The Battle of Peralta
Date: April 14, 1862
Location: Peralta, New Mexico Territory
Following their defeat at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley's forces in the New Mexico Territory (USA) fell back and rallied to their headquarters in Albuquerque. After Canby began an artillery bombardment of the town, Confederate Colonel Tom Green withdrew from Santa Fe and hastily marched to Albuquerque to aid Sibley. Having successfully consolidated the remnants of his entire Army of New Mexico in Albuquerque, Sibley ordered his army to withdraw to Los Lunas on April 12th. Sibley's army crossed the Rio Grande river to reach Los Lunas on April 13th, with Green's 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers remaining across the river in the town of Peralta, planning to cross over on April 14th.
Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley & Confederate Colonel Tom Green
The morning of April 14th, the Union Department of New Mexico forces of Colonel Edward R. Canby reached the outskirts of Peralta. Canby ordered a cavalry charge at noon, which captured several wagons and the accompanying Confederate guard. The rest of the Confederates fell back into Peralta, fortifying the adobe houses, irrigation ditches, and walls surrounding the town to prepare for a Union assault. Canby believed a frontal assault on the Confederate defenses would incur heavy Union losses, so instead, he ordered Major John M. Chivington to surround the Confederates trapped in Peralta, preventing their escape and to block any rescue attempt from the rest of the Confederates across the river at Los Lunas.
Union Colonel Edward R. Canby & Union Major John M. Chivington
Sibley led a group of mounted Confederates under heavy fire across the Rio Grande to attempt to rescue the 5th Texas, but was repelled by Chivington's men and an artillery barrage. A vicious artillery duel ensued, turning wide swathes of Peralta into smoldering, crumbling ruins.
In a stroke of luck for the Confederates, a heavy dust storm rolled through, giving the Confederates trapped in Peralta the cover they desperately needed to escape.
Many Confederates were killed or captured in the breakout, but Green and the remnants of the 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers were successful in their escape, crossing the Rio Grande and arriving at Los Lunas at around 4:00 A.M, joining the rest of Sibley's army, shortly before the entire Confederate Army of New Mexico withdrew.
The Battle of Peralta was the last concerted effort by Sibley’s Confederate forces to resist being pushed back into Confederate Texas by the Union Department of New Mexico.
After Peralta, the Confederates were in much disarray, with the main Confederate force being harassed by Union cavalry and armed New Mexican townsfolk, angry over the Confederate occupation, all the while being monitored by Graydon's Spy Calvary until they returned to Confederate Texas.
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