The Road to Glorieta; A Confederate Army Marches through New Mexico

By Donald Healey

This is the story of 3,000 stalwart Texans, who carried the Confederate banner into the deserts and mountains of the Southwest. They were a zealous and determined army of committed volunteers marching off to war at a time when anything seemed possible. Relying heavily on diaries, memoirs, and other first person accounts, personalities, emotions, and narrative are pushed to the forefront. Often told in participants' own words, the story is a day-to-day account of the adventures of ordinary men living through extraordinary times. The chain of events that led to the clash of two small but rugged frontier armies, remains one of the most stirring and least known episodes of our nation's struggle. Vintage photographs, maps, rigorous footnotes, and an extensive bibliography enhance this extensive work. This book is a MUST for anyone interested in the Civil War or the Southwest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donald Healey
• Release date: Jun 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9780985729196

Donald Healey

Denise and Don have been happily together for 40 years. They both attended the University of California at Riverside, California State University Humboldt, and Lane Community College in Eugene Oregon. Between them they've worked all sorts of jobs ranging from pot washer and bicycle mechanic to pharmacy technician and hair stylist. For the past 10 years, Denise has been a professional tour manager leading groups for Holland America, Let's Go Travel, and most recently Collette Vacations. Before leaving to travel, Don was a vice president of the University of Oregon Foundation in charge of their information systems. They launched their around the world trip from Eugene, Oregon, but today they reside in Prescott, Arizona where they are reestablishing a home base and planning their next adventure.

Book preview

ILLUSTRATIONS

Captain Isaac Adair

Hon. John Titus Smith

Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley

Capt. David Alexander Nunn

Muster Roll of Company H

Lt. Col. John R. Baylor

Requisition for Ordnance

Sibley’s Texas Rangers

Fort Bliss - 1862

Col. E.R.S. Canby

Colonel Kit Carson

Captain Trevanion Teel

Mountain Artillery

Remains of Fort Craig

On the Line of Battle

Captain Theodore Dodd

Private Alonzo Ickis

Col. Thomas Green

Battle of Valverde

Captain James Hubbell

Captain Alexander McRae

Captain Rafael Chacon

Private Wady T. Williams

Gov. William Gilpin

Company G, 1st Regiment

Col. John P. Slough

Gov. Gilpin's vouchers

Col. Gabriel Rene Paul

Major John M. Chivington

Captain Cook's Charge

Unidentified Texas soldier

Lt. Col. William Read Scurry

Pigeon's Ranch, New Mexico

Lt. Col. Samuel Tappan

Glorieta, New Mexico

Col. Manuel Chaves

Santa Fe, Looking North

Plaza, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gov. Henry H. Connelly

MAPS

The Southwest in 1862

Route of Sibley Brigade

Operations around Fort Craig

Valverde

Glorieta Pass

Canby's N.M. Campaign

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe a debt of thanks to many people and organizations for their generous and unflagging assistance during the preparation of this book. First and foremost I want to thank Miss Eliza Bishop of the Houston County Historical Society. Without the initial leads she provided, and the contacts she helped me make, The Road to Glorieta would not have been possible. I also want to thank: James B. Evans, for preserving an important piece of Isaac Adair's history; Jerry Thompson for unwittingly setting me on a path; Donald Frazier for stoking my enthusiasm; Elisabeth Arrington Montgomery, Dr. Don Alberts, James H. Berry, Jr., Dr. F.R. Collard, Marion C. Grinstead, Mr. Emmett W. Muenker, Norma Mumey, Mr. Lawrence T. Jones III, Ed Whitted, Chuck Stern, Paul Harden, Ridley Politiski, Lannie Walker, Sr., Peggy Fox of The Harold B. Simpson Confederate Research Center at Hill College Hillsboro, Texas, Ms. Mavis Marek of the Crockett Public Library, Cassandra McCraw of the Special Collections section of the University of Arkansas Libraries, The staff of the Austin Public Library, The staff of the Denver Public Library, The Staff of the Colorado Historical Society, The staff of New Mexico State Records Center and Archives, The staff of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Arthur Olivas, Photographic Archivist at the Museum of New Mexico, Tod Butler and other staff of the National Archives and Records Administration, The staff of the Texas State Library, The United Daughters of the Confederacy, The University of New Mexico Center for SW Research, The Center for American History University of Texas at Austin, Carol Finney of the Texas General Land Office; and Mrs. Huberta Nunn Wright, whom I nagged unmercifully.

Last, but of course not least, I want to thank my wife Denise and my son Austin for their loving support.

INTRODUCTION

History has never been an absolute, even 100 hours after an event - let alone over 100 years. - Burt Schmitz

By April 7th, 1862 the Civil War was raging in America. With their powerful legions locked in deadly combat, the eyes of both the Union and the Confederacy focused on the wooded tablelands of a charnel house called Shiloh. Seventeen hundred miles away in the Territory of New Mexico, Isaac Adair, a Rebel captain from Texas, lay dying. At that time, few people, east of the Mississippi, knew or cared what was happening in the Far West.

The grand stage of the Civil War was the East, but the Southwest also saw its share of conflict. Western battles were smaller in scale, but they were contested by soldiers who were every bit as committed and who fought just as courageously as their eastern counterparts. During the summer and fall of 1861, an army of 3,000 stalwart Texans assembled in San Antonio, under the command of an untried general named Henry Hopkins Sibley. With banners flying and the cheers of friends and family ringing in their ears, they advanced towards Arizona and New Mexico. These were not the ragged barefoot Rebels of later years. They were a zealous and determined army of committed volunteers marching off to war at a time when anything seemed possible. Their stated goal was the capture of the New Mexico Territory, but their general may have envisioned the banner of their new nation flying above the waters of the Pacific.

The chain of events that carried Captain Adair to his destiny and led to the clash of two small but rugged frontier armies, remains one of the most stirring and least known episodes of our nation's struggle. Near the end of the campaign a young Texan named Frank Starr wrote to his father, We all think that our operations out here will all be lost in history. While not lost, the struggle in New Mexico has received little attention. If asked to name a battle from the American Civil War, most people can respond with names like: Gettysburg, Chickamagua, or Bull Run. If asked to name a battle west of the Mississippi, a few might scratch their heads and come up with Pleasant Hill or Pea Ridge. If asked to name a battle in New Mexico or Arizona, most people are surprised to learn that any took place.

When Sibley’s 3,000 Confederates marched into New Mexico in early 1862, they were confronted by scattered Federal forces that together numbered nearly 5,000. How is it that 8,000 men, involved in a life or death struggle, left so little to mark their passing? The problem has not been a lack of interest, but rather a lack of easily accessible information. A casual reader finds little of their story in print because it is sequestered in personal collections and historical archives spread across the country. Much of the story’s heart still lies buried in diaries, forgotten turn of the century magazine articles, and families' self-published copies of great granddad's memoirs.

Interest in the Civil War in the Southwest is on the upswing and in recent years a number of excellent books on the topic have appeared. Donald S. Frazier's Blood and Treasure: Confederate Empire in the Southwest focuses on the role of the New Mexico invasion in the fight for southern independence and adds a sense of historical and continental context. Bloody Valverde by John Taylor is a definitive hour-by-hour study of the conflict at Valverde ford, the largest battle ever fought in the Southwest. Other detailed monographs The Battle of Glorieta by Don Alberts and The Battle of Glorieta Pass by Thomas Edrington and John Taylor apply a microscope to the fighting at Glorieta Pass and reassess the claim that this battle saved the West for the Union. While dramatic, the time spent in combat at Valverde and Glorieta was only four days. The Texan foray into the Southwest lasted nearly nine months! What happened during the rest of the invasion?

Using a solid combination of primary and secondary sources, the goal of this book is to bring this tale to life. Relying heavily on diaries, memoirs, and other first person accounts, it pushes personalities and emotions to the forefront. Often told in the participants’ own words the story is a day-to-day account of the adventures of ordinary men living through extraordinary times.

Voices of soldiers long gone, again come to life. Felix R. Collard, a private in Company G, 7th Texas Mounted Volunteers, marched across country so barren that; absolutely nothing existed except loose sand and buffalo bones, [...] not a drop of water on it, not a blade of grass nor any living thing. Sergeant Alfred B. Peticolas wrote in his diary; I never thought I would ever be so pressed by hunger as to ask for bread when I had no means of paying for it, but I have done it, and without shame too. The journal of seventeen-year-old Ebenezer Hanna, ends with the entry; Twas during the day of the 27th that we had the trial of burying the first one of the members of Company C. The enemy did not make their appearance during the day. Hours later, the young Texan was shot through the loins, bled internally, and died quietly. The reminiscences, hopes and fears, of these and many other gallant soldiers give form to the sound of distant trumpets, and forgotten tales of comrades in arms.

When General Sibley issued a call for troops, Isaac Adair, a thirty-five-year-old planter from Crockett, responded. Adair’s sketchy story winds back and forth through the pages of this book and then ends abruptly before the saga is complete. He was chosen as a touchstone, not because he was famous or larger than life, rather because he is one of the nearly forgotten. Although an educated man, Adair kept no journal and if he wrote letters home, none have survived. Today, like the other men of his company, he is a shadow. The accounts of literally thousands, who contested the Civil War in the rugged Southwest, are lost forever. A few like Adair's can still be pieced together. With a family history of life on the frontier and a personal stake in the issue of slavery, Adair epitomizes the hardened Texas pioneer. The stories of Sibley’s Confederates, the men they followed, the men they led, and the men they fought, are the sum and substance of the War of the Rebellion in the American West.

Chapter 1

ISAAC ADAIR

He was Captain Adair of the famous Irish Adairs - Tommie Kight

Isaac Adair and his family were ardent supporters of the Southern Cause. In a letter to a soldier at the front in Virginia, his sister-in-law wrote; [Isaac's wife Augusta] wants y-o-u to bring the Lincolnite family down here for her & some of her friends to whip. Mrs. Wall is to whip the 'Old Man', Sis. the 'Old Woman', Bet - Bob & if there are any more Miss May Albright & Miss Priscilla Adair will finish them. (1)

Working as Clerk of Houston County, Isaac Adair dealt on a daily basis with the probate of people's estates. On October 3rd, 1861, with the prospect of combat ahead of him, and considering the uncertainty of this frail and transitory life, he sat down and wrote his own last will and testament. After settling his debts, Adair left the bulk of his estate to his wife. The only exceptions were 6 negroe children: Patsy about 11 years old a girl; Jennie a girl about 9 years old; Sarah Jane a girl about 7 years old; Tobe a boy about 9 years old; Henry about 8 years old and Jack about 7 years old. These slaves Adair left to his own three children, a girl and a boy to each to be decided by lot. Adair instructed his wife to use and take care of the slaves until his children should marry or reach a marriageable age. Further, he stated that if any of said negroes shall die run away or be disabled so as to be of little value, his wife was to use the proceeds of his estate to purchase suitable replacements so that his children would be sure to have the above named negroes apiece- or their equivolent [sic] to commence the world with. (2)

Isaac Adair was born in 1825, the son of Zadoc Adair and Sarah Kelley. His exact place of birth is unknown, but it was somewhere in Alabama, probably in either Perry or Sumpter counties. (3) At the time of his birth, the United States was barely 50-years-old, but Adair’s ancestors had already been in America for nearly twice that long. Isaac's great-great-grandfather, Thomas Adair, left County Antrim in Ireland in 1730, and, accompanied by his three sons James, Joseph, and William, set out for the Colonies. (4)

By the time of the Revolutionary War the Adairs were a prominent family in the Carolinas. With their Irish descent, they held little love for the mother country and quickly sided with the American Colonies in their struggle. There were no fewer than ten Adairs in the American Army from South Carolina. (5) Isaac's great-grandfather Joseph Adair, Sr., at the age of seventy years, served in the Revolution as the Commissary for Company D, Col. Levi Casey's Regiment.

Almost no information has survived about Isaac’s father Zadock, and much of what remains derives from conflicting secondary sources. It seems that he was born in Laurens County, South Carolina in about 1780. Around 1804 he married Sarah Kelley, the daughter of Peter Kelley and Jane Ewing, both also from South Carolina. Zadock and Sarah raised at least 5 children and possibly more. Isaac was their youngest son. (6)

The pioneer spirit that brought his great-grandfather to America burned brightly in Zadock Adair. The War of 1812 put a stop to western migration, but by its end, around 1815, pioneers were again itching to be on the move. Eastern Georgia and the Carolinas were by that time worn and gullied from repeated plantings of tobacco. The Old Southwest, the southern backcountry stretching west to the Mississippi, beckoned to adventurous settlers and into these new lands poured a stream of humanity. In 1820 the population of Alabama was 127,000. By 1860 it was 964,000. Near the head of this tide moved Zadock Adair and his family. Like many small farmers, he was on the cutting edge of the frontier, probably goaded along by ambition and the unshakeable belief that greater success and prosperity were just over the next rise.

Zadock Adair's signature appears on a petition to the Congress of the United States, filed sometime in either 1817 or 1818. His endorsement suggests that the elder Adair was both civic-minded and suspicious of authority. The undated petition protested a proposed annexation of part of the Alabama Territory by the state of Mississippi. The petitioners wrote that they viewed this proposed transfer of freeman, like the vassals of European potentates, from one sovereignty to another, as repugnant to justice & completely hostile to the principles of republican America. The petition was signed by inhabitants of the Alabama Territory residing near the waters of the Mobile. (7)

On March 2, 1836 the Texas Republic declared its independence from Mexico. The Adairs were living in a land of plenty, but now a land of even greater opportunity opened before them. In 1836 Texas supported a population of 50,000 in an area the size of all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois combined. In an effort to solidify its position, the newly independent republic was actively seeking colonists. To all those who would make the journey, Texas held out the promise of land, free for the taking. Sometime around 1837, Zadock Adair once again set his sights on the frontier. Uprooting his wife and two youngest children, Zadock headed west.

Of the Adairs' journey to Texas we know nothing, but on June 4, 1845 in the town of Crockett, the Republic of Texas issued Isaac an unconditional certificate for 320 acres of land, called a 3rd class headright. To be eligible for a Third Class land grant a settler needed to have arrived in Texas after October 1, 1837 and before January 1, 1842. Isaac listed his year of arrival as 1840. Three hundred and twenty acres went to single men and six hundred and forty to married. Strangely, no records remain to indicate that Zadock ever applied for a grant himself. (8)

Crockett was the county seat of Houston County, but only three-hours ride from the buffalo range; it was emphatically a frontier village. Danger from Indians and the usual inconvenience of a frontier country had long retarded the settlement of the county and growth of the village. Crockett owed its prominence to its being the only point, within reasonable distance of the San Antonio Road and the center of the county, where running water could be found. Although a log courthouse and jail had been erected in the town center, Crockett was still a wild place. Only one year before the Adairs’ arrival in Texas, the danger from Indians was so great that families fortified the courthouse lot with pickets and took shelter inside until the immediate alarm passed. The eastern and western mails arrived on an average twice a month. The northern mail for Fort Houston was sent whenever there was a chance, then generally in the crown of a hat. Sassafras tea, rye coffee, milk and whiskey were the only beverages that could be depended on, as coffee frequently could not be had at any price. In the way of diet, steel mill bread and jerked beef were the great staples. (9)

Shortly after Adair was issued his land grant the Republic of Texas gave up its sovereignty to join the United States. This annexation brought to a boil long-simmering tensions with Mexico. Even though Texas won its independence 10 years earlier, the Mexican government still regarded its annexation by the U.S. as an act of War. Armed conflict between the United States and Mexico broke out on April 25, 1846, with a Mexican attack on United States troops stationed along the southern border of Texas.

The fighting went on for almost a year before Isaac felt compelled to volunteer. During that time the constraints of work, family, and his newly acquired land kept him at home. News of the U.S. victory at Buena Vista on February 23rd may have fanned the flames of his patriotism. Conceivably his imagination was captured by Colonel Jefferson Davis's dramatic charge, that saved the day for the Americans. In Crockett on April 13, 1847, Isaac enrolled as an orderly sergeant for six months service with Captain John Long's cavalry company. The unit's muster roll lists his age as twenty-five, but it was really twenty-two. In a company where most of the officers and many of the enlisted men were his seniors, the young sergeant probably fudged his age a little to enhance his authority. After enrolling at Crockett, Long's Company proceeded to San Antonio, where they were mustered into national service as part of Colonel John C. Jack Hays's 1st Regiment Texas Mounted Volunteers. Isaac brought with him a seven-year-old brown horse valued at $200 and $15 worth of horse equipments (10)

The battle at Buena Vista was the last serious fighting to occur in northern Mexico. By the time young Adair shouldered his Mississippi rifle, the decisive campaign of the war was already underway and the battleground shifted to central Mexico. On April 18, 1847, U.S. Troops under General Winfield Scott fought the Battle of Cerro Gordo as they advanced towards Mexico City. There in a narrow pass troops commanded by the Mexican General, Santa Anna attempted to turn them back. U.S. engineers, including such soon-to-be-familiar names as: Robert E. Lee, George B. McClellan, Joseph E. Johnston, and P.G.T. Beauregard, found a trail that allowed the Americans to surround and defeat Santa Anna's forces. By June the U.S. invasion force was at the gates of Mexico City. There was still some fierce fighting to come, but it was apparent that the war was over.

Long's company was to have served six months, but with the conflict winding down, its services were unneeded. On June 2nd, at Alamo City, only fifty days after he signed up, Isaac Adair and the rest of the volunteers were told to go home.

Dated November 7, 1850, the Federal Census for Houston County, Texas states that Isaac, age 25, was living in a household with his father, Zadock, his mother, Sarah; and his twenty-one-year-old sister, Matilda. Zadock, who was by that time seventy, was still listed as the head of the household. He told the enumerator that he was a farmer. Sarah, who was fifty-six, was listed as a housewife. Isaac did not specify his profession, but because of his father's age, it can be assumed that, he was doing the real work of running their farm. No value was placed on the family's real estate, however the slave schedule for the same year shows that Zadock owned 5 slaves. Obviously the Adairs were prospering. (11)

About this same time, the John T. Smith family migrated to Houston County from Georgia. Smith was a native of New York, but he lived in Georgia for many years, operating a steamboat service on the Appalachacola River and serving in the state's legislature. Like Zadock Adair, he was a man who felt the call of the frontier. In 1849, he loaded his wife, Elizabeth Greene Gaines, their seven children, and many slaves into covered wagons and headed for Texas. Arriving in Houston County, the Smith family acquired a large plantation on the Trinity River, near the town of Alabama, and began to raise cotton. (12)

Both Isaac Adair and the older Smith were civic-minded and took an interest in local politics. In late 1850 they joined with other citizens, and petitioned the state's legislature to levy a special tax. The purpose was to raise funds for the erection of a new brick courthouse, the old log one being inadequate for the growing community. Acquaintance between the two men grew into friendship, and Isaac began to court Smith's oldest daughter, Augusta Louise. (13) Augusta was amenable to the romance, and, after a proper interval, the couple was married. (14)

The next ten years of Isaac’s life revolved around family, friends, and career; frequent business trips and frequent trips to visit neighbors; the rhythms of the weather and of seasonal plantings and harvests; and the comings and goings of steamboats on the Trinity river. Adair joined his business operations with those of his father-in-law and together the two men pursued a variety of agrarian enterprises. Isaac applied for and received a pre-emption land grant from the state of Texas, which increased his holdings by another three hundred and twenty acres. Much of the combined plantation was devoted to cotton. Some years the weather was good, the plantation received adequate rain, and bales of mature cotton were shipped by steamboat, down the Trinity River to Galveston. Other years the rains failed or the cotton was destroyed by frost. (15) When cotton production was off, the Adairs and the Smiths would fall back on other endeavors. Besides ever present garden crops, like corn, squash, cucumbers, & beans, Isaac raised cattle and hogs. The family butchered and used the hogs locally, but the cattle were driven overland to the market in New Orleans. On one occasion, Isaac's mother-in-law reported that he set out with a drove, amidst rain, thunder, and lightening. (16)

Slavery was an integral part of the two families' economic and domestic lives. Slaves were used in the fields to plant and to harvest, they performed chores around the homes, they looked after the sick, and they were sent on various errands. Adair and his father-in-law both owned slaves, and, like their land, they managed their slaves in partnership. Slave labor was shared where it was most needed. Occasionally, slaves were also loaned to, or borrowed from, their neighbor, General John Beavers. In her diary, Isaac's mother-in-law devotes the same attention to slave illnesses, births, and deaths that she gives to these events among her own family. She also mentions the visit of a slave trader, and notes that because of a Fuss between Johnson & negroes, that Mr. Johnson, their overseer, was discharged. (17)

The Adairs and the Smiths led busy gregarious lives. Roads in those days were bad and travelers frequently spent the night. It was the norm for neighbors passing by, to stay over and spend one or more evenings socializing. Besides friends and business associates, there were booksellers, horse hunters, and all manner of other peddlers. The two farms saw a steady stream of guests. Isaac Adair himself often traveled, making overnight business trips to Crockett, and less frequently to Galveston or New Orleans. The family also entertained, sometimes throwing parties. On one occasion they held a raising for their new gin house. They attended traveling shows and camp meetings and, weather permitting, they spent days fishing with friends on the banks of the Trinity. (18)

Adair and his father-in-law continued their involvement with local politics and sometime before 1855, Smith, who was already an experienced politician, won the position of Chief Justice of Houston County. Isaac, meanwhile, became a County Commissioner. During the summer of 1858, both men again stood for public office. When it came time for the August 3rd vote, the balloting in Crockett was marred by street violence. Tempers flared and pistols were drawn; one man was killed and another wounded. The fracas, while emphasizing the rugged frontier nature of the community, made little difference to the election's outcome. Adair and his father-in-law both won their respective races. Isaac succeeded James Madison Hall to become the third District Clerk of Houston County, and John T. Smith won re-election as the county's Chief Justice. (19) Adair served as District Clerk until he resigned the post in 1861. John T. Smith continued to serve as Chief Justice, until elected to the state legislature in 1860.

Around 1854 Isaac's wife, Augusta, gave birth to their first child, John. Two years later, their second son, Ben, was born. It was also during 1856 that Zadock Adair died at the respectable age of seventy-six. The tempo of life and mortality continued in 1859 with the birth of Isaac's daughter, Emma Ada, and the death of his mother, Sarah. (20)

Illness and disease were facts of life in rural Houston County of the mid 1800's and hardest hit were often the young and the elderly. Sarah Kelly-Adair outlived her husband, Zadock, by a couple of years, but it is known that during part of the time the old lady was very sick. The diary of Isaac's mother-in-law is full of references to family illnesses, many of them serious. On one occasion, Augusta sent for her mother, sure that her son John was dying. John recovered, but tragedy struck the family full force in March 1860. Yellow fever swept through the county. The Adairs were unscathed, but the Smiths were ravaged. In a span of a few weeks, Augusta's mother, her sister Ada Smith, and her grandmother Louise Gaines Riviere all died. John Smith, who was on a business trip to Galveston, returned home to find his immediate family devastated. Elizabeth Smith's diary ends abruptly on Sunday, March 11, 1860. The last entry reads; Clear Pleasant weather. (21)

Life in Texas was hard, but it was also good. In a span of twenty years, Isaac Adair carved a home for himself on the edge of the frontier, and went from young pioneer to pillar of a growing community. The 1860 census for Houston County lists Isaac as a thirty-three-year-old male born in Alabama with real estate valued at $5,000 and personal property of $3,000. He was head of a household consisting of: A.L. (Augusta Louise), a twenty-four-year-old housewife born in Georgia; three children, all born in Texas: John, age six; Ben, age four; and Ada, age 1. His occupation was listed as district clerk. Also listed in the household were Frank Edmundson, an eighteen-year-old clerk born in Kentucky; C.A. Wilkenson, a twenty-eight-year-old school mistress born in New York; C.R. Wilkinson, a twenty-five-year-old school mistress born in New York; and William Burnett, a fifteen-year-old male pupil born in Louisiana. The 1860 slave schedule for Houston County for the same year recorded that Isaac Adair owned fifteen slaves. (22)

At the time of the 1860 Census, the population of Houston County was 8,058, including 2,819 slaves. Abraham Lincoln had just been elected president of the United States, and the nation was breaking up. In a span of less than thirty years Texas went from possession of Mexico to independent republic to the largest state in the Union. On February 1, 1861, smoldering tensions burst into flame. Texas, following the lead of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, became the seventh southern state to secede. Three days later, delegates from these states met in Montgomery, Alabama and drafted a constitution for the Confederate States of America. On February 18, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was selected as their provisional president. On Saturday, February 23, voters in Houston County ratified the act of secession. James Madison Hall, who proceeded Isaac Adair as District Clerk, recorded the voting in his diary; Today I went with John Harwell to the polls, and while there had to act as one of the clerks to the election. The vote at precinct No.7 stood for Secession 31. against Secession 5. I voted for it. (23) Statewide the tally was 46,129 for, versus 14,697 against. (24)

A few days later, Hall reported that he and three other men hoisted the Confederate flag on the top of a 30 foot pole and placed it on the top of [his] warehouse. After the flag was erected, he noted proudly; it now floats to the breeze, the emblem of the free. (25) By April 12th, Confederate shells were falling on Fort Sumter. Presidents Lincoln and Davis both issued calls for troops. Few people thought that there would be a serious war, but martial excitement spread across the South. In Houston County companies of Texas Militia were formed to help defend the state and the new nation. Out of the less than 6,000 whites in the County nearly 1,000 eventually responded to the call to arms. (26)

According to Texas muster abstracts, a call for 5,000 volunteers for field duty was issued and Captain Edward Currie began to organize the first company of militia raised in Houston County. On April 26, 1861, Isaac Adair stepped forward with 117 of his friends and neighbors and enrolled as a private in the Crockett Southerners. Other companies quickly followed suit, and by mid-May, James Hall recounted that men from all over Houston County were spending their evenings practicing the manual of arms. (27) Captain Currie raised $1,650 to buy guns, but reported; Most of the men will have six shooters or some other pistol and home-made knapsacks. This first group of enlistees never saw any action and in August they disbanded. (28)

Like the Crockett Southerners, most of the militia companies, which formed in the spring and summer of 1861, were very fluid and short-lived. The war was still far from Texas and the men and boys who enthusiastically rushed to the southern banner frequently found themselves with little to do. Eager to learn the basics of soldiering, many recruits were soon disappointed. The State and the new Confederate government had not yet decided who was responsible for supplying and equipping the new soldiers. As a result volunteer companies were often left to fend for themselves. Many recruits found that when it came to even the basics of adequate food and shelter they were on their own. (29)

In May 1861 Isaac Adair sold 177 acres, of land for $450. The timing and size of this sale suggests that as a community leader and a man of means, Adair was raising cash to help arm and outfit his company. That spring was unusually wet, and the weather and inactivity took its toll on militias throughout Texas. Some companies disbanded and went home, or as in the case of the Crockett Southerners simply withered away as men left to join the real army. By July 1861, Isaac found himself a new company. This time he enrolled as private in Reserve Company Beat No. 1, Houston County, 11th Brigade Texas Militia under Captain John Blair. (30)

Chapter 2

PLANS AND AMBITION

Boys, if you only knew it, I am the worst enemy you have. - Captain Henry H. Sibley

While Isaac Adair discharged his duty on the home front, events unfolded elsewhere that would soon capture his imagination and launch the pivotal adventure of his life. The author of these events was Henry Hopkins Sibley, an ingenious dreamer and former officer of the 2nd United States Dragoons.

Sibley was a career soldier with a varied and extensive service record and strong ties to the West. He was born on the frontier at Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, on May 25, 1816. His father died, when he was only seven, so he was raised by his grandfather, Dr. John Sibley . The elder Sibley was a noted frontier explorer, editor, and Indian agent. He was also and an influential figure in the conscious national movement westward. (1)

In 1833 at the age of seventeen young Henry was admitted to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He proved a poor student. Because of a deficiency in Natural and Experimental Philosophy he was set back one year and required to repeat his Second Class Year, or his third year at the academy. (2) In 1838, Sibley graduated a lackluster 31st in a class of forty-five. Following graduation, he was ordered to Florida, where he fought in the second Seminole War and was promoted from brevet to regular 2nd lieutenant. Later, he served at a number of posts in New York, Louisiana, Texas, and the Indian Territory slowly rising to the rank of Captain. The high point of his military service came during the War with Mexico, when he was breveted to major for gallantry and heroism at Medellin near Vera Cruz. (3)

Well liked by many, Sibley was at times both contentious and arrogant. These qualities did little to advance him in his chosen profession. In 1847, while serving with the occupation forces near Mexico City, he squabbled with his immediate superior, Major Edward V. Sumner. As the rancor grew heated, Sumner warned Sibley to watch how he spoke to a higher ranked officer. Sibley responded by shouting, I will speak to you in that way or in any other way I please. The next day Sumner preferred charges, accusing the captain of conduct highly disrespectful towards his commanding officer. (4) Sibley was most likely saved from a court-martial because of an acquaintance with General Winfield Scott. The charges were dropped, but in return Scott forced Sibley to swallow his pride and apologize to Sumner.

Eleven years later, while stationed in Utah, Sibley got into a shouting match with his colonel, Philip St. George Cooke. This time he stood trial for his impulsiveness. Cooke charged Sibley with neglect of duty and conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. The trial ran for several days, with both the prosecution and the defense calling a number of witnesses. After mature deliberation, the court decided that, although some specifications of the charges were true, there was no criminality involved. (5)

Henry Hopkins Sibley was a mediocre career soldier, whose star never shined very brightly. Just the same, he was endowed with an excess of pent-up ambition and ingenuity. While serving in Kansas, he designed and patented, Sibley's Improved Conical Tent. Patterned after the teepee of the plains Indians, the Improved Conical Tent was far superior to any the army then used. It was was eighteen feet in diameter, and was supported internally by a nine-foot pole, mounted on a three-foot tripod. There was fly at the top, that could be trimmed to improve circulation. Unlike other existing tents, a fire could be safely built inside. (6) An army board of inspection, evaluating the tent, found it well ventilated, spacious, resistant to winds and comfortable. The officers who examined it recommended without reservations that the military adopt it. Sibley believed his fortune was made but wide scale acceptance of the tent remained elusive. (7)

By the time of secession, Sibley had been stationed in the West for ten dreary years. He served on the Texas border and saw duty in Bleeding Kansas, where he fought free soil and slavery guerrillas. He also accompanied the Mormon Expedition of 1857, and helped to subdue the Navajos in 1860. The outbreak of the Civil War found him still serving as a captain (brevet major), in the New Mexico Territory. In late April 1861, after carefully weighing his options, and over the spirited objections of his New York-born wife Charlotte, Sibley resigned his commission to cast his lot with the Confederacy. His letter of resignation was short and to the point: I have the honor to enclose herewith the resignation of my commission in the Army of the United States and request authority to leave this Dept. immediately. (8) Sibley underlined the word immediately, but decided to remain at his post in Taos until relieved. By the end of May, he could wait no longer. Receiving no official response to his resignation, he took matters into his own hands. The captain issued orders giving himself seven days leave of absence, said goodbye to his troops, and caught a stagecoach for Las Vegas. The same day Sibley left his post the United States sent orders offering him the rank of full major. After fourteen years as at the same rank, the attempt to bolster his loyalty came too late. (9)

By May 31 Sibley was on the road to Texas, his brain reeling with a grandiose plan of conquest. After his long tenure in the Southwest, the captain was convinced that the Union's hold on the region was tenuous. With a bold initiative he believed the territories could be led into the Confederacy. Western lands lay ripe for the picking, and Sibley was cocksure that he was just the man to do the harvesting. He was so wrapped up in his scheme that, as he passed through Fort Fillmore, north of current day El Paso, he leaned from his wagon and yelled at a group of U.S. soldiers, Boys, if you only knew it, I am the worst enemy you have. (10)

After he reached Texas, Sibley hurried on to Virginia. Arriving in Richmond in early June, he quickly arranged a meeting with Jefferson Davis and laid out his plan of conquest. The details of the meeting are speculative and second-hand, but it is purported that Sibley told the Confederate President that the Union troops in Arizona were in disarray, and proposed leading an invasion of the Territory. Resistance, he advised Davis, would be minimal. He would recruit troops in Texas and equip them with supplies from abandoned or captured Federal garrisons. His army would live off the land, and Southern sympathizers would flock to his banner. Davis was impressed with Sibley's knowledge of the situation in Arizona and New Mexico; and as to the condition of the United States forces in those Territories, the quantity of government stores, supplies, transportation, etc.. (11) The low risk and possible high benefit of the plan interested the President, and he was quick to see the value of a military victory in the Far West. Part of France’s and England's reluctance to recognize his new nation came from the South's lack of offensive success. The scheme risked the new Confederate nation little, but if it succeeded the potential rewards were huge. Davis commissioned Sibley a Brigadier General and authorized him to raise a command in Texas with which to carry out his invasion. Sibley was entrusted with the important duty of driving the Federal troops from [the Department of New Mexico] and at the same time securing all arms, supplies, and materials of war. (12)

An officer serving with Sibley later wrote that the newly appointed brigadier may have taken leave of Davis without telling the President the full scope of his scheme. Sibley envisioned himself a Napoleon of the West. As soon as he occupied New Mexico, he planned to recruit an army of advance. This army would come from Southern men who he believed were spread across the Western States and Territories, anxiously awaiting an opportunity to join the Confederate army. (13) Once formed, his army would push on to Colorado. It would capture the gold and silver fields of the Rockies, and the territory's riches would flow into Confederate coffers. Finally, his men would continue the march west, and On to San Francisco would be the watchword. (14) What Sibley hoped for was nothing less than the establishment of a Western Confederacy.

With glory and laurels on his mind, the Brigadier General hurried back to Texas to raise his army. By August, he had established a headquarters in San Antonio and begun the organization of his troops. Authorized to enroll two regiments of cavalry and a battery of howitzers, Sibley expected to get his invasion underway within a matter of weeks. He was sorely