USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume I > Part 20
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been different and that the strength of the Confederacy would have been increased with results that can hardly be computed.
It was in view of the failure of the political movement to annex the southwestern country to the Confederate cause, and with a proper estimation of the strategic importance of controlling this region, that early in 1861 an expedition was planned for the occupation and conquest of New Mexico and Arizona. Such an expedition, in the words of a southerner who ad- vised it, would relieve Texas, open communication to the Pacific, and break the line of operations designed to circumvallate the south." The assist- ance of the Navajos and Apaches was also counted upon to oppose the Union, the assertion being confidently made that "one regiment of In- dians would inspire more wholesome terror in the New Mexican popula- tion than an army of Americans."
It was also believed that the presence of the Confederate army would draw the southern people from Colorado, Kansas and elsewhere to an active participation in the war.
It is evident that considerable secession sentiment existed in New Mexico among the army officers and several centers where the southern settlers were strong. It is stated that Colonel W. H. Loring, command- ing the troops at Fort Fillmore, was a southern sympathizer, and attempted to attach the New Mexican troops to the Confederate cause; and that his plans were checked by Lieutenant-Colonel B. S. Roberts, who later led the Union forces at Val Verde. Loring's disloyalty is shown by his pub- lished correspondence with H. H. Sibley, the commander of the Texas expedition. The soldiers in New Mexico were almost without exception loyal to the Union, but many of the officers adhered to the Confederacy, and when the time came gave their active support to its armies. Loring tendered his resignation May 13, 1861, and Captain Garland, at Las Cruces, deserted his command in July and joined the Confederates at Fort Bliss. La Mesilla was one of the towns where southern sentiment was dominant. In the first year of the war the secession flag was flying and Union men were warned to leave town. The Mesilla Times, the editor of which, Kelly, was killed in a street fight by Colonel Baylor, was a pronounced Confederate organ. The southern sympathizers at this place went so far as to hold a convention and organize a Confederate territorial government for what they called Arizona. The Mexican population, as a rule, were loyal, but their views were latent.
The New Mexican campaign was well under way by the summer of 1861, and two small armies, recruited on Texas soil and mostly from Texas volunteers, invaded the Territory before the close of the year.
During the month of July, 1861, Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor, commanding the Second Texas Mounted Riflles, arrived at Fort Bliss, or Franklin, as it was then called, near El Paso, with about three hundred men. On July 23rd he occupied the town of La Mesilla, N. M., now known as Mesilla, on the west side of the Rio Grande river, in Doña Ana county. By changes in the course of this stream this town, formerly the county seat of Doña Ana county, was left on the east side of the stream. About six miles below La Mesilla, on the east bank of the river, was sit- uated Fort Fillmore, occupied by seven companies of the Seventh United States Infantry, one company of the Mounted Rifles, or Third Cavalry, an
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aggregate of four hundred and ten officers and men, the whole under the command of Major Isaac Lynde of the Seventh Infantry.
The Confederate forces were permitted to pass Fort Fillmore and occupy La Mesilla without resistance. On the afternoon of July 25th Major Lynde ordered out his entire force and marched against the town. Ap- proaching as near as he could with safety, firing a few shots from his artillery and engaging in a short skirmish with other troops, he retreated to the fort with a loss of three killed and seven wounded. Two days later he ordered the destruction of his entire stores and a retreat to Fort Stan- ton. Upon his arrival at a pass in the Organ mountains, about twenty miles from the fort, he surrendered his entire command to an inferior force under Baylor, who had followed in his rear, without a shot having been fired on either side. Major Lynde was dishonorably discharged from the United States Army on account of this ignominious surrender, but after the close of the war he was placed on the retired list of the army.
In the meantime all the posts in the territory now constituting Arizona were abandoned and the federal troops assembled at Fort Craig, in New Mexico. On August Ist Colonel Baylor issued a proclamation organizing the territory of Arizona, making the boundary line between that territory and New Mexico the thirty-fourth parallel of north latitude, with La Mesilla as the seat of government and himself as governor.
In the month of July, 1861, the Confederate government at Rich- mond authorized H. H. Sidley, formerly an officer in the United States Army, to organize an expedition in Texas for the conquest of New Mexico. His brigade consisted of Colonel Baylor's regiment of Texas Mounted Rifles, then in New Mexico; Colonel James Riley's Fourth Regiment, Colo- nel Thomas Green's Fifth Regiment and Colonel William Steele's Seventh Regiment, all of the Texas mounted troops. General Sibley's first act fol- lowing his arrival in New Mexico about the middle of December, 1861, was to issue a proclamation to the people of New Mexico, taking posses- sion of the Territory as its governor, after which he made preparations to move up the Rio Grande and capture the remainder of the Territory. In the meantime Colonel E. R. S. Canby, commanding the Union forces, after- ward general commanding the department of New Mexico, strengthened Fort Craig with earthworks, caused Fort Union, in the northern part of the Territory, to be moved from under a mesa to a better location, about a mile away, had an earthwork constructed there and the quarters of the offi- cers and men rendered bomb-proof, enlisted several regiments of volunteers and reorganized the militia.
On February 16, 1862, General Sibley arrived in front of Fort Craig, where General Canby commanded in person. He made a demonstration to within a mile of the post, then fell back seven miles and crossed to the east bank of the river.
He then passed up the river between two high ridges of lava and around the east end of the Mesa de la Contadero, a table mountain about five hundred feet high, standing just south of the present site of San Marcial, and into Val Verde (Green valley), a plain about two miles long just north of the mesa, studded with cottonwood trees and extending back from the river half a mile to some low sand ridges. Canby moved up the river on the west side, and about ten o'clock on the morning of February 21st the action commenced. Canby crossed his entire command, excepting a small
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force of New Mexican militia under command of Colonel Juan Cristobal Armijo, who were left there to defend the fort and the munitions and sup- plies it contained while the battle was in progress. The action on the Val Verde lasted from ten o'clock in the forenoon until dark, when the Union forces were withdrawn to the west side of the river and retreated to the fort, having sustained a loss of three officers and sixty-five men killed, three officers and one hundred and fifty-seven men wounded, and one officer and thirty-four men prisoners. The enemy's loss was forty killed and two hundred wounded.
Describing this battle of Val Verde, Major Eugene Van Patten of Las Cruces, who was a participant, says that the Confederates, after coming up the river to Contedaro, which they found guarded by a Union force, were compelled to go around the mesa below Socorro to the old Spanish ford, Val Verde, where another federal force disputed the crossing. While scouting on the evening of the 20th, Captain Van Patten and a small force met Kit Carson's regiment. Carson's command thought the one Confed- erate company was the entire army, and Van Patten believed he was in the midst of the whole Union army, so that both forces felt relieved to escape without injury. Next day the Union troops commenced crossing to the east side of the river, just below San Marcial. McRae's battery, crossing first, was charged by the Confederates and almost annihilated, fourteen guns being captured and all but five of the company being killed, includ- ing McRae. A heavy loss was also inflicted on the infantry company guard- ing the artillery in crossing. The Confederates lost Maior Lockridge and twenty-seven men, the former being killed while ordering his men not to shoot a boy who was carrying a Union flag across the river.
The fight went on all day, shot and shell denuding the trees of their leaves and small branches. Finally the order was issued for four compa- nies of lancers, equipped only with their lances. and six-shooters, and four companies armed with double-barreled shotguns to charge the entrenched Union infantry. According to Major Van Patten, the aide who bore the message made a mistake and ordered the gun men to charge one set of infantry and the lancers on another. The courage of that body of lancers in charging to certain death has left a mark in literature. Out of a total of two hundred and eighty, hardly forty were left. The division armed with shotguns and firing sixteen buckshot and a minie bullet was more successful and nearly exterminated the Union infantry opposed to them. The original order had been to charge the entrenched infantry at the extreme right of the Union line, that the gun men should lead the attack, and while reloading should allow the lancers to pass through and complete the work.
After the battle had gone on from 8:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon, the federals sent a flag of truce under Major Robert H. Staple- ton, and Mr. Van Patten, then a first lieutenant, went out to meet him. An armistice of three days was agreed upon in which to bury the dead. The federals carried their men away in wagons, while the Confederates buried theirs three deep in a trench six hundred feet long. The Confederates lost over 460 men killed, while the Union loss was much greater.
After the battle of Val Verde the Confederates moved up the river, capturing Albuquerque and Santa Fé and thence directed their campaign against Fort Union, which they planned to take.
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During the last week of March Colonel John P. Slough, commanding the First Regiment of Colorado Volunteers, thirteen hundred and forty-two officers and men, with two small batteries of four men each, left Fort Union to effect a junction with Canby. On March 26 his entire advance, consist- ing of two hundred cavalry and one hundred and eighty infantry, under Major Chivington, of the same regiment, encountered the enemy in Apache Canyon, about fifteen miles east of Santa Fé, at a place called Johnson's Ranch. The Confederates under Major Pyron were about three hundred and fifty strong. An engagement followed, in which both sides claimed a victory. The Union loss was five killed and fourteen wounded, while the Confederate loss was thirty-two killed, forty-three wounded and seventy- one prisoners. (Van Patten's figures for Union loss, forty killed and sixty- eight wounded or prisoners.) Major Chivington fell back to Pigeon's Ranch, near Glorieta Pass. Major Pyron, who commanded the Confed- erates, was reinforced during the night by Colonel W. R. Scurry and his command, making the Union and Confederate forces about equal.
At eleven o'clock in the morning the Confederate pickets were en- countered. The engagement commenced in a deep gorge, with a narrow wagon track running along the bottom, the ground rising precipitately on each side, with huge boulders and clumps of stunted cedars covering the ground. The batteries on both sides were brought forward, the infantry thrown out upon the flanks, and the firing quickly became general. Colonel Slough had been informed that the entire Confederate baggage and ammu- nition train was at Johnson's Ranch, and before the action began Major Chivington's command was dispatched over the mountain to this point, unobserved by the Confederate armv. It fell upon their camp, which was guarded by about two hundred men, attacked the supply train of eighty wagons, and completely destroyed it, capturing a six-pounder gun. Two Confederate officers and fifteen men were taken prisoners. (Major Van Patten states that while the main body of troops had been sent ahead a band of seventeen New Mexico militia reached the unguarded Confederate supply train and burned it.)
This loss was the most serious the Confederate army had met during the entire campaign, as all the baggage and provisions were destroyed, without the loss of a single Union man.
The fight in Apache Canyon continued until late in the afternoon, when the Confederates retreated toward Santa Fé. According to official Federal reports they "retired in a completely demoralized condition." Colonel Slough having accomplished ali that was desired, returned to Fort Union. This engagement is designated in the Union reports as the "Battle of Apache Cañyon," and in the reports made by the Confederate officers as the "Battle of Glorietta," or Glorieta.
Upon learning of the approach of the "California Column," and hav- ing lost practically all of his baggage and supplies, General Sibley deter- mined to evacuate the country. He commenced his retreat about the mid- dle of April.
Colonel Eugene VanPatten, living retired in Las Cruces, after active connection with many movements and interests resulting to the benefit of his district, was born in Oneida county, New York, November 10, 1841, and in the fall of 1857 came to New Mexico with the overland mail of the
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An excellent brief account of the New Mexico invasion was written by Joseph D. Sayers in 1902, at that time governor of Texas, and who had commanded the famous Val Verde Battery in that expedition. While writ- ing from the southern standpoint, his exposition of the salient features of the campaign is judiciously historical and quite free from bias. His story of the campaign is given in the following paragraphs :
"During the early fall of 1861 were organized at San Antonio into a
old Butterfield line. He started from Jefferson City, Missouri, and trav- eled by successive stages to Tipton, Missouri, Fort Smith, Arkansas, Fort Chadbourne, Texas, on to the Concha river, to Horseshoe Crossing of the Pecos river, to Fort Stockton, Texas, to Fort Davis, Texas, to Fort Quit- man, Texas, to San Elisario, Texas, to El Paso, Mesilla, Tucson, Yuma and Los Angeles. In 1858 he carried President Buchanan's message across the country, beating the steamship company by three days and eight hours. The railroad at that time was built to a point only twenty miles east of Jefferson City. Mr. VanPatten was conductor between El Paso and Tucson, and the fare at that time was ten cents per mile. There were many hardships to be borne in connection with this service, but he con- tinued as conductor up to the time the mail was removed to the northern route. He then made his home in El Paso. His uncle, Giles Hawley, was vice-president and general manager of the Butterfield line, with head- quarters at Mesilla. Mr. VanPatten engaged in mining and scouting across the plains until the war opened, at which time he was at the gold mines at Pinos Altos. He served in the Confederate army with the New Mexico troops, and the close of hostilities found him at Franklin, now El Paso, Texas, in command of a hospital. He afterward spent two or three years in merchandising at Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and continued in the same line of business in El Paso. He served as sheriff of El Paso, and was United States marshal for western Texas and a member of the mounted police force, acting as lieutenant of the first mounted police force organized in Texas. He has many times acted as guide, interpreter and scout, and was regarded as the finest trailer in the country, because of his thorough knowledge of this section, and also of the Indian customs, methods and languages.
Since 1872 Colonel VanPatten has lived in Las Cruces, where he has again been called to various public offices, the duties of which have been promptly and capably performed. He has been sheriff of Doña Ana county for two terms and the county judge for two years, justice of the peace five years and chief deputy United States marshal for eight years in New Mexico. He was also official interpreter of the territorial court of the third judicial district for several years, and in politics has always been a Republican.
Colonel VanPatten was married in 1865 to Benita Madrid, a princess and queen of the Peres Pueblo Indians of Juarez, Mexico, the dominating race of northern Mexico. The Peres were not amenable to Mexican laws. Mrs. VanPatten died in 1875, and of their five children but one is now living, Emelia, the wife of James P. Ascarate. Colonel VanPatten owns a mountain ranch resort, the VanPatten Mountain Camp, fourteen miles east of Oregon mountain, and was once owner of the Alameda ranch, a mile and a half north of Las Cruces.
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brigade the Fourth, Fifth and Seventh regiments of Texas mounted volun- teers. These troops were drawn from the best citizenship of the State and their enlistment was for and during the war. The regiments were com- manded respectively, by James Reiley, Thomas Green and William Steele, and the brigade by H. H. Sibley. To the command were attached four sections of Mountain Howitzers.
"The troops were without uniform and armed with the citizen rifle and the shotgun. Now and then a soldier was so fortunate as to have obtained for himself a revolver. Two companies of the Fifth regiment (Lang's and McCown's) were armed with lances, after the Mexican fashion, instead of guns.
"Upon the supposition, which then generally prevailed throughout the country, that the war would be of short duration and that each side would retain the territory in its possession, these troops were ordered to New Mexico. It was altogether impracticable for them to move in a solid body, and each regiment was broken into detachments of convenient size. During the months of November and December the march from San Antonio to New Mexico was begun by way of the overland mail route to El Paso, the objective point being Santa Fé, distant, as then traveled, fully 1,200 miles from San Antonio.
"It was a midwinter campaign-far from the base of supplies, with no other troops, save a few companies of Baylor's regiment, under the com- mand of Captain Tobin and Teele's battery, in supporting distance, without any stores of whatever character except such as were carried with them, and among a people, the great majority of whom were of a different nation- ality and not at all in sympathy with the Southern Confederacy. No one
Captain William R. Shoemaker, deceased, captain of ordnance in the United States army, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October II, 1809. He joined the army August 4, 1841, through the civil appointment. He had previously been in charge as military store keeper of the United States arsenal at Rock Island, Illinois, from 1836 until 1841, and from that place went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he had charge of the casting of shells and the manufacture of ammunition for the Mexican war. In the spring of 1848 he left St. Louis and went to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he remained until July 1, 1849, when he joined General Monroe's expedition to Santa Fé, where he arrived on the 15th of September, 1849, with his wife and eight children. He was ordered to look up a site for an arsenal under the direction of General E. V. Sumner, who located at Fort Union, and Captain Shoemaker established the arsenal near the fort. He built the first house on the site of the fort in 1850 and in the spring of 1851 the construction work on the fort and arsenal were begun. Here was established the supply depot for all the troops in the southwest, including the troops in California, western Texas, Colorado, Utah and parts of Nevada. Captain Shoemaker remained at Fort Union from 1851 until his death, on the 17th of September, 1886. During the Civil war a part of the regular troops at Fort Union rebelled and went with the south. General Slough marched an unarmed regiment into Fort Union and Captain Lime, commanding, refused to arm and provision them. Captain Shoemaker then told Slough to march his regiment over and he would arm it and Slough forced provisions from Lime under threats that he would take the fort if
Vol. I. 9
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not personally acquainted with the conditions that prevailed in 1861 and 1862 along the route from San Antonio to Santa Fé, can fully appreciate the many very great difficulties, embarrassments and privations that must necessarily have attended the movement of so large a body of men during the months of December, January, February and March. To add to the gravity of the situation all of the territory between Fort Craig on the south and Fort Union on the north was, upon the approach of the Confederates, com- pletely denuded by the Federals of all supplies whatever except such only as were necessary to the actual support of a thinly populated and hostile country.
"The Fourth and Fifth regiments and a part of the Seventh, with two or three companies of Baylor's regiment and Teele's battery of light artil- lery, entered the territory of New Mexico during January, 1862. The weather was very cold, the men without tents and poorly clad; rations and ordnance stores short, and no forage whatever except such grass as was to be found on the line of march.
"Moving along the bank of the Rio Grande river, the command reached within a few miles of Fort Craig on the 18th of February. Here was concentrated, it is believed, about 6,000 Federal troops, many of them being in the regular service, thoroughly disciplined and in every respect well equipped. General Canby, afterward killed in the Modoc war, was in im- mediate command. The Confederates did not number exceeding 1,800 fighting men.
"The fort was directly upon and commanded the road leading up the Rio Grande river. Being numerically too weak and without ordnance of sufficient size and character to justify a direct assault the Confederates
refused. The officers of the fort were so incensed at Captain Shoemaker's attitude that he was forced to build a block house for the protection of him- self, family and a force of fifteen men. They then provided arms and laid a train of powder to the magazine in an event of an attack by the Tex- ans and the rebels, having one hundred tons of ammunition. The attitude and the movements of Captain Shoemaker at this time proved a turning point in the campaign in New Mexico and decided the crisis. At the bat- tle of Glorieta Lieutenant Ed William Shoemaker, son of Captain Shoe- maker and a member of Logan's battery, offered to capture a detachment and cut them off from the south. He did so and was instrumental in de- stroying the wagon train. This expedition was headed by Asa B. Carey. Like his father, Lieutenant Shoemaker remained loyal to the Union and served throughout the war.
Samuel E. Shoemaker. another son of Captain William R. Shoemaker, was born at Rock Island, Illinois, December 27, 1844, and has been a resi- dent of New Mexico since 1849. He was in the Indian service against the Navajos for thirteen years and retired from the army in July, 1905. He had entered the service as a farmer and finally had charge of all irrigation, having his headquarters on the San Juan river. He crossed the reservation forty-eight times in the performance of his dutv. He early had a farm in Carey valley at Shoemaker, Mora county (being named in honor of his father), where he remained for several years. Since his retirement from military service he has given his attention to farming and stock raising near Aztec.
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determined to turn the fort and penetrate the interior of the territory by crossing the river and marching over the sand hills, along which there was no road, and again strike the river at the Val Verde, a few miles above the fort. In making this detour no water was to be had except such as could be carried by the men in their canteens. As was apprehended the Federals then moved out of the fort, and taking possession of the river banks awaited the approach of the Confederates.
"Skirmishing began on the morning of the 21st, but it was not until about midday that the engagement began. It lasted until near dark, when the Federals rapidly recrossed the river in great confusion and retreated to the fort, leaving the Confederates in the possession of the field and also of a battery of light artillery, afterward known as the Val Verde battery. Colo- nel Thomas Green of the Fifth commanded the Confederate forces during the action.
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