| Bloody Valverde: A Civil War Battle on the Rio Grande, February 21, 1892 Contributor(s): Taylor, John (Author) |
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ISBN: 0826321488 ISBN-13: 9780826321480 Publisher: University of New Mexico Press OUR PRICE: $26.96 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 1999 Annotation: When Jefferson Davis commissioned Henry H. Sibley a brigadier general in the Confederate army in the summer of 1861, he gave him a daring mission: to capture the gold fields of Colorado and California for the South. Their grand scheme, premised on crushing the Union forces in New Mexico and then moving unimpeded north and west, began to unravel along the sandy banks of the Rio Grande late in the winter of 1862. At Valverde ford, in a day-long battle between about 2,600 Texan Confederates and some 3,800 Union troops stationed at Fort Craig, the Confederates barely prevailed. However, the cost exacted in men and matriel doomed them as they moved into northern New Mexico. Carefully reconstructed in this book is the first full account of what happened on both sides of the line before, during, and after the battle. On the Confederate side, a drunken Sibley turned over command to Colonel Tom Green early in the afternoon. Battlefield maneuvers included a disastrous lancer charge by cavalrythe only one during the entire Civil War. The Union army, under the cautious Colonel Edward R. S. Canby, fielded a superior number of troops, the majority of whom were Hispanic New Mexican volunteers. "The definitive study of the Battle of Valverde."Jerry Thompson, author of "Henry Hopkins Sibley" |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877) |
| Dewey: 973.7 |
| Physical Information: 0.52" H x 7.97" W x 9.89" (0.90 lbs) 199 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Cultural Region - Western U.S. - Geographic Orientation - Texas - Topical - Civil War |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: When Jefferson Davis commissioned Henry H. Sibley a brigadier general in the Confederate army in the summer of 1861, he gave him a daring mission: to capture the gold fields of Colorado and California for the South. Their grand scheme, premised on crushing the Union forces in New Mexico and then moving unimpeded north and west, began to unravel along the sandy banks of the Rio Grande late in the winter of 1862. At Valverde ford, in a day-long battle between about 2,600 Texan Confederates and some 3,800 Union troops stationed at Fort Craig, the Confederates barely prevailed. However, the cost exacted in men and mat riel doomed them as they moved into northern New Mexico. Carefully reconstructed in this book is the first full account of what happened on both sides of the line before, during, and after the battle. On the Confederate side, a drunken Sibley turned over command to Colonel Tom Green early in the afternoon. Battlefield maneuvers included a disastrous lancer charge by cavalry--the only one during the entire Civil War. The Union army, under the cautious Colonel Edward R. S. Canby, fielded a superior number of troops, the majority of whom were Hispanic New Mexican volunteers. The definitive study of the Battle of Valverde.--Jerry Thompson, author of Henry Hopkins Sibley |
Contributor Bio(s): Taylor, John: - John Taylor is a nuclear engineer at Sandia National Laboratories. |