The Battle of Glorieta Pass, Day 1
Date: March 26, 1862
Location: Glorieta Pass, Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico Territory
Following the Battle of Valverde earlier in February, Union Colonel Edward R. Canby had put Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley and his Army of New Mexico in a very disadvantageous situation. On the banks of the Valverde river ford, the Union Department of New Mexico forces had suffered a technical defeat to the Confederates, but their stiff resistance had cost the Confederates men they simply could not replace, as well as supplies which were already running desperately low. Additionally, though the Confederates had taken the field, their primary objective of capturing the headquarters and stronghold of Union Army in New Mexico, Fort Craig, had failed.
Union Colonel Edward R. Canby & Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley
Sibley had two choices then: Continue their invasion of the New Mexico Territory with a greatly diminished Confederate force and with the Union forces in Fort Craig on their rear, or call off the invasion and return to Texas.
Confederate Lieutenant Colonel William R. Scurry & Confederate Major Charles L. Pyron
Sibley and his staff decided to press onward. Traveling further west, the Confederates captured and occupied Sante Fe and, earlier that week, Albuquerque on March 2nd where Sibley established his headquarters. After requisitioning supplies from the town, Sibley ordered Confederates Lieutenant Colonel William R. Scurry and Major Charles L. Pyron on an expedition through the severe winter weather to capture Glorieta Pass in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, as securing the pass would leave the path wide open to finally capturing Fort Union.
In the meantime, to replenish Union ranks after the severe losses at Valverde, Canby ordered the creation of a new regiment of volunteers from Colorado under the command of Colonel John P. Slough, formerly an attorney in Denver. After mustering in at Denver City, Slough received orders from Canby to “act independently against the enemy”, and so the new 1st Colorado Volunteers regiment began their brutal freezing march into the New Mexico Territory (USA), reaching Fort Union on March 11th. Deciding that the best way to follow Canby's orders was to seek out and destroy the Confederates, Slough and the 1st Colorado along with a cavalry detachment and New Mexican militia left Fort Union on the Santa Fe Trail on March 22nd, leaving behind a small force to protect the fort.
Union Colonel John P. Slough & Union Major John M. Chivington
Reaching Bernal Springs on March 24th, Slough ordered Major John M. Chivington to take an advance force of 418 soldiers further along the Santa Fe Trail to try and locate the Confederate forces in the area. The next day, Chivington and his men arrived at Kozlowski's Ranch, a key stop along the trail near the eastern entrance of Apache Canyon, and set up camp. Meanwhile, an advance force of about 400 Confederates under Pyron was camped at Johnson's Ranch on the western entrance of the canyon, while the rest of the Confederates were camped at the nearby village of Galisteo.
On the morning of March 26th, the Union forces continued down Apache Canyon, captured the Confederates pickets in the area, and advanced on Pyron's force. Chivington ordered frontal assault down the center of the canyon, but after coming under artillery fire, ordered the Union force to divide into two groups, ascend the canyon walls, and flank the Confederates while firing on them from both walls of the canyon.
Being fired on from above, Pyron ordered a retreat to a narrow point in the canyon to establish defensive positions, rally his men, and wait for the imminent Union assault.
Again, the Union forces flanked the Confederates and fired down on them from the canyon walls. The prior retreat and the unrelenting Union enfilading fire began breaking up the Confederate force into pockets. Chivington ordered a cavalry charge down the center of the canyon to finish off and capture the Confederate force, as Pyron ordered a desperate retreat back to Johnson's Ranch. The Union force captured 71 Texans during the retreat and with nightfall quickly approaching as well as not knowing if there was another Confederate force in the area, fell back to Kozlowski's Ranch to regroup.
That night, both sides sent word of the battle in Apache Canyon to their main forces; Chivington to Slough camped in Bernal Springs, and Pyron to Scurry camped in Galisteo, and prepared for the massive, inevitable battle to come.