March 28, 1862: Battle of Glorieta Pass
146 years ago today, Federal forces stop the Confederate invasion of New Mexico territory when they turn the Rebels back at Glorieta Pass.
This action was part of the broader movement by the Confederates to capture New Mexico and other parts of the West. This would secure territory that the Rebels thought was rightfully theirs but had been denied them by political compromises made before the Civil War.
Furthermore, the cash-strapped Confederacy could use western mines to fill their treasury. Their ultimate goal were the gold fields around Pikes Peak in Colorado. From San Antonio, the Rebels moved into southern New Mexico (which included Arizona) and captured the towns of Mesilla, DoŻa Ana, and Tucson.
Henry Sibley
General Henry H. Sibley, with 3,000 troops (mostly Texans), now moved north against the Federal stronghold at Fort Craig on the Rio Grande.
Sibley's force collided with US troops at Val Verde near Fort Craig on February 21, but the Federals were unable to stop the invasion. Sibley left parts of his army to occupy Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and the rest of the troops headed east of Santa Fe along the Pecos River.
Their next target was the Union garrison at Fort Union, an outpost on the other side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. At Pigeon's Ranch near Glorieta Pass, they encountered a Federal force of 1,300 Colorado volunteers under Colonel John Slough.
John Slough. After the war, he would spend a couple years as chief justice of the NM Territorial Supreme Court. See postcript below
Come on and help me take that position or stay back and watch men who will." Confederate Major John Shropshire, just before he was shot between the eyes.
The battle began at 11:00 a.m., and the outnumbered by 2-1 Federals were thrown back before taking cover among the adobe buildings of Pigeon's Ranch. A Confederate attack late in the afternoon pushed the Union troops further down the pass, but nightfall halted the advance.
The Cornfeds beat the Federals in the series of stand-up fights, but they had managed to get strung-out and were completely reliant on chow and supplies they had brought along in order to remain on campaign because there was nothing to forage in the sparsely populated region.
Union troops snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when Major John Chivington led an attack on the Confederate supply train, burning 90 wagons and killing 800 animals.
Johnson's Ranch: Major Chivington's Coloradans hiked down the steep mountainside above the campsite to burn the Confederate wagon train parked in the creek bottom
With their supplies destroyed, the Confederates had to withdraw to Santa Fe. They lost 36 men killed, 70 wounded, and 25 captured. The Federals lost 38 killed, 64 wounded, and 20 captured.
After a week in Santa Fe, the Rebels withdrew down the Rio Grande. By June, the US controlled New Mexico again. The Confederates never made another foray into NM.
Postscript:
The Honorable John Slough, Chief Justice of the Territorial Supreme Court, was shot to death in the La Fonda Hotel lobby in Santa Fe 1867. Slough was in a dispute with Captain Rynerson, a member of the Territorial Legislature representing Dona Ana County, when he called Rynerson a liar and a thief.
The offended Rynerson then shot Slough in the neck and Slough died of his wounds. Rynerson was tried in a court of law and was later acquitted. The La Fonda still exists in Santa Fe, and some beleive old Judge Slough (who had fought at Glorietta Pass five years before his death at the La Fonda) still walks the halls bemoaning his dastardly death.
Since the 1970s, guests repeatedly called the front desk to complain that someone was walking up and down the hallway in front of thier room. When an employee was sent to investigate, typically the employee would see a tall man in a long, black coat disappear into a stairwell. However, when he followed him to the stairs, there was no sign of the mysterious man.
Originally Posted by Curly Bill
