Battle of Valverde

The Battle of Valverde, also known as the Battle of Valverde Ford, was fought from February 20 to 21, 1862, near the town of Val Verde at a ford of the Rio Grande in Union held New Mexico Territory, in what is today the state of New Mexico. It was a major Confederate success in the New Mexico Campaign of the American Civil War. The belligerents were Confederate cavalry from Texas and several companies of Arizona militia versus U.S. Army regulars and Union volunteers from northern New Mexico Territory and the Colorado Territory.

The Confederate brigadier general, Henry Hopkins Sibley, envisioned that he would invade New Mexico with his army, defeat Union forces, capture the capital city of Santa Fe and then march westward to conquer California and add it to the territory of the Confederacy. Sibley's first step was to gather an army in El Paso, Texas, and lead it north through Confederate Arizona to Fort Thorn. From there he would advance along the Rio Grande, avoiding the desert of the Jornada del Muerto, with the objective of capturing Fort Craig and the supplies in the fort and defeating the Federal army under Colonel Edward Canby. On January 3, 1862, Sibley left El Paso with three regiments and one partial regiment of mounted Texans comprising 2,510 officers and men. Fort Craig, 140 miles north of El Paso, was the major obstacle in his path. Canby awaited him there with 3,800 men of whom most were infantry. Only 1,200 of Canby's men were seasoned soldiers. The remainder consisted of 2,000 New Mexican volunteers, 100 Colorado volunteers, and 500 militia. Kit Carson commanded the First Regiment of New Mexican volunteers.

Wikipedia