The Battle of Valverde, Day 2
Date: February 21, 1862
Location: Valverde River ForD, New Mexico Territory
On the morning of February 21st, Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley ordered his cavalry to cross the Rio Grande by capturing the shallow river fords near the town of Valverde, about five miles upstream from Union stronghold, Fort Craig. Taking these shallow fords would allow the rest of his Confederate Army of New Mexico to cross the Rio Grande and would effectively cut off communication between the Union forces inside Fort Craig and their headquarters in the capital of the pro-Union New Mexico Territory, Santa Fe.
Colonel Edward R. Canby (right) & Confederate General Henry H. Sibley (left)
Having been informed of the Confederates movements, the commander of Fort Craig and the entire Department of New Mexico Union army, Colonel Edward R. Canby, ordered a force of cavalry, infantry, and artillery to go north of Valverde to secure the river fords before the Confederates could.
View of the Black Mesa from Fort Craig with the Valverde River ford on the left, Photo by Gilbert Alonzo
When the Confederates arrived at the river fords, they found that the Union force that Canby sent had beaten them there and opened fire. Under the command of Colonel Benjamin S. Roberts of the 5th New Mexico Infantry, the Union forces at the river fords held a defensive line on the eastern bank while Union artillery fired from the western bank, rebuffing the Confederate’s crossing of the Rio Grande, denying them much-needed water as Confederate canteens began to run dry, and forcing the Confederates to take cover in a nearby dry river bed.
Union Captain Alexander McRae & Union Colonel Benjamin S. Roberts
As Roberts and the Union forces held the line, Canby ordered most of the remaining soldiers to march from Fort Craig to Valverde to reinforce them, leaving behind militia to guard the fort. Arriving at Valverde shortly afterwards, Canby ordered the Union reinforcements and the artillery battery on the eastern bank, led by Captain Alexander McRae, to cross the river fords and fight alongside Roberts.
The Confederate Lancer charge, reenacted in Socorro, NM (2011), Photo by Gilbert Alonzo
By this time in the Confederate headquarters, General Sibley, called a “walking whiskey keg” by his own men, was extremely intoxicated and unable to lead his forces in his current state, gave his command to Colonel Thomas Green, who would lead the Confederate forces for the remainder of the battle. Green then ordered a lancer charge against a Union regiment from Colorado holding the right flank, but the lancers were routed and suffered heavy losses.
Union Colonel Kit Carson & Confederate Colonel Thomas Green
Canby had been watching the battle all morning from the safety of the fort, but arrived on the battlefield at mid-afternoon. Upon his arrival, Canby gave the order that turned what was to be a clear Union victory into a grisly defeat:
Move the 1st New Mexico Volunteer Infantry Regiment, led by Colonel Kit Carson, and an artillery battery to reinforce the Union right flank, leaving their center and left flank severely weakened.
While the Confederates skirmished the newly reinforced Union right flank, Green ordered a mass assault on the newly weakened Union left flank, completely overrunning McRae's battery and killing McRae. Union cavalry charged the attacking Confederates, attempting to halt the attack to no avail. Panic ensued on the Union right. The 1st New Mexico was in the middle of crossing the river when Canby reversed his order, and the awful confusion that ensued led to the Union soldiers attempting to retreat by swimming back across the river, with many drowning in the process or shot in the water by the Confederates.
As the ferocious fighting winded down, Union soldiers of Company K of the 1st New Mexico, under the distinguished command Captain Rafael Chacon, fired the last shots of the battle.
Union Captain Rafael Chacon
With the entire Union right flank in a state of utter chaos, Canby requested to parlay with Sibley and asked for a truce: to gather their dead and dying, and fall back to Fort Craig.
Sibley agreed, and though his Confederate forces were able to take Valverde and win a technical victory, they didn't have enough men and supplies to take their actual objective: Fort Craig. Sibley and his army instead marched toward Sante Fe and Albuquerque, with the goal of capturing them and pillaging the supplies that his army so desperately needed.