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The trans-Mississippi West, New Mexico Territory in particular, was far
removed from many of the passions and issues that defined the Civil War for
people east of the Mississippi River. For large areas of the West that were
recently won from Mexico or still organized under territorial government--where
people were still struggling to survive in hostile environments--arguments
over secession and states rights may have seemed rarified. Nonetheless, men
answered the call to join eastern armies, so the frontier armies were drastically
reduced. Indian raids began to increase as some tribes seized the chance to
regain lost territory while others turned to raiding for subsistence, their
U.S. treaty allotments having been disrupted by the war. Yet, the Civil War
was not strictly an eastern war, and in 1862 Confederate forces invaded New
Mexico Territory.
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Pigeon Ranch |
Henry Sibley, who resigned his
commission in the U.S. Army to join the Confederate Army, realized
that the void created in the West could be an opportunity for the
South. After raising a brigade of mounted Texas riflemen during the
summer of 1861, Sibley led his 2,500 men to Fort Bliss and launched
a winter invasion up the Rio Grande Valley.
Colonel Edward Canby, who had been appointed the Union Commander of the
Department of New Mexico in June 1861, anticipated the invasion and had already
begun to consolidate his 2,500 regular army troops. By early 1862, Canby
had almost 4,000 soldiers he could put into the field.
Sibley's Brigade approached Canby's Union forces near Fort Craig in south-central
New Mexico. Threatening to cut off the fort by controlling a nearby ford,
Sibley drew Canby's soldiers out from the fort and engaged them in a closely
contested battle at Valverde on February 21, 1862. The smaller Confederate
force prevailed against Canby's troops, who retreated to the security of nearby
Fort Craig. |
Sibley believed the U.S. forces had been defeated too soundly to
present a rear-guard threat, so he advanced north. The Confederates occupied
Albuquerque on March 2. Sibley then sent the Fifth Texas Regiment, commanded
by Major Charles Pyron, to the unprotected territorial capital of Santa Fe.
The few Union troops retreated to Fort Union, destroying ammunition and supplies.
The only thing that appeared to be standing between Sibley's Confederate
Brigade and Colorado was Fort Union, the major army depot on the Santa Fe
Trail. By seizing the supplies and weapons kept at Fort Union, the Confederates
would be able to continue their march north through Raton Pass to Denver,
the territorial capital of Colorado.
The First Colorado Volunteers, an infantry brigade of 950 miners, were quickly
organized under the command of Colonel John P. Slough. They marched the 400
miles from Denver through the deep snow of Raton Pass to Fort Union in only
13 days, arriving at the fort on March 10. After a brief rest and re-supply,
Slough defied orders to remain at Fort Union. Joined by some regular army
troops and New Mexico volunteers, Slough's 1,350 soldiers departed Fort Union
on March 22, and they followed the Santa Fe Trail westward to meet the enemy.
By March 25, the Union advance troops, under the command of Major John M.
Chivington, set up Camp Lewis at Kozlowski's Stage Stop east of Glorieta Pass,
a gap in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Meanwhile, Pyron's Fifth Texas Regiment had left Santa Fe, following
the Santa Fe Trail eastward, marching on Fort Union. After following a southward
swing through Glorieta Pass, he intended to join with other Confederate troops.
Pyron's Texans camped at Johnson's Ranch in Apache Canyon, just west of Glorieta
Pass, unaware of the Union troops only nine miles away.
On the morning of March 26, 1862, a scouting party of Colorado Volunteers
led by Chivington left Camp Lewis to locate the Texans. They discovered and
captured a Confederate scouting party in Glorieta Pass, then ran into the
main body of the Confederate force in Apache Canyon, about 16 miles east of
Santa Fe. A two-hour scrimmage, known as the Battle of Apache Canyon, ensued.
Although Chivington captured 70 Confederate soldiers, he fell back to Pigeon's
Ranch. By evening, both sides called a truce to tend to their wounded.
The following day, when Union spies notified Colonel Slough that the Confederates
had been reinforced, Slough decided to divide his forces. Slough's 900 soldiers
would proceed west along the Santa Fe Trail and block Glorieta Pass, while
Chivington and Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Chavez of the New Mexico Volunteers
would take 450 men over Glorieta Mesa to attack the Confederate right flank
or rearguard. Colonel Scurry decided to leave his supply train at Johnson's
Ranch and march his 900 men eastward along the Santa Fe Trail the next morning
to force the battle where he wanted it.
On the morning of March 28, Slough's men broke ranks near Pigeon's Ranch
to fill their canteens at Glorieta Creek. Scurry's quickly advancing Confederates
came upon the Union troops and opened fire on them. The Union soldiers quickly
formed a defensive line along Windmill Hill, but an hour later, fell back
to Pigeon's Ranch.
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Scurry's Confederate soldiers faced
the Union artillery at Pigeon's Ranch and Artillery Hill for three
hours, and finally outflanked the Union right. From Sharpshooter's
Ridge they could fire down on the Union troops, so Slough ordered
another retreat, setting up a third battle line a short distance east
of Pigeon's Ranch. The Texans charged the line shortly before sunset.
Slough ordered his soldiers back to Camp Lewis leaving the Confederates
in possession of the field. Both sides were exhausted after six hours
of fighting, each having sustained more than 30 killed and 80 wounded
or missing.
Believing he had won the battle, Scurry soon received devastating news.
After a 16-mile march through the mountains, the Union force led by Major
Chivington had come upon the Confederate supply train at Johnson's Ranch. |
They had driven
off the few guards, slaughtered 30 horses and mules, spiked an artillery
piece, taken 17 prisoners, and burned 80 wagons containing ammunition,
food, clothing, and forage. Scurry was forced to ask for a cease-fire.
Lacking vital supplies, Scurry could no longer continue his march on Fort
Union so he retreated to Santa Fe. Two weeks later, General Sibley ordered
his army to retreat from Santa Fe and relinquished control of Albuquerque.
There was no further Confederate attempt to invade the western territories.
The Battle of Glorieta Pass had decided conclusively that the West would
remain with the Union.
Multiple accounts of apparitions by Civil War re-enactors at Pigeon ranch and Apache canyon.
We started at Apache canyon near the memorial. After searching the area for an hour without any interesting findings, we moved to Pigeon Ranch.
The ranch is bisected by interstate 40 making it difficult to read EM frequencies near the remaining building. However, as we branched off towards the west we located several odd EM signals at 22 Hz. The signal seemed to be moving as we would acquire it for a few seconds then it would completely vanish. We would reacquire the signal again as we moved farther west only to lose it again.
We attempted to locate a natural or manmade source of these emissions but were unable to do so. Photographs taken during the measuring of these signals contained abnormalities in them.
Photographs
Click on the thumbnails to view the larger image
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