Union victory United States of America Confederate States of America The New Mexico campaign was a military operation of the trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War from February to April 1862 in which Confederate Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley invaded the northern New Mexico Territory in an attempt to gain control of the Southwest, including the gold fields of Colorado and the ports of California.

Historians regard this campaign as the most ambitious Confederate attempt to establish control of the American West and to open an additional theater in the war.

They won the Battle of Valverde but failed to capture Fort Craig or force the surrender of the main Union Army in the territory.

Following his arrival in New Mexico in January, Sibley organized his artillery into a battalion under the command of Captain Trevanion Teel, whom he promoted to major.

Secession conventions in Mesilla and Tucson voted to join the territory to the Confederacy in March 1861, and formed militia companies to defend themselves.

[citation needed] The 1862 campaign was a continuation of this strategy formulated by Sibley in a plan presented to Confederate president Jefferson Davis.

Once these territories had been secured, Sibley intended to take the northern Mexican states of Chihuahua, Sonora, and Lower California, either through purchase or by invasion.

[12] He called on the citizens to abandon their allegiance to the Union and to join the Confederacy, warning that those "who co-operate with the enemy will be treated accordingly, and must be prepared to share their fate.

The next day the Confederates marched to Valverde Ford, six miles (9.7 km) north of the fort, in an attempt to outflank the Union forces.

Canby attacked, but the Union forces were driven back by the Confederates under Colonel Thomas Green, who took command after Sibley was indisposed (and possibly drunk).

With limited supplies and ammunition and outnumbered, Sibley chose to retreat to Texas, leaving Albuquerque on April 12 after a small fight a few days earlier.

During the retreat, looting, destruction and confiscation of food, and forage by the desperate Confederate soldiers drove New Mexican citizens to resistance along the line of march down the west bank of the Rio Grande.

At Socorro, New Mexico a small confederate unit of four men under a Lt. Simmons was captured by Union Scout Captain "Paddy" Grayson and one man.

Following the Confederate retreat, units from the Union California Column under the command of Colonel James Carleton occupied several forts in western Texas.

[22] There are numerous interpretive signs and exhibits around the park and along nearby roads including Interstate 25, which parallels the Santa Fe National Historic Trail through Glorieta Pass.

[23] The Battle of Peralta (loosely depicted in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) was commemorated by a state historical marker[24] at the north end of the village, now surrounded by suburban development from metropolitan Albuquerque.