U. S. Civil War Debt 3

So few people know of New Mexico’s part in the Civil War it’s crucial to tell of it in the context of my story, Yankee Gold.

It was July 23, 1861 in NM, the same month President Lincoln authorized a Union Naval blockade of the Confederate coast. Unbeknownst to the Union, 400 Confederates of the Second TX regiment, Mounted Rifles, led by Lieutenant John Baylor marched up the Rio Grande. They camped by night just outside Fort Fillmore, a Union garrison in southern NM 40 miles above El Paso. Still dark, Union troops learned of an intended attack. They abandoned the fort and escaped. The Rebels then crossed the river and occupied Mesilla, the 2nd largest town in NM.

New Mexicans were pressed to gather troops to meet the invasion. However, no major attack would be launched with only 400 soldiers. It was mid-December before 3,500 Confederate troops arrived under General Henry Sibley. The Rebel soldiers were mounted and well armed, but poorly provisioned. Sibley determined to push on north, up the Rio Grande. The attackers would challenge a major Union garrison, but not until they added provisions, seizing food and stores at Albuquerque. Sibley would not attack Fort Craig, a walled fort with heavy guns, but force a confrontation in the open field.

Meanwhile, 4000 New Mexican Volunteers and the 2nd Colorado Volunteer Infantry gathered and hastily trained for defense. When Sibley’s troops advanced, newly provisioned, toward Fort Craig, they crossed the Rio Grande to side-step a major battle and push on to the capital at Santa Fe. Sibley, in keeping with his objective, sent Captain Sherod Hunter and a cavalry to Tucson. Hunter was to establish a post and control the gold fields of the Arizona territory. However, 100 miles short of Fort Craig, Sibley and his men skirmished briefly with a Union detachment from Fort Union. They escaped serious danger, but lost a valuable provision wagon in the process. While their advance was blunted, the Union quartermaster at Santa Fe sent a train of 120 wagons valued at $250,000 to Fort Union, the federal arsenal in eastern NM. The entire Union force at Santa Fe accompanied the wagon train. At the same time, Governor Connelly and territorial government was removed to Las Vegas, NM. All remaining supplies and stores were set afire.