Battle of Glorietta Pass

Battle of Glorieta Pass
Part of the American Civil War
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 Union victory
Belligerents
United States	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 26-28, 1862, in the 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 decisive 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 elements 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 lower portion of the New Mexico Territory had been largely neglected by both the federal government and the territorial government in Santa Fe. As a result, Confederate sympathy was strong, in hopes of receiving better treatment by the new government. Following secession moves by residents, Confederate forces seized Mesilla and captured the federal troops there, who made a halfhearted attempt to retreat to Santa Fe. In early 1862 the Confederacy established the Confederate Arizona Territory, which included the southern halves of both modern Arizona and New Mexico. The territorial capital was at Mesilla, some 45 miles from El Paso and near today's major city of Las Cruces. The strategic goals were to gain access to the gold and silver mines of California and the Colorado Territory and the seaports in Southern California, and thus evade the Union naval blockade.

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