Confederate forces under Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley are moving on New Mexico Territory with the intention of continuing on to San Francisco to capture California. They met Union forces in a decisive conflict today at Fort Craig near Valverde in New Mexico Territory.
General Sibley met with President Jefferson Davis late last year and gained permission to lead an expedition to take New Mexico in the name of the Confederacy. Davis warned him that, though he supported his efforts 100%, Sibley would be on his own in terms of supplies and equipment. Sibley returned to Texas to gather weapons, ammunitions, and other supplies, and to raise the forces necessary for the campaign.
By the beginning of this year, Sibley had 2,500 men, mostly mounted, split into three regiments, and on January 3rd, they departed El Paso on their quest to take New Mexico and California. Their efforts to find arms were made easier when one of the arsenals in Texas was opened to them last year, and when a couple small Yankee forts were overrun without much of a fight on their march along the Rio Grande. Their largest Obstacle would be Fort Craig, approximately 140 miles north of their jumping off point.
Colonel Edward Canby waited in the fort with his 3,800 Federal forces, mostly comprised of infantry. Five hundred of these are Hispanic militia under the command of Kit Carson, famous for his explorations of the west.
Sibley and his men found them well protected in their fort on the opposite bank of the Rio Grande, and did not dare to attack it in a direct assault. They instead formed up in line of battle, and taunted the Union garrison, daring them to come out and fight like men. For two days, the Federals did not take the bait, and the Confederates found themselves more besieged than the Yankees since their enemy still had supplies coming in from the north.
General Sibley therefore crossed his forces back over to the western bank of the Rio Grande and marched north to cut off the road that led from Fort Craig to El Paso, approximately six miles upriver.
About halfway up, Confederate Colonel Tom Green decided to place artillery atop a hill to shell Federals who might be moving to intercept them. This tipped off the Federals as to what was happening, and they moved to intercept the Confederate columns.
Night fell, and both sides settled into a camp not far from the crossing north of the fort where the Confederates planned to cut off the Federals. The Northern soldiers decided on a plan of terror that lowered the standards of warfare. Loading large containers of TNT onto the backs of mules, they sent the animals toward the Confederate lines. The Confederate pickets might have welcomed the animals into their lines, hoping their crates were filled with food or water, both which were sinking in supply, but the pack animals never made it. They instead turned around and returned to their owners, blowing up in their midst and blasting a hole in their own defensive works instead.
There were consequences to the Confederate forces, however. The large explosion caused Confederate cattle to panic. They broke free of their barriers and stampeded into the Yankee lines, leaving the Confederates with even less food.
This morning, scouts of the 2nd Mounted Texas Rifles found Federal forces crossing at Valverde Ford, the crossing point the Confederates hoped to take to cut off the Federal supply. Sibley hurried infantry and artillery under Colonel William Read Scurry to stop them. The Federals, in turn, sent a mixed regiment of infantry, artillery, and cavalry to engage their enemy under Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin S. Roberts.
As both sides called for reinforcements, Major Charles Pyron moved his 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles into a dried out river bed to take cover. Not much later, Lieutenant Colonel William Read Scurry arrived with the 4th Texas Mounted Rifles, and took position to Pyron’s right, with artillery being placed on the left. They now had the numerical superiority, but their weapons primarily consisted of shotguns, pistols, and other short range weapons, and so little was done until the Union reinforcements arrived and took the numerical advantage.
In the early afternoon, the 5th Texas Mounted Rifles, under the command of Colonel Tom Green, and a battalion of the 7th Texas Mounted Rifles under Lieutenant Colonel John Sutton, bolstered the Confederate line and the battle was on. The Confederates had a larger incentive. Thirsty from the heat and low on provisions, they needed the water from the river, flowing now behind the Federal lines.
Sibley, who was behind with the wagons, and is rumored to have been drunk at the outset of the battle, relinquished command, which was then handed over to Colonel Tom Green. At 2:00, Green made a bold decision. Outgunned by the Federal rifled weapons, but with men who are high in spirit, he authorized a charge of lancers, a practice considered outdated by most military personnel. They raced forward with their long, spiked lances facing the enemy like in Medieval times. It is the first time this tactic has been used in this war. And, as it happens, probably the only time. It turns out the military personnel are right, as the lancers came stumbling back in broken confusion. Once back in friendly territory, the lancers rearmed themselves with pistols and shotguns.
The Federals now made their move. Pulling forces from the center, they made an assault on their right at approximately 4 pm. Though hit hard on their left, Green noticed how much the Union line had been weakened in the center, and how exposed some of their artillery was. He ordered his own right wing to charge forward and take the Union guns. Their eagerness to get at water overcame the Union desire to guard it, and the Confederates broke through, routing the entire Union center and left flank, which in turn broke the Union attack on the right.
Green was in the process of following up the retreating Federals, but was asked to allow a truce to bury the dead. A consummate gentleman, Colonel Green agreed to the truce, and the battle ended so they could be buried. It turned out to be a good choice, as the Union lost during this time approximately 200 men to desertion.
Most importantly, this opens the road northward to El Paso, and the rest of New Mexico. Then, as the chant is being called in the Confederate ranks, it will be “on to San Francisco.”
