And by "the War" I mean what we Southerners always mean by those two little words...the War Between the States. Only I am not in the "south" these days....or am I? I learned that the territory that encompassed New Mexico, Arizona and parts I think of Colorado and Utah was claimed as Confederate Territory in 1862. So, I AM in the south still, after all! :-) And, the site of a skirmish of 15 April 1862 was Picacho Peak, a craggy volcanic mountain just north of here, holds reenactments of the three sole battles fought in the new Confederate Territory...Valverde, New Mexico, Picacho Pass, Arizona, and Glorieta, New Mexico. On Saturday we drove out to Picacho Peak with our grandson to enjoy the reenactment of Glorieta, New Mexico. The reenactors did a marvelous job!
Our grandson trying to get comfortable on a volcanic rock while we wait for the battle to begin...
Grandaddy shows him how to adjust the binoculars.
The Union Infantry take the field before the battle begins.
The Union Cavalry arrive.
The Confederate Infantry take their positions.
The battle ensues....The Texans which comprised most of the Confederate troops arrived at the mouth of Apache Canyon in Glorieta, NM, east of Santa Fe. Their intent was to choke out the Union access to the Santa Fe Trail.
The Cavalry charge in... Confederate forces consisted of about a thousand men and 3 cannons. The Union forces numbered about 850 men and 8 cannons.
By 2 pm the Confederates had manged to push the Union right flank back a quarter of a mile. Gaining high ground on the Union right, Texans poured heavy fire into the Federal positions, forcing their withdrawal into the Canyon. By Battle's end at 4:30 pm, the Federals had retreated more than a mile with the Texans in firm command of the mouth of the Canyon.
During the main battle, 490 Federals struck a fatal blow to the Texan advance. While attempting to link up with the main force they discovered a Confederate supply train, drove off the guard, slaughtered the draft animals and burned the supply wagons. The loss of the supplies spelled disaster for the Confederates who, although having won a tactical victory, were now forced to begin a long and agonizing retreat back to Texas.
A medic moves among the troops tending to the wounded.
The Union and Confederate forces meet for surrender terms at the end of the battle.
The bivouac.
Ladies in their period dress.
And at the end, though we walked around some to look at the tents and vendors, we were really tired by that point, and our grandson was more interested in climbing the rocks! :-) And there was definitely some great volcanic rock to climb!
A view of Picacho Peak. The actual skirmish that happened here was between 12 Union cavalry and 1 scout who discovered and captured 3 Confederate lookouts but failed to see 7 other Confederate soldiers before they opened fire. During the skirmish Union Lt. Barrett and 2 of his men were killed and 3 others wounded. More than an hour later, both sides withdrew from the scene. Lt. Barrett's grave is near the railroad tracks and remains unmarked.
There is a State Park on Picacho Peak but we did not go up to the Park Saturday. Will have to save that for another day...
I am linking to
Our World Tuesday today.
Formed in 2009, the Archive Team (not to be confused with the archive.org Archive-It Team) is a rogue archivist collective dedicated to saving copies of rapidly dying or deleted websites for the sake of history and digital heritage. The group is 100% composed of volunteers and interested parties, and has expanded into a large amount of related projects for saving online and digital history.
