Brave Union troops turned back invasion
Battle of Valverde was first fight in campaign
Most of us don’t think about the American Civil War being fought in New Mexico, but Monday marked 155 years since the Battle of Valverde. Below Peralta, a short throw from U.S. 380, not far from the Owl Bar, there is an area on the Rio Grande called North Ford. It is also called Valverde — “green valley” — a rather picturesque name that does not quite tell the true story of this bloody bend of river.
Valverde was the first engagement in New Mexico between the forces of the Confederacy and the Union in the Civil War. General Henry Hopkins Sibley had convinced Jefferson Davis that by sending him to subdue New Mexico, the way would be open to the Colorado gold fields, and then they would push on to California to secure deep-water ports. They did not count on the Colorado Volunteers, who raced into New Mexico territory to put a stop to the rebels’ advance.
Colorado Gov. William Gilpin feared the Rebel army would march into Denver. He also knew Washington wasn’t concerned. A prominent, and imposing, Denver preacher named John Chivington told the governor, “If there’s fighting to be done, I want to fight.” A staunch abolitionist, he would become one of the war’s heroes.
Gilpin was panicky and began printing his own federal money, and he bankrolled the army with the bogus federal treasury notes; when the notes got back to Washington, Gilpin was removed from office. The money was deemed worthless, and he was nearly lynched by the soldiers.
Chivington quieted the men by telling them if they were in the army only for money, they had joined for the wrong reasons anyway.
A few months later these troops would fight and die in a battle that would decide the future of the Territory of New Mexico, and we should pay tribute to Gilpin and those brave men who raced to our aid, for without them New Mexico would have most certainly fallen under the Stars and Bars.
When Captain Henry Seldon and his Colorado Volunteers joined up with Kit Carson’s First New Mexico Volunteers and met General Sibley’s Rebel army in mid-Rio Grande, the bloody hand-to-hand fighting caused the great river to turn crimson.
The rebels called them “the devils from Pike’s Peak” because they didn’t break under fire, as the 2nd New Mexico Volunteers had broken and run at the sight of the Texans, who charged into battle with war whoops and screams, wielding shotguns and pistols, Bowie knives and swords.
Although Sibley had retired in an alcoholic stupor, the Texans had won, technically; the Union forces retreated to Ft. Craig. For the Texans it was a Pyrrhic victory because of the 200 dead and wounded.
Sibley’s army regrouped, headed north and occupied Albuquerque on March 2, 1862. Twenty-four days later at Glorieta Pass, the 1st Colorado surprised the Texans, and after a three-hour battle they fled for their lives. One of the Texans said the Coloradoans who “charged us seemed to have charmed lives.”
But when 400 of the brave Coloradoans and a few of the New Mexico Volunteers under Chivington got lost and wound up stumbling on the Confederate supply wagons, Chivington could not believe his good fortune. Here was Sibley’s food, ammo, clothing, black powder and kerosene — which they doused wagons with for a glorious bonfire.
The hardest thing for the men was dispatching Sibley’s 500 horses and mules. This bloody deed crippled Sibley’s army and sealed the doom of the Confederacy in the Southwest. Some historians say this cannot be overstated, as it caused the Rebel army to retreat.
Historians do not agree on whether these battles had any effect on the outcome of the war. But we should remember the brave men who sacrificed their lives to halt the advance of a determined foe that was comprised of our neighbors. The bloody tragedy of the Civil War is also a part of the history of our state.