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Show 374 LEADING FACTS OF NEW MEXICAN HISTORY NEW On the 18th of February, 1862, General Sibley appeared before Fort Craig and a cavalry force was sent out by Colonel Canby for the purpose of defeating the apparent intenBATTLE OF VALVERDE tion of the Confederates to pass to the west of the fort. This was only a manceuver on the part of the Confederates for the purpose of protecting their crossing of the Rio Grande some miles below the fort. Colonel Canby, after the crossing of the river had been accomplished by the enemy, threw detachments of the 5th, 7th,2°* and 10th regular infantry, and Car- force in New lows, according Mexico at the time of Governor to the ‘<field return’’ of the Connelly’s message was as fol- department of New Mexico: PRESENT GARRISONS, ETC. OFFICERS For Duty | Total 14 3 40 29 Fort Marcy Fort Garland Fort Union Alburquerque Fort Craig and Vicinity 68 Cubero 14 Hatch’s Ranch Camp Connelly En Route to Santa Fé En Rovte to Fort Wise t tne f at | | Duty 288 102 721 502 | _ Total 352 125 869 624 225 141 25 297 151 39 1803 83 39 70 190 AggreMEN 3999 2065 207 53 70 4755. | gate Present and Absent 396 130 1140 720 2266 312 216 191 144 59 72 5046 In the month of January, prior to the departure of General El Paso, the Federal commander Sibley from was uncertain whether the invasion would be made by way of the Pecos riv Fort Cr to hold the post against any force that the Confederates could bring loan al: it. It was belioved that he country could not be invaded with more than 2,000 men in one body. If the invasion came by way of Pecos, Canby felt that Fort Craig could sustain itself until the invasion could be disposed of. If the demonstration came by way of Fort Craig, all the available force in the department was to be turned in that direction at once. Governor Connelly was requested to hold the militia in readiness for any service required of them; this service was the replacement of regulars and volunteers ordered withdrawn from posts not immediately threatened. sais Hayes, A. A., An Unwritten Episode of the Late War, pp. 166-167. | Colonel Canby, according to Hayes, gave his entire force as 3,810 and Sibley’s as 2,600. In reality there were about 3,000 men in Sibley’s command when it left Fort Fillmore. Colonel Canby’s command was composed of eleven companies of the 5th, 7th and 10th U. 8. infantry; seven troops of the 1st and oa U. 8. cavalry ; McRae’s battery, served by two companies of the 2d and 3d cavalry; Captain Dodd’s company B, 2d Colorado volunteers; Colonel Christopher Carson’s Ist regiment New Mexico volunteers;Lieutenant17 con MEXICO DURING THE CIVIL WAR 375 son’s and Pino’s volunteers, across the river to prevent the occupation by the Confederates of the neighboring mesa which command ed the fort. The following afternoon the cavalry under Major Duncan and a light battery commanded by Captain McRae were also sent across and the Texans at once opened a heavy fire of artillery upon them. According to an account in a Santa Fé paper the volunteer s in Pino’s regiment behaved badly, in spite of the efforts of their officers to control them. Carson’s regiment behaved well. The conduct *°® of the volunteers influenced Canby in returning that night panies of 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th New Mexico volunteers; a spy company and 1,000 militia. General Sibley’s force consisted of Reily’s and Green’s regiments; five companies of Steele’s regiment; five companies of Colonel Baylor’s regiment; also Teel’s and Riley’s batteries. According to Hollister, in his ist Regiment of Colorado Volunteers, Captain Dodd’s company had been in New Mexico, sent by Governor Gilpin, some months prior to the engagement at Valverde. Hayes, A. A., in his An Unwritten Episode of the Late War, pp. 165, 166, Says: ‘‘The number of regulars of all arms in the spring of 1862 was put by General Roberts at nine hundred. There were two regiments of New Mexico volunteers, the first having notable officers. The nominal colonel was Céran: St. Vrain, the courtly French pioneer, frontiersman, and trader, whose name has been familiar for half a century on the border, in the nomenclature of the mountain region, and in books of travel and romances. The lieutenant-colonel, and acting commander, was Kit Carson; the major, J. F. Chaves; and one of the captains, Albert H. Pfeiffer, a very paladin of the frontier — a mild-man- nered, blue-eyed, kindly man, and, in the estimatioof n his fellows, probably the most desperately courageous and successful Indian fighter in the West. The colonel of the second was Miguel Pino.’’ A number of the officers of minor grades in the regular army desired to accept commissions in the volunteers. Colonel Canby declined to permit this to be done, and as one of his reasons for this action, said: ‘The prejudice of the Mexican population towards the Americans is so great that if the field officers are taken altogether from the latter class, it is to be apprehended that it will delay, if it does not defeat, the organization of these regiments. This 1S not, perhaps, a good military reason, but it is a necessity, from the character of the people we have to deal with. I have also instructed two or three of the most efficient volunteer officers now in the service that, if they would induce the men of their regiments to enter the service for three years, I would recommend them for commissions as field officers. Colonel Gallegos and LieutenantColonel Valdez are among them, and until I can learn what these men are going to do, I could give no definite answer to your question, even if there were no other obstacles to a favorable answer — .’’ Letter of Colonel Canby to Col. G. R. Paul, Fort Union, New Mexico, January 15, 1862. *99 Colonel Canby, like every other commander of the regular army who had Preceded him since the American occupation and the revolution of 1847, had a very erroneous idea of the Mexican character. These ideas were undoubtedly formed from statements made to him by leading ‘‘ Americans’’ then living in the territory. In January, 1862, in a report to the adjutant general of the army, he said, in commenting upon the fact that no funds had been received for the payment of the volunteer troops: ‘‘It is greatly to be apprehended that the volunteer forces already organized will melt away by desertion, and the people of New Mexico will be rendered still more apathetic than they now : mas ‘Sree aa ice |