Canby had succeeded to department command after his predecessor had resigned from the army and gone east to join the Confederacy, and immediately ordered the recruitment of companies that became the 1st and 2nd New Mexico Infantry.
Miguel Estanislado Pino, a wealthy farmer and politician from the Santa Fe area, was commissioned colonel of the regiment.
The regiment was intended to concentrate at Albuquerque and by early fall eight companies had been organized and mustered into service.
Lt. Col. Manuel Antonio Chaves led a detachment of 2nd New Mexican Volunteers whose scouts had detected the Confederate supply train at Johnson's Ranch nearby during the Battle of Glorieta Pass.
Alerted by Chavez, Major John M. Chivington's command including Chavez, fell upon the train, defeated its guards and destroyed it, forcing the withdrawal of the Confederate Army from the battle to Santa Fe, where they began a long and dangerous march back into Texas.