The Battle of Valverde, also known as the Battle of Valverde Ford, was fought from February 20 to 21, 1862, near the town of Val Verde at a ford of the Rio Grande in Union-held New Mexico Territory, in what is today the state of New Mexico. It is considered a major Confederate success in the New Mexico Campaign of the American Civil War, despite the invading force abandoning the field. The belligerents were Confederate cavalry from Texas and several companies of Arizona militia versus U.S. Army regulars and Union volunteers from northern New Mexico Territory and the Colorado Territory.
Confederate brigadier general Henry Hopkins Sibley envisioned invading New Mexico with his army, defeating Union forces, capturing the capital city of Santa Fe, and then marching westward to conquer California for the Confederacy. Sibley's first step was to gather an army in El Paso, Texas, and lead it north through Confederate Arizona to Fort Thorn. From there he would advance along the Rio Grande, avoiding the desert of the Jornada del Muerto, with the objective of capturing Fort Craig and the supplies in the fort and defeating the Federal army under Colonel Edward Canby. On January 3, 1862, Sibley left El Paso with three regiments and one partial regiment of mounted Texans comprising 2,510 officers and men. Fort Craig, 140 miles (225 km) north of El Paso, was the major obstacle in his path. Canby awaited him there with 3,800 men of whom most were infantry. Only 1,200 of Canby's men were seasoned soldiers. The remainder consisted of 2,000 New Mexican volunteers, 100 Colorado volunteers, and 500 militia. Kit Carson commanded the First Regiment of New Mexican volunteers.
1st U.S. Cavalry Regiment (2 companies) – Cpt. Richard Lord
3rd U.S. Cavalry Regiment (5 companies) – Maj. Thomas Duncan
5th U.S. Infantry Regiment (5 companies) – Cpt. Benjamin Wingate
7th U.S. Infantry Regiment (3 companies) & 10th US Infantry (3 companies) – Cpt. Peter Plympton
McRae's Battery (formed from elements of 3rd Cavalry) – Cpt. Alexander McRae (North Carolina)
B Company, 2nd Colorado Infantry Regiment – Cpt. Theodore Dodd
1st New Mexico Infantry Regiment – Col. Kit Carson
2nd New Mexico Infantry Regiment – Col. Miguel E. Pino
3rd New Mexico Infantry Regiment – Col. José Gallegos
4th New Mexico Infantry Regiment – Col. Gabriel R. Paul
5th New Mexico Infantry Regiment – Col. Benjamin S. Roberts
Graydon's Independent Cavalry Company – Cpt. James Graydon
2nd Texas Mounted Rifle Battalion – Maj. Charles L. Pyron
4th Texas Cavalry Regiment – Ltc. William Read Scurry
Provisional Artillery Battalion (formed from elements of 2nd, 4th and 5th Texas) – Cpt. Trevanion Teel
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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