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Battle of Glorieta Pass

Battle of Glorieta Pass
Part of the American Civil War
Schlacht von Glorieta Pass.JPG
Depiction of the Battle of Glorieta Pass by Roy Anderson
Date March 26–28, 1862
Location New Mexico Territory; modern-day Santa Fe County and San Miguel County, New Mexico
Result Confederate tactical victory;
Union strategic victory
Belligerents
United States United States Confederate States of America Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
John P. Slough
John M. Chivington
Charles L. Pyron
William R. Scurry
Strength
1,300 1,100
Casualties and losses
Apache Canyon
5 killed
14 wounded
3 missing
Glorieta Pass
46 killed
64 wounded
15 captured
Total:
51 killed
78 wounded
15 captured
3 missing
147 total
Apache Canyon
4 killed
20 wounded
75 captured
Glorieta Pass
46 killed
60 wounded
17 captured
Total:
50 killed
80 wounded
92 captured
222 total

The Battle of Glorieta Pass, fought from March 26 to 28, 1862 in northern New Mexico Territory, was the decisive battle of the New Mexico Campaign during the American Civil War. Dubbed the "Gettysburg of the West" (a term that "serves the novelist better than the historian") by some authors, it was intended as the killer blow by Confederate forces to break the Union possession of the West along the base of the Rocky Mountains. It was fought at Glorieta Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in what is now New Mexico, and was an important event in the history of the New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War.

There was a skirmish on March 26 between advance forces from each army, with the main battle occurring on March 28. Although the Confederates were able to push the Union force back through the pass, they had to retreat when their supply train was destroyed and most of their horses and mules killed or driven off. Eventually, the Confederates had to withdraw entirely from the territory back into Confederate Arizona and then Texas. Glorieta Pass thus represented the climax of the campaign.

The Confederacy had organized the Confederate Arizona Territory in 1862, a claim that included the southern halves of modern Arizona and New Mexico, after secession moves by residents. The territory had its capital at Mesilla, outside modern Las Cruces. The strategic aim was to capture the gold and silver mines in California and Colorado Territory and the ports in Southern California.


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