The Battle of Canada Alamosa
Date: September 24 - 25, 1861
Location: San Ygnacio de la Alamosa, Confederate-occupied New Mexico Territory
Earlier in July, the Confederates had defeated Union forces at Mesilla, Fort Fillmore, and San Augustin Spring, and in response, the Confederate commander Colonel John R. Baylor established the Arizona Territory, a Confederate domain consisting of the southern halves of Arizona and New Mexico on August 1st, appointing himself governor. The border between the pro-Confederate Arizona Territory and the pro-Union New Mexico was the 34th Parallel, which is where Governor Baylor ordered Confederate forces to patrol and keep watch, especially along the Rio Grande river near the Union fort, Fort Craig.
Union Colonel Edward R. Canby & Confederate Military Governor John R. Baylor
Meanwhile, the Union was aware of this new Confederate presence in the area, and thus Colonel Edward R. Canby, the commander of Union forces in the New Mexico Territory (USA), ordered a force to patrol the area and make contact with the Confederates. This Union force, a cavalry company under the command of Captain John H. Minks, rode from Fort Craig into the Arizona Territory (CSA) on September 24th, camped, and began building fortifications near the village of San Ygnacio de la Alamosa (incorrectly named Canada Alamosa in Union reports) to prepare for a Confederate assault.
That evening, scouts reported a couple sightings of Confederate cavalry in the area, prompting Minks to order his forces to man the fortifications and prepare for an imminent attack.
Confederate Captain Bethel Coopwood
Not long after, Confederate cavalry from Mesilla under the command of Captain Bethel Coopwood launched a direct assault on the Union fortifications, but failed to seize their objectives and fell back into the night. Minks, sensing a ruse, advanced with several of his men with torches to burn the houses on the outskirts of the town to deny the Confederates cover. To his horror, the Confederates had already taken the houses and opened fire, pinning down Minks and his advance party and cutting them off from the rest of the Union forces at the main camp.
The fight lasted for hours as Minks' men tried desperately to contact the main Union force, but as daylight broke, they saw that the main Union force had either retreated or deserted, believing that Minks and his advance party had been massacred. Still under fire, pinned down, and with less than ten men surviving, Minks surrendered his command that morning and was taken prisoner, along with his surviving men and a dozen other soldiers that had been captured from the main camp after they had been cut off.
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