Civil War West

By Duane Shaw

D U A N E
is an amateur photographer
who still prefers a fi lm camera
over a digital one when he takes
pictures of American Civil War
reenactments. He lives in El
Paso with his wife Vinita, and
they have six children. He enjoys
reading, history and organizing
material for a book. He likes
to travel, take photos and read
about El Paso politics
Civil War West
is Shaws second book. His fi rst
book Duanes World is selling
very well.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456769000

Duane Shaw

Duane Shaw is a film amateur photographer who likes to take American Civil War events. He lives in El Paso, Texas with his wife, Vinita, and they have 6 children. He enjoys reading, history, and organizing material for a book. He likes to travel, taking photos, and reading about El Paso politics. Civil War West is Shaws second book. His first book Duanes World is selling very well.

Book preview

© 2011. Duane Shaw All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 07/19/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-6899-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-6901-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-6900-0 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011908011

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2

NEW MEXICO: THE SURRENDER

CHAPTER 3

NEW MEXICO: THE NEW TERRITORY

CHAPTER 4

NEW MEXICO: THE CAMPAIGN

CHAPTER 5

NEW MEXICO: GLORIETA

CHAPTER 6

TEXAS CONFEDERATE TEXAS

CHAPTER 7

ARIZONA: CONFEDERATE ARIZONA

CHAPTER 8

CALIFORNIA: UNION CALIFORNIA

CHAPTER 9

NEVADA: UNION NEVADA

CHAPTER 10

UTAH: UNION UTAH

CHAPTER 11

COLORADO: UNION COLORADO

CHAPTER 12

OKLAHOMA: THE TWO SIDES

CHAPTER 13

KANSAS: BLOOD-RED KANSAS

CHAPTER 14

OREGON: THE BEAVER STATE

CHAPTER 15

WASHINGTON: THE STATE OF ALL STATES

CHAPTER 16

IDAHO: THE GEM STATE OR POTATO STATE

CHAPTER 17

MONTANA: THE TREASURE STATE

CHAPTER 18

WYOMING: THE COWBOY STATE OR THE EQUALITY STATE

CHAPTER 19

NORTH DAKOTA: THE SIOUX STATE,

THE PEACE GARDEN STATE OR THE FICKERTALL STATE

CHAPTER 20

SOUTH DAKOTA: THE MOUNT RUSHMORE STATE

CHAPTER 21

NEBRASKA: THE CORNHUSKER STATE

CIVIL WAR WEST

We are divorced, North and South,

Because we have hated each other so.

~Mary Boykin Chestnut

(From the Civil War diaries of the wife of a Southern Senator, James Chestnut)

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

If you are interested in the American Civil War, this book is for you since it tells about the war in the western part of the United States. Back in 1861 areas like Texas, Kansas, California, and Oregon were states. Territories like Nebraska, Dakotas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Washington were not states yet. Nebraska became a state on March 1, 1867, South and North Dakota on November 2, 1889. Statehood came to Oklahoma on November 16, 1907. Wyoming on July 10, 1890. Montana on November 8, 1889. Idaho on July 3, 1890. Utah on January 4, 1896. Nevada on October 31, 1864. Colorado on August 1, 1876. New Mexico on January 6, 1912. Arizona on February 14, 1912 and Washington on November 11, 1889.

This book is full of details a war researcher needs, and it is in plain English; just because I have a Doctorate Degree in Public Administration doesn’t mean I should make it unreadable for most people. This book is from an historian’s perspective, not a writer’s point of view.

Some people know of the Battle of Picacho Pass, Arizona, but I think fewer people know about the western-most engagement between Confederate and Union forces at Stanwix Station Arizona, 80 miles from the California border. Stanwix Station is the 14th stop in Arizona as part of the Butterfield Stage Line. The station was referred to as the Flapjack Ranch for many years. The Civil War didn’t just occur in the Eastern or Midwestern United States. It was an American Civil War and existed from border to border of this country. My goal in writing this book is to provide the reader with a brief history of the American Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi West of the United States.

Now, about myself. The writer and poet Henry D. Thoreau (1817-1862) wrote in his masterpiece (Walden [1854]): I should not talk about myself if there were anybody that knew me as well. I came to El Paso, Texas about 11 years ago from San Antonio, Texas, and I am glad I am here. How a Michigan boy came to Texas is another story. I didn’t get serious about the war until I made my first visit to Fort Craig, New Mexico and saw a real Civil War battlefield at Valverde, New Mexico. Since then, I became hooked on Civil War reenactments. One day when I was coming back from one of these reenactments, I stopped at Fort Selden, New Mexico and learned about the 4th Texas Infantry which does reenactments in various locations. I started attending these events as an interested person and photographer and found them very exciting.

This area of Texas and New Mexico is rich with history and I would like to tell you about the American Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi Area a little about some of the conditions that existed in this country before the war, between the years 1820 and 1860. Historians say these years were the antebellum years, which means before the war.

During this period, the United States was transmuted from a country of farmers to an industrial powerhouse, at least in the North. The South stayed mostly agricultural. This situation caused the North and South to grow apart, and five major trends occurred in the United States.

First came the industrial revolution in the North, where wages and the exchange of goods and services became a way of life for most Northerners. Many inventions came about during these years; for example, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. History tells us that the invention helped the South to increase cotton production. This invention coupled with new modes of transportation—such as the railroad—helped move goods and services between the agricultural South and manufacturing North. The next trend was the change in the social fabric of America; in 1820 most Americans started moving from farms to the cities, probably to find jobs. What came out of this movement was America’s first middle class as we know it. This class was mostly white-collar workers and skilled laborers. These changes gave birth to many reform movements, such as alcohol reduction (not the prohibition of the 1930s), the elimination of prostitution, and the banning of slavery. One recent book on slavery (A People’s History of the United States) states that by 1860 there was a million tons of cotton and 4 million slaves in the United States (pg. 171). That is why slavery became popular among a portion of the urban population. It was President Lincoln that freed the slaves (although some believe it was John Brown). The third trend was the politics in this country. It had changed to two beliefs. In the South, were states righter who believe each state could govern themselves and in the North the attitude was that the Federal Government had authority over the states. I believe this difference helped lead to Civil War among the states and territories. The last trend was the debate over slavery. The South said they needed slaves for their cotton-based economy where most of the northern population wanted the slaves to be emancipated. There were some who did not want social or political equality for African-Americans. History tells us that others opposed the spreading of slavery outside of the South.

During the antebellum years, westward expansion was an issue and had a deep effect on this country’s politics and society. The idea of manifest destiny urged a million Americans to sell their homes and move West. Each discussion on slavery and westward expansion drove the region of the North and the region of the South further apart until finally, around the 1850s, both regions were separated culturally, socially, and economically. I can’t discuss the pre-war conditions without mentioning the big three: The Compromise of 1850, John Brown’s Raid, and the Presidential Election of 1860.

After the war with Mexico in 1846, the United States had to decide which territories it acquired during the war were going to be free states, and which would be slave states. On January 29, 1850, a U.S. Senator by the name of Henry Clay presented a compromise to Congress, and it was adopted. Texas would give up their land for 10 million dollars while New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah would decide if they were to be a free state or a slave state at the time they considered admittance to the United States. California would be admitted as a free state and Washington D.C. would abolish the slave trade. At the same time, the Fugitive Slave Act was enacted that required citizens to assist in the recovery of escaped slaves.

On October 16, 1859, a man by the name of John Brown led 21 men, along with his sons, on a raid of a Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. They were on a mission to abolish slavery. United States Marines led by Robert E. Lee attacked the 21 and resolved the situation. Most of Brown’s men were killed or captured. John Brown was tried and hanged on December 2, 1859.

Then in 1860 the United States presidential election occurred and to some historians, set the stage for the American Civil War (1861-1865). Four men ran for the presidency: Abraham Lincoln ran for the Republican party, John C. Breckinridge ran for the Southern Democrats, Stephen A. Douglas (The Little Giant) ran for the Northern Democrats, and John Bell for the Constitutional Union party. Lincoln won, of course, with 39.8% of the vote with Stephen A. Douglas a close second. One of the Democratic candidates was Andrew Johnson, then a Senator from Tennessee. Johnson became president after Lincoln was assassinated.

Some Words from Walt Whitman (1819-1892):

O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red,

Where on the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! My Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and rib boned wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

Here Captain! dear father!

This arm beneath your head!

It is some dream that on the deck

You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult , O shores, and ring O bells!

But I, with mournful tread,

Walk the deck my Captain lies,

Fallen cold and dead.

CHAPTER 2

NEW MEXICO: THE SURRENDER

My story of the American Civil War in the territory as I know it begins with the Battle of Mesilla, New Mexico and the Surrender at San Augustine Springs. John Robert Baylor played a major role in the first Confederate invasion of New Mexico. He was born in Paris Bourbon County, Kentucky, on July 27, 1822 and in 1840 moved near La Grange, Texas. After several years of Indian fighting and adopting an anti-Indian attitude, John R. Baylor left the state for Oklahoma in January of 1842. He returned to Texas on July 8, 1844 and settled in the town of Marshall where he was married to Emily Hanna on March 27, 1845. They had three sons. John became involved in local politics and was elected to the Texas Legislature in November, 1853. He also studied law and was admitted to the bar on August 17, 1854. He practiced in the District Court of Fayette County, Texas. John R. Baylor continued to have disputes with the Comanche Indians and in July of 1855, he was commissioned a Special Agent and placed in charge of the Comanche. Because of his anti-Indian attitude, he was replaced as the Special Agent on May 18, 1857. Comanche depredations continued, and after an altercation by Baylor in May of 1859 and several Indian raids in 1859 and 1860, things slowed down. In the winter of 1860, rumors of secession and war filled the air and John R. Baylor was elected to the Texas Secession Convention. After the vote on February 23, 1861, and ratification by the people of Texas, the State left the Union and became a part of the Confederacy. When secession took place, John R. Baylor was worried about the Union garrison in San Antonio, Texas commanded by General David Twiggs. But Twiggs turned out to be a Southern supporter and he believed in the right of secession. Anticipating trouble by the garrison, John R. Baylor started recruiting men for the buffalo hunt on the plains but what he was really doing was recruiting for the Second Regiment of Texas Mounted Rifles.

The First Regiment was commanded by Colonel John S. Rip Ford, who was ordered South to the Brownville, Texas area. John R. Baylor was commissioned a Lt. Colonel by the Confederate Congress and assigned to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. By March 16, 1861, the Regiment was fully manned. During the long trip to his first assignment, several forts had to be garrisoned, and due to desertions, the 700-man Regiment was reduced to less than 400 soldiers. John R. Baylor arrived at Fort Bliss on July 13, 1861. He was concerned because of the reports of the large Union build-up at Fort Fillmore, located near Mesilla, New Mexico, and well within striking distance of Fort Bliss. Major Isaac Lynde was in command of Fort Fillmore and he had over 700 men and was expecting troops from Fort Buchanan and Fort Breckinridge in the Arizona Territory that were ordered closed by Colonel Edward Canby, the Union Commander of the Department of New Mexico.

LTC Baylor was well aware of the pro-Confederate feeling in the Arizona Territory and the secession conventions that were held at Mesilla, New Mexico and the Tucson, Arizona Territory. On July 13, 1861, John R. Baylor with approximately 258 men (after the garrison of Fort Bliss) entered New Mexico, and on July 24, 1861 was camped out some 600 yards outside Fort Fillmore.

Baylor decided a direct attack on the fort was not advisable, and entered the town of Mesilla instead. Baylor’s plan was to kill or capture the officers in their quarters and take the men prisoners in their barracks. But during the night, two confederate pickets who were discharged Union soldiers, left their posts and warned the Union garrison of the pending attack. On July 25, 1861, Major Lynde called his officers together and planned a march on the town with six companies of the 7th U.S. Infantry consisting of one artillery unit (four mountain 12-pound howitzers, which are combat cannons) and two companies of Rifles, totaling approximately 380 men. Within two miles of Mesilla, Major Lynde sent his surgeon ahead to obtain a surrender from Confederate LTC Baylor and was told, If you want us, come and get us. Major Lynde then ordered the attack. Two of the Union cannons moved within 300 yards of the Texans and were fired with no immediate impact on the Confederates. The Union command continued to advance slowly toward the outskirts of the town while the field pieces were moved by hand through the heavy sand. From a cornfield and house came the heavy fire of Confederate muskets wounding six Union soldiers and killing three men. With darkness coming on and with trouble moving the cannons in the sand, Major Lynde withdrew his forces and returned to Fort Fillmore. Without the support of the howitzers, he would be sending his troops forward into a slaughterhouse. The Confederates were well dug in and had a strong defensive position. This was a small battle, but it was a battle nonetheless because cannons were used and men died. The rebels could not be reached with the type of weapons available, so the Union soldiers (without the cannons) chose to withdraw, and LTC Baylor decided not to pursue them. At 8:00 am on July 26, 1861, Major Lynde issued the order to abandon Fort Fillmore. Many of the officers and their families were at dinner when they received the order. The reason Major Lynde decided to vacate the fort was that he felt it was indefensible, especially if artillery was discovered.

LTC Baylor expected the Union troops to return the next day and ordered his men to fortify the town of Mesilla. Three routes of escape were open to Major Lynde. He decided on the less hazardous route and that was the one to Fort Stanton, some 154 miles to the northwest, with a stopover for water at San Augustine Springs, 20 miles away. At 1:00 am on July 27, 1861, Major Lynde and his entire command, including the families of five officers, evacuated Fort Fillmore. Many military and personal supplies were destroyed or left behind due to the hurried preparation for travel. LTC Baylor learned and understood Lynde’s plan and ordered his men on a forced march to cut off the retreat of the Unionists. Local scouts told him about a short-cut through the Organ Mountains, four miles from the Springs, which is now called Baylor Pass or Canyon. He used the short-cut to capture Lynde’s command. The Union column moved fairly slowly until daylight; many of the soldiers were suffering from intense heat and want of water. (It is said that Horace Greeley [a notable newspaper tycoon] claimed that many of the Unionists’ canteens contained whiskey instead of water. Based on my research, there is no proof this was actually the case.)

Within 5 miles of the Springs, LTC Baylor and his Confederate troops could see Federal men—fainting and famished soldiers—throwing down their weapons and begging for water. By 11:00 am, there was practically no organized Union rear guard. Not once did the rear guard form up to fire and stop the enemy. The Union Commander said later: I could not bring even 100 men of the infantry battalion to formation to fight… it was worse than useless to resist; honor did not demand the sacrifice of blood. The colors (another word for flag) of the 7th U.S. Infantry were cut up and given to the ladies in the Union column. Major Lynde was at the front of the column and three infantry companies with the artillery wagons in the rear. The command finally came to a halt at San Augustine