Fort Craig and the Battle of Valverde 
February 21-22, 1862
Driving Directions
Socorro, NM
Updated Thursday, July 29, 2010 5:53 PM
Clear | 73°F | High: 86°F
Low: 63°F
Wind: 6 mph
Humidity: 64%
|
Friday
87° / 64° | 
Saturday
87° / 64° |
Sunday
87° / 63° |
Monday
87° / 63° |
|
|
|
Click on the map for Interactive, Aerial and Birds Eye Views.
Maj. Gen. Edward Canby vs. Brig. Gen. Henry H. Sibley
It is said that amatures speak of tactics, while experts speak of supplies: Why? Why do I bring that up here?
The fort wall on the left with the main gate area ahead. The flag pole mark the entrance to the fort.
Flag over Fort Craig. The main gate area.
The guardhouse sat just inside the main gate. This is where the Confederates presented themselves to demand the surrender of the fort.
Inside the wall and a log canon. Logs were set up on the walls, as were poles with hats on top, after the battle of Valverde to make the Conferedates reconsider an assult on the fort. The Confederates didn't attack so it must have worked. By the way, it fooled me, as I approached the fort I thought it was a canon.
The view of the parade area inside the fort. The trees along the Rio Grand can be seen in the backround.
Officers Quarters
One of the forts storehouses that were the target of the Confederates.
These shots were taken in the areas of the stables.
Valverde
In this map we see the particular, start at the bottom at Fort Bliss in Texas. Texas had rebelled and tossed out the Union Army before Abe Lincoln was sworn in. Before the first shots at Fort Sumter Texans were forming an invasion force to invade the New Mexico Territory. In the late spring of 1861 the Confederate commander of Texas, Col. Earl Van Dorn, ordered Lt. Col. John Baylor occupy Fort Bliss as preparation for attacking Fort Fillmore straight north up the highway, in New Mexico. You can read more about the fate of Fort Fillmore on the C.S. Arizona page. Further up the highway is Fort Thorn where Baylor joined forces with Brig. Gen. Henry Sibley. Continue up the highway to Fort Craig, where Lt. Col. Edward Canby USA waited in his isolated desert compound. Further north on the same highway you come to Albuquerque and its very silly battle continue to Apache Canyon and left into Glorieta Pass. You can keep going to Fort Union on the main highway.
The actual battle of Valverde was fought on the far side of the mesa pictured above.
The Union advanced around the left side of the mesa in the distance.
The Confederates advanced around the right side of the same messa.
They met at the river.
The Confederates bypassed the fort on the far side of the Rio Grand River, hidden down in the trees. They weren’t fooling anybody; the Union troops knew the Confederates were there.
The day after the battle Sibley road up the main gate guardhouse under a flag of truce to demand the forts surrender. He didn't get one though and had to abandon the field. Somehow, the Confederates count Valverde as a victory.
So, now Sibley is in serious trouble, he marches to Albuquerque seizes all of the federal stores he can find. A band of Confederate sympathizers attacked a small pro union garrison in Cubero and give the stores to Sibley. Now re-supplied Sibley decides to Take Santa Fe and enters the Territorial capital on March 10. At least the Union shipped all of it stores in Santa Fe to Fort Union before Sibley arrived.
The Confederates once again find themselves in the catbird seat. With the capture of Santa Fe they have effectively taken all of the New Mexico Territory except Fort Union and Fort Craig. Canby seeing his fortunes flipped again had retreated back inside Fort Craig to await further developments. Sibley decided to attack Fort Union, word in the street said that the 800 man garrison was demoralized and would give up without much of a fight.
Unknown to Sibley, a new column of Colorado Volunteers under Col. John Slough was fairly running to join the fight, tramping out upwards of 40 miles a day. The Coloradans called themselves the Pikes Peakers and arrived at Fort union on March 11th. The Pikes Peakers had covered 400 miles in less than two weeks, most had walked.
Col. Slough pulled rank on the fort’s commander Col. Gabriel Paul and despite Paul’s strong objections, all but abandoned the fort, taking most of the garrison, and set off after Sibley. On March 26th Slough entered Glorieta Pass.
I wish I could say I planned this last shot, but luck trumps thought once again. This view shows everything: in the background is the mesa which the two forces maneuvered around; to the mid left is the main gate under the flag pole where Sibley demanded the forts surrender. Mid right is the parade ground where his captured supply wagons where parked; in the foreground are the Fort Craig store houses that Sibley needed to capture if his plans were going to work.
Other sources of information: