The Lead Up
For those of you following along the story of the Confederate State of Arizona, remember that after the battle of Glorieta Pass and apparent Confederate victory turned to disaster with the loss of the Confederate supply wagons in Apache Canyon. Sibley retreated to Santa Fe and ransacked the town for any supplies that could be found. Canby, who learned of the Confederate loss at Glorieta Pass while on the march to join the Pikes Peakers, turned off and moved on Albuquerque instead.
Learning of Canby’s move on Albuquerque, Sibley left Santa Fe to challenge Canby. Sibley had no choice at this point, the only stores he had left were stashed in Albuquerque, and if he didn’t recover what meager supplies he had left there his column was doomed. Also, Albuquerque was the largest base of Confederate supporters, Sibley needed this base of supporters if he hoped to stay in the Confederate State of Arizona longer than a few weeks.
The Battle of Albuquerque
The Battle of Albuquerque was hands down the best battle of the Civil War, if not the least kown. Both sides met on a plain outside of town and faced off. As was common in the Civil War when two armies met, they opened with artillery duel. This went on until a delegation of citizens, led by the mayor, showed up and companied about the noise. Both armies packed up and left, ending the Battle of Albuquerque. No one was hurt.
I can’t help but wonder why nobody else tried this; couldn’t the citizens of Vicksburg have told Grant to knock it off, the kids are sleeping? What about Gettysburg? Weren’t both armies in violation of the law against discharging weapons on Cemetery Hill? The local constable should have arrested Meade, Lee and the whole bunch of them on the first night. Atlanta, Petersburg, Fredericksburg, the list goes on and on. It seems only the good people of Albuquerque had the good sense to tell the armies North and the South to just go away and fight somewhere else.
Why Sibley Retreated
Seriously though, Sibley basically surrendered the stores stashed in Albuquerque and set out for Texas. Canby more or less agreed to give him a head start if he abandoned the supplies. It was a bad deal for Sibley no matter how you looked at and Canby didn't give Sibley much of a head start.
It might be tempting to fault Sibley for abandoning Albuquerque without a fight, but again he had no real choice. Albuquerque was his main base of support in the region. After Valverde when Sibley’s forces stumbled into town hungry and tired, it was the citizens of Albuquerque who gathered supplies and even attacked a Union outpost to feed Sibley’s men.
Most of the time that the Confederates had been in New Mexico they had spent in Albuquerque; the strong base of support they found there might have come from a deeply held resentment against the United States left over from the Mexican American War. New Mexico been under Mexican control after the Mexican rebellion against Spain and the locals were not happy with the way the Americanos had come in and just taken over. There also may have been a strong community of expatriate Southerners for reasons I've discussed elsewhere.
When a delegation of those same Albuquerque citizens asked the armies to leave Sibley knew that he had lost their support and that the situation was hopeless. Sibley made the best deal he could get with Canby and setout for Texas.