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just behind the already retreating Texans.159
The Battle of Valverde was fought about six miles up the Rio Grande from Fort Craig on February 21, 1862. It was a bloody battle by standards of the time but was at best indecisive. The Confederates carried the field and captured some cannon but failed to take Fort Craig and, in the process, lost many of their mounts and a considerable amount of their precious supplies. Though bloody, the casualty list was not
described by many as the Gettysburg of the West, was nearly a replay of Valverde. Both sides lost men; the Confederates carried the field but lost their entire supply and baggage train to some mountain climbing Federals. Interestingly, one of the major figures of the fight, Union Colonel John P. Slough, was criticized by General Canby for taking too ag- gressive action against the Confederates! The leader of the Colorado Volunteers resigned his com- mission on April 29 and returned to Colorado.164
Even had the Confederates not retreated to Albu- querque following the Battle of Glorieta, or had they garnered sufficient supplies to make another assault toward Fort Union, their cause in the Southwest was doomed. The Column from California was on its way in sufficient strength to cut off the Texans’ retreat and capture or annihilate the entire force.
The Union could not endure either the isolation of
California or risk its becoming a Republic; there-
fore, on December 18, 1861, Major General George
Brinton McClellen approved a plan, submitted by
Department of the Pacific Commander, General
George G. Wright, to reopen the vital route to
California and restore mail service. After months of
preparation, Colonel James Henry Carleton started
his eastward move. With 200 wagons, 900 draft
animals, 25 pack mules, 125 additional horses for
artillery and cavalry, and a large mobile commis-
sary, Carleton left Fort Yuma for Tucson on May lb/65
Meanwhile, the retreating Confederates buried eight artillery pieces in the Albuquerque plaza and retreated to Governor Connelly’s ranch near Peralta onApril14. Intheprocesstheyabandonedabout 100 sick and wounded men in their Santa Fe hospital. This harsh but necessary procedure would be repeated at Socorro, Dona Ana, and El Paso. Per- haps to vent frustration or perhaps to pay back their loss of supplies, they nearly destroyed the Governor’s home. Connelly later claimed $30,000
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Sibley, who feared entrapment between pursuing forces and soldiers remaining at Fort Craig, left the river for the moun- tains below Socorro and, after eight torturous days, reached the Rio Grande about five miles below Alamosa. He had approximately 1,800 men left out
17
of the original 2,515.
In Arizona, the westernmost fight in the Civil War
took place on April 15, 1862, albeit with only 28 participants,countingbothsides. ColonelJoseph
high by later Civil War standards.
General Canby
reported 68 killed, 160 wounded, and 35 missing.
Colonel Thomas Jefferson Green listed his Con-
federate losses at 36 killed, 150 wounded, and 1
160 missing.
Among the casualties of the battle were a few that should be noted. George Bascom, now a captain, was killed on the field almost exactly a year after his confrontation with Cochise at Apache Pass. Cap- tain Alexander McRae, in the heroic but futile defense of his guns, bequeathed his name to a fort established later along the Jornada del Muerto. Captain Lord suffered the loss of his reputation, at least temporarily, when a fellow officer claimed that he failed to respond to orders. He also lost some of his whiskers, to a Lieutenant McDonald, in a fight that started when Lord was too vitriolic in his later condemnation of the Colorado Volunteers over
161
events surrounding the incident.
Between major engagements of the North and
South in New Mexico, Colonel Baylor issued an order that would cost him his governorship. He had become exceedingly bitter over the Apaches’ con- tinued attacks on his men and the citizens, claiming thatmorethan100peoplehadbeenkilled(asig- nificant percentage in or near Cooke’s Canyon) in the recent Indian war. His hatred for Indians, evidenced in his publishing a Texas anti-Indian newspaper and his brother’s listing his occupation in
162
1860 as Indian Killer, surfaced on March 20, 1862. Baylor wrote to Captain Helm, temporarily at Tuc- son, directing him to “use 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 Indians.” 163 This did not set well with the Con- federate Congress or with President Davis who removed Baylor as Governor of the Confederate Territory of Arizona.
TheBattleofGlorietaPassonMarch28,1862,
for the wanton damage.
Chapter 5
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