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to voluntary surrender and confinement. Some of the garrison, however, had appealed to be granted discharges from the command and join units of their variousnativesouthernstates. Thiswasgrantedby Judge Josiah F. Crosby of El Paso. Along the way Reeve’s column was joined by the garrisons from Forts Quitman and Davis.76
Had Reeve superseded his. authority and either remained in Fort Bliss or joined with the troops at Fort Fillmore, the Confederate invasion of New Mexico may have never gotten under way. The gar- rison at Fort Bliss had considerable military supplies of all descriptions.
The first contingent of Con- federate troops, under Lieutenant Colonel Baylor, advanced on El Paso in small units because of lack of water and forage along the route. In addition, they were depending on receiving much of their supplies at Fort Bliss upon the completion of their march to El Paso. If Reeve had remained at Fort Bliss or removed his stores and marched 35 miles upriver to bolster Fort Fillmore, it would have been difficult if not impossible for Baylor to have gained a toehold in southern New Mexico and wait for Sibley to reinforce him. The Southwest would have several military facilities abandoned and new ones
Figure37. HenryHopkinsSibley. Photocourtesy of the Museum of New Mexico, #50541.
I have seen the call of the Virginia Convention on all natives of the State in the Army and Navy,andhavebeenthesubjectofothermore
pointedappeals. TherespectwhichIoweto the opinions of the citizens of my native State demands of me an answer - an expression of my circumstances and views of duty. . . . I owe Virginia little, my country much . . . and I shall remain under her flag so long as it waves the sign of the National Constitutional Govern- ment.
Thus Cooke remained loyal to the Union. However his only son, John Rogers Cooke, and two of his sons-in-law, James Ewell Brown Stuart and Dr.
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Charles Brewer, supported the South.
Also in the first part of June, newly promoted
Colonel Canby assumed command of the Depart- ment of New Mexico under adverse conditions. Many key officers had resigned and gone over to the South,theNavajoswerecreatingsomedifficultiesin the area to the north, the Apaches in the southern partwereterrorizingeveryone,andCanbywasfaced
with a probable invasion from Texas with troops and
established during the Civil War (Figure 38). Reeve was not the only officer faced with difficult decisions. UnionofficersinNewMexicohadbeen resigningtheircommissionssinceDecember1860. Men such as James Longstreet, Dabney Herndon Maury, Richard Stoddert Ewell, and Joseph Wheeler would soon add their names to the list of important Confederate commanders. Colonel William Wing Loring, who was in charge of the Department of New Mexico, and Major Henry Hop- kins Sibley tendered their resignations on May 13. Sibley left almost immediately for El Paso, but Loring had to wait until June 11 to be relieved by
Colonel Edward Richard Sprigg Canby (Figure 39) before he could honorably join the South. Sibley later wrote Loring on June 12 that he regretted not bringing all of his command out with him and urged Loring to act in a more prudent manner. He was too
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late; Loring had already left.
Many of the states held a stronger appeal to their
native sons than did the federal government. Colonel Philip St. George Cooke, however, was one ofthosetowhomtheappealfellondeafears. On June 6, 1861, he wrote the National Intelligencer in Washington, D. C.:
officers that might have questionable allegiances.
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Chapter 5
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