Turning back invasion

In the East and the South, people tear down monuments to the Confederacy. Here in the City Different, a mob of activists tore down a monument to the defeat of the Confederacy.

The obelisk has four sides. One side reads: “To The Heroes Of The Federal Army Who Fell At The Battle Of Valverde Fought With The Rebels February 21, 1862.” A second reads: “To The Heroes Of The Federal Army Who Fell At The Battles Of Canon Del Apache And Pigeons Rancho (La Glorieta) Fought With The Rebels March 28, 1862 And To Those Who Fell At The Battle Fought With The Rebels At Perilta April 15, 1862.” A third reads: “Erected By The People Of New Mexico Through Their Legislatures Of 1866-7-8. MAY THE UNION BE PERPETUAL.” The fourth side, the back side facing away from the Palace of the Governors, reads: “To The Heroes Who Have Fallen In Various Battles With Savage Indians In The Territory Of New Mexico. “Savage” was later chiseled out.

The obelisk on three sides is a Civil War monument commemorating the victory of the Union and the defeat of the Confederacy. In the East, the Confederacy fought a defensive war. But in the West, with the bulk of the U.S. Army withdrawn to the battlefields in the East, the Confederacy saw an opportunity: a quick invasion out of Texas to conquer New Mexico and Arizona and transform them into Confederate slave states. But the 1862 Confederate invasion was turned back in a series of battles in New Mexico by the few U.S. Army regulars left in the Southwest reinforced by hastily raised Union volunteers from New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.

No doubt neo-Confederates quietly salute the activists of Santa Fe for destroying a monument to the Confederacy’s defeat and thank Mayor Alan Webber for walling from view the inscriptions commemorating those Union soldiers and New Mexican volunteers who died defeating the Confederate invasion.

John E. Haynes Santa Fe