View of the battlefield from
on top of Black Mesa |
From the Messilla Times of March
27,1862, paragraphs relative of the Battle of Valverde.
The long expected engagement in New Mexico, came off at Valverde,
on the east bank of the Rio Grande, four miles above Fort Craig
on Friday, February 21. The battle commenced at eight o'clock in
the morning and lasted until sunset. The action was commenced by
a portion of Col. Baylor's regiment, 200 strong, under command of
Major Pyron, who were ordered to flank the enemy. Upon reaching
the river valley, they discovered the enemy on the left. Major Pyron's
command charged to a good position, where they were covered by timber
and a wide slough. They held this position for nearly an hour, under
a heavy fire of small-arms, shell, grape, and round shot, before
they were reinforced.
They
were then reinforced by the first regiment under Lieut. Col. Scurry,
and then Capt. Teel's battery came into action, and afterwards the
2nd regiment came into position. The enemy first attempted to turn
our flank, when Major Lockridge came to their assistance, and nobley
did he do it.Then they made several attempts all along our lines,
but without effect. Then again they made a concentrated attack upon
our left, with such vigor as to compel our forces to fall back from
their first position to another. |
While in this position, and late in the evening,
the enemy crossed the river with their battery, which proved fatal to
them. The Confederate reserve (Col. Steele's command), some 450 men, now
joined in the action. A charge was made at the battery of the enemy, and
along their whole line, and the battery was taken at revolver and shotgun,
after a desperate struggle, when the enemy fled with great slaughter.
The enemy suffered the most while retreating across the river, when the
slaughter was truly terrible.
This charge was made for eight hundred yards, under
a most galling fire. The enemy fought desperately, and their dead lay
in heaps about the guns of the battery. The battle was fiercely contested,
and one of the severest of the present war, as desperate as any on record
for the amount of men engaged. The roar of small-arms, of shell, canister,
grape and round shot, is described as having been terrific, and individual
instances of great bravery and gallantry, numberless, while our whole
army fought like veterans and patriots.
The day was fiercely contested throughout, and
until the latter part of the day, the enemy had gained some advantages.
Firing had ceased upon both sides, for over an hour, when the Federal
General, deeming our forces routed, crossed the river in force and with
his battery, to complete his victory, when the gallant charge was made
which crowned our arms with success. In the terrible retreat of the enemy
across the Rio Grande, many sank Dead and wounded beneath its turbid and
bloody waters, to rise no more forever. The current was strong, and the
channel narrow, consequently to be wounded was but to meet death.
The loss of the enemy has not been accurately ascertained,
but their killed and wounded, must have been over five hundred. It was
impossible to ascertain how many of the Federals perished in the river.
Col.
Kit Carson's regiment of New Mexico Volunteers were covering the retreat,
when a shell was thrown into their ranks, killing and wounding some twent,
when they became panic stricken and fled to the mountains.
The regulars fought with great bravery, and before the action both officers
and men were sanguine of success.
The retreat across the river exhibited a perfect Leesburg rout, but the
regulars of the enemy, formed upon the opposite bank, under a galling
fire, and retreated to the fort in the perfect order of a dress parade.
The victory, though achieved gloriously over double our numbers, was dearly
won, we we have to mourn the loss of 46 heroes, and have 115 wounded.
T.J.,
Bob the Sane, Swami Rob and Dave |
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Yes,
the battlefield was even featured in the movies. Check out the
Good the Bad and the Ugly (Clint Eastwood). Fort Craig is specifically
mentioned and the battle that is taking place in the background
towards the end of the movie is the Battle of Val Verde. The grave
that the charactors are looking for is supposedly the unmarked
graves of the Confederates that are still at the battlefield today.
The location of the graves are still unknown.
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The
odd picture that is mentioned in the broadcast is pictured below.
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