he and his men all
surrendered. Baylor
declared the south
of New Mexico
the Confederate
Arizona Territory.
Baylor had scant
resources to fight
hostile Apaches and
resist a Northern
counterattack.
But when another
Southern force was
sent into Confederate
Arizona in early 1862,
it was dispatched with
offensive rather than
defensive intentions.The Confederate push west
Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley
had devised an ambitious plan to use
Confederate Arizona as a launch pad
for a drive into the gold- and silver-rich
states of Colorado and California. With
three regiments of cavalry from Texas,
he advanced up the Rio Grande River
as far as Fort Craig, absorbing most of
Baylor’s troops along the way. The fort,CLASH OF ARMIES 1862BEFORE
The U.S. extended its lands westward
after victory in the War with Mexico. This
confirmed the annexation of Texas and
added California, New Mexico, and Utah.
THE GOLD RUSH
California achieved statehood in 1850, while
Utah and New Mexico were absorbed
into the United States
as territories. These
thinly populated
areas took
on economic
importance after the
discovery of their
precious metals. The
California Gold Rush
had begun in 1848. The
discovery of silver and
gold at the Comstock Lode
in western Utah and at sites
in western Kansas in the late
1850s was followed by the
organization of these areas
into the territories of Nevada
and Colorado in early 1861.
DIVIDING UP AMERICA
The creation of new states and territories
was a fraught political issue, affecting the balance
between “slave” and “free” states ❮❮ 22–23.
In 1861, Texas was among the original
states that formed the Confederacy, while
California, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and
Colorado all stayed within the Union.
T
he first Confederate thrust
westward from Texas took
place early in the war on the
initiative of an aggressive battalion
commander, Lieutenant Colonel
John R. Baylor. A one-time
politician and Indian fighter,
Baylor was sent with a 250-
strong detachment of mounted
Texan volunteers to seize
undefended forts along the
state’s western border with
New Mexico. He interpreted
his orders as license to enter
New Mexico on the grounds
of preempting a potential
Union counterattack. Deciding that
a U.S. Army garrison at Fort Fillmore
constituted a threat, Baylor set out to
attack it on July 23, 1861. The garrison
commander, Major Isaac Lynde, left the
fort with his troops to confront Baylor.
On July 25 Baylor’s Texans and their
allies repulsed Union infantry and
cavalry assaults, driving them back
to Fort Fillmore. During the night
the Union commander Lynde led a
withdrawal from Fort Fillmore but was
pursued to San Augustin Springs whereThe Far West
At the time of the Civil War, the U.S.’s western frontier was a wild place of isolated forts, gold prospectors,
settler wagon trains, and often hostile Native Americans. The Confederates decided to extend the war
westward, in the hope of wresting Colorado and California goldfields and silver mines from Union control.
a Union stronghold,
was under the
command of Colonel
Edward Canby,
whose regulars were
supported by New
Mexican volunteers.
Sibley’s force was too
weak to seize the fort
and tried to bypass it, but
Canby marched out to block
his path at a ford near Valverde.
The two forces joined battle on February- In the end, Canby and his men
had to retreat back into the fort. Sibley
continued to push northward, reaching
Santa Fe on March 10.
Ahead of Sibley, Union forces from
Colorado under Colonel John Slough
joined a Northern garrison at Fort
Union. The campaign’s crucial battle
occurred at Glorieta Pass in the Sangre
Confederate commander
Louisiana-born Henry Hopkins Sibley
was a career officer in the U.S. Army
who chose to join the Confederacy.
After its failure, he never held
another significant command.Hostile environment
The Confederates underestimated the difficulty of
campaigning across the wild, sparsely populated
terrain of the southwestern territories, such as this
mesa landscape near Santa Fe. The mountains and
deserts made living off the land nearly impossible.
CALIFORNIA
ADVERTISEMENT“The men and teams suffered severely
with the intense heat and want of water.”
UNION MAJOR ISAAC LYNDE, REPORT ON THE SURRENDER AT SAN AUGUSTIN SPRINGS, AUGUST 7, 1861