surprise of Donaldson’s men and Col. Paul, the Major had no orders beyond moving to Las Vegas and Fort Union. He had not heard from Canby, obviously, so he was left out in the cold. One Santa Fe resident who had accompanied the soldiers east to Union from Santa Fe, a John Clark, he was bewildered at this lack of direction and he would write quote, I am beginning to think that military men do not after all monopolize all the wisdom in the world. The management of affairs in this department for the past six months has been a blunder from beginning to end-beginning with the imbecility & treason of Lynde & continuing up to the present time. End quote.

A few days after Donaldson had arrived to Fort Union, on March 11th, those Pike’s Peakers, The First Colorado, arrived, all 900 of them, as welcome reinforcements for the Yankees. They’d had an arduous journey through piling snow and blowing winds, practically a mountain hurricane, and as they crossed into the modern day border of New Mexico near a place called Raton Pass in the Sangre de Cristos, they’d gotten word of the incoming Texans. So the men, dropped everything they were carrying except for their arms and ammo and two blankets a man, and they hurried the last 100 miles south… in less than two days…

Sibley, from his luxurious home in Albuquerque that he had been given by two prominent men, the same men who gave the Rebels over two hundred thousand dollars, these men being the Otero Brothers, from Albuquerque, Sibley ordered his men out into the field for this final assault.

The men in the Sandias, despite having plenty of natural foraging opportunities, were immediately plagued with a sandstorm that whipped through the pass and covered the men as they marched higher in elevation. And let me tell you… the wind can blow at 60 mph through this pass. I would know. After a good wind storm, I have the pleasure of picking up roof shingles all over my two acres. Sometimes its so strong it picks up the roof and slams it back down. I wish I were kidding. As soon as the men were out of the biting wind though, they encountered snow. And lots of it. I’m at 6,800 feet at the top of the pass and there is plenty of snow that falls here, much to my wife and I’s surprise. We got two feet in three days just a few weeks ago in early November of 2024. It was melted by Monday but still. These Confederate Southern men would wake up shivering and be forced to scoop mounds of the stuff off their hats and shake their blankets loose of the cold snow.

The men down in the valley, near Albuquerque didn’t have it much better. One private wrote quote, The whole face of the earth was covered with snow. It is severe upon our soldiers without any tents or anything to shelter from the snow. End quote. The troops had to abandon most of their camping equipment weeks before after Valverde since they had no animals to haul their stuff. They were moving with the bare minimum. Again, this was a plague for the South the entire campaign throughout New Mexico. Then, for all the men near the Sandias and Albuquerque, once the snow melted, everything turned to mud. It was a tough existence, but the men soldiered on.

In the mountains many of them hid out in caves or in the homes of the local residents. They danced and sang and played cards and many of them read novels and magazines. They were slowly recuperating from the long march from the south… that is until disease and coughing began to set in. And then boredom. They should have kept moving. Sibley should have pressed his advantage… and the men in charge knew this. Four company commanders resigned during this lull. The men began to be bewildered by the lack of movement. And Sibley and his command in Albuquerque… were all the while drunk.

Up in Santa Fe, Major Pyron and his men waltzed into the city without conflict on March 10th, occupied the Palace of the Governors and the nearby La Fonda Hotel, and raised the Rebel Flag in the square. They’d had to cut down a tree and build a makeshift flag pole since the Fedrals had torn down the original and burned it. Nelson writes of this occupation of Santa Fe, quote, When they raised the Confederate flag above the Union Army’s former headquarters in New Mexico, they became the first and only Confederate Army to occupy a capital city in Union territory during the American Civil War. End quote.

But the lack of Provisions in Santa Fe and their cool welcome by the locals meant they couldn’t stay in the very old city for long. They, as conquerers, faced the same problems the previous conquering Spanish had faced all those hundreds of years before them. They had little water, little food, and it was a cold and a high in elevation ancient city.

On March 22nd, Maj. Shropshire and his men joined Pyron in Santa Fe. Only three days later, on the 25th, Pyron and Shropshire learned of the arrival of the Coloradans and got word that the Yankees were probing westward on the Santa Fe Trail. With that news, the Confederates left Santa Fe and began heading east under the Sangre de Cristos towards Fort Union. But as Nelson writes, quote, They would need to be vigilant during their march through Apache Canyon, which was just fifteen miles from Santa Fe. There the trail wound through rocky terrain, edged by steep slopes covered with stunted pines and cedars. The soils were light and shallow, and eroded easily during thunderstorms. Parts of the trail were cut through with deep ravines and gullies. Apache Canyon was, as one traveler through the region put it, quote, one of those grim and dangerous passes common in New Mexico. End all quotes.

A few days before the Rebels left Santa Fe, on March 21st, Dirty Shirt Scurry and his men in the Sandia Mountains, tired of the lull and pause, began their trek towards Galisteo. And thankfully for us, Peticolas would write in his journal about his march. He wrote, quote, The mountain scenery in places is picturesque and interesting, but an air of desolate lonesomeness reigns over the whole country. End quote. He could not be more right. The highway through the Galisteo Basin, today’s highway 41, is a beautiful and a lonely drive. While heading north, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains loom with snow capped peaks and clouds always nearby. To the east are the open plains that seem to extend forever. And to the west is South Mountain, the Ortiz Mountains, and a volcanic feature known as the wave. A traveller will descend into the basin and pass through Comanche Pass which has tens of thousands of ancient and recent petroglyphs. There are tons of abandoned Ancestral Puebloan ruins littered with pot sherds and artifacts. Today, the largest residence in New Mexico sits atop a cliff’s edge and overlooks the entire ancient landscape. That house once belonged to a certain Mossad agent and evil man who did not kill himself.

I’ve actually walked in the ruins of Casa Blanca among rattlesnakes and eroded room blocks in this very basin. I was in awe at the largest Avanyu carving in the Southwest when I visited not long ago on a private tour through the private ranches that dot the desolate landscape.

The men didn’t record any ancient dwellings in their journals but they did enjoy the open pits and mines that had been bringing out gold and turquoise for almost two thousand years. The Rebels made a leisurely four day walk through the Galisteo Basin. And all the while, they had no idea Union patrols were readying for a battle only 20 miles north. In a tight and rocky canyon in the mountain known as Apache Pass. Which lay just west of Glorietta Pass. The site of the last major battle in New Mexico during the Civil War between the Yankees and the Confederates.

In the next episode I will cover at length the decisive battle in the Southwest known as Glorietta Pass.

In this episode the Rebels ride into Tucson and declare it as the westernmost city of the Confederate Empire as Baylor invades Mexico to give the Apaches “hot pursuit”. Meanwhile, Sibley walks north and takes Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The taking of Santa Fe marks the only time the Rebel forces of the Confederate States of America occupy the capitol of a Union Territory in the entire Civil War. The Army of New Mexico then prepares to use a three pronged attack against Fort Union. Captain Sherod Hunter, Baylor’s resignation after an international incident, The Colorado Volunteers, and the hardships of the Rebels long march north are all discussed.