The Battle of Valverde, Day 1
Date: February 20, 1862
Location: near Fort Craig, New Mexico Territory
Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley had a plan: gather an army in Confederate Texas, invade the pro-Union New Mexico Territory, conquer the capital at Santa Fe, take Fort Union, invade the Colorado Territory, and continue marching west to invade pro-Union California and seize control of its gold and silver mines. Acquiring California and the New Mexico Territory for the Confederacy would also make it easy for the European powers to recognize the Confederate States of America as a legitimate coast-to-coast nation, completely separate from the United States, and thus grant the Confederacy diplomatic, material, and possibly military aid.
Thus, it was of paramount importance to the Confederacy that General Henry Hopkins Sibley and his Army of New Mexico accomplish these objectives, and of equal importance to the Union that Colonel Edward R. Canby and his Department of New Mexico prevent them from doing so.
Union Colonel Edward R. Canby & Confederate General Henry H. Sibley
Back in the summer of 1861, Confederate Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor had achieved success by marching and army from Confederate Texas though the southern half of the New Mexico Territory (USA), assaulting the Union forts located along the Rio Grande, and having defeated Union forces in the area, established the Arizona Territory (CSA), consisting of the southern halves of the modern-day Arizona and New Mexico, making himself Governor. Seeking to recreate such successes, Sibley adopted a similar strategy: to conquer the remainder of the New Mexico Territory and California, he would have to take the Union forts within. The first such fort that would have to fall for Sibley’s plan to work was Fort Craig, a fort standing between him and the New Mexico Territory capital of Santa Fe.
After gathering his approximately 2,600-strong Confederate Army of New Mexico, Sibley and his army departed Franklin, present day El Paso, in Confederate Texas and invaded the New Mexico Territory on January 3, 1862 and made their way to assault Fort Craig, about 140 miles away.
The ruins of Fort Craig, Photo by Gilbert Alonzo
On February 13th, the Confederates arrived within 15 miles of Fort Craig, spending the next few days trying to lure the Union forces outside the fort, as Sibley ascertained that the fort was too strong and well-supplied to be taken by direct assault. By February 20th, the Confederates were running low on supplies and now not only needed to seize the fort, but also seize the supplies inside.
That night, Union cavalrymen from Captain James Graydon's Spy Cavalry Company attempted to send two mules strapped with howitzer shells, fuses lit, into the Confederate camp to blow it up. As Graydon and his men ran, the mules turned and began following them. The ensuing explosion only killed the two mules, but caused panic in the Confederate camp with their livestock stampeding out of their camp and towards the Union camp, depriving the Confederates of even more desperately needed supplies, livestock, and the horses they needed for their wagons and cavalry.
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