Civil War in New Mexico Territory: today we toured sites of the Battle at Glorieta Pass.

That is Polish immigrant Martin Kozlowski near the trading post he located in a prime spot, near Glorieta Creek and the Santa Fe trail. Today we visited the trading post and saw where Union soldiers encamped nearby before the battle of Glorieta Pass.

There is considerably more snow in Pecos still (March 2010) than there is in Santa Fe.

On March 26, 1862, Confederate and Union soldiers stopped at each end of Glorieta pass - the Confederates at Apache Canyon  to the west and the Federals at Pigeon’s Ranch to the east.
The two forces then briefly clashed near the Confederate base at Apache Canyon

before retiring to their respective camps.

Hostilities resumed the morning of March 28th, as both sides advanced into Glorieta Pass. The Confederates chose to send most of their forces into the attack, and left perhaps 30 or 40 troops to guard the supply train  in the rear of Apache Canyon at Johnson’s Ranch. Four hundred Colorado Volunteers descended from the steep mountains late in the day and surprised the far outnumbered Confederate rear guard at Johnson‘s Ranch.

The Federals quickly overwhelmed the Rebels and burned all 85 wagons in the Confederate supply train. The Union forces also drove off more than 500 horses and pack mules. This pretty much crippled the Confederates.

Even though the rebels had an advantage in numbers and they pushed the Federals back toward the eastern edge of the pass, at one point shelling the Federal camp at Pigeon’s Ranch,

This is what's left of Pigeon's Ranch today...a building that was a station stop along the Santa Fe trail...it's only about four feet from the road.

they still had to retreat because of what the Union had done to their supply wagons. They were, after all, in New Mexico, and whatever they needed they had to have with them--especially water and food, but also saddles, medicines, ammunition. Without their supplies, the Confederates had no choice but to retire from the field and withdraw to Santa Fe. Soon they pulled out of New Mexico territory for good.

The Confederate leaders thought they could manage to live off the land and they thought westerners would rally to their cause. They were wrong on both counts.

Here is the granite monument to the Texas Volunteers

commemorating the Texans who fought and perished as part of the Sibley Brigade during the "farthest penetration of Texans along the Santa Fe trail."

This is the rose red granite monument to the 1st Colorado Volunteers, who "saved the Union in Northern New Mexico." The monument was dedicated on March 27, 1993.

Battle of Glorieta Pass.

Today at Forked Lightning Ranch near Pecos National Monument, we witnessed the 146th anniversary of the Battle of Glorieta Pass, the bold Confederate offensive into Union territory on the western frontier. Many Civil War scholars see this battle, which occurred March 26-28, 1862, as an important turning point in the Civil War as Confederate forces had to retreat back into Texas, destroying hopes of a Confederate States of America that included the west. The timing of the event was particularly good for us, as next week we begin homeschool study of the Civil War and the role of figures such as Clara Barton.

I am no fan of the Civil War industry....As a former armored cavalry platoon leader in Vietnam, I recoil against any attempt to render war attractive—the Civil War, the Vietnamese war, any war; and particularly as regards the perverse spectacle called re-enactment, I remain absolutely clueless as to why grown people, all their attestations about "living history" notwithstanding, would want to dress up in period uniforms and go out for weekends of mock-battle where between bouts of sleeping in soggy bedrolls and grim repasts of sowbelly and hardtack, they pretend to maim and slaughter each other. Ted Turner et al. at Gettysburg; or, Re-Enactors in the Attic, Philip D. Beidler, Virginia Quarterly Review, Summer 1999

But notwithstanding some perplexity we may have, the reenactment made for a memorable day. We attended a talk about Civil War medicine and had a chance to speak with reenactors who had really done their research. Everything from knapsacks to haversacks to canteens to brogans to regimental bands to field artillery were spot on.

Map from AmericanCivilWar.com

Everything was unusually un-dorky for a reenactment, if you ask me. Sometimes these events can be disturbingly inaccurate to Civil War buffs. But the people were serious and knowledgable, the day was perfect, and take a look at the reenactors' faces. They put a lot of feeling into this. We give the experience two thumbs up. Thank you, NPS!